Classic Power Struggle

As the recent political unrest in Bangkok has reached something of a boiling point I thought I would write a blog devoted sole on this subject so that those reading back home can get a quick summary of what is happening. The situation is a little complicated and what each side/person vows to do seems to change from time to time so when you read this things may have been resolved although I highly doubt that. The divide here is wide and deepening each day.

Major Players:

The PAD: Always wearing yellow the PAD is a political group (movement) that is essentially against Thaksin who they had a major role in overthrowing through a coup in 2006 (could be wrong on the exact year). Currently Thaksin’s brother-in-law Somchai is the PM and not surprisingly the PAD are against him as well in what they see as a Thaksin puppet government who essentially only support the interests of the Bangkok elite. The PAD is supported by businessmen, academics, the army, and some say the palace.

PM Somchai: PM of Thailand and brother-in-law of Thaksin. Has declared the protest at the airport undemocratic, illegal, and a terrorist act. Refuses to step down and dissolve the government. Was democratically elected, I believe, three times.

Army chief Anupong Paochinda: Supports PAD and at the beginning of this week asked for the government to be resolved and for the PAD to stop their protest at the airport. Clearly if the government was dissolved the PAD will have won and the authorities will be seen as giving into what has been called a terrorist act.

The Problem: The problem really in my mind is with the refusal of the army and police, but to a lesser extent, exercise their authority in upholding the law. Because the Army chief supports the PAD he initially refused to intervene to end the protest at the airport. This has put pressure on the PM who although has denied that he would replace the Army chief, fearing civil unrest and escalating the problem, may have to do so in order to resolve the protests which some economists are now stating that it will cost the country around 4 billion dollars from the tourist industry. The big story now is whether there will be a coup or not. There have in the past been a total of somewhere around 18 coups so it is not something unheard of. The PAD are calling on Anupong to create a coup which he has stated he would not do but since he also refuses to resolve the protest the PM may be pressured into replacing him at which point he may, in order to maintain power, go ahead with a coup.

In the News:

Capital increasingly tense as coup rumours spread: Published on November 28, 2008
Anupong said to have exchanged phone ultimatums with Somchai

Chamlong warns police of people's uprising if protesters forcefully dispersed
Chamlong Srimuang, a co-leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, Friday warned police that the people nationwide will rise up against the police and government if police use force to break up demonstrations.

ASTV bombarded with grenades, gunfire
Assailants fired two M79 grenades against the ASTV head office early Friday morning, apparently trying to blow off satellite transponder dishes on the roof. The assailants arriving on a long-tail boat also fired assault rifles at the back of the head office building for about five minutes before speeding off to the direction the Pin Klao bridge.

If you’d like to read more about it I recommend the English newspaper here in Thailand The Nation (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/)

A lot is going on but if you don’t wear yellow or red, avoid crowds and stay alert everyone is quite safe.

Andrew

Loy Krathong, Nightlife, and pictures of the office

Last week I went to a festival called Loy Krathong with a big group from various UN agencies. The festival involves sending little floating arrangements of flowers out onto the water. It was very nice and I took part. Unfortunatly I did not take my camera with me, although the quality of the night time photos is pretty poor but I may get some copies off friends who had theirs with them. Although the festival was very nice the highlight for me was eating a very large grasshopper from one of the vendors. I have eating bugs in the past but ones which were quite small. This however was about the size of my index finger. Tasty!

On Friday I enjoy a nice relaxing evening out with friends. That was a particularly busy week, much like this one. We began the night at an Indian restaurant Royal India and went to a bar afterwards for a few drinks. If anyone who is reading this is in the neighbourhood, I recommend Royal India. Best Indian food I have ever tasted.

Because I haven’t been taking my camera out with me, there are few photos of these nights but I will make an effort to change that from now on as pictures I think really add to these posts. In the meantime you can enjoy some photos of my office.

The pictures are in order of my walk to work through the building.

Next week my boss will be in Mongolia for a workshop which the president will make an address at, if I remember correctly. That’s exciting.

Hua Hin

On the weekend I went to Hua Hin which takes just over 3 hours to get to by bus. I had a good time although the sun wasn’t really shining for the first day I was able to relax and most importantly got away from the frantic environment in Bangkok.

