The many faces of Thaksin

Well I guess you don't become a billionaire by being dumb, inflexible, unresponsive or unresourceful. It's no surprise that Thaksin Shiniwatra's 'big surprise' touted at his birthday bash yesterday was the formal announcement of the launch of his own media channel. The ex-PM pledged to employ reality TV (covering Thai poverty), news and sports shows. All this in addition to his new Facebook and Twitter profiles.

What is more surprising, perhaps, is that this (dis)information barrage seems to have been a final resort. Thaksin's many faces have attempted several other forms of engagement since he was ousted in 2006.

1) The 'appeal to sympathy' approach.
Thaksin portrayed himself as almost naive, telling foreign TV channels of his shock at his removal, his exit from politics, his disgust at interference with the media, (apparently forgetting his own extensive and brutal actions in that area) and his hurt at being declared corrupt. This approach was not entirely unsuccessful.

2) The demagogue

This tactic followed from, and complimented tactic number one. Mr T purchased Manchester City and "promoted" both Thai culture via a night of Thai food at City of Manchester Stadium and Thai sportsmen by hiring three Thai national players. Of course they never made the first team, were treated embarrassingly and on occasion were not even paid. They were sent back as soon as their propaganda use was outlived. Requesting the Cityfans should 'treat me as one of them', Thaksin pledged to open sports schools in Thailand.

Sadly the dream was short lived. As his 'sympathy' charade began to fall apart, Thaksin decided to quit City before he failed the FA 'fit and proper person' test.

3) The moral superior (also known as the 'Jedi mind trick')

He knew better than everyone else. He was moral and pure, tireless and dedicated, victimised and heroic. Anyone that disagreed with him was simply wrong and misinformed. Soon they would realise the error of their ways, but he would forgive them anyway.

How does he convince us of such things? Why, simply by telling us of course! This aproach often gave way to incredible irony, such as his constant reminders that the UK welcomed him because it was "democratically mature". Of course, when his UK visa was cancelled that changed to: "They will soon feel sorrow". Likewise, he praised the Thai courts and told the people: "I believe in the Thai justice system" though after being found guilty, that changed to "a political decision and an unfair court".

4) The militant

The true angry face of the great one showed itself when the end game began - the powers that be started to talk about confiscating his already frozen assets.
Talk of "raising up" and "fighting for justice and democracy" (Jedi mind trick time again!) became more and more frequent, culminating in the Songkran riots. When the riots proved ultimately unsuccessful, the rhetoric died down remarkably quickly. One can only wonder if Thaksin was informed that, wherever he may be, certain forces would ensure he faced the consequences if he continued with his actions.

After a period of relative quiet, we now come to face five - the benevolent sage. Now Thaksin - out of the goodness of his heart - will cover the plight of Thai people. He will offer scholarships, solve problems, spread the word and empower the people. The strange thing is, all seems to have a familiar ring about it.

It may well be true, it may well be beneficial.It may be done with at least some genuine feeling. But surely I am not the only one wondering why Thaksin rarely, if ever, discuss what will happen to his frozen billions when talking to his people, why he seems to have changed tack so many times, why he refuses to accept any fault in his past, and what his ultimate goals are. Perhaps the biggest question of all remains as: what will Thaksin do if this latest change of approach does not work out?

Video Highlights FC Seoul 2 - 3 Manchester United

First half highlights can be seen here.

King Eric, Twelve Years On

He swaggered into Old Trafford like someone who thought he had a God given right to be loved and hero worshipped, and he was right. He was an artist, a poet, an enigma, a philosopher, a genius. He could play football on the right, on the left, down the centre. Stick him in goal and he would probably save four penalties in a shoot out.

I used to watch him as a kid with my mouth wide open, I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing from this guy. Even now, twelve years after he retired, a clip will come on TV, an advertisement might appear with him in it or I see a clip from his movie “Looking For Eric” and I can still feel the excitement in my stomach, the butterflies that used to fill me with anticipation, it’s all brought back by just hearing Cantona’s voice, just seeing him is enough for me to have a head full of memories of him playing for United. He had such a presence on the field and in so many of our hearts.

