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gjbkk

Fierce PAD nationalism on stage

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) took to the stage at Sanam Luang with intense nationalism. Fiery nationalist rhetoric was stressed and repeated, while decades-old nationalist anti-communist songs were played throughout. The ‘Hun Sen Model’ was the latest term introduced to characterize the Cambodian leader. A larger rally was called for 5 Dec.

On 15 Nov, on stage with a pink backdrop which read in Thai ‘Unite the Strength of the Land. Protect Nation, Religion and King’, and in English ‘Fight for Thailand. Fight for our King’, the event started around 4 pm with some lesser known speakers.



Prasert Lertyaso called for the beheading of Hun Sen, General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, and Thaksin Shinawatra, alluding to an old Thai saying of shedding blood to wash royal feet. He banished Thaksin’s supporters to Phnom Penh and Dubai.

Saken Sutthiwong said that Cambodia was afraid that [Thai] F16 fighter jets would miss their targets and bomb Angkor Wat and Prear Vihear instead, because they earn their living from those ‘old stones’. Afterwards he sang ‘Ayutthaya’ and ‘Bang Rajan War’ songs which are about defending the country from its enemies, the Burmese in this case. He said he wanted Cambodia to get rich, so it could take its tens of thousands of beggars back home. Cambodian people are poor, as can be seen on TV when they storm through the border checkpoint like hell breaking loose. Thailand is not like that, because the Thai people have the King and Queen, he said.

Then some students came up to condemn Hun Sen and Thaksin, the traitor. They vowed to fight to the death to protect the Nation, Religion and King. A group of artists also read a statement, referring to both men as ‘non-human’.



After the playing of the ‘Siamanussati’ song, whose words were penned by King Vajiravudh, the sixth King of the Chakri Dynasty and the current King’s uncle, a Royal Cadet School classmate of core PAD leader Gen Chamlong Srimuang, Gen Preecha Iamsuphan, who had led yellow shirts in raucous protests near the Prear Vihear site in September, spoke to the crowd that it was time to get rid of traitors, as they all had appeared before their eyes. ‘We have to quickly finish them off for the sake of our beloved King and ancestors, so that Thais stop quarrelling with one another because of these scoundrels.’

He said that he heard a government spokesperson say on radio that Jakrapob Penkair had smuggled weapons across the northeastern Thai border to start a revolt.

The retired general said the Thai army had fought those ‘vulgar Cambodians’ at the Aranyaprathet border, and he himself had attacked them with bombs. He would not mind if there was another war. If the army does not fight, he will fight with his bare hands.



Khamnoon Sitthisaman, ASTV Manager columnist and non-elected senator, gave a brief history of how Hun Sen came to power, and concluded it with the term ‘Hun Sen model’: getting support from a foreign military power [Vietnam], supporting an ‘unprepared’ royal to become king, having the new king appoint him a royal, using a communist organizing system to control a political party and the people to take power under the guise of western democracy (elections), centralizing political and economic powers and opening the country for western capitalists to exploit its natural resources.

He said this was probably what the Thai ex-prime minister wanted to emulate.
He speculated that Thaksin would intensify his political campaign from December this year to early next year, when Parliament is closed. The red shirts would also intensify their movement, besieging or even seizing Government House. Thaksin would probably take a ‘long march’ from Cambodia, enveloped by a red-shirted mass. All this would be supported by the ‘underground operations’ of a certain retired general [another classmate of Gen Chamlong, Gen Panlop Pinmanee, who has switched sides from the PAD to support Thaksin].

Thaksin’s initial expected outcome is a House dissolution. His political party will get a majority of seats, and an amnesty will be granted to all sides, bringing the country back to where it was before the 19 Sept 2006 coup. If this fails, and if circumstances allow, a people’s revolution might be called, the senator said.


‘I believe what Gen Prem Tinsulanonda has said, that the country is sacred. I believe in the power of the Emerald Buddha. I believe in the power of the City God. I believe in the law of karma,’ he said.

He ended his speech by reading a couple of lines from an anti-communist song ‘We Fight’, written by the present King.

Sondhi Limthongkul said the nation was important because it was composed of religion and the King. When people have faith in religion, religion is strengthened and so is the monarchy. Religion and the King will never be separable.

Thailand exists today because of the blood of its past soldiers, kings and queens. Sondhi raised as an example Queen Suriyothai, who died for the King, her husband, and for Siam.

He said when he vowed to fight for the King four years ago, he was reproached and ridiculed.

‘His Majesty is a virtuous king. He would not hold a grudge against anybody, no matter who speaks ill of him, no matter who performs a ritual inside the Emerald Buddha Temple. Despite his disapproval, he has to endure. We have our duty to protect Nation, Religion and King. As I have always told you, His Majesty has no one else to count on, except us,’ Sondhi said.

