2BANGKOK.COM'S
NEWS AND VIEWS
MAY 2004
Democrat Party campaign
song - May 26, 2004
In the 2Bangkok.com
forum 'ttaaee' translated and commented on the Democrats'
campaign song:
...I guess they're trying to reach young voters by using
this song, Mueang Kong Rao (Our City or Our Bangkok) written
by a famous pop song composer, Boy Kosiyapong, and sung
by the candidate from the Democrat party himself, Apirak
Kosayothin. I guess it works right on the target since I've
already got 2 emails from my friends (younger ones, of course)
telling me about this song.
Visit the campaign website, Our
Bangkok (in Thai). Listen to the song, Our
Bangkok (in Thai, as well)
Roughly translated version of the song:
|
Have you ever
had this question:
When our city will be livable and beautiful
Where smiles can be found everywhere on the streets
Where all bad news in the newspapers are so short
Where heartwarming can be felt everywhere
It's all up to us (our generation)
if we want to make it happen
It's all up to us, let's not wait for anyone else
If we'd start today,
The day our dream comes true wouldn't be too far
There is no us nor them (no discrimination)
We'll all live together like a big family
Where you'll be comforted when you're down
Wouldn't you like that? |
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
Unidentified
flying fat man - 12:41pm, May
30, 2004
A traffic-stopping promotional balloon over the Major
Ratchayothin parking lot.
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
A
tale of two websites - The Nation,
May 27, 2004
The Nation has a "tale of two websites"
about dueling political party websites: ...For the first
time, both parties used their websites to launch attacks
and counterattacks against one another. The
Democrat Party’s website screamed: “Parliament
taken over, opposition gagged”, minutes after Democrat
MPs staged a walkout to protest what they described as the
Thai Rak Thai-led government’s unfair allotment of
air time during the Thaksin administration’s annual
performance review, which started yesterday.
The Thai Rak Thai’s
website hit back: “Cheap shot! Democracy undermined
by irresponsible, unreasonable opposition.”
Earlier: Tale
of two newspapers - May 20, 2004
The Post mentions that all parties must "play
by the rules" in a secondary article about the censure
debate. The Nation leads with a screaming "Censure
Outrage" headline.
Also: Democrat Party: Policies
'will finally bankrupt economy' - The Nation,
May 26, 2004
Due to the populist policies, the country had accumulated
a high level of debt that may threaten the Kingdom's future
economic stability, Democrat party-list MP Sansern Samalapa
said.
Government debt has not only increased to close to 50 per
cent of gross national product, but loans at state-owned
financial institutions have ballooned by 185 per cent from
Bt350 billion three years ago to Bt1 trillion as of last
December. This off-budget spending was not reported as government
debt...
Okinawa-based
Marines join forces with Thai troops at Cobra Gold '04
- Stars and Stripes, May 25,2 004
US and Royal Thai Marines
— fought an imaginary enemy in an operation dubbed
Ironfist — part of the Cobra Gold exercise.
Six thousand Marines are in Thailand for Cobra Gold 2004,
including 4,000 from the Okinawa-based 3rd Marine Division
and 2,000 from Okinawa’s 31st Marine Expeditionary
Unit.
Elements of the 3rd Marine Division’s Combat Engineers
Company and Combat Assault Battalion assembled Sunday
as Task Force Ironfist for the live-fire shoot at Bahn
Chen Krem, deep in the jungle of southern Thailand.
The exercise involved simultaneous breaches of two minefields
protected by berms and “enemy infantry” dug
in on high ground behind them. The operation began with
a diversionary attack by US amphibious assault vehicles
(AAVs) designed to distract the enemy’s attention
from the mine-clearing operations...
“I like driving and running over stuff,” he
said.
Grand
plans for shopping square - The
Nation, May 26, 2004
This news about a Bangkok Champs-Elysee (first proposed
in 1997) and revival of the Royal
Rajdamri in the Crucible
of Construction seems to come up every four months or
so and here it is again: Leading hoteliers and shopping-centre
operators around Rajprasong Intersection have joined forces
in an attempt to turn the area into a Thai version of Paris’s
Champs-Elysee, London’s Oxford Street and Singapore’s
Orchard Road...