After a nomadic career in France involving six clubs in eight years,Eric Cantona made a shock move to England, ‘L’Enfant Terrible’ signed for Leeds United in 1992 – and helped the Yorkshire club to the title Fergie then announced he had signed Cantona for £1.2 million and I was dumbstruck, what a bargain, maybe the best bargain in the history of football.

In five seasons at Old Trafford, Cantona won four Premiership winners’ medals and the FA Cup twice, scoring the winner in the 1996 final against Liverpool. His only season with no medals was in 1994-95, during much of which he was suspended after his most infamous act – a karate kick at a Crystal Palace supporter who taunted him as he left the field after being sent off.

True to form, the eccentric Cantona told a press conference afterwards: ‘When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea’ After being persuaded to carry on playing by Fergie who flew over to Paris to see Cantona, he led United to yet another title in 1996-97 before retiring abruptly aged just 30. His final match for United was against West Ham on May 11, 1997.

He lived football as it is supposed to be lived. Like a game you have to play honestly. The first thing is to work hard, without losing the notion of pleasure. That is what he did. More players need to do the same. There is the ‘football’ Manchester United and the ‘merchandising’ Manchester United, these two worlds coexist, but for Cantona Manchester United is the club, it is football. A culture of the “beau jeu”, a philosophy that has been existing for years.

Manchester United always show us how to win with class, with fire in their bellies, with attacking, fast football that sweeps sides aside with ease. Eric Cantona revived all of these things in Manchester United, and then some. He was so convinced of his own abilities and talents that he would score an outrageously difficult goal, then just stand there hands on hips and wait for the crowd to explode in ecstasy at his brilliance.

Even the other players would run up to him and stop, waiting for him to allow them to mob him, but only after he had milked the applause from the supporters.Twelve years on they still sing his name loud and clear from the terraces! He was the catalyst that finally dragged United over the finishing line in first place after a long 26 year wait for the title. Down the years there have been some truly great United players…

…I could list 50 of them right here, right now. But for me the best of the best is Eric Cantona, ‘L’Enfant Terrible, Le Roi du Monde’.

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My top class are doing a project on the constitution of Thailand. Because they have enough ability and initiative to do so, I asked them to tell me what parts of the constitution they thought were particularly important and/or needed to change. It was enjoyable experience because it gives me an insight into the finest minds of Thailand and a glimpse into the future. My role of course was not to give a 'right' or 'wrong' response but merely to listen and ask any questions to test how ell they had thought out their argument.
Student one told me that he thought the age limit for free education (as guaranteed under the constitution) should be raised to age fifteen. He felt taxes should be raised to cover this.

Student two felt likewise, but felt the limit should be raised to eighteen. Student three felt the same again - I guess it's easy to understand why fifteen year olds would focus on this point - but felt it should cover the whole of a student's university life. He felt Thailand should adopt a student loan scheme, similar to that used in the UK.

Student four had an interesting idea. He felt the constitution should introduce a law saying all women can carry a weapon to protect themselves when travelling alone at night times. When I pressed him on this, he stated women should be forced to carry pepper spray by law, and the government should cover the cost for each female.

Student five wanted the issue of ID cards to be delayed to age eighteen (it's currently fifteen). She felt too many students lose them, because at age fifteen they have no real use for them yet.

Student six was he most controversial in my opinion. He wanted the legal age for marriage to be raised to age twenty five. Anyone below that should require parental consent in his opinion. He said this is because people under age twenty five should be studying.

It's such a privilege to deal with students who have enough motivation to bounce their ideas around. Sharing, questioning Ned refining ideas is what real teaching is about, after all.

