While back footed Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra today put forward her suggestions for a Reform Council to be set up before the planned election, the anti-government factions released their own video ‘to the world’ to try and explain why they did not want to go to the polls on February 2nd.
Unfortunately the title of the video is ‘Massage to the World’.
The narrator is however at pains to point out that the demonstrators not only want democracy but also want to clean the house first before moving in.
There is no mention of the Democrats, or Suthep Thaugsuban, the protest leader.
But a reform council set up by the current government is unlikely to have widespread appeal because of the government’s alleged misdeeds.
There seems to be consensus in one area – successive Thai governments have plundered the country.
Critics of this video question the use of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture as it is somewhat associated with the downfall of Royalty in France, though I believe it is more associated with the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte, a power hungry military man, who may have given a lead by his ‘mes enfants’ speeches.
Are Thailand’s latest demonstrators above the corruption in Thailand, which is not restricted to Prime Ministers but permeates everyday business life, and inevitably ordinary people’s lives too?
If they are and can control their pi-nong (brothers and sisters) there’s hope. Of course there are still two elephants in the room – and one is Suthep, the protest leader.
I hope the BBC correspondent to South East Asia, Jonathon D Head reads this before blabbing off about things he has absolutely no clue about. His ranting on about Thailand is painting an untrue picture world-wide.
I know a fantastic expert Sign Language signer that could help out this government a lot. He was the Sign Language guru at Nelson Mandela's funeral in South Africa recently. He would have signed " Massage to the Willy, cheesecake, big balls and welcome 3times thank you. 555