In 2002 when Thailand welcomed 9 million tourists, half
of them shopped at Rajprasong, helping the area generate
Bt92 billion out of total tourism revenue of Bt323 billion.
In the same year, Oxford Street welcomed 8.5 million shoppers,
the Champs-Elysee 8 million and Orchard Road 6.4 million.
To cash in on the cooperation, Maneeya Group will revive
the construction of a five-star hotel – Royal Rajdamri
– which had been shelved since the 1997 economic crisis,
managing director MR Tinasakti Saktidej Hanubandh said.
More on the Crucible
of Construction
Thailand
mentioned in Amnesty report - Amnesty
International, May 26, 2004
The government launched a three-month anti-drugs campaign
in February, during which 2,245 people were killed, according
to police reports. The authorities claimed that the vast
majority of deaths were as a result of drug traffickers
killing one another, rather than killings by the police.
Four people were executed during the year, all by lethal
injection, which replaced the firing squad as a method of
execution in October. Groups such as land rights activists,
people opposing infrastructure projects, tribal people and
migrant workers continued to face abuses and were not adequately
protected by the government.
QH to resume
Sathon project - Bangkok Post,
May 26, 2004
This is that extreme derelict project (just a few stories
completed) on the corner of South Sathorn Road: Listed
developer Quality Houses Plc (QH) plans to spend 1.6 billion
baht to resume construction of its suspended office building
in the Lumphini area, which by 2006 is expected to generate
annual revenue of 300 million baht, says CEO Rutt Phanijphand.
The company yesterday signed an agreement to hire Italian-Thai
Development Plc to finish the Q House Lumphini project,
located on the corner of South Sathon Road close to the
Thai-Belgium Bridge. Work has already been started and is
scheduled to be completed by the end of 2005.
Work on the three-billion-baht office building, about 10%
completed, had been suspended after the 1997 economic crisis...
What happened to the Peoples' Progress
supplement? - May 25, 2004
The Bangkok Post's special
supplement on the events of October 1973, Peoples'
Progress, was one of the most comprehensive examinations
of what has changed since the watershed protests.
It was especially notable for mentioning events and
issues rarely reported in English such as the 'red
drum massacres,' the Thai labor movement as a spent
force, local politics remaining powerless, and modern
media turning its back on grassroots issues.
Strangely enough, while other Post specials
remain linked on their front page for years after
publication, Peoples' Progress has already
disappeared from the site (but the broken link
is still on the front
page).
It is entirely possible that the articles are somewhere
else on the chaotic and ever-changing Post
site, but we have been unable to locate them or get
anyone at the Post to comment on this. It is
notable that the editor of Peoples' Progress
was Veera Prateepchaikul, the Post editor later
fired
due to government pressure. |
 |
Tale of two newspapers:
Censure Debate - May 20, 2004
The Post mentions that all parties must "play
by the rules" in a secondary article about the censure
debate. The Nation leads with a screaming "Censure
Outrage" headline. Contrast the Abhisit 'quotes.'
|
Suchart
escapes censure
- Bangkok Post, May 20, 2004
The government and the opposition had to "play
by the rules" last night, citing the constitution
and parliamentary meeting regulations in their arguments
over whether Deputy Prime Minister Suchart Jaovisidha
could be grilled over his alleged involvement in
irregularities during his spell as finance minister...
Democrat MP Abhisit Vejjajiva said the "verdict"
would affect the parliamentary system and future
censure debates.
|
NO-CONFIDENCE
MOTION: Censure outrage
- The Nation, May 20, 2004
The censure debate deteriorated into a tumultuous
farce yesterday when the House speaker and one of
his deputies sided with government MPs in their controversial
attempts to shield key Cabinet members and Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawa-tra from stinging opposition attacks...
“Does this mean you can do whatever you like
as a Cabinet member, as you can always get away with
it after a Cabinet reshuffle?” Deputy Democrat
leader Abhisit Vejjajiva asked Somsak. “This
is a very dangerous precedent.”...
Meanwhile, Parliament was buzzing with rumours yesterday
that some government MPs had each been paid Bt50,000
by a senior government official to disrupt the debate
by protesting. |
Thai
film at Cannes - May 26, 2004
Don Entz points this article about the highly unusual decision
by the Cannes jury to explain its choices to reporters.
