Bangkok Crimes

The Nation

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajiva is launching a new website: www.ilovethailand.org on Saturday as an online community promoting national unity on Friday. [KC: The Nation is a sinking ship]

“What will you do to show your love for the country?” is a question from the website.

Requiring membership sign up, the website provides its members with live chat and instant messenger where you can chat with your friends, forum and polls.

KC: This new website could be the answer to all of Thailand’s woes and is the most pathbreaking policy of the Abhisit government to date. The website, with its live chat, forum and polls is certain to lead towards national reconciliation by reminding Thais of their kinship, unity in race and long history of peace towards often hostile neighbours. The highlight of the website so far is this video which reminds Thais of their lost territories in the region:

Observe that the fourteenth slice of lost territory is Preah Vihear. The nationalistic theme tune and animated disintegration of Thailand is all a jingoist needs to feel deep lament and the throb of national pride.

Elsewhere on the site one can exchange sentiments with fellow nationalists such as this one between ‘Highway 311′ and ‘Micheal’:

“I think all what you described is Thailand. Every country has its pollution, alcoholism problems, politics that are not so stabel and so on. But you know my big brother I love Thailand as same as you.”

Micheal

It is clear the site has already made significant contributions to national reconciliation through debate and I look forward to even more insight through development of the forum which has made a terrific start:

I’m just saying Hello

Hi Michael I also tell you Hello!

HI  Michael

nice to meet you

Thanks for saying hallo

I look forward to more expressions of love for Thailand on ilovethailand.org

KC: Not sure how widely distributed these photographs are, but I thought the pictures would interest readers, particularly those of Abhisit and Chuan Leekpai and Abhisit and Korn Chatikavanij. Unfortunately I do not have dates or location information for the images.

Abhisit and former prime minister Chuan Leekpai

Abhisit and Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij

Bangkok Post

United front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leader Jatuporn Promphan claimed on Tuesday he had new evidence proving a red-shirt protester was killed at the Ministry of the Interior during the Songkran riots.

Mr Jatuporn, a Puea Thai MP, said a well wisher had given a picture showing state authorities dragging away the dead body of a demonstrator in a red shirt to Suporn Atthawong, another UDD leader.

Mr Jatuporn said he would show the picture at a gathering of red-shirt people at Sanam Luang on June 27.

He said there would be four gatherings of UDD supporters - at Sanam Luang, Victory Monument, army headquarters and Government House.

No decision had been made on whether to prolong the demonstrations, he said.

KC: The June 27 rally is a real test for the Red Shirts and will hopefully answer some burning questions about the movement. For example, it will be interesting to see how many protesters turn up for these demonstrations, the largest planned since the Songkran riots, in order to ascertain how potent the Red Shirts are post-Songkran. Moreover, how much emphasis will Red Shirt leaders give to Thaksin Shinawatra in the context of on-going debates regarding the reduced significance of Thaksin to the movement’s cause(s)? Undoubtedly, Thaksin will still feature prominently, but will his role be played-down and will the Red Shirts leaders’ rhetoric regarding the nature of the movement and its links to Thaksin change? Furthermore, will we see enhanced roles for figures ‘untainted’ by the Songkran events? Held at multiple sites, including the symbolic Victory Monument and the army headquarters, the protests will offer a renewed insight into both the internal dynamics of this complex and ever-evolving movement, its popularity, support-base and leadership and the strategies of the Abhisit administration towards the Red Shirts.

KC: Please see my previous posts on the mystery containers here, here and here. (Note: The Nation’s reports are not edited for mistakes).

The Nation

Following a fishing boats’ discovery of eight sealed containers under the sea, the government assigned Central Institute of Forensic Science director Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan to work with the Royal Thai Navy to find what was inside.

Yesterday a diving team, with media members and officials went to Chong Sam San, eight sea miles off the Sam San port to inspect one container. KC: Only one container has been located by authorities out of the possible eight. No explanation has been offered regarding the human remains found around a container on the sea-bed.

The first diving team went down with a dosimeter and detected no radiation harmful to humans. A second diving team followed to record the inspection with an underwater camera.

The container was lying sideways on the sandy seabed some 20 meters below, with a 50cmwide squareshaped hole. The camera slipped into the hole found a ladder inside, suggesting it was a containerturnedoffice space. [An office space? So that's where Jakrapob is organising his armed rebellion!] The officials also collected water samples from inside the container through a syringe, and sand samples for further testing.

After the inspection, Porntip met local residents at the Thai Island and Sea Natural History Museum to tell them of the team’s procedure and progress. Tambon Sam San residents had feared the containers might have toxins and the leaks would affect their vocations.