The computer teacher in my school is a highly gifted and intelligent character. I sometimes wonder why he doesn't work at a more prestigious location but he seems happy where he is.
This semester, he was told he should teach C++ to the students. The teacher immediately informed his superiors that C SHARP might be more appropriate. C++ is a dated language and C Sharp is in far greater demand. It would provide drastically more career opportunities for the students to learn it.

His superiors agreed but told him he would have to prepare the worksheets himself. He duly agreed and spent the next three days working flat out to prepare a curriculum. On the day he was due to begin teaching, the message came in. 'Head Office' had informed him that he was forbidden to teach C SHARP and should return to teaching C+++ immediately. Somebody somewhere was offended that the curriculum had been questioned. The career prospects and knowledge of the students had been flushed down the toilet to save face for someone senior.

British Triathlon TID programme

British Triathlon Launches Talent ID programme@UK SportBritish Triathlon has launched a new talent identification programme called ‘trigold’ and is looking to recruit existing high calibre athletes, who have the drive and determination to move into triathlon and win Olympic gold in London 2012. With just three years before the Olympics, British Triathlon are looking for male and female runners

Manchester United Call Off Far Eastern Tour Matches After Bomb Blast

Manchester United today called off the Indonesian leg of their Far East tour following two bomb blasts at tourist hotels in Jakarta.

United arrived in Kuala Lumpur this morning to news of the explosions in the Indonesian capital, one of which took place at the Ritz-Carlton, the hotel the Red Devils were to be staying at for four nights from tomorrow.

After seeking advice from various parties, including the Foreign Office, United confirmed they would not be flying to Jakarta tomorrow.

"Following the explosions in Jakarta - one of which was at the hotel the team were due to stay in - and based on advice received, the directors have informed the Indonesian FA that the club cannot fulfil the fixture in Jakarta on the 2009 Asia tour," said a club statement.

We are deeply disappointed at not being able to visit Indonesia

United were to play an Indonesia Super League XI on July 20.

The match had been a 100,000 sell-out. The club must now decide how to reorganise the tour.

"We are working on a revised itinerary outside Indonesia with the promoters and we will make a further announcement when these decisions have been made," continued the statement.

"We are deeply disappointed at not being able to visit Indonesia and thank the Indonesian FA and our fans for their support.

"Our thoughts go to all those affected by the blasts."

Unless another game can be arranged to replace the match in Jakarta, which was due to take place on Monday evening, United would appear to be left with two alternatives.

They could remain in Kuala Lumpur until Wednesday, when they are due to fly into Seoul for a game on Friday. Or they could leave Malaysia on Sunday and go straight to South Korea.

A decision will have to be made quickly, although it is unlikely Monday's match will be re-organised at this late stage.

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Not from me but from a colleague I work with closely:

My first year in Thailand teaching Economics to Thai 8th Graders proved somewhat difficult in that not only did I have no English text book (I still don't), it proved singularly difficult to find the right definitions and explanations for the jargon of Economics in Thai. After several months of looking, however, I finally stumbled across and 1600 page tome in Asia Books (Thailand's answer to Borders) in that temple to conspicuous class-conscious consumption: Siam Paragon -- a shopping mall that defies comparison: let’s just say on the 4th floor of just one of their massive buildings you will find dealerships for Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Alpha Romeo, and Porsche ... for sale in a country where the road quality and traffic conditions even on "the best" highways make it difficult to maintain a speed of over 60 for more than a few seconds.

At any rate, there in Asia Books I started thumbing through this English-Thai dictionary and quickly noted that it had not only detailed Thai definitions of Economics and Business jargon, but also multiple examples of use and myriad compounds and idioms for almost every word. Sure that I had struck the mother lode, I shelled out the 1800 Baht (~$50) for the thing and gleefully took my prize home.

As time wore on, I gradually began to note a striking ideological bias in the cited examples of use. The 2nd example on "capital" is what first struck me as somewhat curious: "capital is created from every drop of sweat from the brow of labor." But when I looked up "relationship" and found the first sentence was, "the relationship between the people and the army has never been stronger," the light went on, and when I read under 'family,' "the farmers and the workers are one family," it was absolutely clear what I had unwittingly purchased - and what was no doubt unwittingly sold - in that theme park of consumerism in this the most anti-Communist nation in Southeast Asia.