Here's what was said about the Thai film that won a jury
prize: ...The jury did not reveal individual votes but
hinted at some differences. Its jury prize for the Thai
film "Sud Pralad," which sharply divided Cannes
audiences, also split the jury, "but some of us were
moved by that film to a staggering degree," Tarantino
said, and so dissenters on the jury respected their passion.
Earlier:
Gay
Isaan movie wins hearts, prize at Cannes
- The Nation, May 24, 2004
..."Tropical Malady" stood out from the other
19 films in competition because of its personal, less-commercial
style, critics said.
Earlier:
News from Cannes - May 21, 2003
Don Entz points out the latest
comments from the Cannes Film Festival: Two other
official entries left me more than indifferent. Both "Sud
Pralad," from Thailand, and "Woman Is the Future
of Man," from Korea, were reluctant to reveal a structure
or purpose, and meandered through artsy nothingness. The
Korean film at least centers on three characters we're free
to speculate about as they drift through a reunion, but
the Thai film was a meditation on portentous but incoherent
themes.
Earlier: Thai
debut in Cannes competition bewilders critics -
Reuters, May 18, 2004
Thailand made its debut in the Cannes film festival competition
Tuesday but the surreal jungle allegory "Tropical Malady"
left critics bemused.
Some walked out of the press screening, others booed at
the end of a movie that clearly bewildered them...
Media
fan anti-Thai feelings in Phnom Penh -
The Nation, May 24, 2004
...The latest victim was Thai Ambassador to Cambodia
Piyawat Niyomrerks, who gave an interview to a group of
Khmer-language dailies on the important role of the Thai
and Cambodian media in bilateral ties.
Some of the dailies, however, regarded the envoy's comments
as insulting and demanded he issue an apology. The demands
were all made by papers affiliated with the Sam Rainsy Party.
The SRP has a history of exploiting nationalistic feelings
against Vietnam, claiming the neighbouring country has invaded
Khmer territory and that Cambodia is being overrun with
Vietnamese. Now, it appears to be trying the tactic with
Thailand.
The Cambodian media's criticism of Thailand has intensified
since the general election in July last year failed to produce
a coalition government of the major parties, the Cambodia
People's Party, Funcinpec and the SRP. Some observers say
Thailand has been targeted by the Cambodian political parties
through the media in an effort to drum up more popular support
to increase their leverage at the negotiating table. Arousing
feelings of nationalism is a common tactic here that often
brings successful results.
Rama VIII photos
- May 22, 2004
You have probably seen some of these before, but here is
the full set (zipped, 331kb) of
poignant boyhood photos of King Rama VIII. Apparently from
the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington,
D.C.
See also the Rama
VIII Bridge
Knife
fighting classes - The Nation,
May 16, 2004
Carleton Cole wrote about knife-fighting classes being given
at the Bangkok
Fight Club: ..."Self-defence is always something
useful for a guy like myself who travels around the world
and goes out late at night drinking and may wander down
dark streets," says Mike, an English-teaching American
in Bangkok who wants to have better awareness of his person
in uncomfortable situations and be better equipped to deal
with unsavoury characters – like the quick-fingered
katoey who lifted his wallet in an alley the night before
the seminar.
City of Ghosts
- May 22, 2004
Don Entz points out Gordon
Sharpless' review of City of Ghosts shot in Phnom Pehn.
Updated monastic code warns against too
much internet - May 20, 2004
From Boingboing.net: The updated Pratimoksha (Buddhist Monastic
Code) via Vietnamese Buddhist sources was posted
on the net and has direction about spending too much
idle time on the net:
44. A bhikshu who has his private e-mail account with
the result that he spends an inordinate amount of time in
making unnecessary communications or communications which
foster attachment commits an offence for which he must express
regret...
46. A bhikshu who plays electronic games including those
on the computer, commits an offence for which he must express
regret.
