Proverbs, murderers but no buffaloes

The Thai language has many proverbs that echo the wisdom of old and demonstrate the foolishness of modern times. Worry not about rules of law, justice, morals, etc. Today, we look at the political game through the prism of human nature, captured best by proverbs. Abhisit Vejjajiva was the prime minister and Suthep Thaugsuban was deputy prime minister and in charge of security during the political crisis of April/May 2010 that led to 92 deaths _ both civilians and members of security forces _ and the burning of Bangkok and provincial city halls.

Published: 02/09/2012 at 02:08 AM
Writer: Voranai Vanijaka

Both men have been summoned by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to answer allegations that they were responsible for ``ordering the murder of innocent civilians''.

Some say this was garm tham sanong, meaning ``what goes around comes around'' _ a matter of karma. However, this is too simplistic. To tie karma to the virtues or follies of man is to relinquish the responsibility of man. It also discounts vengeance and turns a blind eye to ulterior motives.

Sometimes we pray for garm tham sanong out of impotent rage. Not having the power to right a perceived wrong or take vengeance, we then task the gods with doing it for us so that we can sleep better at night. Sometimes we sing it out of satisfaction while our opponent suffers, as we haughtily believe that somehow our cause is the morally superior one.

But what is happening to Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep is hardly karma. Some say it's more like tee krai tee mun, or ``your turn, my turn''.

For example, when yellow shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) sympathiser Kasit Piromya was foreign minister, he demanded, begged and pleaded for foreign governments to extradite Thaksin Shinawatra. Now that Thaksin's cousin, Surapong Tovichakchaikul, is foreign minister, he says that's not his job.

What's more, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) dropped a corruption case against 28 suspects, including Thaksin, concerning the purchase of 26 CTX-9000 bomb scanners for use at Suvarnabhumi airport. If Pheu Thai wasn't in government, Thaksin would have been found guilty of everything from hatching the bubonic plague to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Tee krai tee mun can be interpreted to mean that whomever is in charge has the power to ``tee off'' on their opponents. This proverb underlines man's propensity for vengeance and now it's the turn of the Pheu Thai and the red shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) to tee off on the Democrats.

For about two years now, the UDD has been screaming for the heads of these two men, blaming them for the crackdown on May 19 and other incidents that led to casualties and lives lost.

When Mr Abhisit was prime minister and Mr Suthep his lieutenant (though many would say it was the other way around), following the crackdown, there was the pursuit of red shirt members and leaders who were accused of acts of terrorism: the bombing of Bangkok, the burning of the capital and various provincial city halls and the killing of security forces.

During the period between the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011, before Pheu Thai won the July 3 general election, it was the Democrats' turn to tee off. The goal was to stamp out opposition and bring Thaksin Shinawatra back to face jail time, or at least keep him in a travelling limbo.

Since after last year's general election however, it's been Pheu Thai and the UDD's turn to tee off. The goal is to bring Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep to trial _ but wait, no, not really. This is not really about the vengeance of man, at least not yet, or that's not the priority in any case. The goal is the return of the Kingdom's prodigal son.

In the words of Michael Corleone, ``This is not personal. This is business.'' The various attempts through the first year of the Pheu Thai government to bring Thaksin back thus far have been stalled by the traditional establishment. As the saying goes, nhau fah yung mee fah, literally ``above the sky there's still sky'', meaning if you think you are at the top, well there's always someone above you [wink].

There has not been a royal pardon, even if the Pheu Thai government has been ingratiating itself to the establishment by banning, censoring and issuing lese majeste charges left, right and centre _ something they were so vehemently against as the opposition.

For example, in November 2011, according to Human Rights Watch, Information And Communication Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap told Facebook to block accounts with lese majeste content. Some 26,000 URLs were blocked in August and September, while 60,000 were blocked in October and November. The minister also warned that users who ``share'' or ``like'' Facebook posts with lese-majeste content are liable under the Computer Crime Act.

