Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Songkhran - one year on

Updated 16th, April: Good to see the spirit of Songkhran returning to the streets of Bangkok with the government extending 2 more public holidays! A complete reversal to the tense atmosphere of confronting the protesters only days before!
























This blog was started a year ago.. incidentally just after Songkhran festival, it was fun filled then. However, this time the mood was completely different. As I watched & followed the political events from afar, how the red shirts sentiment was whipped up by the ex-prime minister abroad. As his family left the country just before the show down, I saw a storm brewing.

There is also something I observed unique in Thai way of handling such explosive situation as events unfolded. There was so much tolerance by the authorities refraining from the use of force - the 'softly, softly' approach until the line of anarchy was crossed - first by storming of ASEAN summit at Pattaya followed by street violence in Bangkok.

Re-collection of photos from BangkokPost. Building up of the storm at Victory Monument by day...














.... and night














At the Democracy Monument ...















The calm before the storm. Is that the true face of Mr. T?












With so much energy on the ground, eruption was inevitable - especially the flame was constantly fanned.























Soldiers had to act tough eventually.












Good that the whole episode was short lived & the Govt. even provided transport to send them home.












Casualties was reported as 2 killed, shot by red shirts on motobike. They were Bangkok citizens who took law into their own hands - "enough is enough" of violence, beating back the protesters. In comparison roads accidents during the festive season claimed 272 over 5 days! (Updated to 373 in 7 days!)

It was unfortunate the country had to suffered this way.. but it could have been a lot worse. Somehow in spite of travel warnings by the Australian authorities, plane loads leaving for Bangkok were still full - as reported by media here in Melbourne. Guess the confidence rested in the swift restoration of order on the streets.

Thailand may appear unstable on the surface, there is actually inherently stability in the country. This is seen over the years even with a series of military coups, one after another since achieving Constitutional Monarchy in 1932. I am no political pundit, my simplistic view is even with these difficulties Thai society is pragmatic enough to forged ahead as the most prosperous Indo Chinese nations. My optimism remains.