Jula Thes - May
17, 2004
The Nation has an intriguing article: Buying
Liverpool - an impeachable offence? Someone named "Jula
Thes" suggests the Prime Minister should be impeached
over the Liverpool deal. The author is described as "a
long-time observer of Thai politics and Constitutional law
reform." We could only find one other article by this
person (Constitution
Court must clarify precedents, August 10, 2001). Is
the name a pseudonym? Anyone know who this person is?
No
going back to Cambodia for factory inspector -
The Nation, May 14, 2004
...Waraporn said she was forced to go along with the
factory's request.
"At first, I refused to apologise as it was not me
who made the alleged claim. But later I changed my mind
for my own safety as the situation might have turned ugly.
The workers outside made a louder and louder noise. I
was very scared."
However, she objected when asked to kneel while expressing
the apology. "I agreed to apologise although I felt
that action badly hurt my dignity," she added...
China's
widening footprint prompts trepidation
- Los Angeles Times, May 16, 2004
From daybreak till past nightfall, Xu Ximing is on
the move, rushing between his potato farm, rubber plantation,
fish ponds and orange grove.
The Chinese migrant's enterprising ways contrast sharply
with the languid lifestyle of his Lao neighbors. He hires
them to work his fields.
Xu, 60, moved to Laos with six family members, joining
in a swelling stream of Chinese drifting southward into
Southeast Asia in search of economic opportunities, more
elbow room and fewer restrictions.
Brick-makers, scrap-metal dealers, ice cream vendors,
road-builders and farmers are sinking roots in northern
Laos. Some frontier areas of Myanmar could easily be mistaken
for China, with only the yuan currency and Chinese language
in use. Deeper in Southeast Asia, illegal migrants filter
into northern Thailand and set up restaurants and health
clinics in Cambodia...
Peking University's Institute of International Relations
recently suggested that China might hark back to the tributary
system conceived under the Ming Dynasty, founded in the
14th century, to ensure a circle of stability around the
Middle Kingdom. Under this, China regarded itself as the
very heart of the region from which meticulously calculated
tributes were mandated. For example, Thailand, then known
as Siam, sent ivory every four years, while Myanmar shipped
precious stones every decade. In return, China's emperors
bestowed favors, in principle more generous than they
received.
...The once sleepy northern Thai town of Chiang Saen has
been converted into a buzzing Mekong River port to accommodate
the burgeoning trade with China. Recently, hundreds of
workers clambered up the steep riverbank, hauling crates
of apples and pears from a Chinese barge. These were rapidly
loaded onto trucks bound for destinations as distant as
Singapore.
Up the road, Thais funneled through a border checkpoint
into the town of Tachileik in Myanmar to stock up on everything
from dried mushrooms to panties, toys and fake compact
discs, all Chinese-made...
In an often-heard remark, they lament: "Laos is empty;
China is full--and recently a couple of leaks have sprung
up at the bottom end of China."
Bangkok Post covers the Black May
anniversary - May 16, 2004
Royal Hotel remembered
as safe haven - Bangkok Post, May 16, 2004
...In particular, Mr Issara said he would never forget
the morning of May 19, when security forces combed the hotel
in search of protesters.
After the security forces had left, more than 40 suspects
emerged from their hiding places at the hotel, looking dazed
and confused. ``I don't know who they were, or which side
they belonged to,'' he said. ``All I thought was, they would
have been arrested if we allowed them to walk out of the
hotel in their condition.''
So, Mr Issara provided them with hotel uniforms for waiters,
bell boys, drivers and cleaners, and staff badges to use
in the event they were stopped by police.
Shortly after, the hotel was showered with bouquets of flowers
and thank-you notes from grateful parents...
The hotel is inarguably steeped in recent history. During
the 1973 uprising, a young Praphat Panyachartrak stood under
a tamarind tree outside the hotel, wielding a club while
surrounded by soldiers. He later became a cabinet minister
under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, until a recent
reshuffle.
Site remains top rallying
point - Recent history raises stature of 3-star hotel
- Bangkok Post, May 16, 2004
...Mr Suwit said many activists hold the hotel in special
regard.
"It is a kind of ever-lasting bond after surviving
these crises,'' he said adding several of his foreign colleagues
had chosen to stay at the hotel when visiting Bangkok because
of its history.