The reconciliation bills designed to grant a blanket amnesty have gone nowhere fast, stalled by the Democrats in parliament (punching, kicking and slapping during House debates, no less) and the somewhat revitalised yellow shirt PAD in the streets. This is despite the fact that one reconciliation bill was sponsored by the leader of the 2006 military coup himself, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin.

If Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep were to be charged with crimes against humanity, we could say it's garm tham sanong _ if we put our brains on hold. If Pheu Thai has the DSI build a case and charge them with crimes against humanity, we could call it tee krai tee mun _ if we put our brains on hold.

But the brain should never be told to stop thinking. As we understand, the No1 priority of the Pheu Thai government is the return and exoneration of Thaksin, therefore we we realise that under Thaksin's directive, Pheu Thai has pushed for the DSI to build a case against Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep so that eventually, due to fear and the pressure of prosecution, they will seek and accept amnesty, which could then become a blanket amnesty for everyone, including Thaksin.

This is nothing personal. This is business. In the political game, to the power players the civilian and soldier casualties are mere collateral damage.

Two years ago, when the Democrats were in charge, the DSI was hunting ``red terrorists'' and investigating ``plots to overthrow the monarchy''. Now that the Pheu Thai in charge, it's all about investigating ``murderers'' and going, ``What? Plot to overthrow who? No way!''

There are many Thai proverbs to express this, but let's go with the simplest, song nah or ``two-face''. But this isn't fair to the DSI. It is but a government agency subjected to the whims of the powers that be. It's a fatal flaw in the Thai system that a change in government makes fickle jezebels out of bureaucratic agencies _ one reason why very little ever gets done.

More interesting is the case of former coup leader and now Pheu Thai ally Gen Sonthi. He is not beholden to any individual or agency. Some could say his switching of allegiances could be considered song nah or nam chiew ya kwang rua, which means when the current is strong, don't get in the way of the boat.

But perhaps he took it even one step further by jumping off one boat and onto another. This is not an abnormal practice in Thai politics mind you, because there is one proverb that always holds true in the power game, gum khee dee gua gum thod. This literally means it is ``better to hold on to the faeces than the fart''. Another way to put it is: The government has the budget; the opposition only has words. Words are but wind; money is the s**t. Will this scheme work? Who knows, but it seems unlikely, perhaps just an example of yoan hin thaam tang, or ``throw a stone and see where it lands''.

I won't get into moral or legal arguments over what happened in April and May 2010, because I have already written about it enough times. Readers are intelligent and open-minded, they truly are. So they know well where the truth lies. It would be false to think they are narrow-minded buffoons suffering from delusions of importance, not realising the horror of their banal existence and the irrelevance of their ill-conceived opinions. No, it would be false to think that.

There are no buffaloes here, so there's no need to see sor hai kwai fang (``serenade the buffaloes'').

Contact Voranai Vanijaka via email at voranaiv@bangkokpost.co.th.

