An evening with the man who fought the drug giants

Mongkol na Songkhla appeared at The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand on Wednasday night. The minister announced that "no more than three, probably two" further drugs would be introduced with compulsory licencing (CL).

Mongkol na Songkhla introduced himself with an apology for his "broken" English and spoke to foreign journalists and members of Thai drug network groups regarding CL, GP factories and pressure from foreign lobbying groups.

The doctor said CL was introduced "for the poor people" and confirmed some foreign lobbying groups had pressured him but refused to give any names. When asked why other countries such as poorer African nations did not use CL, the minister said that "one or two" countries had approached Thailand for advice on implementing CL, but no names were given.

Minister Mongkol also claimed he had encouraged drug patent holding companies to launch in Thailand with "new" or "high quality" drugs.

The minister appeared to make an error of speech when discussing "family" condoms. As he explained the system of encouraging married couples to use condoms he stated "we recommend condoms to three year olds".

He also announced that a planned GPO standard factory construction under the Thaksin regime had been scrapped due to "corruption". Drugs from India produced in a WHO standard factory was not an option, as Thailand should produce its own, he said. A reporter questioned if this was not a case of allowing national pride to interfere with best choice for patients.

Monkul was hailed as "a hero" by AIDS support activists and members of Thai Drug users networks.

Throughout the night he made several references to conversations with Mechai Viravaidya and plans for condom and HIV prevention campaigns.

Minister Mongkol na Songkhla created a storm of controversy early this year when he introduced compulsory licencing on HIV drugs. The decision created a vexed backlash from pharmaceutical giants such as Abbott Laboratories. The minister later claimed he had suffered from great stress as a result of the pressure created by the backlash.

Five Thai political role models

For the last year, I've been writing a diary for my son. He's only eighteen months old right now and at twenty eight years of age, I'm not planning on going anywhere just yet. But as a colleague and fellow dad who gave me the suggestion explained to me poetically: "You never know when it's time to go, and I have so much I want him to know".

The idea caught on, and since then I've been writing to my son every couple of days with general chat and commentary on his development, but also on what I hope and believe he can achieve in the future.

The more I tried to explain to him about the political situation in Thailand, the more I realised what a Herculean task it was. I ended up making a list of reading material I'd like him to read one day (I must be the only person in the world to recommend "An internal history of the Communist Party of Thailand" to a toddler) and a list of people whom I believe could make great role models.

The list of possibilities was endless and I'm sure it will expand over time. There will be plenty of non political role models too, everyone from Matthew Le Tissier to Roger Daltry will get a mention. But after some deliberation, I managed to produce my own political shortlist. As I typed the explanations for each choice in my diary, I realised that I was actually producing a paradigm of my own political views and principles as well. My list was thus:


Mechai Viravaidya

It's hard to know where to begin with Mechai, a man who has done so much for country. His most obvious contribution was in the AIDS awareness programs in the eighties and nineties. "Mr Condom" became famous for handing out contraceptives, opening restaurants with free condoms instead of mints and throwing in a little fun with some advertisements spray painted on cows. Just as importantly, Meechai served as a senator. He told one magazine "The senate is supposed to be impartial but only about twenty percent really are. Everyone tells you they love your ideas but when voting comes it's all 'as planned'. We are wastig the people's time". A more perspicaciously stated summary would be hard to find.

Like my son, Meechai is also half Thai and it's highly probable that this fact was played upon by some rival politician trying to score points by whipping up pseudo partisan emotions. I fathom that's a challenge many mixed race people around the world have encountered in similar form at some point.

My favourite image: Mechai in his restaraunt, the ambiance of the backdrop cogently enhanced by multi-coloured condoms



Kaewsan Atibhoti

Like the rest of the AEC, Kaewsan has been accused of a witch hunt, a set up for a kangaroo court, working under military pressure and general bias. The irony of this is that Kaewsan was critical of Thaksin when the former had nothing to gain by doing so. He has never swerved from being critical based on solid evidence. Critics of the AEC frequently draw reference to bias, but have rarely, if ever, produced any legal or logical arguments to support their claim. The undoubted dangers and threats on the AEC must be hard to take, but the group have remained professional, impartial and humble in their work.

Gender pronouns aside, Khun Ying Jaruvan Maintaka could easily be substituted in Kaewsan's place, here.

My favourite image: That no nosense 'looking down my glasses ' intellctual look, as sought after by scholars worldwide



Pridi Phanomyong

When considering Pridi, there is so much to be said and yet, paradoxically, the truth can be hard to trace for various reasons. Those who have studied the life of Pridi usually see a man who stood bravely against public opinion and dared to challenge the status quo duringa time of globally erractic change. One of his most courageous moves was refusing to acknowledge the declaration of war on Britain in World War Two. One can only wonder what the man who died in exile would think of Thailand's current political situation. Pridi died before I was old enough to realise who he was, but the passing of his wife bought home the importance of his legacy.