The nation is composed of religion and the King. Whenever the King is weak, religion will also be weak, and there will be no more nation, he said.

Sondhi said that in the previous week he had had lunch with the ambassador of an unnamed European country. He explained Thailand’s present political situation to the diplomat through the allegory of an ancient Siamese king and his corrupt prime minister. The prime minister served the king for 6 years, and embezzled the royal treasury. The king confiscated his wealth and sent him into exile, as a light punishment.

The prime minister gave some of his embezzled money to his minions in Siam to stir up agitation in the country. He even caused rifts among members of the royal family. He eventually sought help from the Khmer King.

Sondhi said he asked the ambassador what he thought should be done. The ambassador told him that there would be no other choice than to finish him off once and for all, and the King of Siam had to wage a war and conquer the Khmer Kingdom.

He called for a much larger gathering on 5 Dec, the King’s birthday, to form a line starting from the Chitralada Palace to the Grand Palace, to show the world that they love the King.

Two royally-penned songs, ‘The Highest Dream’ and ‘Scum of the Earth’, were played.

Pipop Thongchai, another PAD leader, read a statement entitled ‘The Thai People’s Declaration to the World’. Translations of the statement in Cambodian and English were also read.

After a couple more speakers continued to revile their enemies and arouse nationalist sentiments, the demonstrators rose to sing ‘Salute to the King’ and the Royal Anthem, and dispersed around 10.50 pm.

Source: here


Interesting article but I think that the xenophobic PAD are finished and their leaders are well aware of this. This is some last call to try and cling to some influence in steering the democrats with a call for nationalism.





Was it the French or the British Ambassador?

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crazy dog

Pardon for Da Torpedo must be on it's way then!

gjbkk

^

and pigs will fly.


Sounds more feasible that Sondhi had lunch with Butterfly and not a ambassador of an unnamed European country.

Super Swan

There are some interesting comments on the page that has the English translation.

Colonialist forces want to destabilize Buddhist Myanmar, but National Unity kept them away.

This one especially is quite good. Some of the others are just as funny.

The worrying thing I feel is that none of the comments on there suprise me at the moment as there is definately a change in attitude to foreigners by the more affluent part of Bangkok society in my opinion.

I may be wrong as I have only been here for a few years but I have noticed s definate shift in attitudes recently. Most of my friends here are Thai and while most of them have had a pantsfull of everything that has been going on recently and just concentrate on getting through their day, much the same as the rest of us, there is definately an undercurrent of mistrust and even dislike towards us Farang. Maybe this has always been there though and is only coming out now as the media in the western world report more and more bad news coming out of Thailand.

There is also a very noticeable tension around where I live (near Ramkhamheang) and there have been several violent confrontations near where I live. One attack on a bar behind my appartment was one of the most violent and sustained attacks that I have ever witnessed. Football throughout the 80's and 90's across the cities of Great Britain included. Again, this may have been nothing to do with the political situation here but from my ring side viewpoint on my balcony, there was a definate difference between the two sets of people fighting. I don't need to explain the obvious.

I hope I am wrong but I honestly think that there is going to be major violence very very soon. This may be stating the obvious but I think this is going to get a lot more serious that most of us would like to admit.

Oh well! Stock up with Mama noodles, Beer and Ciggies when the day comes and sit back and watch.

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helge

I find this part of Sondhi's anecdote interesting

Super Swan

No prizes for that one!

Super Swan

UDD plans million-strong protest

UDD plans million-strong protest

• Published: 17/11/2009 at 03:42 PM
• Online news: Breakingnews

The United front for Democracy against Dictatorship expects one million red-shirts will turn out for a mass anti-government demonstration to bring down the government, planned from Nov 29 to Dec 3, UDD core leader Jatuporn Promphan said on Tuesday.
“It will be a five-day gathering of at least one million red-shirts and we will make the war against the government as short as possible. The red-shirts will not lay siege to Government House or other state offices,'' said MrJatuporn.
UDD leaders were not worried about the strong possibility the government will again invoke the Internal Security Act to deal with the protesters, he said.
“If one million red-shirts turn out as expected, we will be able to topple the government. But if we cannot make it, we will return to the streets again after Dec 5, His Majesty the King’s 82nd birthday,” the UDD leader said.
He believed the UDD could achieve its objective to topple the government before the end of the year because there were problems of corruption in several ministries and prices of agricultural products were low. The government had only one option left — dissolve the House and call elections.
''This time, either UDD or the government must go'', he said. ''The government should not be allowed to celebrate the New Year festival.”


A certain Arctic Monkeys song comes to mind!

