Thai Government set for final showdown with Red Shirts

The city of Bangkok remains in a state of civil war as the three-day street riots that have killed 25 people continue. Authorities have declared a 4km radius of the Thai capital around Lumpini Park as a “live firing zone”. The Pattaya Daily News reports the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation is considering ordering a curfew for residents of the affected areas “allegedly so that the military are able to isolate ‘terrorists’ from the innocent civilians”. Around 10,000 United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (Red Shirt) protesters are out on the streets demanding the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva step down. They claim Abhisit came to power illegitimately with the help of the army and have called for parliament to be dissolved. (photo by thethaireport)

The roads in and around the main Ratchaprasong rally site have been barricaded by the military, with water and food trucks being prevented from entering the site in an attempt to force the protesters to disband. Police have also set up checkpoints on Sukhumvit road at Soi Udomsuk to prevent more red shirts from coming in from rural areas. Transport services have been suspended for two days and protesters have barricaded MRT exits with tuk tuks delivering tyres to barricade points across the city. The latest round of fighting in the two month stand-off began late on Thursday as the army moved to isolate a fortified protest camp. Over the next two days 25 people were killed and another 215 injured as the two sides clashed on the streets with reports of army snipers picking off protesters.

Both sides have heightened the rhetoric as more blood has been spilt. This morning an army spokesman announced that some areas of the city would be subject to a curfew. Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said the curfew would be needed “so that police and soldiers can differentiate people from terrorists.” The army has not yet carried out its threat to move against the demonstrators' main rally site unless they dispersed but the curfew is likely to a precursor to a full-scale assault. But as Al Jazeera’s Aela Callan said the threat has not fazed the defenders. "Some of the red shirts I have spoken to have said they're not willing to leave," he said. "They're really hunked in there, they've set up their homes.”

More than 50 people have been killed and 1,600 wounded since the protests began in March. Tensions rose dramatically last week after the Red Shirts rejected Prime Minister Abhisit’s “roadmap” to an election on 14 November. Abhisit wanted anti-government protesters to accept his reconciliation plan and restore peace and stability. Not only did they reject that plan but Red Shirts demanded the prime minister and deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban hand themselves over to the Department of Special Investigations for their involvement in the deaths of 20 civilians following the April 10 clashes. On Thursday Abhisit ran out of patience and sent in the military.

Last night the Prime Minister made a public broadcast from the safety of an army barracks where he defended his decision to use force in the dispersal of the Red Shirts protesters. He argued that it was the only resort after peace negotiations broke down with the key opposition leader Jatuporn Prompan promising to “fight to the end”. The end may well be near for Prompan’s forces but the enmity Abhisit’s actions have caused are likely to have long-term repercussions that may leave Thailand fatally split for years to come.

Thaksin supporters take their melodrama to the streets

Thailand political protesters have decided to spill blood to match their colour-coded red shirts on the streets of Bangkok. Organisers have asked 100,000 marchers to donate blood which will be spilled at the gates of Government House to demonstrate their fierce opposition to the rule of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Apart from the melodramatic nature of the protest, it is a terrible waste of good blood but it shows the determination of those loyal to ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who have been protesting more or less non stop in the 15 months since Abhisit took power. (photo:AP)

Demonstrators lined up to have their blood drawn by nurses, after their leaders vowed to collect "one million cubic centimetres" of blood. Protest leader Nattawut Saikur said if he still wants to continue as prime minister “regardless of our demands, he must walk across Red Shirt people's blood." Another leader Veera Musikapong said the blood was a sacrificial offering “to show our love for the nation, to show our sincerity.” The protesters planned to spill the blood if Abhisit continues to refuse their demands that he resign.

This latest macabre mass protest has entered a third day bringing 50,000 troops and police to Bangkok’s streets. The red shirts are the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship. They are mostly rural and support Thaksin, who now lives in exile in Dubai after he jumped bail on a graft charge. He swept to power in 2001 with their support promising measures to benefit the poor, and most still see him as a hero. Micro-credit and affordable healthcare schemes were two popular policies. They believe the Abhisit Government is illegitimate, because it came to power by virtue of defections rather than by winning an election.

The Oxford educated 45-year-old Abhisit first rose to prominence when he became leader of the Democrat Party in 2005 after its crushing election defeat by Thaksin. After a constitutional crisis Thaksin called a snap election in April 2006 Abhisit boycotted it as did all the other opposition leaders. In the chaos that followed there was supposed to be a second election in September but the military coup put paid to that. Though Abhisit disapproved, he gave support to the interim leader and bided his time. He was defeated again in the election that followed in December 2007 by Samak Sundaravej of the People's Power Party who formed a tenuous six-party coalition.

When Samak was sacked for corruption Abhisit lost out again to Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin’s brother-in-law. But Somchai didn’t last long either. The Constitutional Court banned him and his party for electoral fraud. Many disillusioned MPs defected to the Democrats and Abhisit finally had the numbers. He was elected PM in December 2008. It wasn’t long before the sniff of scandal began to whiff around Abhisit. The opposition accused him of approving false account reports to the electoral commission and filing false information. Abhisit survived a vote of no confidence though the endemic corruption within the Thai body politic continues to dog him. However, the biggest shadow over his leadership remains Thaksin. In March 2009 Thaksin accused the Privy Council of masterminded the 2006 coup that ousted him and then conspiring to make Abhisit leader.

This was the signal for thousands of Thaksin red-shirted supporters to come in from his countryside supporter base to take to the streets. Last year Abhisit declared a state of emergency and he got the army to clear the streets of protesters. This time the catalyst is the constitution court's verdict on 26 February to seize nearly two thirds of Thaksin’s assets. As The Guardian says “For Thaksin, the struggle is now all personal after his assets confiscation. For the reds, the fight is increasingly an organic people's movement to upend the established order. Such all-or-nothing stakes bode ill for Thailand's stable future".

Indian Ocean tsunami fifth anniversary

Incredibly, five years have now passed since the Indian Ocean tsunami struck on 26 December 2004. The scale of the devastation was immense and it occurred on a hemispherical scale. 230,000 lives were lost in 11 countries, five million people were affected and $5 billion of damage was caused by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. (photo by simminch)

The drama of the day started at 7am local time in Indonesia when an earthquake of between 9.1 and 9.3 magnitude struck the sea between the west coast of Sumatra and the small island of Simeule. The event lasted an unprecedented ten minutes tearing a massive rupture 1,600 kms long. Depending on who’s talking it was either the second or third highest magnitude earthquake of the 20th century. Either way it was immense. The shift of mass and the massive release of energy very slightly altered the Earth's rotation. It caused the sea bed to rise several metres displacing billions of tonnes of sea water in the process.

Because of the north-south 1,600km fissure caused by the quake, the greatest waves went east and west. It took about a half hour for the wall of water to reach nearest landfall on the Sumatran Coast. Northern Aceh was worst hit with waves rising 20 metres high and travelling almost a kilometer inland. Some coastal villages were devastated losing up to 70 percent of their inhabitants. In all 167,000 were killed in Indonesia and another 37,000 listed as missing. An estimated 655,000 people were made homeless.

After another hour, the waves hit southern Thailand and its west coast islands. The waves swept locals and tourists off the beaches. 8,000 people died in Phuket, Phi Phi and elsewhere and a similar number were injured. At the same time the westerly-heading waves slammed 10m high into the east coast of Sri Lanka killing another 35,000 people and it made over a million and a half people homeless. A further 68 people died in Malaysia. By another half hour, it was taking severe casualties in India’s Tamil Nadu and Burma. The waves demolished railways, bridges, telecommunications facilities and harbours. The salt water contaminated large tracts of rich arable land.