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Discussion 1 : 06/09/2012 at 08:02 AM: Buffaloes are honest. We are not.
Discussion 2 : 04/09/2012 at 07:17 PM: Disc13 Android - Unless there is an order somewhere with Suthep or Abhisit's signature on it saying 'Shoot to kill', there is no case to answer. Without a shadow of a doubt, the order said something like, "Retake the capital city centre. Use deadly force only when necessary." The fact is that UDD's stupidity made it necessary.
Discussion 3 : 03/09/2012 at 11:06 AM: PLEASE.....Thaksin may have been a tyrant but no where near Marcos and Suharto were
Discussion 4 : 03/09/2012 at 09:20 AM: The comments section in this paper mirrors Voranais 'tee krai tee mun' proverb. @jacksprat30; you took the words from me. I thought Eric24 was being sarcastic until I read his next comment25 where he quite aptly (but I think unintentionally) refers to Thaksin as a dictator along with Marcos and Suharto, albeit for a shorter duration.
Discussion 5 : 03/09/2012 at 06:59 AM: I won't get into moral or legal arguments over what happened in April and May 2010, because I have already written about it enough times. Readers are intelligent and open-minded, they truly are. Old Thai proverb say don't get stuck in a groove.
Discussion 6 : 03/09/2012 at 02:13 AM: I know you try to keep it neutral for journalism Vornai but I would like to know your opinion of this Thaksin saga .
Discussion 7 : 02/09/2012 at 10:09 PM: "...Pheu Thai has pushed for the DSI to build a case against Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep so that eventually...they will seek and accept amnesty, which could then become a blanket amnesty for everyone, including Thaksin." Irrespective of whether PT has the above intention or not, AV and Suthep as the ex.CRES core members involved in the 2010 brutal crackdown on protestors, are still obliged to answer allegations that they were responsible for "ordering the murder of innocent civilians".
Discussion 8 : 02/09/2012 at 10:03 PM: "Philippines and Indonesia also got rid of coups and see how they have prospered and developed." Are you serious? Both countries rate worse than Thailand in international corruption indexes. Thailand scores 3.4 out of 10, Indonesia 3.0, and the Philippines 2.6.
Discussion 9 : 02/09/2012 at 07:30 PM: D.23,25 The truth really hurts. "Readers are intelligent and open-minded " know already who the real red perpetrators of April,May 2010 are. Who is telling the truth to the DSI and who is hiding as MPs and in ministries and in Dubai.
Discussion 10 : 02/09/2012 at 06:25 PM: mister disc 26, keep cool. The sentence came from the article and sorry if you feel concerned. And it's not because i don't eat a tiring propaganda that i adhere to one other. And for the "insults", you are a specialist as we can see in the messages you send to some posters and me.
Discussion 11 : 02/09/2012 at 04:28 PM: D25@eric - will stand to be corrected but I do not think the 1997 Constitution (which was abrogated in the coup) and would have applied in Khun Thaksin premiership had any limitation on number of terms a PM could serve. This was only introduced in 2007 version. That said of course any limitation in the 1997 Charter could have been set aside by a majority vote in the National Assembly under the charter amendment procedure anyway
Discussion 12 : 02/09/2012 at 04:14 PM: Discussion 23...whats your problem?? The comments of discussion 21 seem very reasonable unless somebody wants to re-write history.... Attacking people on this forum who do not adhere to your pro red philosophy makes me rather ask who is the brainwashed on this forum???? And there is no need for BP to accept your insults....shows you are a real member of the red family!!
Discussion 13 : 02/09/2012 at 03:45 PM: Dis#21, Rather weak comparison. Marcos and Suharto were dictators for 21 & 31 years respectively, Taksin only 6 years. More importantly, constitution for the 2 dictators written to allow for both to rule for for long periods, Thailand constitution only permits 2 terms, period. Don't need a coup to get rid of him; just constitutionally he will be out. Just that the Amart are too impatient and manipulated the situation.
Discussion 14 : 02/09/2012 at 03:30 PM: Democracy dis#21, Philippines and Indonesia also got rid of coups and see how they have prospered and developed.
Discussion 15 : 02/09/2012 at 03:04 PM: Dear Author, reading disc 21 and some others, i confirm that the brainwashing is a kind of illness and after all, it would be reasonnable to think that exist, in Thailand, narrow-minded buffoons suffering from delusions of importance, not realising the horror of their banal existence and the irrelevance of their ill-conceived opinions.