Mr Lick

Wow, beheadings, bombings, exiling supporters of political figures, fighting Cambodians with bare hands, a royally- penned song named 'Scum of the Earth'. Quite worrying that such sentiments are being broadcast by spokesmen of a Political Party. Time for a collection run to the funny farm methinks.

Super Swan

How big is your collection truck?

nikster

I'll sum up Thailand's political problems: Thaksin is an unbearably corrupt leader who siphoned Billions of Dollars of government money into his own pocket and who fed 3,000 "drug suspects"to death squads. The nationalist PAD, on the other hand, are crazy like a headless chicken and prone to start a war with Cambodia, or any other country that angers them. The democrats seem the least evil but they have no support from voters and have a well deserved reputation for incompetence.

tsicar

why is that sondhi prick still walking (and talking) free?
wasn't he supposed to have been serving a jail sentence at the moment?
how come he didn't have to flee the country to escape jail time like thaksin had to?

perhaps he has the support of the majority of the people and is thus tolerated, as opposed to thaksin who never had the support of the "majority of the people", thus deserved to be exiled, or did i get this all screwed up somewhere and our sondhi perhaps just has the support of a few highly revered people in thailand who are above the law and above criticism?

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StrontiumDog

My protest is bigger than your protest

StrontiumDog

Weird words from the yellow shirts, quite disappointing and barbaric.

Just when they had a chance of being something, they've gone all extreme and are inciting violence. Backwards move. Big style.

The normal Thai public must be wondering which way to turn. Nutjobs on both sides and an ineffectual government in the middle.

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Sdigit

Jingoism kicks into play

Warwick

I suppose that getting rid of anyone who doesn't agree with you is one way of ensuring that the remainder are united.

killerbees

Anybody got the lyrics to "Scum of the Earth"? Sounds like it could be quite catchy. We might have a real hit on our hands.

DrB0b

I know you're taking the piss but this song has a truly horrible history. This was the theme tune to the 1976 Massacre. It's catchy, just like the Horst Wessel song. It was constantly played on the radio in 1976 and is the anthem of murderous Thai nationalism. It's theme is that any Thai who does not toe the line is not really Thai and deserves to be killed, much the same as the Al-Qaeda policy that any muslim who doesn't support them is not a real Muslim and is not covered by the Koranic restriction on killing Muslims.

I see that some people on this thread are surprised by this "change" in the PAD, I can only assume that those people are either illiterate, deaf, or prisoners of their own prejudice as there has been no change whatsoever. The PAD are the direct descendants of the Krathing Daeng and the Village Scouts and murder, violence, and repression in the name of the three pillars have always been at the core of their policies. I'm sure that the same posters would have supported the Khmer Rouge in their time as a decent, honest, and populist force against the corruption of the then cambodian government.

Anyway, the song, it's called "Nak Paendin". Considering the source and history of the song I find the lyrics dreadfully ironic.

คนใดใช้ชื่อไทยอยู่ กายก็ดูเหมือนไทยด้วยกัน
ได้อาศัยโพธิ์ทองแผ่นดินของราชันย์ แต่ใจมันยังเฝ้าคิดทำลาย

คนใดเห็นไทยเป็นทาส ดูถูกชาติเชื้อชนถิ่นไทย
แต่ยังฝังทำกิน กอบโกยสินไทยไป เหยียดคนไทยเป็นทาสของมัน

(สร้อย)
หนักแผ่นดิน หนักแผ่นดิน คนเช่นนี้เป็นคนหนักแผ่นดิน (หนักแผ่นดิน!)
หนักแผ่นดิน หนักแผ่นดิน คนเช่นนี้เป็นคนหนักแผ่นดิน (หนักแผ่นดิน!)

คนใดยุยงปลุกปั่น ไทยด้วยกันหวังให้แตกกระจาย
ปลุกระดมมวลชนให้สับสนวุ่นวาย เพื่อคนไทยแบ่งฝ่ายรบกันเอง

คนใดหลงชมชาติอื่น ชาติเดียวกันเขายืนข่มเหง
ได้สินทรัพย์เจือจานก็ประหารไทยกันเอง ทีชาติอื่นเกรงดังญาติของมัน

(สร้อย)

คนใดขายตนขายชาติ ได้โอกาสชี้ทางให้ศัตรู
เข้าทลายพลังไทยให้สลายทางสู้ เมื่อศัตรูโจมจู่เสียทีมัน

คนใดคิดร้ายราวี ประเพณีของไทยไม่ต้องการ
เกื้อหนุนอคติ เชื่อลัทธิอันธพาล แพร่นำมันมาบ้านเมืองเรา

(ซ้ำท่อนสร้อย 2 ครั้ง)


