On Thai TV Channel 9 tonight Suthichai Yoon of The Nation interviewed (if you can call it that) the three most important ambassadors (US, UK and China) in Thailand at 10:00 pm. The interview was around forty five minutes.
For the English speaking world, I will sum it for you:
They spent the first thirty minutes talking about their awesome Thai language skills. I shit you not. Can you imagine "you speaka Thai keng" bullshit for 30 minutes? Suthichai treated these ambassadors as stupid farang who just walked into a Thai bar for the first time. It was so stupid and I was so embarrassed that I almost threw up my dinner.
They spent maybe five minutes talking about Thai stories: Si Phaen Din, Khun Chang, Khun Paen, and generally about Lakhon, which means drama.
Then they talked maybe five minutes about the coup.
The Chinese Ambassador was a real phony, the biggest kiss ass I have ever seen.
First he said that he couldn't believe that the Thai people could be so supportive of a military coup, then he said that Thai people love democracy. Watching the Chinese Ambassador talking about Thai love for democracy was a little too much. While he was saying this, there were pictures of tanks and flowers and signs praising the coup flashing on the screen. All I could think was Tianamen Square while he was talking.
He was a real phony. But Thais love that bullshit and I have to give it to the Chinese ambassador, he knew that the audience would love his bullshit. He knows Thais hate substance and love the phony ass kissing crap. If you don't believe me, and you can read Thai, go to Suthichai Yoon's website and read all the Thai praise for the lovely, ass kissing Chinese Ambassador.
Suthichai made a crack at the US Ambassador about if he knew that the coup was going to happen before it did, which I thought was funny, because in the past, the US was so glued into the Thai military that it pretty much had to give approval before a coup.
But the crack pissed off Ralph Boyce a little, and he denied that he knew about the coup before hand.
My memory is getting a little fuzzy. Then he asked the British Ambassador what was the most difficult thing he faced during his tenure. And he said it was the Tsunami, which I thought was fucked, because Thailand had a coup and lives under a military dictatorship. But then I thought about it some more. Many people died during the Tsunami, but nobody died during the coup.
I still think a coup is worse, because a free political system over the long haul is more important than losing life in the short term.
Then they finished up with a lot of bullshit about what the ambassadors thought about the Thais.
I almost puked again.
Imagine being a tourist for the first time and you get the "You likee Thai lan" You likee Thai food" You likee to ea spicy" questions. That was the level of sophistication of the interview.
Seriously, these guys knew how to kiss ass. There is not a sincere bone in their bodies. And the Chinese Ambassador was the worse. He went on and one about the close intimate connection between Thais and the Chinese, as if they were relatives.
And that was it.
There were no serious questions at all. Thailand is living under a military dictatorship, has no Constitution, and totally freaking out about Thaksin and his crimes. The airport is falling apart. The government is virtually chasing foreigners and their money out of the country. The German Ambassador and the Minster for European Affairs are going after each other in the newspapers. Yet these assholes did not spend one minute on anything of substance.
As a journalist, Suthichai Yoon is a disgrace and has no shame. If he was Japanese, he should kill himself with hari-kari. Seriously, I give these Nation writers a lot of grief, but Suthichai's performance was absolutely the worst I had ever seen in my whole life. He is like Larry King, but Larry King with a lobotomy.
If anybody else saw the interview and I forgot something, be sure to share it. I feel like I'm leaving something out.
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2 comments:
I also saw the interview and I didnt need to speak Thai to see the Chinese guy was a phinay and an ass-kisser. Condescension was written all over his face of course biut what else can you do with Thais but to be condescending? They are like 9-year old children, contantly seeking approval, hence the 'you likee Thai ppl?' and 'you likee Thai food?' and 'you likee Thai girls?' The only way to deal with Thais is to treat them as you would a slightly backward little brother or sister. Or a really intelligent dog. Noting else seems to work.
I still think a coup is worse, because a free political system over the long haul is more important than losing life in the short term.
Not when the political system is not free and the "long haul" is only a few years until the next reboot.
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