Discussion 16 : 02/09/2012 at 02:53 PM: But Khun Voranai - is it not the 'narrow-minded buffoons suffering from delusions of importance, not realising the horror of their banal existence and the irrelevance of their ill-conceived opinions' who read your newspaper each day and indeed sometimes applaud (and are enlightened by) your very well scripted opinion pieces. BTW ill-conceived opinions are by no means irrelevant as actions and decisions in life are usually driven and influenced by our opinions. Opinions elect governments, determine how to raise, support and educate (often extended) families, vote (maybe), decide if Thailand is still a safe and secure place for investments and to spend money in our 'banal' existence, as well as which newspaper suits us
Discussion 17 : 02/09/2012 at 01:33 PM: Philippines,Indonesia got rid of the Marcos and Suharto families years ago. Thailand is going backwards, by allowing 1 rich family tu run the gov. from behind the curtain. When someone as in 2001 happened, got away with an honest mistake, then this was the recipe to the political divison we have today. He thaught he could get away with everything: 2500 dead in the war on drugs, He sold his company when he was PM and paid no taxes and another 92 dead in 2010 and nobody can stop him.
Discussion 18 : 02/09/2012 at 12:25 PM: This is a stage play. Surely it must be scripted in a secure location, and the players say their lines, with occasional help when they go off the script. This is the comedy. The tragedy is the audience is being duped and continue to applaud, and into the bargain, line up to pay for a seat. In fact, they pay if they don't get a seat. Who is the bard? from iPhone application.
Discussion 19 : 02/09/2012 at 12:23 PM: Mister disc 13, you're right. 92 people (protesters, medics, reporters, soldiers) died because the leaders of the Country had not really conscience of their acts. Maybe a lesson for apprentice dictators, when your legitimacy is subject to caution, better to choose the elections than the blood and all the following grudges and divisions.
Discussion 20 : 02/09/2012 at 11:41 AM: More about discussion 5 : “It was not that Chartthaipattana wanted to join the coalition (of Abhisit). We would definitely not do so if we were not forced to.”
Discussion 21 : 02/09/2012 at 11:28 AM: I find "mind turn, your turn" very relevent in thailand politics
Discussion 22 : 02/09/2012 at 10:12 AM: RE: D3 you must be a little bit behind the times...That is exactly what was orchestrated in 06 by the yellow shirts. Is TS guilty of something?...probably yes, Is Abhisit and Suthep guilty of something? probably yes..... Is justice what either of the other side is after....? no. it is not justice anyone is after, it is power...power is money in this country. and the only way they can get the power is to remove the opposition. That is what all sides want and that is what all sides work for. Any one who claims otherwise is delusional!!!
Discussion 23 : 02/09/2012 at 09:59 AM: "even if the Pheu Thai government has been ingratiating itself to the establishment by banning, censoring and issuing lese majeste charges left, right and centre _ something they were so vehemently against as the opposition." The problem is that the PT government is still under the thumb of the military, and the "establishment" is very much in control of the military. So if the PT were to open the censorship gate, they would be labeled as "anti loyal" and a new coup would promptly remove them. The military and the establishment do not want them, they would rather have there own cronies,but given that the PT wins every election the "establishment is forced to let them appear to be in control even when they do not have a control over much and everything they do is subject to the approval of a uniform..
Discussion 24 : 02/09/2012 at 09:56 AM: In Thailand you are either in the clique or out. There is no such thing as love of country or fellow man. Thailand has become the world champions of self-greed, where "Anything for Money" is the new national anthem. Is it payback when the winds of political change shift? Of course it is. Only a buffalo wouldn't realize that. However, no one is innocent. Both sides persecute each other when they are in power as a matter of showing who is boss at the time. In the end the country suffers, the people suffer and Thailand falls further into the third world. Even in PRC China, not in the big banks want to take Thai baht. Thailand is a mirage in it's own eyes. Floods, corruptions, Olympic failures, a poor education system, poor infrastructure, lack of equality in law and order, etc. Only Thai people see themselves as something great the rest of the world doesn't see. So who are the real buffalos?