Porntip said she wanted opinion from the people, especially those in fishing, to make the operation more efficient, cheaper and safer.

She said they had problems finding the containers and called in the First Navy Area Command to collect information, especially from fishing boats with modern equipment.

Captain Panom Kuanpradit, deputy director of the command’s Operations Department, said attempts to locate the underwater containers were difficult and minesweeper boats were sent to search for them. Fishing boats were asked to note the location and alert the command or the Fishery Department’s radio communication centre if they spotted anything suspicious.

Tambon Sam San kamnan Pramote Thowsakul said the government had spent large sums to determine what was inside the containers -  a good thing because local people would no longer wonder about them. He said they had feared the containers might contain toxins and didn’t support the idea of drilling them open for fear of dangerous leaks into the seawater. Marine life, the fishing business and tourism would be affected, he added.

KC: So, that’s OK then, case closed! What about the human skeletons found on the sea bed? What about the other containers reportedly sighted by fishermen? And any chance of a more detailed explanation by The Nation on the container’s contents: “The camera slipped into the hole found a ladder inside, suggesting it was a containerturnedoffice space.” A ladder? An office space? The ladder suggests it was an office space? An underwater office space? The Nation’s reporting gets more and more bizarre. But on a serious note, this explanation is far from satisfactory, although one suspects it may be the final say on a story that the authorities wish would disappear.

KC: This Bangkok Post editorial is a response to a tumultuous week in the deep South defined by a militant attack on Thai-Muslim worshippers in a mosque in Narathiwat’s Cho Airong district. The attack killed 10 people. Reports and commentary on recent events can be found here, here and here via the Bangkok Post and here via Deep South Watch. To understand the historical roots of these contemporary events I would recommend reading Thanet Aphornsuwan’s “Rebellion in Southern Thailand: Contending Histories (2007). It is available here via Amazon.

Bangkok Post

The atrocities of the past week in the South, capped by the unprecedented massacre on Monday at the Al-Kulkon mosque, must serve as a warning.

The government and security forces are not simply stymied in this bloody conflict. They are in imminent danger of losing - if not the actual confrontation, then the confidence and energy of this vital part of the country. [KC: The Abhisit government has been largely ineffectual in the deep South and pre-occupied with Bangkok politics and his own legitimacy as prime minister. The neglected issues of the deep South have now blown up in his face.]

For some two weeks, violent forces have dominated [been reported in] the news and destroyed lives and property at will. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and others have appeared unable to influence the clearly deteriorating situation.

Mr Abhisit’s flying visit to Malaysia on Monday had tragic overtones. Just before he left to discuss the South with his counterpart Najib Razak, insurgent bomb and death squads killed two people and wounded 19 in attacks on volunteer guards and a business block. Just after he returned, armed men burst into a mosque in Narathiwat province and opened fire on defenceless worshippers at evening prayers. Ten innocent men were killed and 12 others were wounded.

The mosque attackers and bombers escaped. So did the men who shot and killed two teachers last week, one of them eight months’ pregnant. Still at large are the men who attacked and bombed a pickup truck carrying other teachers home. Also running free are the men responsible for attacks on schools in several southern districts the day after schools reopened.

Thousands of rangers, police and soldiers [and paramilitary groups] were unable to detect the planting of eight bombs in and around Yala province town on the day of the Red Cross Fair, or to find those responsible.

The past week has again demonstrated in the most bloody terms that the violent gangs of the South strike when and how they want. No one can doubt the bravery and dedication of the security forces on the scene in the South. They often achieve good results, by arresting extremist followers or finding a bomb before it goes off.

The truth, however, is that the men and women defending the South, and the solid citizens of that region, are being worn down by a bloody-minded force they know little about. Last week, Mr Abhisit admitted as much, and held a conference with security chiefs in Bangkok. In just three days following his pledge to rethink southern strategy, the bombs and bullets have taken an horrendous toll.

Mr Abhisit’s visit to Kuala Lumpur was distressingly familiar. He and Premier Najib Razak discussed the same old plans, harking back to the Thaksin days, of aiding the deep South in building economic prosperity, creating opportunities, building vocational skills. And it might be helpful if such plans ever materialised. But the South has become a major security problem. It is contained, but it continues to grow and could break out of the region.

The scale of violence requires a critical rethink of policy. Mr Abhisit needs to set aside or delegate the dreams of economic development. He must follow through on last week’s promise to come up with new strategy and tactics to suppress the violent gangs and treat this as a matter of urgency.

He must also follow up on his promise to give justice to the South, where little fairness actually exists.