My favourite image: The black and white caricture, that somehow emphasises his legacy.


Supinya Klangnarong

The only one of the five I've had the privilege to meet. Supinya's story is simple and remarkable. She told the truth, and refused to be bullied out of retracting it. Faced with a lawsuit - exponentially greater than her profession could pay her - from a huge corporation that happened to be linked with the ruling PM , Supinya stood up for press freedom. Even when offered a drop of the charges if she made a written apology, she held firm and came through victorious. She knew the value of a free press not just in moral terms, but in its placement as a symbol of a healthy, thriving and progressive society.

My favourite image: Clutching flowers, with her arm raised in victory.


Anand Panyarachun

Anand is living proof that unelected officials can be liberal and progressive. In a time when Thailand was still in its infancy in terms of actively combating corruption, Anand entered as a military nominated PM and set in place economic reform and constitutional modifications that have left their mark to this day. Some sources state he was so liberal he actually upset some of the people that gave him the post. Anand later went on to become a critic of the Thaksin regime. He also headed the National Reconciliation Commission. One of his key suggestions for abating violence in the south of Thailand was making Yawi an acknowledged language in the region. Prem Tinsulanonda responded "We cannot accept that, as we are Thai. The country is Thai and the language is Thai... We have to be proud to be Thai and have the Thai language as the sole national language". The idea was lost.

My favourite image: Usually we see him at work, as an official should be. Could Thailand do worse than to see him return as PM?.


And that is my list. None are heroes in media terms, none are likely to be known widely outside Thailand. But that's the reality of politics. In a profession that theoretically involves working for the people, very few truly put principles and honesty before themselves. Those that do are (usually) not famous or celebrated. They are normal human beings with flaws, annoying habits and bad hair days (Well, except for Supinya, maybe). The fact that they touch lives and precipitated a drop of positive change both inside and outside the dark sea of politics is what makes them special.

There will be the natural right of passage of choosing trendy pop singers and their ilk as role models. It takes a while for us to recognise what truly constitutes a special quality in a human being. But in the long run, if my son could achieve half of what any of these above listed people have, I'll die quietly but happily. Then again, just staying out of trouble would do fine, too :-)

An evening with the man who banned youtube

To summarise my friend Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom in one word is a truly impossible task, but if forced to do so I would have to go with "bi-polar".

The man responsible for blocking one of the Internet's most popular web sites cuts a sober, almost sombre figure as he takes the stage at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand and begins to introduce himself.

The decorated professor cracks a series of self-effacing jokes that win favour with the farang dominated audience. Sitthichai waxes lightheartedly over his educational background, achievements in engineering and family life whilst jesting over his sex life, lack of hair, and most notably, Thai politicians and his own lack of ability at his current role.

Like most visitors I was caught off guard and somewhat disarmed by his seemingly genuinely amicable, almost innocent manner. Was this truly the man who had incurred so much criticism for banning web sites, describing the Internet as "not an exciting tool" and demanding that "Thailand should build its own computers to be truly proud"? Indeed it was.

As the night started in a friendly manner, Sitthichai dropped plenty of compliments to his hosts and reminded us that "I was warned it would be a tough night, I hope you will live up to it". So did I.

The questions began gently, as Sitticahi breezed over a question about the recent resignation of a TOT official and his allegation that military officials had demanded TOT fund a military project "It could have saved many lives" was Sitthichai's easy 'get out' clause on that one.

But before long, along came a reporter from my favourite paper, The Nation. "I'm sorry I address you only as 'Khun' and not 'Minister' but I can't acknowledge an illegitimate regime" began the reporter as he went on to question the anomaly between the number of web sites blocked as claimed by MICT, and the far higher figure quoted by the web site of my buddies facthai.com.

Sittichai claimed the facthai figures were old and inaccurate and pledged to allow the reporter to check for himself. The mood remained serene, but not for long.

Step forward Kitty from BK magazine. Kitty posed the question many had been waiting for: "There's so much more to youtube than a few offensive videos and there's more to the Internet than golf scores, what gives you the right to block it?".

Buoyed by his crowd pleasing jokes, Sitthichai made a misjudgement as quipped to young Kitty "When you grow up, you'll understand". Unfazed, Kitty replied: "Why do you have to make deemening jokes about me , or women or people's looks all the time?" to a round of applause from sections of the audience including me.

It had a notable effect on Sitthichai as - to his credit - he made a sincere apology. The crowd now seemed not quite so warm to him and he began to answer questions with more depth and seriousness. He explained "If I didn't block youtube, I'd be dead. I'd be lynched by the people" , before going on to pledge that "hopefully" youtube would be accessible within two weeks as Google had agreed to block individual offensive videos. When pinned for a promise by Kitty, who asked him four times over "What does 'hopefully' mean?", he said he would propose it to his cabinet next week.