Women's Rights Protection Centre chairwoman Supensri Pungkoaksoong
said she was impressed with the hotel staff's attitude,
particularly toward the poor.
"Many of those who attend our workshops are underprivileged,
but they use this hotel without fear of being looked down
upon,'' she said.
Relatives say govt reluctant
to help - Bangkok Post, May 16, 2004
Viruses
and international connectivity
- May 13, 2004Cormac
Bracken points out some interesting facts
about the net in Thailand: According to
Nectec
30-40% of emails in Thailand contain a virus!
On the same page, you can see the bandwidth
internationally and within Thailand. International
is about 10% of local even though there are
hardly any locally-hosted sites.
...Thailand's international pipes total 1.5
Gbps. Malaysia, with 1/3 of the population,
has 26.8
Gbps.
Thailand's
gold rush for God -
Asia Times, May 15, 2004
Rather meandering article about missionaries
in Thailand that includes various interesting
quotes including the Akha activist Matthew
McDaniel calling missionary work 'fascism'.
...Thailand is undergoing a spiritual "gold
rush" because its "heathen"
tribes hold promise for missionaries, who
face few restrictions, as communities from
which to reach millions more brethren scattered
across the hard-to-reach peaks of Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Yunnan in southern
China...
A sharp increase in foundation-status applications
from missions has raised official eyebrows.
"We want to know what's behind them,
their real intentions, what they want with
the children," said Sergeant Sukich Surin
of the Tourist Police. "The Thai government
is very concerned about this now."
What
is Thai style? - Business
Times, May 15, 2004
...This appealing and tremendously popular
look experienced a growth spurt over a relatively
short period, developing into a global trend,
but almost inevitably, it also led to over-exposure
as Thai Style was exported - practically wholesale
- all over the world, with varying degrees
of success. While it still carries a pleasing
aesthetic quality, especially when properly
and sensitively executed, those in search
of something more elusive - such as outright
originality - have started to look elsewhere.
Thailand's reputation as a centre for Asian
craftsmanship remains undiminished and the
design-conscious crowd still flocks to Thailand
in droves, but Thai Style itself has morphed
into something completely different. There
has been a gradual shift towards a less conventional,
more contemporary approach to interior design,
spearheaded by a group of progressive young
Thai designers who have recognised the need
to stop living the cliche, as it were, and
to start thinking BIG - as in the Bangkok
International Gift Fair, the long-running
and highly successful trade event that has
become the premier showcase for interesting
new ideas in the lucrative product design,
home accessory and decorative item industries.
Health
warning on excessive durian consumption
- Channel News Asia, May 12, 2004
thaivisa.com points out: ...Thailand's
Ministry of Public Health issued a warning
against excessive durian consumption because
of its high calorific content. The move comes
after the death of a Singburi civil servant
on Tuesday who died, literally, of a surfeit
of durians, having eaten four in close succession.
This reminds us of the Durian
and whiskey equals death story.
Elephants:
the new beggars of Bangkok
- Pacific News Service, May 11, 2004
Nothing insightful about the article at all
(the author is probably a tourist passing
through the area), but it does demonstrate
how the once-vaunted ban on elephants in Bangkok
is apparently no longer being enforced.
Thai
soccer craze - May 11,
2003
Fun article how how popular English football
is in Thailand: Student Visaruth Hemindra
owns hundreds of videotapes of English soccer
matches. His wardrobe is stuffed with replica
uniforms of his favorite teams. His bedroom
table is piled high with portraits of the
players he idolizes...
A tale
of two headlines: Same article, different headline
- May 10, 2004
Conor Bracken found this example of the exact
same story running under completely different
headlines:
Baltimore Sun - Thai
leader riding wave of popularity to election
- Thanksin poised to serve term, a first for
Thailand (Note that he is “Thanksin”)
Houston Chronicle - Thailand's
popular prime minister slipping in polls - Critics
target his drug policy, leadership style
Photos from the Charn Issara
II Tower - May 10,
2004
Nils points out: ...on Frank
Paschold's photo page [mentioned on
2Bangkok.com last week], go to "Fensterputzer"
(window cleaners), you will find some nice shots
taken from the Charn Issara II Tower (Siemens
Thailand HQ) looking over the New Phetburi area.