The barbaric attacks of these past weeks in the South present a clear challenge to the government. Mr Abhisit must rise to the situation, take clear steps to protect southern people and provide them with true justice. Otherwise, he will be in danger of losing the confidence of that beleaguered region.

KC: This editorial rightly states that lack of justice is a key factor determining events in the southern border region, but Abhisit’s rhetoric usually centres on economic development as a solution to the southern violence. The deep South has been long neglected economically by successive Thai governments, especially compared with other regions and provinces across the country. However, it has been argued by prominent western scholars that economic disparity is not the principal factor motivating extremists (see McCargo, D., (2008) “Tearing Apart the Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand“). The southern violence is clearly a major security issue, but the real and long-lasting solution to the problem may be too bitter a pill for the politicians, miliatry and general population to swallow. It is the unmentionable word…  ‘autonomy’. Until substantive autonomy is given to the southern border provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani the violence will continue, innocent people will suffer and die and the political and military mandarins in Bangkok will continue to look weak and ineffectual. Bangkok must accept the fallacy of the unitary , racially homogeneous Thai state and embrace the country’s real character as an ethnically and culturally diverse territory with complex peripheries which clearly want a say in running their own affairs.

Bangkok Post

The family of the late actor David Carradine have launched strong anti-Thailand criticism touched off by the death of the TV and movie star.

They are “profoundly disturbed” by publication of a forensics photo in a Bangkok newspaper, claim that the Thai pathologist is incompetent, [KC: First time I have ever heard this charge levied at Khunying Pornthip] want to go around the Thai police with FBI investigators - and threaten to sue any Thai media printing additional photos of Carradine after his death.

US authorities have not answered the family’s demands for help from the FBI and an independent pathologist - at least officially.

But Thai authorities have been restrained in their reaction.

“I am confident we are working on the right track,” Pol Col Somprasong Yenthaum, who is leading the probe, told the French news agency AFP.

“US embassy representatives saw every step of the investigation process in the hotel room.”

He said Carradine’s relatives had the right to seek help from the FBI, but added that the bureau would have to contact Thailand’s attorney general who would then decide whether to forward the request to the police.

“We can work with FBI if they request and their request is passed. But if they don’t come, we can do our jobs,” he added.

Chief forensic investigator on the case is Thailand’s chief pathologist, Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand, who is director of the Forensic Science Institute. She is well known internationally, and considered a highly credible state official.

Her initial autopsy report revealed that the actor died from a sudden lack of oxygen and his body showed no signs of struggle. She has promised a final report on Carradine’s death in three to four weeks.

Carradine’s brother Keith has filed reports with the FBI that could lead to the agency’s involvement, said Mark Geragos, attorney for the “Kung Fu” actor’s half-brother. The FBI confirmed that Carradine’s family had contacted the agency.

The body of the dead actor has been sent to the US after the Thai autopsy. The actor’s family said they hope the body will arrive in Los Angeles by Monday.

The family will also seek an independent autopsy by famed US forensic pathologist Dr Michael Baden to determine whether another person could have been involved,

A chambermaid found Carradine’s body Thursday in a closet in his room at the Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel. Thai authorities said they have all but ruled out foul play, based on surveillance footage and interviews with hotel staff that indicate no one was in Carradine’s room before he died, said Pol Col Somprasong.

It has been widely speculated that the actor accidentally asphyxiated himself while involved in masturbation.

A grainy photo published on the Saturday front page of Thai Rath newspaper shows a naked body suspended from a clothes bar in a hotel closet, hands apparently bound together above the head and feet on the floor. The face is blacked out and other areas are obscured.

The paper did not indicate the source of the image, but Thai police said they believed it was a picture of Carradine’s body taken by a forensics team.

Keith Carradine said in a statement that the family was “profoundly disturbed by the release in Thailand of photographs taken at the scene of David Carradine’s death,” and threatened legal action against further distribution.

KC: It is disgraceful, but not surprising that Thai Rath published this picture. The newspaper, Thailand’s most widely-read rag, has a long history of insensitivity and disregard for the families of the deceased (See this post by the Bangkok Bugle which also raises interesting questions over David Carradine’s family’s intention to take legal action).

Carradine’s family are angry with Thailand because of the publication of the photgraph and for what they see as incompentence on behalf of Pornthip and the police. “Thai authorities said they have all but ruled out foul play, based on surveillance footage and interviews with hotel staff that indicate no one was in Carradine’s room before he died, said Pol Col Somprasong” Thai police are certainly often quick to rule out foul play, preferring a quick explanation if one can be found, especially in cases with ramifications for Thailand’s international reputation and image.

We must now await Pornthip’s final autopsy report and the report of US forensic pathologist Dr Michael Baden.

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