My Very Approximate Translation (it's very difficult to translate , the author deliberately uses words with many meanings and references to Thai stories and myths so the song has a number of levels of meaning)

They look like Thais and they call themselves Thai
Living under the shade of the King's golden Bodhi Tree
But they only want to destroy
They see the Thais as slaves, they despise the Thais
But they enslave the Thais and live on their wealth


(Chorus) Scum of the earth, scum of the earth, those people are scum of the earth


They admire the foreigner, they arouse the mob
They make Thais fight each other, splitting and confusing the people
They kill Thais so they can steal their wealth
They love foreigners as if they were their own family


(Chorus) Scum of the earth, scum of the earth, those people are scum of the earth


Anybody who sells the nation, opening the way to the enemy
Sapping our spirit and our will, making us weak so the enemy can destroy us
Anybody who hates Thai tradition and Thai Ways, we do not want him.
They despise religion, they are immoral people who spread filth in our villages


(Chorus) Scum of the earth, scum of the earth, those people are scum of the earth

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thongchai Winichakul The public were first worried, then scared off by the polarizing politics and violence. They gradually turned away from both confronting forces. This deprived the left wing of popular support, a vital element for the radical student movement. Meanwhile military propaganda had dehumanized the radical students, labeling them ‘scum of the earth’ (nak phaendin), the enemy of the “Nation, Religion and the Monarchy”, or lackeys of communist aliens (Vietnam in particular). A right-wing monk asserted that killing of leftists was not a religious sin since it killed the Evil One (Mara) (Keyes 1978:153). In retrospect, the eradication of the radicals and the return of military rule might have been inevitable. Yet, that brutality of that Wednesday morning was far beyond anybody’s anticipation. Our morals and political optimism had held our imagination in check. But reality is never kind. That morning’s stark events remain incomprehensible to many people’s minds. From two o’clock in the morning of 6 October l976, police and raging paramilitary groups co-operatively surrounded Thammasat University, where four to five thousand people had gathered peacefully all night to protest the return of one of the former dictators ousted three years earlier. Occasionally throughout the night, gunfire from personal handguns was heard from time to time, and self-made explosive devices were thrown into campus buildings. It was a very tense morning, two days after two activists had been hanged while putting up protest posters, and only hours after a student theatrical skit re-enacting the hanging had been accused by the military of staging a satire of the hanging of the Crown Prince in effigy. Students were never given an opportunity to rebut this allegation in public. By sunrise, it was already too late. At 5:30 am, a rocket-propelled bomb was fired into the crowd inside Thammasat. Four were killed instantly and dozens injured. That bomb signaled the beginning of the non-stop discharge of military weapons that went on until about 9 a.m. Anti-tank missiles were fired into the Commerce building which by then sheltered a third of the crowd. Outside the university, after the besieging forces had stormed into the campus, they dragged some students out. Lynching began. Two were tortured, hanged and beaten even after death on the trees encircling Sanam Luang, the huge public space that separates Thammasat and the Grand Palace by only a two minute walking distance. A female student, chased until she fell to the ground, was sexually assaulted and tortured until she died. Inside the campus, apart from the unknown number of casualties from weapons, more were lynched. A student leader, Jaruphong Thongsin, a friend of mine, was dragged along the soccer field by a piece of cloth around his neck. Later, six bodies were laid on the ground at Sanam Luang for a man to nail wooden stakes into their chests. On the street in front of the Ministry of Justice, on the other side of Sanam Luang opposite Thammasat, four bodies -- unknown if being already dead or still alive--were piled up with tires, soaked with petrol, and then set aflame. These brutal murders took place as a public spectacle. Many of the onlookers, including young boys, clapped their hands in joy. Quoted from: “We Do Not Forget the 6 October" The 1996 Commemoration of the October 1976 Massacre in Bangkok Presented at the workshop on “Imagining the Past, Remembering the Future” Cebu, the Philippines, March 8-10, 2001 Thongchai Winichakul University of Wisconsin-Madison http://www.2519.net/newweb/doc/englisharticle/we.doc

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kmart

^^I'm going to be humming that at work all day now.

StrontiumDog

Thanks for the post. The words of the song are quite "enlightening".

I especially liked these bits...

"They admire the foreigner"

and

"Anybody who sells the nation, opening the way to the enemy"

Lovely words. Makes me feel all warm and wanted.

Personally I'm not surprised by the nationalistic rhetoric. I'm a little surprised at how badly the yellow shirts missed this opportunity, resorting to crude incitement. But then again, I guess I shouldn't be surprised...

Anyway, nationalism always works as a motivator on the simpleminded. Lets see if it does.

Attilla the Hen

Forgive my ignorance, but, what has Chavalit done to cause the ire of PAD?