Discussion 25 : 02/09/2012 at 09:50 AM: Those 90 people die because their leaders don't take care.
Discussion 26 : 02/09/2012 at 09:46 AM: Mister disc 4, you are wrong, Thailand is 80th and the endemic corruption is nearly constant. For the Author, "Readers are intelligent and open-minded, they truly are. So they know well where the truth lies". A little bit simplistic when you read some comments in the BP. Are you sure that the truth of a pro-dictatorship full of hatred are the same that the trust of a pro-democracy humanist?
Discussion 27 : 02/09/2012 at 09:33 AM: "It would be false to think [readers] are narrow-minded buffoons suffering from delusions of importance, not realising the horror of their banal existence and the irrelevance of their ill-conceived opinions. No, it would be false to think that." Wonderful, and a valuable commentary on just about everybody who posts here regularly.
Discussion 28 : 02/09/2012 at 09:31 AM: What about the vengeance of all flood victims at the next election . Or the vengeance of every single taxpayer, sickened by seeing the billions flow to reward the red terrorists???
Discussion 29 : 02/09/2012 at 09:14 AM: Some class phrases in there.
Discussion 30 : 02/09/2012 at 09:13 AM: In due time the poor people will be struggling to be able to feed their families, while the elite will continue to accrue massive wealth. No amount of populist 'give-aways' will be able to placate the poor. And the government's assault of the democrats to force them to agree to the amnesty plan for Thaksin ( 'Reconciliation Bill' ) will still backfire. Thaksin is overplaying his hand, again.
Discussion 31 : 02/09/2012 at 08:34 AM: Voranai, Thanks for my Sunday laugh. From one who realizes only too painfully "the horror of their banal existence and the irrelevance of their ill-conceived opinions".
Discussion 32 : 02/09/2012 at 08:23 AM: Khun Voranai, I still prefer the proverb you gave us: garm tham sanong, meaning ``what goes around comes around'' My interpretation is that in this modern internet age, you cannot overthrow an elected government through a military coup, whether it is headed by Thaksin, Abhisit, Chavalit, or Chuan because sooner or later, the voters who voted for that leader will rise up and vote him (or his sister) back into power. As for Pheu Thai government seems to be hunting Abhisit/Suthep now, that is normal. Just imagine if Al-Qaeda wins the global war, they will be putting US leaders in jail too.
Discussion 33 : 02/09/2012 at 08:16 AM: At least PT are legitimate; “Gen Anupong accepted that meetings between him and politicians from the Democrats and other smaller parties at his residence at the First Infantry Regiment on Vibhavadi Rangsit road paved the way for the Democrats to eventually form a new coalition government." (Newin VS the army)
Discussion 34 : 02/09/2012 at 07:21 AM: Democracy requires honesty and maturity of thought. I don't see either in Thailand. How shameful ,being judged the 14 th most corrupt country in the world. But does that worry anybody ? Of course not. This country is all about ,me ,me ,me .Thais know no shame. from iPhone application.
Discussion 35 : 02/09/2012 at 06:49 AM: of course, the single biggest flaw with this setup to 'pin something prosecutable' on Abhisit and Suithep, is that it works both ways. How about the PAD taking over Ratchaprasong demanding that the proxy govt and clone prime minister step down, and insist on staying there until Yingluck orders the army to come in a spill blood. They are just innocent protestors, she becomes a criminal, more amnesty trade off points. Is there a Thai proverb for that one?
Discussion 36 : 02/09/2012 at 06:11 AM: With the one year anniversary of the great flood upon us, I am surprised and disappointed there has not been more of a push from the victims of the flood to launch investigations into the mismanagement of the reservoir and dams into the run up to the rainy season. Many people died as a direct result of this mismanagement. While the DSI is busy building a case against the two individuals, now would be the time to add this investigation to the list.
Discussion 37 : 02/09/2012 at 06:06 AM: With the one year anniversary of the great flood upon us, I am surprised and disappointed there has not been more of a push from the victims of the flood to launch investigations into the mismanagement of the reservoir and dams into the run up to the rainy season. Many people died as a direct result of this mismanagement. While the DSI is busy building a case against the two individuals, now would be the time to add this investigation to the list.

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