A funny thing happened on the way to the forum

[Chuck Bao]

Friends and colleagues tried to discourage me from attending the anti-coup / pro-democracy protest. Maybe, they knew I’d get lost. Maybe, they thought something would happen. I did and it didn’t.

And, my route was totally mapped out by some point A to point B internet site. It’s just too bad that I took the wrong road and had to pass back through point A again before finding point B. A word of advice – if any internet site wants to take you through Chinatown, don’t listen.

The people I talked to there weren’t flakey or thugs and I don’t think they were hired to be there. And, I didn't get into any fights.

The vendor food was pretty much awesomeness, although they’ve banned alcoholic beverages being sold in the park or anywhere nearby.

But, I normally judge protests by the quality of the souvenirs. This one was the best ever!

I bought two cool t-shirts (from white pigeon – an anti-coup group), one baseball cap (power to the people), two white jackets (from the banned People’s TV station), two loose-fitting cloth trousers (emblem of a tank and a “get lost” message), two tie-on yellow headbands (“We love Pa, but not fish” – meaning we love HM the King, but not Privy Councilor Prem (who is seen as a backer of the coup)) and four black plastic wrist bracelets (with red, white and blue Thai flag and the word “Freedom” etched in it. And, I was given a lot of free stuff too – CDs, rally newspapers, bumper stickers, etc.

And the girls selling the souvenirs were cute, really cute, and totally flirtatious.

Who knows what will happen next? Basically, I have to think with my head, instead of my heart. Since the rally didn’t reach some critical mass, the stock market is going to rally like crazy over the next couple of days. I’m preparing to say “fill your boots”, although I’m wearing my freedom wrist band bought from the cute girls.

These are a two of my pics. In the first one, you can see Wat Prakeow and the Grand Palace in the background.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/prodemocracyjun07resized.jpg

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/prodemocracy2jun07resized.jpg

[royalfan5]

Just out of curiosity, is English widely enough spoken to merit second billing on all the signs in Thailand?

[Chuck Bao]

No, it is not. But, it is pretty much common practice used in all other previous political rallies. I think that is for the benefit of the foreign press.

I didn't see any other foreigners there. But, later after examining my pics I see two foreign photographers near the stage.

[royalfan5]

No, it is not. But, it is pretty much common practice used in all other previous political rallies. I think that is for the benefit of the foreign press.

I didn't see any other foreigners there. But, later after examining my pics I see two foreign photographers near the stage.
Makes sense.

[Flagstaffsooner]

Chuck, keep your behind safe. My hopes and prayers are for the freedom loving people of Thailand.

[Rogue]

CB, how many of these events are going on? It seems like you are going to a rally every other month or so. I should be more informed about the Thai political scene from reading your post but I'm not. Is there a good "Current Thai Situation For Dummies" site or something?

If'n you need some good revolution music, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh should fit the bill. :D

[Frozen Sooner]

No, it is not. But, it is pretty much common practice used in all other previous political rallies. I think that is for the benefit of the foreign press.

I didn't see any other foreigners there. But, later after examining my pics I see two foreign photographers near the stage.

You know what'd really be funny?

If the message in Thai above "Freedom Now" read "Hey, Western Press, You've Been Punk'd! We LOVE the PM!"

Seriously, though, stay safe. Keep your feet away from the King's face.

[SleestakSooner]

Holy ****! My boss is in Thailand for the next week! I had no idea all this was going down over there and I am pretty sure neither did he. I hope he keeps his shoes on and watches his *** or at least his g/f watches it for him.

[Chuck Bao]

CB, how many of these events are going on? It seems like you are going to a rally every other month or so. I should be more informed about the Thai political scene from reading your post but I'm not. Is there a good "Current Thai Situation For Dummies" site or something?

If'n you need some good revolution music, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh should fit the bill. :D

This one has been going on for several weeks and it will continue every day for the foreseeable future. I think during weekdays, they're not attracting more the 3-5,000. Hence, the not reaching critical mass comment.

There are no good websites that I'm aware of that would give a good summary without some slanted view. The Nation website is the best one to keep up with the news.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/

On my company's website, I post daily about the stock market, which is heavily influenced by political events. I also write a lot of strategy reports based on local politics, but since I write mainly for locals (and have it translated into Thai), it tends to be more opinion and forecasts, rather than background and summary. I can PM you the website URL, if you are ever interested.

Basically, the view going forward is that nobody wants this issue to escalate. The military wants a graceful exit and will likely keep its promise to return power to the people through an election in December.

They are stacking the deck, though. The constitutional tribunal dissolved the dominant pre-coup political party Thai Rak Thai. It also banned 111 party executives from politics for five years. Subsequently, the Assets Examiniation Committee has frozen about US$2bn in cash of the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

This is all expected, at least by me. But, there could be some backlash, which had spooked the market last week. Now, probably not so much since the weekend passed without bloodshed.

The Thaksin issue, in my opinion, is just a temporary front issue of a very important power base issue. Bangkok versus the provinces. Rich versus poor. Central bureaucrats versus local representation.

The next battle will be played out in writing the constitution over the next month. The constitution will be put to a public referendum and I strongly believe that it won't pass. If that happens, the military junta has the right to select from any of Thailand's previous constitutions and alter it any way they see fit.

The miltiary junta also has the right to stay in power during the election, the formation of the next government and up until the point that the next cabinet is swore into power.

While I'm going really bullish on the market in the near term, I'm a little hestitant to say that all of this is going to turn out okay.

Okay on that Bob Marley and Peter Tosh recommendation.

[Rogue]

Thanks CB. I s'pose if a man could predict a few things or get lucky he could make a buck while a country's in an uproar state of change like Thailand.