And still it kept coming. After another 90 minutes, the tsunami engulfed the low-lying Maldives killing 100 people and displacing another 20,000. And two and half hours later still – some six hours after the original quake – the mammoth waves made landfall in Somalia. 300 people died there with 50,000 made homeless and many more livelihoods lost as 2,500 boats were destroyed. Most of the deaths were caused by asphyxiation from the silt and sand within the “black water” of the tsunami.

A massive worldwide relief operation began almost immediately. The biggest ever peacetime launch of military relief effort arrived in Aceh led by emergency teams from Australia, India, Japan and the US. Apart from immediate medical needs, the biggest threat was secondary death from famine and disease. One of the most important early tasks in Sumatra was to provide purification plants and potable water. This was difficult in a region where the Indonesian army was hauling over a thousand bodies a day from the rivers. Forensic scientists were stretched to the limit to identify the deceased. The process was complicated by sweltering heat, inconsistencies in data collection procedures used in various countries, and jurisdictional challenges. Port, road and transport facilities also needed to be restored.

Undermining the recovery effort was the influx of aid workers and media personnel who consumed scarce resources, making the cost of living soar. There were at least 500 journalists and news crews in the affected zone. And the sensationalism of much of the reporting added to the trauma of the survivors. Aceh did eventually recover and the tsunami had one unintended benefit; it brought an end to the long running war between the Indonesian military and Acehnese separatists.

Dealing with earthquakes will always be one of the perils of living in geologically active Sumatra. As recently as October, over 500 people were killed and thousands trapped under rubble when a 7.6 magnitude quake struck West Sumatra. But it will never forget the events of 26 December, 2004. The psychological trauma of confronting 20 metre waves is too deep. As one 10 year old girl told AFP "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't forget. It's the same for my friends who survived.”

From Burma to Brisbane: A tale of Rohingya resilience

Sujauddin Karimuddin apologised unnecessarily for being late meeting me for a coffee. He was delayed next door at the Mater Hospital where a woman was having complications after the birth of her baby. The woman was a Burmese refugee and it was Sujauddin’s job to translate symptoms and orders between doctor and patient. All in a days work for a remarkable young man who himself was a refugee for many years.

Both Sujauddin and the woman in the hospital are Rohingyas, a mostly Muslim people that have been persecuted for decades by Buddhist Burmese military rulers. The notorious 1982 Citizenship Act stripped them of their right to be Burmese. At a stroke of dictator Ne Win’s pen, a people who had lived in north-west Rakhine (formerly Arakan) province for centuries were declared unpeople who had no right to jobs, land, marriage or travel papers.

Sujauddin went to High School in the early 1990s suffering under this injustice. As he admits, he was one of the lucky ones. His father was a wealthy businessman in the sugar town of Kyauktaw and could bribe his way out of most problems. But even he had been arrested on several occasions for minor misdemeanours. Sajuaddin became involved in Rohingya support groups at school and wrote complaint letters to school and government authorities. He was arrested by military intelligence and charged with raising funds for armed groups in Bangladesh. His father came to the rescue and bribed authorities to get him out. But his mother could see the writing on the wall. She advised her son to get out while he could.

Sujauddin left his home town in 1998 and has never been back. Travelling without papers, he made the dangerous journey to the capital Rangoon by boat and truck. Hundreds were arrested on this known refugee route and Sujauddin was picked up at a military checkpoint 100km from Rangoon and sent to a prison camp. Here he had a stroke of good fortune. A new commander from up north was unaware he was a Rohingya and asked him why he was travelling without papers. Sujauddin told him he was just a poor person looking for a job in Rangoon. The commander admonished him and then freed him with a note saying “this boy is respectable”.

The respectable boy’s father had business interests in the capital. The plan was for Sujauddin to stay and manage the business. But he was defeated by Rangoon’s repressive laws. Citizens must report visitors on a daily basis with a penalty of two years imprisonment for non-compliance. After six dangerous months moving from friends to friends, Sujauddin admitted defeat. He hired an "agent” (what Australians pejoratively call “people smugglers”) and took a bus to Thailand. He arrived in Bangkok and sold roti on the streets to survive.

Inevitably he was caught and sent to an Immigration Detention Centre. Here they served him rice and pork. As a Muslim, Sujauddin could not eat the pork, but as there was no other food he starved. He had no energy to walk and was eventually dragged into a truck and deposited on the Thai-Burmese border with orders not to return. He ignored the order. Instead he contacted a cousin in Malaysia and asked him to send him money to come south to Malaysia. He got back to Bangkok where he contacted another “agent” to take him south to the Malay border. After an all night walk across the jungle, Sujauddin arrived in Malaysia in November 1999.

He took the train to Kuala Lumpur where he found a factory job. Because he was illegal, the conditions were pitiless. He earned just 20 ringgits a day for 12 hours work. He worked seven days a week and hid for a year. Eventually every Sunday he managed to escape to the university where he found a Rohingyan professor who taught him English. He would study for three hours before returning to work. He got a better job in a shopping centre but lasted just two months before being arrested for a third time in a third country.

Once again he was taken to a detention centre. On arrival he was ordered to strip naked in front of two thousand inmates. Sujauddin refused. “I am a Muslim,” he said. “I have my dignity”. The prison officers beat him up but he refused to obey the order. Fellow prisoners shouted out for him to obey but despite the kicking and the bleeding, he refused obstinately. “I would rather die,” he said. He did not die, but he did not take off his clothes either. The camp foreman ordered he be dragged away.

After three months imprisonment he was put on a bus with other detainees and driven to a river on the Thai border. The prisoners were loaded onto a boat and pushed off shore with orders not to come back. On the other side they were picked up by Thai gangs who worked with police. They demanded 200 ringgits or else they would sell them for 200 ringgits to local fisherman. Those that were sold into slavery rarely made it out alive. Sujauddin promised to ring his cousin in the morning to pay the ransom. In the middle of the night he escaped his captors and led them on a scary chase through the jungle. Sujauddin could hear his pursuers following on motorbikes but eventually found a highway petrol station where a couple helped him escape back to Malaysia.

He made his way back to Kuala Lumpur where he got another job. This time he struck it lucky and got a job with a fashion designer. He used his English to good effect and gradually made himself indispensable to his employers. Finally having some fixity of tenure, he resumed his activism and helped found the National Council of Rohingyas with his former English teacher. They succeeded in getting the UN High Commission of Refugees to issue a document to allow Rohingyas to get medical treatment in Malaysia. But while doctors recognised the document, the police would not. 12,000 Rohingyan refugees in Malaysia remained vulnerable to arrest at any minute.

In August 2005 Sujauddin arrived in Sydney on a 6 month 309 spouse temporary visa. He then applied for a refugee visa which took another 9 months to process. In the meantime, Sujauddin was keeping himself busy. He joined the local Rohingya support group and became secretary of the Sydney branch. He also became involved in wider Burmese issues. He joined the Burma Campaign Australian and also worked with the Burmese Democratic Movement Association. During the Saffron Revolution he organised support rallies in Sydney.