The shots of the window washers are great!
Ealrlier: Frank Paschold has some
photos on his site of the incredible "vertical
wreck"-- the Pak One gas tanker suspended
in the Gulf of Thailand.
Rivals
set for Liverpool fight -
BBC, May 11, 2004
Paul pointed out this interesting background on
the Liverpool deal from BBC: Millionaire Liverpool
fan Steve Morgan wants to plough 73m into the club
- in a bid to prevent Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra buying a 30% stake.
...However, the cash will come from Thai public
funds rather than Thaksin himself as was previously
thought.
"We will buy in the name of Thailand,"
said government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair after
a cabinet announcement.
"The Thai government is the one that negotiated
the deal, not Thaksin and most of the money will
come from public funds," Jakrapob added ahead
of a formal announcement to be held at an undisclosed
time in the future...
Also: BBC's profile of Thaksin: Billionaire
hoping to score Liverpool deal. This articles
seems to be suspiciously similar to the Bangkok
Post's profile
of Thaksin from the 2001 elections.
We just like this headline
for an article about Burmese refugees: ...Now,
plans are afoot to resettle 2,000 Burmese dissidents
living along the border in Thailand to the US. Interviews
are underway to determine who will leave for their
new homes in America this coming June or July. At
least they won’t have to constantly look over
their shoulders to keep tabs on the immigration
police.
But Ft Wayne, Indiana, is not exactly Rangoon, and
many Burmese in Thailand fear that the movement
is losing talented Burmese, who will relocate only
to “disappear in the foreign land”, in
the words of one exile.
Burma already has thousands of internally displaced
persons in Karen, Mon and Shan states. Now the country
has an increasing number of “externally displaced
persons”, with new lives in democratic countries,
with low morale and a burning desire to return home—where
they belong.
Horrors
of house buying - Time,
May 4, 2004
Don Entz pointed out this mention of Thai house buying
in the latest issue of Time: ...Soon after, the
general's wife started showing up with a gang of cronies
(including monks), yelling, haranguing, even singing.
We received threatening letters in mangled legalese.
Gun magazines ominously appeared in the mailbox, along
with almost daily missives from debt collectors. One
morning the general himself appeared—in military
fatigues, frothing at the mouth—and threatened
to put me in a coffin. He pulled out a pistol-shape
package, brandished it, then drove away...
The police told us we had every right to stay. They
began to put together a case against the general for
forgery and fraud... Nor was he a general, police
said, merely a middle-ranking officer who had been
kicked out of the air force for misconduct.
A warrant has now been issued for his arrest, and
the police have set up a checkpoint outside the house.
A cop comes by every three or four hours. In the meantime,
we live in limbo.
On a sidebar:... Swindles are rife--a common one
is to sell a house but keep the land on a separate
title.
Interesting and strange articles
- May 8, 2004
* Thai
Premier Could Be Overthrown: Observers. Consider
the source though...
* Ancient
shipwreck in Thai Gulf a precious find (IANS,
May 7, 2004)
Traces of a 400-year-old junk, or a traditional
Chinese sailing ship, discovered by archaeologists
in the Gulf of Thailand, could prove to be an important
archaeological find, reports Xinhua...
Naval personnel first got an inkling of the ancient
vessel last year when they retrieved the wreckage
of a sunken gas tanker just two nautical miles away...
[This is probably the 'vertical wreck': (February
17, 2002) Frank Paschold has some
photos on his site
of the incredible "vertical wreck"-- the
Pak One gas tanker suspended in the Gulf of Thailand.
The latest news is that the Thai Navy is waiting for
confirmation from the ship's insurer before blowing
the ship up.]
* And this one is just weird--a paranoid tourist worried
about strange looks from the locals: Wary
tourist arouses suspicions in Bangkok (Seattle
Times, May 7, 2004)
I arrived in Thailand anonymously on a typically
balmy and hazy night. I left as Bangkok's most hated
man. This, you must believe me, was not my aim.
Bridge on the River Kwai site
- May 8, 2004
ttaaee pointed this out in the forum:
Last night, I was watching this documentary, Secrets
of the Dead : Bridge on the River Kwai on TV.
