Author: Nicholas Farrelly, New Mandala, ANU
In Thailand the number ‘nine’ is usually considered the most auspicious. It is associated with the reigning monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the ninth king of the Chakri dynasty. Spoken in Thai, it also sounds like a word for ‘progress’ (kaew). 9, 99, 999, et cetera, are regarded with special reverence: luck and good fortune are denominated in 9s.
So the year 2009 was, for that simple reason, greeted with a modest degree of optimism by many Thais. Of course, in their Buddhist calendar, it is merely 2552. Indeed, it has, in the final reckoning, proven an inauspicious time. Read more…
Author: Ryan Manuel
The reactions of Thailand’s commanding northern neighbour have been heavy on the minds of Western media during the events of recent weeks.
As the BBC noted in the aftermath of the protests that postponed the ASEAN Summit:
Mr Abhisit had to make a grovelling phone call to apologise to Premier Wen, who, despite diplomatically saying he understood the prime minister’s actions, must have been thinking: ‘This could never happen in China.’
Yet an attempt to calculate exactly what Grandpa Wen thought of the events in Thailand is difficult. Coverage of the Thai situation in the Chinese media has been fairly limited. The august China Daily, and Xinhua have shared the same daily stories (usually a brief 300 word coverage of the respective event) for the past week with stories on 13 April (‘Water Festival not so happy’); 14 April (‘Protesters go home’); 16 April (‘ASEAN summit must be held – Abhisit’); 17 April (‘Yellow-Shirt leader shot; Thai gov’t says additional loan needed to boost post-political-crisis economy’) and 19 April (‘Thai PM: time for solving political crisis, not for cabinet reshuffle’).
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Author: Nicholas Farrelly, New Mandala
It is fair to say that Thailand’s Songkran festival—marking the traditional New Year— usually passes with a predictable mix of nation-wide chaos. Water fights, booze and huge crowds make for a heady and sometimes lethal combination, particularly on Thailand’s roads. It is a week of great frivolity and sadly for those caught up in the traffic carnage it is also a time of immense personal tragedy. In a normal year, Songkran is a mixed blessing: both happy and sad.
Songkran in 2009, which is celebrated today, 13 April, is far from normal. The government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had planned for a successful East Asia Summit to coincide with the traditional New Year festivities. In the Theravada Buddhist countries of Southeast Asia the annual celebration in mid-April is often called the ‘water festival’. It is a boon to tourist marketers everywhere. When Abhisit took power in December 2008, Songkran would have looked attractive as a time to host a peaceful, positive and popular get-together of ASEAN and friends.
The events of Saturday, 11 April, were not what he had in mind. The East Asia Summit venue was stormed by red-shirted anti-government protestors backed by his nemesis, deposed former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. Responding to these unprecedented and humiliating events necessitated calling off the Summit. Delegations from across Asia were helicoptered out of the venue and sent home. From the Australian end, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s plane was turned around two hours out of Bangkok. In a country as ‘face’ conscious as Thailand, Prime Minister Abhisit suffered the indignity of seeing his big weekend on the global stage spoiled by a few thousand committed opponents. They literally pushed his inadequate police cordons out of the way.
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