He moved to Brisbane where he now provides new Rohingyan refugees with cultural and language support. The love for his Rakhine homeland still shines brightly in his eyes and his biggest task now is to be re-united with his family who are now in refugee camps in Bangladesh. He wants the Australian Government to do more to help his repressed people. “I want them to put pressure on the Burmese Government and raise the issue in the UN Security Council,” he said. “Enough is enough. Australia is the western country closest to Burma and should take more responsibility to solve the problem. It’s bad enough for the half million Rohingya in the camps but its worse for the several million still in Burma. It’s our job to provide awareness to the international community so that people know what’s going on”. With that, Sujauddin apologised once more and disappeared into the Brisbane rain. I cycled home, oblivious to the wet, pondering on what it meant to live in a world where freedom could not be taken for granted.

Thailand slowly returns to normal

Bangkok and surrounding districts are slowly returning to normal despite enduring a fifth successive day of emergency rule. The government has extended the Thai New Year's holiday for the rest of the week for "public safety" in case the opposition movement regroup. Today Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva pledged to call elections once stability is restored. Yesterday was the first day since the weekend, the so-called Red Shirt have not been out on the streets demanding the resignation of Abhisit’s four-month-old administration The current Prime Minister was appointed in December after a constitutional court banned that the former government loyal to Thaksin Shinawatra.

The red shirts are followers of the former populist Prime Minister now in exile and are officially called the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD). They wear red to distinguish themselves from pro-monarchical urban elite followers of the Peoples' Alliance for Democracy (PAD) who wear yellow. PAD protests were instrumental in the overthrow of Thaksin’s rule by military coup in September 2006. Thaksin still retains widespread support among Thailand’s rural poor. His UDD followers claim Abhisit is a puppet of the military and have called on him to resign.

Last month 2,000 protesters began holding sit-in protests outside government offices, and prevented the cabinet from meeting. On the weekend, Red Shirt protesters caused major international embarrassment when they stormed a venue in Pattaya forcing the cancellation of a 16 nation regional summit of Asia Pacific leaders. Abhisit responded by declaring a state of emergency. On 12 April, the Thai government also revoked Thaksin’s passport in absentia.

Matters worsened on Sunday when protesters took over the major Din Daeng intersection in the capital. The choice was strategic as it blocked the crossing that led to Bangkok's main military base. At 4am Monday morning, the army made its first charge which drove away the red shirts. By sunrise, the army had control of the intersection while the protesters had retreated to the roads to Victory monument and the city centre.

For several hours there was an uneasy truce. But at mid-morning, the troops were on the march again. Using a drum beat from their batons and riot shields, they advanced on the protesters. The red shirts greeted them with petrol bombs and rocks and set fire to buses and tyres. Soldiers responded by firing at the demonstrators causing dozens of injuries. The protesters scattered among burning vehicles while the army gave chase. The UDD claim two people were killed and 113 injured in the clashes, though the government denies this.

Protesters were then surrounded by heavily armed soldiers for almost 24 hours, prompting the leaders to give in to avoid further bloodshed. On Tuesday protesters finally ended a three-week siege of Abhisit's offices. In a televised address to the nation later that day, Prime Minister Abhisit said people were dispersing and the situation was returning to normal. One UDD supporter admitted the military had made it too dangerous for him to wear the red shirt. Pairoj Chotsripanporn, a 52-year old trader, said he had now swapped the colour for something more neutral. "We will be attacked by this military-backed government,” said Pairoj. “But we will not stop."

Meanwhile the man behind the demonstrations continues to elude Thai authorities. Thaksin has been on the run since 2006 and Thailand has an arrest warrant out on him. Yesterday Associated Press reported he had been issued a diplomatic passport by Nicaragua. AP said he was appointed an "ambassador on a special mission”. However, the Thai online site Matichon has disputed this claim. They quoted a letter from the Nicaraguan embassy in Mexico to Thai embassy issued yesterday saying that the report was unfounded.

Thaksin spoke to French broadcaster France 24 overnight but did not comment on the passport rumours. Instead he urged King Bhumibol Adulyadej to intervene. “I have urged his majesty to intervene. He is the only person that can intervene in this incident, otherwise the violence will become wider and also the confrontation would be more and more,” he said. He also pledged to continue to give "moral support" to the protesters.

ASEAN ignores Burmese Rohingya refugee crisis

There seems little likelihood that the plight of Burmese Rohingya refugees will be discussed at the ASEAN leaders Summit this week. Rohingyas are victims of racial discrimination in their own country and their plight came to international attention after Thailand admit they had towed a thousand refugees out to sea. Vitavas Srivihok, Thai director of ASEAN Affairs Department, said talks about Rohingya would at best be marginalised to the “sidelines” of the conference and even then expects little by way of concrete outcomes. The conference’s contempt for Rohingya shows yet again ASEAN’s disinterest in human rights issues.

The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim community, with a long history, inhabiting Arakan province of Burma. Their ethnicity and religion has made them a target of oppression by Burmese military rulers. In a move reminiscent of Nazi discrimination against Jews, a Burmese 1982 law stripped them of their right to citizenship. Rohingya also endure restrictions affecting their movement, education, and freedom to marry. They are often forced into slavery, have their land confiscated and suffer arbitrary arrests, torture, and extra-judicial killings. Today the Rohingya have become increasingly landless and jobless forcing many to flee the country.

The Rohingya refugee issue is now an international problem affecting Burma, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Indonesia. One thousand of them set off for Bangladesh in December and were detained and beaten when they landed in Thailand. But Thailand decided to export the problem. The refugees were forced back to sea in boats without engines or food. Hundreds died but hundreds more were rescued in Indian and Indonesian waters after several weeks at sea. On 7 January, 198 of them were found by Indonesian fishermen adrift at sea off Aceh, in northern Sumatra. Indonesian authorities say they have now rescued about 400 Rohingya migrants while Indian authorities at Andaman Islands have said they have also rescued hundreds of refugees. India plans to deport them back to Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Thailand initially denied claims that its security forces abused the refugees. However in an interview with CNN last week, Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva admitted Thai security forces towed away the boats. Vejjajiva gave the unconvincing answer that he could not pinpoint which government official approved the practice, but claimed he was working on fixing the problem. "All the authorities say it's not their policy, but I have reason to believe some instances of this happened, said the PM. “If I can have the evidence as to who exactly did this I will certainly bring them to account."

But while the world should rightly judge Thailand harshly for its conduct in this shameful affair, Burma’s role should not be forgotten. Ye Myint Aung, the Burmese Consul-General at the Hong Kong consulate exposed what authorities really think of their minority in an extraordinary letter (pdf) addressed to the peninsula’s consular corps and media. In it, Aung denied Rohingya were Burmese. The Burmese, said Aung were good looking with “fair and soft” complexion. Rohingyas, by contrast had “dark brown” skin and were “ugly as ogres.”

Unfortunately, as New Mandala points out, the racism Ye Myint Aung shows against Rohingya is not unusual in Burma. New Mandala blames academics for stoking up “institutionalised chauvinism and historical memories built around communal conflicts from the last century”. Spurious research questioning their heritage gives people an excuse to distrust Rohingyas even though most have never met one.

But there are still groups around who are working to improve the Rohingya's lot. The Arakan Rohingya National Organisation wrote an open letter to the heads of ASEAN on the weekend which said that Burmese persecution of Rohingya people was a violation of the ASEAN Charter to respect human rights and international law. They called on the leaders to address the root cause of the Rohingya refugee problem and boatpeople crisis, pressurise Burma’s rulers to end human rights abuses and also urged Thailand to pay compensation to the families of Rohingya boatpeople who drowned.

The international peak political body for Burmese ethnic groups is also calling on the Australian government to push for the case for democracy in Burma. The Ethnic Nationalities Council represents seven ethnic Burmese groups Burma comprising 40 percent of the population. The Council's vice chair, Dr Lian Sakhong, told Foreign Affairs and Immigration officials that Australia should call for multi-party talks on Burma “to put pressure on the military regime so that we can have a dialogue.”

