Tag Archives: “Red shirts”

Thailand Internal Security Act shows rattled Thai Government

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Thailand invokes the Internal Security Act ahead of Pitak Siam rally

Just a little more than two-and-a-half years after anti-government street protests brought the centre of Bangkok to a stop for 64 days ahead of a bloody military crackdown, Bangkokians are again living under the Thailand Internal Security Act, highlighting a government rattled by the first major anti-government rally since taking office . The government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, elected with the direct support of the same 2010 red-shirt protesters who shut down Bangkok in 2010, yesterday enacted the Thailand Internal Security Act for three Bangkok districts ahead of a planned anti-government rally this weekend by the ultra-right wing Pitak Siam (Protecting Siam) group. The Thailand Internal Security Act (ISA) allows the country’s top security agency, the Internal Security Operations … Continue reading →

Thainess, the economy & the 2011 Thailand general election

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The 42 parties that will contest the 2011 Thailand general election. Source: Bangkok Post Video "The Thai election explained".

The culmin- ation of more than three years of political unrest which have cost at least 150 lives are due to come to a head next Sunday (July 3) in Thailand when the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will seek its first mandate from the electorate to rule the Southeast Asa kingdom of some 66 million people with the 2011 Thailand general election. Abhisit landed the top job after lengthy protests by the royalist, right-wing People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), aka the yellow-shirts, against the trouble-plagued government of Samak Sundaravej and care-taker prime minister Somchai Wongsawat, seizing Government House and closing five Thailand airports, including both Bangkok airports, stranding hundreds of thousands of international tourists attempting to return home … Continue reading →

Red-shirts return to Ratchaprasong for anniversary of deadly 2010 crackdown

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The sons of (L to R) Paisol Tiplom (37) and Boontham Thongpui (47), killed in clashes during the 2010 red-shirt (เสือ้แดง) anti-government protest.

This story was updated at 6:45pm May 27, 2011. Additional/ edited text in blue type. One year after the violent military crackdown against red-shirt (เสือ้แดง) anti-government protesters in the heart of the Bangkok business district more than 10,000 of the groups faithful gathered at the Ratchaprasong intersection today, May 19, 2011, to mark the deaths of more than 90 people last April and May. Joining the gathering at the Ratchaprasong protest site were the families and loved-ones of those killed during the 69-day long protest which saw 92 people killed, including 11 soldiers and police and two foreign journalists, while another 1,800 sought treatment for injuries they sustained. Particularly moving were the blank, expressionless stares of the young children of … Continue reading →

Who killed Seh Daeng (ใครฆ่า เสธ.แดง)?

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After a year there is still no answer from the Thai government as to who shot Major-General Khattiya "Seh Daeng" Sawasdipol (ขัตติยะ "เสธ แดง" สวัสดิผล)

One year ago today as red-shirt (เสือ้แดง) protesters hunkered down behind fearsome looking bamboo and tire barricades blockading about 8 sq.km (3 sq.miles) of the central Bangkok business district, surrounded by heavily armed Royal Thai Army (RTA) (กองทัพบก) troops, one of the protest movements most colorful figures, RTA (กองทัพบก) specialist, Major-General Khattiya Sawatdiphon (ขัตติยะ สวัสดิผล), affectionately known as ‘Seh Daeng (เสธ.แดง)’ or ‘commander red’ by his legion of admirers died, victim of a single bullet fired from either the nearby Dusit Thani hotel or the building adjacent to it on Rama IV Road. Seh Daeng (เสธ.แดง) was shot while giving a media interview directly in front of the Lumphini Park entrance to the Silom MRT station, the light of the … Continue reading →

Topless Songkran Coyote girls and video clip disturb Thailand – no, it’s not April 1

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Two Coyote girls dance topless in Silom during Songkran 2011

This story was updated at 23:25 April 19, 2011. Additional/edited text in blue type. Not known for its modesty or the the tameness of some of the performances in it’s go-go bars, each year the Silom Road area of central Bangkok has spurred one of the biggest and best water fights possible during the Songkran festival, but this year three topless Coyote dancing girls have become instant celebrities for a bare-breasted performance in the streets of central Bangkok lasting less than two minutes. The topless Songkran Coyote girls, whose names are not known, were filmed at about 11pm dancing on top of some of Thailand’s numerous “audio-cars”, surrounded by water-throwing foreigners – many of them tourists spending their holiday money … Continue reading →

Media wars – How to fail at international media relations the UDD way

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Publishing defamatory statements about people is punishable by jail and financial restitution in Thailand

In the techno-savvy 21st century where the latest breaking news is just a 140-character tweet away and where even radio has been relegated to a back-row seat, it’s now more important than ever for corporations, organizations and lobby groups to tightly control and monitor their media relations. While maintaining good relations with the vernacular media is a necessity that goes without saying, good relations with the international media is (should) have been almost as important. For the past 18-days the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), aka the “red-shirts”, have been holding a mass rally on Phan Fa Bridge in central Bangkok in its latest – possibly a do or die – attempt to force Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit … Continue reading →

Thailand tourism industry prioritised to lead 2009 recovery as economy shrinks 5%

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Tourists to Thailand have dropped dramatically since the seizure of airports last year by the Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD)

Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has targeted the Thailand tourism industry as a priority for reviving the Thai economy in 2009  in a speech to members of the National Economic and Social Advisory Council (Nesac). In his policies for solving economic and social problems speech, Mr Abhisit said the government needed to boost Thailand’s economy via tourism, with diversified campaigns aimed at attracting more tourists. He said since the yellow shirt Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD) seizure of Suvarnabhumi Airort last year that had standard hundreds of thousands of international tourists to Thailand there had been a drastic cut in the number of foreign tourists to Thailand. The highlighting of Thailand’s tourism industry as being vital to the economic revival … Continue reading →