Indeed, there is nothing in the title or any of the front material to lead one to suspect that this Mao's Little Red Dictionary was anything other than a fairly exhaustive English-Thai dictionary for academic, artistic, political, business, and technical usage. But one doesn't have to read beyond the first entry to see which way the author dresses:

a, an: art.: ... a united front ... an underground worker ... a foreign guest ... a high building ... a deep hatred for the enemies of the Revolution ... an ice cream ... a Comrade Lin is looking for you... a complete Lu Hsun ... a profound lesson in class education...

Each example was painstakingly translated into Thai.

I have gotten literally hours of very odd, sardonic enjoyment out of this work, and now I intend to share it with my friends. Every day I'll be posting yet another priceless example of the none-too-subtle attempts at indoctrination from this dictionary to my FaceBook Wall, so if you're interested and have a similarly twisted sense of irony as my own, please check in and take a look at the daily entries.

Thaksin and justice

They say that if you tell a lie for long enough, it becomes the truth. If that's the case, then it must be true that the Thai authorities are desperately trying to bring Thaksin Shinwatra back to Thailand to face punishment for his crimes.

After all, we keep hearing that Thaksin narrowly escaped police swoops in various countries, we hear every week of a 'request'' from Thailand to some other country for his extradition and let us not forget the likes of The Nation publishing unfounded rumours, anonymous sources telling us where the man is hiding right now.

It all seems a little strange when you consider the real facts: he was allowed to leave Thailand  immediately after his wife was found guilty in court. That's right, the door was left wide open for Thaksin to leave Thailand to go to the Olympics in China the very day after Potjamo was sentenced. Imagine how hard it must have been for the powers that be to act surprised when the billionaire decided to remain overseas instead of coming hoe and facing possible jail time.

There are other points to consider too: is it really politically beneficial for Thaksin opponents to bring him home? His political and financial muscle seems to have passed its peak. The Song Kran riots achieved little, his phone ins have become dull and even Thaksin himself asked his supporters to cancel his birthday celebrations out of fear of reprisals. Bringing him back to the country and sentencing him in court would run a certain risk of bringing all the emotions and fanaticism of his supports back to the surface, kicking off a new wave of clashes. It's clear that his opponents fear being unable to control Thaksin, but it would be far more damaging to lose control of his supporters once more.

AYG 09 ended: Team Singapore review

The 9-day Asian Youth Games (AYG) ended on 7 July. From Singapore, 90 athletes competed in swimming, athletics, football, 3-on-3 basketball, beach volleyball, bowling, shooting, sailing and table tennis at the Games, winning 9 gold, 6 silver and 15 bronze medals in six sports. Out of the 90 athletes in Team Singapore for the AYG, 33 are from the Singapore Sports School (SSS). Out of the 30 medals

Laos team warm -up matches in August

In the August 18th-19th ,Lao Football Federation (LFF) will orazine the warm-up matches with the papular clubs from Vietnam and Thailand at the provicial stadium of Champasak province, Southern Laos ,according to Mr Viengsavan Siengphachanh the football game organizing Manager reports

the warm up matches ,Laos National football team will vesus three teams from vietnam and Thailand. vietnam will send the Hong an Ya Lai club and thailand will send RATHSANAVY LAYONG and TTM SAMODSAKHONE clubs to praticipate the game. as for Lao team now is training at the National traning center (syketh) ,Coach saysana Savathdee and Bounlap are resbonsible for training . Laos team has jointed the training at the Hong An Ya lai clubs of vietnam before returing to Syketh.

U23 squads have been selected the best players throughout the country and every boys are concentrate on training and enthusiasm,the target of training are to improve the enegy of players, strongness is very important and improve to shooting,especially the accuracy on goal according to a coach Saysana Savatdee told vientianmai , he also adds that the quality of our football at the 25th seagames will be better than before and he asks for all lao football fans to cheer up and to encourage the boys to success and the boys may make a new history of Laos football.