Sakhing said the talks should lead to a negotiated settlement to return Burma to democratic rule and also end ethnic oppression of Rohingyas and other groups affected by the 1982 citizenship laws. "We need to review the constitutions that are adopted by the military, so that we can have a compromise,” he told ABC’s Connect Asia. “If we don't do that, then the result will be another 50 years of civil war.”

Giles Ungpakorn flees to England to avoid Thai lèse majesté charges

Thai corrections department officials told Australian Associated Press yesterday that they have recommended Harry Nicolaides receive a royal pardon. The department’s Pardons Division is now finalising the evidence before making a petition to the minister and eventually sending it to King Bhumibol Adulyadel for his official signature. Nicolaides was sentenced a month ago for insulting the monarchy in his 2005 novel Verisimilitude. But while Nicolaides is likely to be freed in a matter of months, a local man charged of the same crime fled to Britain last week to avoid prosecution.

Giles (Ji) Ungpakorn was charged last month under the lèse-majesté law over a book about the country's military coup in 2006. Ungpakorn was facing up to 15 years in jail if convicted under the laws. He said he was targeted for political reasons because his 2007 book, A Coup for the Rich (full text in pdf format here), criticised the military for ousting Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The book said the coup's leaders claimed 'royal legitimacy' in order to hide the authoritarian intentions of the military junta. Last week he fled to Oxford where he sent an email to Associated Press saying there was no justice in Thailand. He also warned that "the regime seems to be inching towards a police state.”

A police spokesman denied the charge. Lieutenant General Wacharapon Prasatrachakit said there is no reason to believe Ungpakorn will not receive a fair trial. "We have to look into the complaint, like every other complaint, and give everyone their chance to defend themselves,” he said. “This case is no different.” However he refused to elaborate further on the circumstances of this case.

The 54 year old Ungpakorn is a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, Thailand’s oldest university. Ungkaporn is well known for his dissident socialism within Thailand and has made plenty of enemies with his anti-coup views. He claimed that the director of a university bookshop stocking his book had informed the special branch that it "insulted the monarchy". He received a police summons on 20 January on charges arising out of passages in the first chapter of his book deemed insulting to King Bhumibol.

He was given 20 days to respond before it was decided whether to prosecute him. He was due to report back to police on Monday 9 February but Ungpakorn and his wife left the country before the 20 days were up. “I was very worried that I would be detained at the airport,” he said. “My wife thought someone might try and kill me because she received death threats on the phone.”

The pair successfully fled to Oxford where they are now living with family friends. Ungkaporn holds British citizenship thanks to an English mother and a son. He studied at Sussex and Durham universities and the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He also worked as a lab technician for Oxford University for 12 years in the 1980s and 1990s and his son still attends school in Oxford. Upon arrival back in Britain last weekend, he told reporters that the real cause of the charge was about preventing discussion on the relationship between the military junta and the monarchy. "This is in order to protect the military's sole claim to legitimacy: that it acted in the interests of the monarchy,” he said. "There is a climate of fear."

While Ungkaporn’s speech may have been somewhat hyperbolic, there is little doubt Thailand is brutally cracking down on free speech. The government has been using the draconian measures in the 2007 Computer Crime Act to censor the Internet for ill-defined reasons of national security including lèse majesté. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) noted Thailand's Ministry of Information Communication and Technology closed down over two thousand Web sites last month for posting materials deemed offensive to the monarchy. The Justice Ministry has said it plans to seek court orders to shut down an additional four thousand Web sites for the same reason.

Last month the CPJ wrote a letter to new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva outlining its concern at Thai media oppression. As well as Nicolaides and Ungkaporn, several others have been charged with offences under the lèse majesté laws. The letter expressed alarm at “the increasing use of lèse majesté charges, which restrict public criticism of the royal family, to intimidate journalists and censor the Internet.”

However the response has not been promising. Last week, Vejjajiva gave an exclusive interview to the Singapore Straits Times where he defended the laws. “A lot of countries have contempt of court laws, because the courts have to be neutral and respected,” he said. “The monarchy is a revered institution above politics and conflicts and therefore has no self-defence mechanism, that's why we have the law.”

Harry Nicolaides is latest victim of Thailand’s archaic lèse-majesté laws

An Australian teacher was yesterday sentenced to three years imprisonment in Thailand for insulting the Thai monarchy. Harry Nicolaides originally received six years but the sentence was halved after he pleaded guilty and apologised to the king. The case was filed under the country’s notorious lèse-majesté laws which can allow for a 15 year jail term for insulting the Thai king, queen or (as in Nicolaides’s case) the prince regent.

The 41 year Nicolaides is a Melbourne man who has worked in Thailand as an English teacher and freelance writer. He was arrested at Bangkok airport as he tried to leave the country on 31 August last year. Nicolaides was charged under article 112 of the Thai criminal code which reads "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years." Nicolaides was alleged to have made the insult in a paragraph in his 2005 novel Verisimilitude (see full text in linked pdf). Nicolaides intended the novel as a commentary on contemporary Thai political and social life however the book was not exactly a page-turner. Only 50 copies were published of which only seven were sold.

The offending passage in the novel was just a few sentences which described the turbulent marital relations of its fictional prince. It is a thinly-veiled account of the sexual affairs of Thailand's Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. Vajiralongkorn is the 56 year old first son of the long-reigning monarch Bhumibol Adulyadel. The heir to the throne is the Edward VII of Thai royalty, an occasional philanderer who is waiting forever for his aged and revered parent to die in order to ascend to the throne. Vajiralongkorn lacks the stature and popularity of his frail father who has reigned for 62 years old. Time magazine compared him to a more recent British example calling him “Charles’ Siamese Twin” picking on the similarities of “an elderly monarch, an heir with a troubled marriage, [and] rumours of adultery”.

At Nicolaides’ trial, the presiding judge said the passage in Verisimilitude "suggested that there was abuse of royal power," and caused "dishonour" to the king and the heir apparent. After the trial the prosecutor warned journalists not to repeat or publish the offending material. The warning was treated seriously by CNN which chose not to repeat the allegations “because it could result in CNN staff being prosecuted in Thailand.” As a result most people in Thailand remain unaware of the details of this and other similar cases.

In his 2005 birthday speech King Bhumibol cautioned against the over-exuberant use of this criminal provision. However it remains a convenient tool for many factions within the Thai elite and is unlikely to be repealed anytime soon. The laws are a serious problem for Thai media and effectively muzzle public discussion of a range of issues relating to the country’s ongoing political crisis. As the Thai news and analysis site New Mandela points out, the lèse majesté laws “helps guarantee an unrelenting public diet of positive royal news.”

The obscure laws have been invoked several times in recent years as the role of the king comes under sharp focus in Thailand’s fraught post-coup environment. Last year Chotisak Onsoong was charged for refusing to stand during the national anthem in a cinema. More seriously, a government minister Jakrapob Penkair was charged with after a speech critical of the country’s patronage system which “bordered” on lèse majesté.

And as recently as last week Giles Ungpakorn, an associate professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University, was arrested for “unspecified charges” believed to be related to his critical public statements about the monarchy and his book A Coup for the Rich. The pugnacious Ungpakorn has refused to be silenced and promised to fight the charges in order, as he says, “to defend academic freedom, the freedom of expression and democracy in Thailand.” Ungpakorn, Nicolaides and the others deserve the support of everyone who cares about the precarious health of democracy in the 21st century.