I was fascinated by all facts I hadn't known before,
like, how many POWs lost their lives building the
railway, how fast the railway was built and the railway
we always see on the postcards from Kanchanaburi is
only a small part of the railway still in use, the
rest of it is just lost in the jungle.
What the foreign press thinks of
Thailand - May 5, 2004
Conor Bracken spotted this unflattering reference
to Thailand in the Telegraph and commented
"It’s like you can’t have any kind
of story about Thailand without sneaking in a reference
to sex!"
From Liverpool
FC: the brand with a kick to Thai for, Telegraph,
May 5, 2004
Sir Howard Davies, the former head of the FSA,
now director of the London School of Economics, is
just back from a trip around Asia. He reports that
the Chinese insurance sector is opening up.
British companies are gaining market share ("a
mis-selling scandal must be just around the corner"
is his inevitable comment) and he also spotted a Thai
obsession with Liverpool FC.
"For reasons no one understands, Liverpool remains
the vogue team in Bangkok," he writes in his
diary in this month's Management Today.
"The belief is that the brand has not been properly
exploited. With aggressive marketing, the commercial
spin-offs could be considerable. Can you buy Michael
Owen condoms in Patpong? No, you cannot. There is
clearly business to be done here." The trip wasn't
completely wasted, then."
Redevelopment
study on Thai Embassy site completed
- The Business Times, May 4, 2004
More about the prime Thai Embassy site on Orchard
Road in Singapore: The Thai government is unlikely
to sell the land outright because it has historical
significance. King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) bought it
for the country in 1893. At that time, it cost a mere
$9,000...
Earlier: Redevelopment plan for Thai embassy
- Bangkok Post, September 11, 2003
Anyone who has ever been to the Thai Embassy in Singapore
is usually surprised to find it in one of the prime
locations on Orchard Road. For years people have wondered
why there was not an attempt to redevelop the site.
Last week, the Thai Prime Minister, an astute businessman,
took one look at the site and revived the idea of
developing the area: Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai
said the embassy--rambling old colonial housing and
an office building in a large compound--was an eyesore.
But it was in a prime area on Orchard road, a main
shopping centre. Former Thai envoy to Singapore, Asada
Jayanama, who was posted there from 1989-90, ordered
a feasibility study into putting up a 24-floor building...
Proposals include a shopping centre to promote goods
made by small and medium sized enterprises, including
the one tambon-one product scheme, and tourism, or
swapping it for another area.
Too cloudy to see eclipse
- May 5, 2004
Unfortunately, clouds obscured last night's lunar
eclipse.
Lunar
eclipse tonight - MCOT, May 4, 2004
...The lunar eclipse will be observed from around
midnight until early tomorrow morning, as the moon
is rising from the east, and moving to the west, according
to a news report of TV Channel 5 this morning.
Pushing
onwards: The resurgent Thai labor movement and May
Day 2004 - The Irrawaddy,
May 1, 2004
...This development is a big change from previous
union campaigns against privatization, when previous
governments in the early and mid-1990s successfully
smeared union campaigns as "self-interested"
efforts by the workers to protect their pay packets
and privileges at the expense of the wider interests
of the public.
The unions and their allies have now turned the tables
on the government. After the partial privatizations
of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand and the Airports
Authority of Thailand, in which the families of leading
members of the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party, or TRT,
got the lion’s share of cut-rate shares on offer,
the unions have convinced the general public that
privatizing EGAT through listing on the Stock Exchange
of Thailand is more of the same elite "policy
corruption".
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
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Press
freedom in Myanmar
- The Irrawaddy, May 4, 2004
The Irrawaddy puts up a fascinating page about
press freedom in Myanmar: "If I do
wrong, write about me. If the queens do wrong,
write about them. If my sons and daughters
do wrong, write about them. If the judges
and mayors do wrong, write about them. No
one shall take action against the journalists
for writing the truth. They shall go in and
out of the palace freely." -King Mindon
(1853-1878)
2Bangkok.com is five years
old today - May 1,
2004
May Day
- 2pm, May 1, 2004
Truck with May Day decorations--probably coming
from celebrations at Saman Luang. |
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