Thank goodness that’s over. For weeks we have been waiting for the decision on Thaksin’s frozen assets. Friday was Judgement Day, and the judges spent 5 hours reading out their conclusions.
The end result was a that $1.4 billion of his assets were confiscated by the state; but that still leaves nearly a billion that was not seized, so the man won’t starve. The response to the verdict from Thaksin was predictable. He did his usual impression of a baby throwing toys out of a pram, with a statement that can be summarised as being “Me! Me! Poor me!”. His supporters seemed disinterested in the fact that he had been found guilty on many counts of abusing power to enrich himself; claiming, with some justification, that all Thai politicians are corrupt, so why pick on Thaksin? So they vow to fight on, for something that is not entirely clear, but they call it democracy; which can be interpreted locally as meaning that whoever can buy the most votes wins. To reinforce the message that the party isn’t over till the fat lady explodes, four grenades were thrown at Bangkok Bank outlets last night.
To an outsider (and probably to most of the Thais, who just wish the problem would go away so they can get on with life), the ongoing political saga here is hard to comprehend. But it’s not my country, so I am happy to remain bemused and generally disinterested.
And anyway, in the wider scheme of things, nicking a billion dollars is not a big deal. Silvio Berlusconi has similar charges of profiting from office laid against him; but redeems himself by being a buffoon who plays around with prostitutes; someone the Italian people can take to their hearts. Ciao! And then of course there is the mass murdering war criminal Blair. Why is he still prancing around, making millions, rather than rotting in prison or, preferably, being placed in front of a firing squad? I am bemused and very angry. Next to him, Thaksin’s misdemeanours are trivial.
And it was good to see that triviality continues to occupy the fine policemen of Pattaya. While their colleagues in Bangkok were dealing with grenade attacks, the Pattaya contingent stopped a young man on his motorbike and discovered a collection of ladies underwear under the seat. The bike rider gave the perfectly reasonable excuse that he had discovered the knickers hanging on his bike, mistook them for dusters, and stowed them for future use. The police, presumably suspecting the man to be the notorious Pattaya knicker nicker, impounded his bike as “evidence”. I am bemused and amused; which is the best of all the bemused conditions, and one of the reasons why I love living here.
Comments 🔗
2010-03-03| genuinej saysI was in Thailand when the judges bored the arse off everyone with their protracted verdict (maybe done deliberately) but it must be in the running for a non-event of the year award in due course. Your comments on Blair are admirable, but until someone gets round to shooting him, be consoled by the fact that he is stuck with that pig-ugly, wide mouthed cunt of a woman as his wife.
2010-03-03| Spike saysAh genuinej, how we have missed you (or at least, I have). Who else would have the insight to so accurately describe the odious Mrs. Blair?
I trust you had a good holiday.
2010-03-13| Owen Schessler saysSawadee Khrab! I’m about to go to Pattaya and I’m very excited about it. Already booked my flight to Suvamabhumi Airport and from there I’ll go explore around Koh Chang and of course stay a couple of nights in Pattaya, I found your great blog on Yahoo and it seems that you know a lot about Pattaya City. Would you please give me a hint where to stay in Pattaya? I’ve heard there are a couple of fantastic resorts in the main city and in the northwest. Somewhere that is liberal-minded because I like to bring farm animals back to my room. Thank you in advance for editing my comment to remove spam links to my feeble website.
2010-03-13| Billy saysOwen, just so long as you remember to pay the bar fine for your farm animal of choice, I do believe that most hotels in the Pattaya area will be happy to accommodate you.
Do watch out however for foot and mouth and swine flu… good luck, Billy
2010-03-13| Billy saysPS Minnesota has been pretty cold this winter, eh?