The truth behind Thailand's “protests”: a delicate balance of forces

What exactly is going on in Thailand? Western media reports a “political crisis” but so far seems a well organised, peaceful, and most importantly supported-by-the-military crisis. The Prime Minister’s residence has been taken over by 20,000 protesters for a week but so far the PM Samak Sundaravej has not called out the police or the army. The 73-year old Samak is a Thaksin Shinawatra surrogate whose legitimacy stems from last year's election won by the People Power Party created by loyalists from Thaksin’s old party Thai Rak Thai.

The southern airports of Phuket, Hat Yai and Krabi were barricaded off by protesters who marched on their stomachs rumoured to be supplied by the military or even members of the Royal Family. Samek has refused to call an election and has vowed to rule on with the apparent support of the king whom he met today.

Samak won power in 2007 with the support of the rural majority despite the antagonism of the coup leaders. He now hangs on as a stand-in leader for the far-away Shinawatra. A growing wealthy elite in Bangkok, loath both men and are determined to force an election. But Thaksin may be about to taxi home. Today, he sold his English Premier League football "toy" Manchester City to Abu Dhabi interests. Thaksin may be cashing up for his inevitable return to his homeland and the bribes he will need to pay to stay out of prison.

And so the west reports Thailand seems delicately poised between four forces that represent the Army, the King, the country (in the name of Thaksin), and Bangkok’s growing bourgeoisie. The army has remained in barracks so far but given their past record as recently as 2006, they could be itching for the chance to “solve” the crisis. Coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin has retired but the army’s attempt to fix the 2007 election backfired spectacularly. There may be other leaders who want to take on his baton. But they will have to contend with Samak’s appointment today of General Songkitti Jaggabatara, a former classmate of Shinawatra to the role of military supreme commander.

But for now, the army is quietly working behind the scenes for the opposition umbrella group People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). Some have claimed PAD actually stands for People Against Democracy because of what it is fighting for: a Parliament in which only 30 percent is elected and the rest are “appointed” by royal command. PAD’s paternalistic policy see them blame western-style democracy for Thailand’s ills. It was PAD who began the protests that led to Thaksin’s overthrow and who now want to strike at him again through Samak.

PAD have strongly invoked the royal family in their attempt to curry favour. Royalty remains sacrosanct in Thailand and there is intense jockeying for power in the event of the death of 80 year old King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Officially a constitutional monarchy, Bhumibol is extremely powerful. He has been instrumental in most Thai political dealings over his extraordinary 60 years on the throne and had a very direct bearing on the 2005 coup. He is the world’s longest-reigning monarch, and the wealthiest royal worth an estimated $35 billion. PAD knows that if Bhumibol withdraws his support it means the end for Samak.

While no-one knows how this drama will play out between Bhumibol, PAD, Samak and the army, it should be noted there is an fifth force of influence in the country: the Thai media. Television is contested but is mostly controlled by Samak. His forces say the state media should be a mouthpiece for the government, while opponents argue that it belongs to the people as these stations are established and operated using the taxpayers' money. The print scene is also vibrant. As of 2003, there were 150 newspapers of which about 40 were Bangkok dailies. The city also has two important English language dailies The Bangkok Post and the Nation and several Chinese language papers. Almost all of the country’s 73 provinces have local newspapers. Lurid tabloid journalism is extremely popular but there is also a significant well-educated elite who avidly read the broadsheets. These papers have one major taboo topic (criticism of the Royal Family) but otherwise report fairly on the political unrest. With a free Internet also available, Thailand is awash with vigorous, diverse, well-informed opinion that can quickly turn hostile.

It will take a monumental effort of will to end that unrest. The Guardian sees the crisis as a continuation of the events that ended Thaksin’s reign calling it a “never ending coup”. They see it as a struggle between “two deep-seated and irreconcilable forces” of a the traditional Thai alliance of the bureaucracy, military and monarchy, and “a populist nouveau riche from the rural areas whose support Thaksin has tapped into.” It sees an election as perhaps the only gamebreaker.

23 years and counting: Hun Sen wins another Cambodian election

EU monitors have declined to label last weekend’s Cambodian elections as unfair despite saying they failed to live up to international standards. Martin Callanan, the head of an EU election monitoring team, said Sunday's poll was dominated by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) which was returned to power. He said CPP’s massive resources allowed "accusations of lack of impartiality to be made.” But Callanan pointedly didn’t make those accusations directly and he failed to back up the opposition Sam Rainsy party who alleged widespread vote rigging and who called on the international community to reject the result.

Prime Minister Hun Sen extended his 23 year rule when his CPP won 91 of the 123 seats in the Sunday election. Although final results will not be announced until sometime in August, election officers said the ruling party had taken at least 62 per cent of the vote in five of the nation's 24 provinces. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy rejected this and called for renewed balloting in Phnom Penh, where his party is strongest. He claims 200,000 people in the capital were ineligible to vote after their names were struck off registration lists. "Neither party won more than two-thirds of the seats," he said.

But despite Rainsy’s rhetoric, the CPP victory was not really a surprise. Hun Sen had been widely tipped to win for months and ran a very astute campaign. The country has been greatly normalised since the disastrous wars that devastated the country between the 1970s and 1990s. Cambodia was admitted to ASEAN in 1999. The Cambodian economy has been booming for the last few years and the quality of life is improving in one of the world's poorest nations. Cambodia's GDP grew by an impressive 13.4 percent in 2005, driven by garment exports, tourism, foreign investment, a construction boom, and record crops in agriculture.

In the last month, Sen has also capitalised on the nationalist sentiment sparked by the border feud with Thailand over the Preah Vihear Khmer temple complex. Now that the election is over Hun Sen is sounding more conciliatory but says the impetus to solve the two week dispute lies with Thailand. The foreign ministers of both countries have agreed to consider withdrawing troops from the area. Hun Sen claimed there was no problem on the Cambodian side. “The problem is with the Thai side. We understand their difficulty,” he said. “They need discussion and approval of the cabinet.”

UPI Asia Online believes Hun Sen’s victory should be attributed to the system of government the CPP put in place when it was a fully-fledged communist party in the 1980s. They added a democratic veneer in 1993 when the country theoretically embraced parliamentary democracy, but the CPP remained in firm control. The ruling party has utilized this system to get itself re-elected over and over since its defeat in the UN organised election in 1993.

The CPP controls all the key state apparatuses including the National Election Committee, the judiciary, security forces, civil service and educational institutions. They also maintain a de facto near-authoritarian control over the nation’s media. They run nationwide television and much of radio as well as constraining the non-party owned press. Reporters Without Borders said that in advance of the election there were fears that the ruling party would tighten its grip still further on electronic media with Hun Sen saying that he plans to stay in power for another 20 years.

There is still much work to be done in that time. Ian Lloyd Neubauer says Cambodia remains one of the least-developed countries in the world. Neubauer is a former Cambodian-based journalist and author of the novel “Maquis” whose theme is civil unrest in the country. He says Cambodian democracy exists in name only and the legal system works on a user-pays basis. “Alcoholism, methamphetamine use, prostitution, violence against women, land grabbing, unemployment and malnutrition are endemic,” he says.

Thailand Cambodia border stand-off

High level talks between Thai and Cambodian officials have failed to come to terms on the week-long military stand-off over the disputed Preah Vihear temple on their shared border. While both sides expressed the desire to ease tensions, neither have given ground in talks in the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet, 380 km from the 11th century temple at the centre of the dispute. So far there have been no casualties and both sides talked up the peace. Thai Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit saying Thailand had a “reasonable offer” while Cambodian commander Chea Mon said he didn’t want armed troops disturbing Buddhist monks praying at the temple.