To get there I planned on taking the 7pm bus which leaves from the Southern Bus Terminal. To get there on time I decided to leave my apartment at 6 and that would give me a full hour to get there. What I didn’t realize however was that very few taxis would take me there and absolutely no Tuk Tuk’s. Either they didn’t know where it was (although I had a map to show them it wasn’t a very good one), or they didn’t want to drive that far. The result was me in a panic trying desperately to get a ride from someone. In the end a motorcycle taxi dropped by and after consulting with passers-by who knew English, I hopped on the back strapped on my helmet and went for one crazy ride. The motorcycles really don’t obey the normal laws of the road such as stay in a lane and don’t use the shoulder, and only one vehicle to a lane. Although it was a little nerve racking cutting between cars to move to the front of the line at red lights I managed to get to the bus station on time because of this ability of motorcycles to pass through the traffic jams. I arrived five minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave.

The bus ride was uneventful as was most of the weekend. I did a lot of reading, spent some time at the beach even though it wasn’t very sunny, and at night I met some fellow farangs who were studying at an American university in Hua Hin.

That’s pretty much it. Currently even though it might be a little early to apply for a new job I will be sending in an application for DFID as a Private Sector Development Advisor. I think I meet a lot if not all of the requirements and there is no mention on how many years experience is needed so I’ll be giving it a shot. It would be nice to get it but if not I’m sure other opportunities will come up.

One more thing actually before I post this that I thought I should write about which just dawned on me is the immense disparity between people. For instance currently I am working on a Factsheet which describes a PPP that provides drinking water to people in Dhalko, Nepal. Those who use the service have to pay a small fee and travel perhaps a few blocks (not too far compared to some communities in Africa) to receive their drinking water. I on the other hand have to get out of my desk take about five steps to the right and presto, free ice cold drinking water. Just thought I would mention this. Food for thought I guess. Hard to really grasp the convenience we all have in developed countries.

Andrew

Sports Day! GO YELLOW!!!

Finally Sports Day came. After getting onto a bus and travelling for over an hour north of Bangkok I, along with forty other staff members, arrived at a resort called Rose Garden. It was an amazing place with vast property stretching at least a kilometre in every direction. The grass was cut to perfection and it was apparent that the gardens were tended to frequently.

The day began with outdoor sports such as relay races and tug-o-war (which my team won. GO YELLOW!). After a lunch break the activities were moved indoors until around 4:30 when the sports part of the day was over. There was still to come a dinner and Halloween party. Right after the activities ended and before dinner I spent some time on what I consider to be a cross between a Wat (temple) and a dock. It was very relaxing. We had a few drinks and I chatted a little about life in Bangkok with some of the senior staff and two interns (Julian and Beatriz) who work just behind and ahead of me at the office.

Once it was time to go to dinner we changed into our Halloween costumes (I just wore a t-shirt with a skeleton on it) and proceeded to an outdoor patio by the river. Quite a lot of the staff did not stay around for the dinner and Halloween party, mainly it was myself, a few senior staff, Thai staff, Julian, and Beatriz. All in all the party was pretty good. The waiters kept refilling our drinks, careful never to let our glasses be completely empty. In the end as we started to head back to Bangkok after the party at around 9 it started to pour. I have become used to heavy down pours though and knew that it would end in at the most an hour.

Sports day turned out to be a lot of fun. It was nice to get to see some other parts of Thailand than just Bangkok. I’m thinking about going to Hua Hin this weekend so if I end up going through with it, that should be another chance to see different parts of Thailand.

As for what is going on at the office, a whole lot. Currently I am revising PPPSD Fact Sheets for the Philippines and for Nepal, writing a concept note for the anti-corruption initiative, revising further the template for PPPSD project documentation, and researching/figuring out how to manage to create a anti-corruption program which includes/mirrors the ideas being implemented at the regional level but implement it at the local level. This is harder than it sounds. For instance, just finding out what strategy is being implemented at the regional level in tangible actions, e.g. public audits for projects, is difficult as most of the literature refers to building capacity in doing this or that or creating an environment which does so and so etc. etc. Currently to overcome this I’m talking with the author of a book I read on corruption in the infrastructure sector. His name is Prof. M. Sohail and he is one of a few people who I will be collaborating with on this project, and probably the only one outside of the UNDP, he is based at a university in the UK. Lots happening and it is all happening with political turmoil just outside the UN compound. Last Thursday there was a “small explosive” devices being thrown at people critically injuring them. Some people were shot and at least one person was killed. This all happened within a block from the UN’s front door. In fact one of the explosions, the one that occurred earliest in the morning happened literally at the front door. Everyone here though has gone through training and we know not to wear yellow or red and to avoid crowds. I haven’t felt seriously threatened at any point yet.

That is all for now. Stay posted lots coming up.