I don't blame any foreigner who says he or she is totally confused about what's happening in Thailand these days? We Thais are arguing over what's the real meaning of it all anyway.
President of the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) Munenori Yamada told us during a roundtable discussion last week that Japanese investors had been baffled by the protest movement here.
What is the whole theme of the PAD (People's Alliance for Democracy) in the first place, he asked.
"We tried to understand the political conflict here. But unlike protests elsewhere in the world, there is no clear theme on what is the cause of the discontent. For instance, in the US, people protest about whether they want a centralized government. But here, there's no clear explanation as to why protestors have turned against the government. So, Japanese investors are perplexed by the situation," Yamada said.
My advice to Yamada is first to pay a visit to the Governnment House. That's the first confusion. Why do people go to the Government House to understand the protestors? Well, if you are in Bangkok, you know the answer to that question.
Second, read up on "Thaksinomics." Third, get Sondhi Limthongkul to answer some of the "questions you were afraid to ask."
If you are still confused, then, just get used to it! That's part of the fun. For Thais, once we get to understand what's it all about, we would begin to get bored. And getting bored in a democracy is a dangerous thing.
2 comments:
I think that he just pretended not to understand it. What PAD is against is this governmentn controled by Thaksin. They just make this government go. If he does not understand this simple fact and still keep his office run partly by Japanese taxpayers money, he shold quit. Besides,he is not an expert on Thai at all. He just echoed what Japanese experts on Thai study said. These experts are offended because their prediction about Thai turned out to be wrong, because of the development last three years.
I think it is typical Japanese etiquette which simply means Thai politics is the business of Thais.Japan does not usually attack other countries' politics they simply find ways to operate in the current political environment.
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