Both countries are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). An ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Singapore originally scheduled to discuss the aftermath of Burma’s cyclone Nargiss was sidetracked by the border spat between Thailand and Cambodia. The two countries agreed to "exert utmost efforts" to find a peaceful solution to their border standoff. Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo says both sides were urged to resolve their differences amicably in the spirit of ASEAN solidarity and good neighbourliness. "Both sides affirmed that they would abide by their ASEAN and international obligations and exert their utmost efforts to find a peaceful solution to the issue," said Yeo in a statement.

However Yeo’s statement appeared optimistic given what was happening on the ground. More than 500 Thai troops face off against well over 1,000 Cambodian soldiers stationed around a small Buddhist pagoda leading to the ruins of the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, where nearby land is claimed by both sides. Although traditional Thai land, it was ceded to French Indochina in a 1906 treaty with Thailand. While Japan promised the land back to Thailand during World War Two, Thailand agreed to return it to Cambodia after the war in order to secure UN membership. Cambodian ownership has since been confirmed by an International Court of Justice ruling.

However Matters came to a head when UNESCO listed Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site this month. UNESCO said the site was exceptional for three reasons: firstly its natural situation on a promontory, with sheer cliffs overlooking a vast plain and mountain range; secondly the quality of its architecture adapted to the natural environment and religious function of the temple; and thirdly, the exceptional quality of the carved stone ornamentation of the temple. It cited the fact that both the governments of Cambodia and Thailand were “in full agreement that the Sacred Site of the Temple of Preah Vihear has Outstanding Universal Value.”

However the decision triggered political uproar in Bangkok, where the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) accused the government of selling out Thailand's history by backing the listing. PAD have fastened on to the nationalist strains of this “sell out” to oust Thai PM Samak Sundaravej. The anti-Thaksin Shinawatra party have been conducting street demonstrations against the government since June. Their protests gained new impetus with the UNESCO decision and they claim Sudaravej had gained business concessions in Cambodia in payment for ceding Thai territory.

The Thais call Preah Vihear “Khao Phra Viharn”. The temple was the subject of a prolonged legal tussle between the Thai and Cambodian governments, both of which claimed ownership after centuries of rivalry, invasions and fluctuating borders. In 1961-62, the International Court of Justice got involved and declared that the site belonged to Cambodia. In 1963, Thai Prime Minister Sarit told his country in a televised address that Thailand would comply with the Court ruling and withdraw from Khao Phra Viharn. The site has been under Cambodian administration since then.

But for tourists the site is still easiest reached from Thailand. Telegraph journalist Alex Spillius visited the site in 1998 by Cambodian army helicopter but says he was lucky to survive the experience. For those not inclined to hitch a lift from the military, the journey to Preah Vihear from Cambodia involves a two-day journey from Siem Reap , the town that serves Angkor Wat, “on small roads that, although improved, would still not do your spine any favours.” From Thailand, a visit can be built in to a tour of the north-east, (known as “Isaan”) starting at Nakhon Ratchasima or Ubon Ratchathani airports, both short flights from Bangkok. It is a short walk across a border where passports were not required. However no tourists are welcome to Preah Vihear for the time being.

Thaksin Shinawatra comes home

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived home today for the first time since he was ousted in a military coup 17 months ago. He landed at Bangkok Airport and was greeted by thousands of supporters who cheered, sang and waved placards proclaiming: "We Love Thaksin". The 58 year old Shinawatra responded with a traditional Thai bow before being whisked off by an even larger entourage of police to the Thai Supreme Court to answer the corruption charge over a land deal while he was in office.

Shinawatra was immediately released on bail of 8 million baht (about a quarter of a million US dollars). Bail will be revoked if he travels outside Thailand without the court's permission or does anything to interfere with his case. He faces several charges of corruption and abuse of power brought up by junta-appointed investigation bodies. Thaksin faces two charges of corruption which date to his time in office and separate charges of concealing assets. In addition, he and his wife Pojamarn face charges stemming from a Bangkok land deal and an alleged stock concealment plan. Shinawatra could receive a maximum of 15 years in prison.

The northern born Shinawatra became one of the richest people in Thailand by setting up telecommunications companies like Shin Corporation and Advanced Info Service before entering politics. In 1996 he formed a new Party: Thai Rak Thai (Thai love Thais). Their election platform (universal access to healthcare, a debt moratorium for farmers, and a development fund for all Thai villages) proved immensely popular and TRT swept to victory in 2001. His first few years in power were marked by massive economic growth in Thailand. He won another landslide victory in 2005 but by then the Thai economy was slowing down.

The crisis in 2006 started when the Shinawatra family sold its $2 billion stake in Shin Corporation. The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the transaction but cleared the family of wrongdoing. With calls growing for his resignation, Thaksin called an election which was boycotted by the opposition. A Thai court ruled his subsequent win invalid. In September 2006 Shinawatra was deposed in a military coup while he was overseas.

The exiled Thaksin settled in London. In July 2007 he boosted his public profile in Britain by buying premier league football team Manchester City. He immediately spent big on the club bringing in former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson to coach the team. Political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University saying buying this club is a shrewd move aimed at his homeland where millions are besotted by the English Premier League. "The Thai authorities didn't want to let this deal go through,” he said at the time. “If Manchester City start winning matches, people will go wild for Thaksin."

Manchester City have been reasonably successful and are currently eighth in the table. And Thaksin’s stocks has risen in Thailand. His allies in the People Power Party (PPP) won elections in December, raising expectations that Thaksin would come home. New PPP Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej gained power largely by using the former Prime Minister’s popularity in its election campaign. While Sundaravej downplayed problems posed by Thaksin’s return and urged his supporters not to flock to the airport to greet him, he did send PPP party officials to accompany Thaksin home.

Officially Thaksin remains banned from political activity and he has repeatedly claimed he has retired from politics. However, he is seen as the power behind Sundaravej and he still has a massive power base in the north-east of Thailand where his policies are popular with farmers. “I just want to go home to my family and thank them and everyone for their support,” he said on his return today. How long he remains this coy about his prospects, depends on how quickly he can end his legal woes.

Diary of a coup

The newly installed Thai military leader said yesterday a new prime minister will be named within two weeks. Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin said elections would be held only after a new constitution had been written. State TV announced that Thailand's ageing but revered King Bhumibol had endorsed army chief Gen Sonthi as temporary leader, although there has been no direct communication from the King himself.

The bloodless coup d'état took place late on Tuesday evening Thai time but tensions had been building all day. The timing was opportunistic. The troubled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was in New York for a UN General Assembly meeting. Probably aware that something was afoot he called an urgent teleconference with all armed forces' commanders at 8am. No-one showed for the meeting. Gen Sonthi later said the meeting is hastily called. All day, rumours spread around the capital that the army is planning a coup but there is no solid information. Finally, at 6pm the army acted. Armed Forces special units poured into Bangkok and took up key positions through the city. At 8pm, police are issued heavy arms are put on notice to prepare for a riot. An hour later, the Army controlled TV Channel 5 interrupts regular programming and replaces it with patriotic songs. Information is still hard to come by, with no-one confirming or denying that a coup has taken place. More rumours emerge that say the deputy premier and defence minister have both been arrested and Thaksin’s son has fled the country. Just after 10pm the news has filtered through to CNN. Thaksin was quickly on the phone to demote the Army leader and declare a state of emergency. But his intercontinental orders were ignored.


