What to do?

I’ve been running into idle musicians out on the streets these days. Going stir-crazy sitting around the house, gotta get out. A lot of them lost their jobs because the hotels had no guests, and they don’t know if or when things will go back to normal. Of course, at this point almost nobody’s working, because of the curfew. That just extended for another week, too. At least now it’s off the streets by 11, not 9, as the first few days. But the government has apparently gotten word that the peaceful demonstrators had some more firebombs planned for this week, so I can’t blame them. Yet still, what is any big city, especially Bangkok, without night life? It’s no fun to always have to be home by 11. I personally don’t need the music work to survive, but most of those guys and gals do. Some of the Filipinos have just gone back home. Some of the farang (Western) musicians are falling back on the old standby for expats here, teaching English. The Thais are suffering the worst, maybe, although they usually do have family here, at least. Many of us are thinking a lot about what went wrong. And a few are wondering if there’s anything they can do to help.

To me the big story of the last few days is how the Bangkok community came together and cleaned up the mess in that square mile the redshirts occupied for six weeks. People gave up their Sunday off and came out in swarms and started the healing process with a great big sense of community. As you can imagine, people camping on public streets, which are not designed for it, can make things pretty disgusting. Well, these folks came out in just as big numbers as the protesters, held their noses for awhile, and started taking care of business. I wasn’t there, but saw plenty of TV footage, and it looked like a love-fest. The spirit of Buddhism, the warmth and openness of the Thai culture which made me love it in the first place. There were smiles all around, people talking about the future with hope, we hadn’t seen much of that for many weeks in this place that’s been known for a long time as the “land of smiles.”

There are stories that aren’t so good, too. William Barnes of Asia Times, who is doing the best reporting I’ve seen on this (including the one on the composition of the redshirt leaders which I linked in an earlier blog) wrote one called Sifting Through Thailand’s Ashes which is well worth the read, and gets into more detail about the makeup of the redshirt movement, and where it might go from here. The Reddos haven’t given up, but they may be coming to understand that they can’t get away with making claims about being a peaceful movement any more.

So . . . what is to be done?

Well, on the post just before this one, a commenter suggested, getting rid of the leaders, or "cutting off the head of the snake." OK, point taken, I think the leaders who incited to riot and who were certainly responsible for a lot of the deaths should be jailed, for a good long time, too. And if I could add to that punishment I'd have them sit in front of loudspeakers listening to their own speeches 24/7. But there will be other leaders. You know the story of the hydra, right? And besides, they wouldn't have been able to stir up the soup if there hadn't been any soup. So I would look more in the direction of curing the root causes. What were the social conditions these poor people were in that allowed them to be whipped up into such a rage? And I'd try to correct the misinformation that's been spread around.

I’m just a dumb farang, what do I know? I don’t have a lot of successful experience in saving societies from themselves. I wish I did, though, wish I had the experience and the stature to sit in a room with PM Aphisit and give him advice which would start this place moving on the road to a harmony that would make the Buddha proud.

I don’t have that experience and stature. But if I did, I’m pretty sure I’d make one major suggestion. Mr. Aphisit, make a goodwill tour of the entire country, one without a lot of ceremony, but with a lot of substance. I don’t know if the format of a “town hall meeting” would be workable, but get as down and close to the common people as you can.
Start with the Northeast, that is the place where the problems of Thailand come to a head. Oh, and by the way, make sure you’ve got loyal bodyguards. You’re wearing a great big bulls-eye on your chest right now. But show not only that you’re not afraid, but that you welcome the chance to hear people’s opinions and tell them how you see things.
Go there with something in hand to offer them. Not another big dam, no heavy industry, but something down and personal for the rice farmers who can’t get enough for their crop, for the kids who seem to have no future. Land redistribution, microfinance, education for new careers to replace the old that are becoming obsolete. Something big, something real, something they will soon see the fruits of.
Show them that you haven’t stopped the programs Thaksin started, at least the ones that worked, but have rather improved them—they really don’t know this. Give concrete examples, get testimonials from locals.
And wear your big heart on your sleeve. All these people have been told that you represent the “elite” who has always looked down on them. I can see that’s not true, let them see it too. Mix with the crowd, get them to teach you more Lao, try it out on them. They are lovable people, and they’ll love you for reaching out even a little bit, and they’ll laugh with you at your mistakes.
Of course you’ll have set a date for the next election, I know that’s already in the works. But joke around with them about that, tell them if they don’t want all the good stuff you’ve done, they can just zap you out with the stroke of a pen. Take off your tie and get just the tiniest bit funky. Once they see you as a real person, they won’t listen to the lies. You were educated at Oxford, so what? You’re just a guy, and a good guy at that.

I don’t know what to tell you about going to the North (Thaksin country) and the South (those pesky Muslim separatists). But if you can get through the Northeast, I think the rest will be easy. Anyhow, Mr. Aphisit, if you ever had reason to listen to me, these are the things I would say.

A musician friend who happens to also be a psychologist has a great idea which he’s going to sound out some folks about: a tour of like-minded Thai star musicians, especially ones popular in the Northeast, with the theme of harmony, healing, and peace. Get the government to finance this, have free admission. Make it completely non-political, no running people, parties, movents down, but instead have the stars, and others, in between songs talk about the need for building the future together, not as Thais fighting Thais.

Oh, and Mr. Aphisit, one more item. That lèse majesté dealie, you know that good old law where they can throw ya in boiling oil for so much as comparing yourself to a royal, you might want to have the constitutional amendment committee take another look at that thing. I don't think it's helping anybody right now, maybe even especially the royals. But what do I know? I'm just a dumb farang.

OK, I can feel the drowsiness creeping over me, and over you too, so me, I’m going to bed. For you, though, most of you are in another time zone, so you should have the energy to do your assignment for today, which is to think of ways that Thailand can step back from the brink. What do you think can help solve the problems that brought this all about? Feel free to post comments below, even if you ARE Mr. Aphisit. Actually, all of you, elite, serfs, red and yellow shirts, should always feel free to do that, I’d love to see more comments. So, then, till next time! One more post on this situation, then, maybe, take a break?