A Word on the Bangkok Protests

I've gotten a number of emails from concerned friends about the current political situation in Bangkok and about the protests that have been going on. For those of you who don't know, there have been large-scale protests (about 10,000 people gathered on Tuesday) against the current government. On Tuesday, protesters actually stormed and broke into the Prime Minister's residential compound.

Quite honestly, it's hard to even know that there have been such huge protests, and I live here. The only reason that I'm aware of the protests is because the Thai press is covering it and there have been photos on the front of newspapers; otherwise, I might never have known. No one in my office talks about it, the city functions as usual and the protests and activity have been isolated to one area of the city, near Democracy monument where all the government buildings are (ironically, this area isn't too far from Khao San Road, the hippy-backpacker haven of fame). There hasn't been a feeling of tension or increased security--it's as if everything is normal and today is just another day.

It's somewhat unnerving how laid back everyone is here about this--if protesters broke into the White House, shut down a TV station for a portion of the day and effected the government's function for a portion of the day, I think that most people would be talking about it and that citizens all over the US would be up in arms. My friends and I speak so casually, wondering, "is there going to be a coup?," but that's the laid-back attitude many people have here. It's really "mai ben lai," a Thai mantra meaning the equivalent of "no worries," and surprisingly, I guess this applies to governmental protests as well--well, maybe the protesters don't feel this way, but it seems like the city as a whole does.

For a bit of background, the protesters don't like the current Prime Minister, Samak, and accuse him of being Thaksin's pawn in office, that he's just continuing in Thaksin's place. Thaksin is the previous PM who was deposed; he's currently in exile in London, but he faces possible emprisonment for charges of corruption if he ever returns to Thailand, and other charges too, I believe. The protesters are part of a group called "The People's Allicance for Democracy," which is actually a bit of a misnomer because they don't want Thailand to be a democracy at all--they believe that the democracies in Thailand have led to corruption. They are in favor of a military government with appointed officials.

Anyway, moral of the story is that I'm fine, I've been unaffected by the protests, though I hope for the sake of Thailand and the Thai people that this gets resolved soon.