At 11pm local time a group calling itself the Administrative Reform Council (ARC) appeared on local TV to issue a statement. The polite statement said “the armed forces commander and the national police commander have successfully taken over Bangkok and the surrounding area in order to maintain peace and order. There has been no struggle. We ask for the cooperation of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience”.

In the next few hours, they issued three more statements clarifying their intent. The second statement outlines the reasons for the coup d'etat, citing national disunity and rampant corruption and the council says it plans to return power quickly to the people. The third said the constitution is nullified as is the caretaker Cabinet and the Constitutional Court. The fourth statement said that the ARC chief has now taken the power of the prime minister. It signalled that the power show was officially over for Thaksin, Thailand’s richest man.

On the Wednesday, Thaksin cancelled his planned speech to the UN and flew instead to London where his daughter is studying. Foreign governments were torn between condemnation of the coup and careful consideration of the new de facto government. Assistant US Secretary of State Christopher Hill said “It's really too early to form any hardened judgments”. Back in Bangkok martial law was imposed and all government, businesses and universities were advised to close for the day. However other than an obvious military presence on the streets, there was little impact. Restaurants and bars stayed open, the streets were busy and tourists continued to spend their money.

The Thai army have a long tradition of stepping in to suspend democracy in the country. Tuesday’s event is the 18th coup (ten of which saw a change of leader) since King Bhumibol ascended the throne in 1946. And almost all of the successful ones have occurred with the tacit approval of the King. The 2006 coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin is the first Muslim to lead the mostly Buddhist Thai army. There has been more than 1,000 deaths since 2004 in a mostly underreported war between the army and Muslim rebels in the region bordering Malaysia. On the day of the post, the Bangkok Post reported a rare interview with Thailand's senior Muslim, known as the Chularatchmontri. He said “the government is on the right track to solve southern unrest”. It will be intriguing to see whether the country’s first Muslim leader will share that view. The world will have some time to judge as he announced he would not call elections for another 12 months.

Ayutthaya

Woolly Days spent the weekend in Ayutthaya (pronounced eye-you-TEE-a). Ayutthaya was the capital of Siam (now Thailand) from 1350 until it was sacked by the Burmese army in 1767.

In 1350 the city was founded by Prince U Thong who changed his name to Ramathibodi the First when he ascended to the royal throne a year later. Ramathibodi achieved his power by forging strategic alliances with other Thai royals. His reign brought together in one empire the Khmer rulers of Lop Buri, the Tai in the west, and the Chinese and Malaysian merchants who inhabited the coastal areas. The Khmer stronghold Lop Buri had been the capital but an outbreak of smallpox forced U Thong to move out. He built Ayutthaya and the empire was renamed after the new capital city.

The city got its name from the Indian city of Ayodhya, the birthplace of Rama in the Sanskrit epic Ramayana. Although the Ramayana was a Hindu tale, it became important in South East Asian culture when Indians started to colonise the region from the 8th century onwards. In 1360 Ramathibodi declared Theravada Buddhism the official religion of Ayutthaya and brought members of a Ceylonese sangha, a Buddhist monastic community, to establish religious orders and spread the faith. Ayutthaya is strategically located at the junction of three rivers: the Chao Phraya (which flows through Bangkok), the Lopburi and the Pa Sak. The old city is on an island formed by a bend of the Chao Phraya on the west and south sides, the Pa Sak on the east side and, on the northern side, the Klong Maung canal.

The new empire came under constant attack from the Khmer empire to the East. Ramathibodi’s son Rasusuan retaliated by sacking Angkor Wat in the 1390s. As a result the Khmers moved further eastward away from Ayutthuya and toward Phnom Penh. Free from attack the Thais launched a golden reign and many of Ayutthuya’s beautiful temples date from this period. Over the next four centuries the kingdom expanded to become the nation that is roughly analogous to modern Thailand. The Portuguese arrived in the early 1500s to commence trading with the empire. Around this time too, the empire was renamed to Siam. This was to be the name of the country until 1949 when it was renamed as Thailand (Thai means “free” in Thai language). More European traders arrived in the wake of the Portuguese. The court of King Narai (1656-1688) had strong links with King Louis XIV, the Sun King of France. Louis' ambassadors compared the city of Ayutthaya in size and wealth to Paris.

In 1767, Burma invaded Siam, totally destroying Ayutthaya after a lengthy siege and destroyed its empire. The Burmese King Hsinbyushin took much of the Thai culture back home greatly enriching that of Burma's. Ayutthaya's art treasures, the libraries containing its literature, and the archives housing its historic records were almost totally obliterated, and the city was left in ruins. A new capital was then established at Thonburi on the west side of the river, before King Rama I built his palace on the east bank in 1782. He renamed this new city Krung Thep, meaning the "City of Angels". Krung Thep is more commonly known as Bangkok by foreigners.

The town of Ayutthuya is now a world heritage listed tourist stop on the main north-south railway linking Chiang Mai to Bangkok. Ayutthaya's English name is probably the least standardized of any Thai city: Ayutthaya, Ayuttaya, Ayuthaya, Ayutaya, Ayothaya, Ayotaya, Ayudhya and the Sanskrit original Ayodhya are all used.

Woolly Days took the 20 Baht third class train which took 90 minutes to get there from Bangkok's Hua Lamphong station. Ayutthaya city centre is a short cross-river ferry crossing from the station. The best way to get around the city is by bicycle and they can be hired for 30 to 50 Baht a day. Cycling around town is great fun and involves dodging slow moving tuk-tuks, being hooted at by buses, being chased by possibly rabid dogs, and working out whether it's possible to beat the traffic lights. As you approach the light, there is an indicator telling you how many seconds are left at green, it can be real adrenalin kick when it counts down to 5..4..3 and you are still 20 metres away from the junction!

Its an easy 12km or so lap around the town and most of Ayutthaya's sites are on the protected western half of the island. Wat Phra Si Sanphet is the largest temple in Ayutthaya, known for its row of chedis (Thai-style stupas). Next door is Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopitah temple which houses a large bronze cast Buddha image. Wat Ratchaburana on Naresuan Rd has a large prang (a type of temple spire) recently restored to its original condition. There are many others dotted around the city some better preserved than others which are crumbling ruins. It is well worth an overnight stop as most tourists come as a daytrip from Bangkok 85 kms downstream. Ayutthaya remains a potent reminder of Thai power in the past.

Sukhumvit a Go Go

Purely in the interests of research, Woolly Days went for a wonder down Sukhumvit Road last night. Sukhumvit Road is not only the longest road in Thailand, but one of the longest roads in the world. It goes all the way to Cambodia, but I didn’t quite make it that far.

Lower Sukhumvit Road lies mostly hidden in the concrete shadows of the BTS skytrain. Under the line lies a huge market carrying everything from luggage to fake Rolexes. Later at night it transforms into cafes and bars full of drunken expats and tourists. There are lots of small entertainment areas in the ‘sois’ (alleys) off the main road heading from the hotel.

Starting from the Ploen Chit end of Sukhumvit, the first stop is Nana Plaza. Nana Entertainment Plaza is a three-story building with an enclosed courtyard. The entire building and courtyard are full of bars. Each bar has its own “mamasan” the lady of the house, who approves any “take away” orders and collects bar fines.
At Soi 13 is found Clinton plaza. It takes its name from the misadventures of the Monicagate president. One establishment styles itself as the White House Go-Go, and features a columned portico in the style of the presidential mansion. Bring your own cigar.