Manchester United Away Jersey 2009/2010

In this season of madness regarding away jerseys for football teams, ably lead by that ghastly creation Newcastle United will be wearing, is this the new Manchester united away jersey I ask myself.

The colour grey has always been a sore point with Fergie ever since the last one they used.

They trailed Southampton 3-0 at half time and Fergie ordered that they all take off that grey kit and don the third kit for the rest of the match, which they went on to lose 3-1.

Now we have another grey creation manufactured by Nike.

The Sky Blue is a nice touch, reminds me of another team with loads of money who can't sign a good player for love nor money, now what's their name ?

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Political tumbleweed

Apologies for the lack of bloggage which is directly related to the birth of my second child and first daughter two weeks ago.

Of all the events that Pundit is  is as red hot as ever on, the charges leveled against all the FCCT execs looks the most shocking.

Meanwhile I can only offer thsi quote from a conversation witha twelve year old student today:

The word I was trying to get the students to say was 'hat'

Me: "I've never seen you or your sister wearing one, you've never seen me wearing one but we both do wear this sometimes....."

Student: "Ummm....clothes?"

Anouvong stadium completes 100 % for Men''s Football of Group B at SEAGAMES

(photo: vientianemai)

Anouvong stadium ( Old National stadium) has been funding by the government 100% for repairing and reconstruction ,now it has arealdy completed 100% and ready to open for 25th seagames,except cleaning the WC and taking care of glasses on the field.

the Men's football games of group B will be playing at Anouvong stadium and for the final game will be playing at the new national stadium (Km 16), xaythany district according to a Mr Phaiboun Chanthamaly Project manager of Stadium and construction of Seagames.

Anouvong stadium has a capacity of 6,000 people and the special area has a capacity of 100 VIP guests and predict that will be enough for audiances for the first round of football games.

source: vientianemai website

Laos women can make a history for Laos football in December

Women’s football squad ranks 73th in the world

The Lao national women’s football squad has maintained its 73th position in the International Football Association (FIFA)

Laos women’s football team is now placed 15th in Asia and 5th in Southeast Asia. Laos women's football ,the hope of Laos seagames and we are looking forward to seeing their

performance in the december.

Laos U19 will play Australia on Agust

U19 South East Asia Football Championships.

according to a sport news of vovnews.vn Men's U19 South East Asia Football Championships will held in HCM city from Agust 5-15

The Championships, scheduled for HCM City from August 5-15, will see the participation of 12 teams divided into 3 groups. Vietnam is in group A with Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Group B comprises Cambodia, Australia, Laos and Thailand, while Indonesia, Myanmar, East Timor and Brunei are in group C.

The teams will play in a round robin format with three group winners along with the best group runner-up qualifying for the semi finals.

Has Sir Alex Forgotten About Alexis Sanchez?

Manchester United are again preparing to make a new attempt to sign Alexis Sanchez from Udinese. It's not the first time they will have shown a great interest in the youngster, as I have reported earlier writing about who Sanchez is and again when Sanchez said he was keen to play for United.

Sir Alex Ferguson has long tracked the forward dubbed 'Chile's answer to Cristiano Ronaldo' and may be forced into a summer move for the 20-year-old as a number of European clubs are preparing to make bids. Udinese are braced for a renewed approach from Manchester United for Alexis Sanchez. The 20-year-old Chilean striker has become one of the most promising youngsters in Italian football, due to a number of impressive performances as Udinese’s number 11.

He began his professional career with the Chilean club Cobreloa. He played one season there before being signed by the Serie A team, Udinese. Udinese had to pay nearly $3 million for his signature. Colo-Colo then paid Udinese nearly $150,000 for his services in the upcoming Clausura tournament and the following Apertura tournament in the Liga Chilena.. ....Back To Home Page...