War - Really a good video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=rDtC3NcK6JM)
Redemption Song (http://youtube.com/watch?v=p7pAvbjChQM)
Get Up Stand Up (http://youtube.com/watch?v=GsVkV3AZqqI)
Exodus (http://youtube.com/watch?v=uwygen_2rSQ)
Rebel Music (http://youtube.com/watch?v=OS4Rnf8CwtI)

[Chuck Bao]

Yeah, Rogue, that's the idea - make a buck to two.

It's working pretty well so far.

I have a friend picking me up at 11am today to take me to the protest. The thing that worries me is the Nation newspaper is reporting that the protestors are planning a march on the Defense Ministry at 12 high noon today.

And, then there was this bit in Friday's newspaper.


CNS threatens action against trouble makers during Saturday rally

Hard core groups planning on making trouble at the anti-coup rally this Saturday will face legal charges, Council for National Security assistant chairman General Anupong Phaojinda warned Thursday.

He said the junta has been watching a group of people who have reportedly been hired to instigate violence using arson, bomb attacks and sabotage to provoke a reaction from security officials.

"We want them to stop creating trouble because our measures to charge them may affect the general public. However, we will still use nonviolent measures to guard the demonstrators and the hard core groups," Anupong said.

"But if they break the law we will charge them immediately," he said.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lt Gen Adisorn Nonsee yesterday ordered 2,000 police officials to provide security at the rally on Saturday.

The Nation

I'm not hard core or member of any group. I'm going largely because I want to buy more of that really cool pro-democracy caps, headbands, t-shirts, etc. to take back to Oklahoma as souvenirs.

I did tell the senior economist of the Thai government's planning and policy arm yesterday to tell the generals that if they want the economy to improve and confidence to return to please stop talking about violence, arson, bomb attacks, sabotage and hard core groups.

[Chuck Bao]

ANTI-COUP RALLY
Rain, poll date cool protesters

CNS also says promised cash wasn't paid

The Council for National Security (CNS) attributed yesterday's weakened anti-coup demonstration to heavy rain and an alleged lack of cash payment for rally-goers.

Sources said rally-goers were promised Bt500-1,000 per head, but many of them did not get the payment. In addition, some rally-goers, especially those who brought along small children, decided to go home after a heavy downpour.

Lt-General Adisorn Nonsee, the metropolitan police chief, said a total of 2,850 policemen were on duty at Sanam Luang and related sites to ensure a peaceful demonstration.

In the early afternoon, police reported the number of pro-Thaksin demonstrators to be around 10,000 as they marched from Sanam Luang to Army headquarters on Rajdamnoen Avenue.

The demonstrators were asked by police to send just 100-200 representatives to walk to the Army head office to avoid chaos and traffic problems, but the request was turned down.

As a result, police allowed protesters to head towards the Army head office on condition that they would have to disperse by midnight.

Military sources said most of the protesters had decided to disperse around 7.30pm after the first group arrived at the Army head office, while some decided to return to Sanam Luang.

"Originally, we got reports that up to 20,000 people were recruited to join the rally, but many decided to go home," said a source.

Another said most protesters were not ideologically serious, but were lured by the offer of money.

Besides Bangkok, the pro-Thaksin group also had organised rallies at 13 other locations in Nonthaburi and northern and northeastern provinces to pressure the CNS to step down.

"However, the movement has not attracted many supporters because more and more people do not want to see the country slide into deeper trouble.

"People prefer the polls as a solution to problems, so the premier's announcement that the general election date would be moved forward to November 25 was very helpful," said the source.

Damn coup kiss-up main-stream media.

For the record, I didn’t receive any money. Nobody even promised me any money. The only things I got free were some paper flags and a headband. The paper flags tore apart after possibly waving them around a little too vigorously when the band was playing and the headband was roughly cut out of cheap cloth and kept unraveling.

The protestors were not ideologically serious? I can’t count the number of times that people came up to me to shake my hand for being there. Of course, I can’t speak on behalf of anyone else, but I’m serious some times, even ideologically serious a few times.

And, there were more than 10,000 people at Sanam Luang park, but I don’t doubt that it was probably about that number that marched to Army headquarters.

All of the good merchandise stuff was gone.

The food was good, if you like street food. And, the live Thai country music was great.

Don’t tell me that they’re not serious.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/protestjun23078resized.jpg

The protests with a better shot of Wat Prakeow in the background.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/protestjun2307resized.9891368.jpg

Me waving my little paper flag.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/protestjun23072resized.jpg

Yum! Fried grasshoppers and beetles.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/resizeofimg_0022.jpg

I don’t know what it is, but it looks like giant corndogs.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/protestjun23076resized.jpg

Dried pork grilled. Thais call it Tiger Cry because tigers (and everyone else) get it stuck in their teeth.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/protestjun23075resized.jpg

Oh, the most ubiquitous of Thai street food – pork on a stick and green papaya salad.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/protestjun23073resized.jpg

For desert, egg whites and sugar candy in thin tortilla shells.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/protestjun23074resized.jpg

Coconut juice for drinks. I did finally find Leo beer after walking about three blocks from the park. Leo beer really isn’t worth it.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/protestjun23077resized.jpg

The protestors gathering together to march on the Army headquarters.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/img_0054a.jpg

There were a few signs in English. I sorta like the “Stop Bureaucracy Now” sign.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/protestjun23079resized.jpg

This one I have no clue about. I never got a chance to go in front of them and see the full sign. It definitely says “Go to Hell”. I’m just not sure who is being directed there.

http://img5.ranchoweb.com/images/kanunu/protestjun230710resized.jpg