You really have to wonder though what sort of cuisine is served by a nearby restaurant called “Cabbages and Condoms”. On further investigation, it turns out that this Thai restaurant is run by the Thailand's Population and Community Development Association and the odd name refers to the founder's belief that condoms should be as cheap as veggies. At the end of the meal, customers receive a complementary condom in lieu of the more traditional after-dinner mint.

At Soi 23, the street is known colloquially as Soi Cowboy. Here there a couple of dozen places where scantily clad Thai girls dance on their podiums, and there are another dozen assorted beer bars and cafes. The girls there are coyly described as “dancing sinuously to western pop music” in the brochures. I’m no midnight soi cowboy and I’m not sure how exactly a sinuous dance looks, though they certainly looked sinful from a distance.

Continuing further down at Soi 33 lies the artists’ quarter. These cater to the “upscale foreigner”. The area gets its name not because the locals are out with their canvasses but because several have adopted the names of famous European painters such as the Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Monet and Goya clubs. More weasel than easel. This is also the Little Japan area and there are a couple of clubs that cater exclusively for Japanese patrons. Have your Yakuza membership card handy.

And so on Sukhumvit goes, as likely serving cabbages and condoms all the way to the wats of Cambodia.

Thaksin Does Good Routinely?

Thai caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra celebrated his 57th birthday yesterday. Happy birthday Thakky boy. Shinawatra has been prime minister since 2001 and was re-elected in 2005 with a landslide victory. However this year he was placed under pressure to resign after a financial scandal. In March the opposition parties demanded the King replace Shinawatra. Shinawatra retaliated by calling a snap election which was boycotted by the Opposition. Shinawatra won but the Constitutional Court declared the election invalid. Shinawatra remains ‘caretaker’ Prime Minister while the country awaits fresh elections.

Shinawatra’s family are originally from Guangdong province in Southern China. His great-grandfather Seng Sae Khu moved to the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai in 1908. The family changed its name to Shinawatra which means “does good routinely”. The family grew wealthy as tax collectors and then by moving into finance, construction and property development. The Shinawatra family became one of the richest and most influential families in Chiang Mai. Thaksin was educated at an elite Chiang Mai school and joined the Thai Police Department in 1973 aged 24. In 1975, he got his master's degree in criminal justice from the Eastern Kentucky University and obtained his doctorate in three years later from the Texan Sam Houston State University. He moved up through police ranks and married the daughter of a police general in 1980. His initial business dealings were failures and he ended up 50 million Baht in debt.

Shinawatra didn’t achieve any business success until he left the Police in 1987. He got into mobile phones and his big break occurred in 1990 when his company Advanced Info Service launched analogue mobile phone services. This required an important concession from the Telephone Organization of Thailand. It was listed on the Thai stock exchange a year later and became the largest mobile operator in the country.

He entered politics in 1994 joining the Palang Dharma Party (PDP). At the time it was a member of the ruling coalition and after a purge of its cabinet ministers Shinawatra was quickly appointed Foreign Minister despite not being an elected MP. The PDP withdrew from the coalition a year later and brought down the government. In the subsequent election Shinawatra was handpicked to take over the party by his mentor the retiring leader Chamlong Srimuang. The party lost half its seats in this election but still took its place in a new coalition. Shinawatra was appointed deputy PM and was given charge of perhaps Thailand’s most vexing problem – Bangkok traffic.

Shinawatra resigned from parliament in 1996 but reappeared a year later in yet another coalition. He formed a new Party: Thai Rak Thai (Thai love Thais). Their election platform (universal access to healthcare, a debt moratorium for farmers, and a development fund for all Thai villages) proved immensely popular and TRT swept to victory in 2001. It was only the second time in over 70 years of Thai democracy that that a single party had gained outright government. The government instituted a series of reforms that were dubbed “Thaksinomics” a set of populist economic policies designed to increase the purchasing power of Thailand's rural lower classes, which make up the majority of the country's population. It seemed to work and by 2002 Thailand outpaced the rest of Southeast Asia by posting GDP growth of 5.2%, the fastest rate since the Asian financial crisis of 1997.

Since the beginning of 2005, however, the wisdom of Thaksinomics has been increasingly questioned. Though the TRT won another landslide victory that year, economic growth has slowed down. Shinawatra blamed this on the Indian Ocean Tsunami which devastated much of Thailand’s west coast tourist resorts. However rising inflation, consumer indebtedness and trade deficits are also hurting the Thai economy as a direct result of Thaksin's policies. Corruption and the slow progress of Bangkok’s new airport are also factors.

The crisis this year started as a result of the Shinawatra family decision to sell entire stake in Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings (worth almost $2 billion US). The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the transaction but cleared the family of wrongdoing. There were a series of mass protests led by opposition parties looking for the PM’s scalp. The King was asked to appoint a replacement in March but he declined stating it would be unconstitutional. Thaksin dissolved parliament but the opposition boycotted the subsequent election. In May a court ruled the election invalid and ordered new elections. The opposition has declared they will take part but no date has been set. In the meantime Thaksin clings on to power.

Patpong Pingpong

Bangkok is a mass of noise, steel and heat. Over six million people crowd the concrete but there are occasional oases of quiet and repose. Lumpini Park at the junction of Rama IV and Ratchadamri roads is one of these places. Woolly Days walked past it last night on the way to Patpong markets.

Inside the park, there is a lake with some pleasure boats and a constant stream of walkers and joggers do the circuit of the park. There is a Chinese style clock tower, a Chinese pavilion and some graceful sculptures. But the peace and quiet of the park is interrupted by a mass aerobic session, several hundred people in a free jam bobbing to pop music and the instructions barked by a fit virago on a stage. Further on, another twenty or thirty slightly older people are also gyrating in step, this time to a Thai version of Tai Chi to a slower beat. But at the end of the park near the monument to King Rama VI is at least two more aerobic session, each one vying with the other for numbers and noise. The one at the gate is blasting out techno music and dancers aged 8 to 80, bob about in tune, most likely without the aid of ecstasy.

I cross the incredibly busy road (waiting almost 10 minutes for favourable light changes to get across four lanes) underneath the BTS station at Sala Daeng. From there it is a short walk to the Patpong markets. Patpong is for 'farangs' (foreigners, especially white foreigners). Patpong is also imitation city. Here is the place to find designer labels, DVDs, clothing, luggage and jewellery. All on the cheap, most of it illegal and totally uncaring of copyright. Nestled between Surawong and Silom Road, one long alley (or what the Thais call a ‘soi’) is jammed packed full of hawkers and their merchandise. It is also a dense home of pubs, bars, restaurants and strip joints. The ground floor is the entrée style but sequestered away on the upper floors are the full scale sex shows. The bars are gaudy and designed to prise gullible tourists from their dollars. These places are de facto brothels. If patrons want to take a girl out of the bar to pursue sexual relations they need to pay a “bar fine” to the premises.

The market is all privately owned. Patpong gets its name from the the Patpongpanich (or Patpongpanit) family that owns much of the area. They were immigrants from Hainan Island, China, who purchased it in 1946, when it was an undeveloped plot of land on the outskirts of the city. My thoughts are interrupted by another insistent hawker "Want see Pussy Show? Pussy Ping Pong Ball Show". No, thanks. Don't want to see pussy show, not even pussy ping pong ball show.

Eventually the constant stream of sellers anxious to get my business becomes too much and I leave the markets with my wallet unopened. There are easier places to have an unmolested beer than Patpong. Back onto the air-con BTS and home to the hotel for the night. I buy a few cans of beer from the local shop (at about a dollar a pop) and relax in the hotelroom before the oppressive heat finally claims me for the night.