Still the hostile questions were not done. A member of faccthai bravely presented Sitthichai with a list of blocked web sites taken from MICT apparently without their knowledge. The minister repeated his earlier claim that the list was old and outmoded.

The night went on with more lively and provocative questions. Sitthichai confessed that although his group claim to be more democratic than Thaksin's, they had not actually unblocked any of the fourteen thousand sites blocked by their predecessors. However, he went on record as saying he had proposed a bill that would forbid any government group to block web sites, in future it would have to be blocked by a court order.

Sitthichai also confirmed he owned no less than three hundred and twenty two rifles, and he "didn't care" which government came in after him. He was "not aware" of any online gambling sites but he did hope to see a fairer playing field for Internet and communications providers in Thailand. Throughout the night, Sitthichai confessed he didn't believe he was a good politician and he didn't feel it was his calling in life. He was an engineer and as such he believed in critical thinking and the pursuit of truth.

By the end of the night Sitthichai had indeed been met with a lot of questions and, to his credit, he ducked very few of them. As he repeated his apology to anyone that had been offended by his quips, the MICT minister took his exit and received a round of applause for his appearance.

Still, despite the provocative and lively questions fired throughout the evening, I felt few minds had been changed. From a personal point of view there was only one question that remained unasked: If Sitthichai so disliked politics, felt so strongly that it wasn't what he was good at and blocked web sites often against his own principles, why did the maverick scientist join hands with the junta in the first place?

Perhaps we'll never know.

Open letter to my MP regarding Thaksin

Dear Mr Denham,

I am a native of Southampton SO19 and now a long term resident of Thailand, where I have been working as a Social Studies teacher in a well known school for one year. I have voted Labour in the past two elections and, in fact, I plan to run for local election myself on my return.

Mr Denham, as a member of your constituency and also a member of a Thai family I would like to register my serious concern on the arrival and business transactions of Thaksin Shinwatra in England.

As you are no doubt aware, Thaksin was ousted in a bloodless coup last year. I am aware that Mr Shinwatra has referred to this undemocratic manoeuvre several times in the English press in an effort to assert his innocence. This is simply not the case.

Thaksin Shinwatra is currently under investigation by a non military, non partisan panel of investigators for numerous alleged acts of corruption involving himself and his family. Nearly all of these alleged offences were reported well before the coup took place. Prosecutors are currently assembling documentary, circumstantial and eyewitness evidence in preparation for a court hearing on several cases.

Mr Thaksin was also subject to a great number of complaints concerning human rights during his "War on drugs" campaign. During this time, a great number of deaths occurred in the country, many of them in highly suspicious circumstances. None of the deaths were investigated during Mr Thaksin's regime.

Finally, Mr Thaksin imposed great pressure on the free press during his tenure as PM. The country's only independent TV station was bought out by a Thaksin business with several critical reporters sacked. English language press came under threats and proxy take over bids, and many radio stations were closed down.


It is true that the prosecutions for corruption are coming indirectly from a non elected junta. However, many charges would have been made already if it were not for the fact that sections of the press, the senate, the judiciary and nearly every independent checking body had come under the influence of Mr Thaksin and his now defunct Thai Rak Thai party during his regime.

TheThai DSI has already confirmed that an extradition order will be made against Mr Thaksin if he does not arrive to hear charges within one month.

I would be happy to provide references to any of the above cited facts at your request.

As I type this, I am informed that AMLO has discovered several sizeable bank accounts in the name of Mr Thaksin in England. He has already been accused of - and denied - illegally channeling money out of Thailand.

Mr Denham, I understand that your right honourable friend David Taylor has already raised this issue in Parliament. As a Southampton Itchen constituent, I would humbly request that the issue of Mr Thaksin and his presence in England is raised again, with the question being : a) Is this truly the kind of guest we welcome in England? and b) Can we pledge to the authorities in Thailand that Mr Thaksin will be extradited if a formal request is made?

I thank you for your kind attention to this matter. Thank you for your work on behalf of the people of Southampton.


Yours sincerely ,

(name)

(UK address supplied)

The class from Heaven and the class(es) from Hell

I really thought that after nearly four years of teaching in the Land Of Smiles (LOS) I'd dealt with it all. I thought that'd I faced up to the roughest, survived the dullest and more or less quenched the rowdiest of classes.

The last two months have proved me wrong. I normally don't worry about hostile classes (which are nearly always teenage classes by definition) in fact I take it very lightheartedly and enjoy the challenge of winning them round. But for once, it's gotten me a little annoyed. For this term, I've found the best and the worst classes I've ever known.

The worst isn't actually a class, it's an entire grade. My weekday job is in a well known bilingual school. The school is effectively private and charges parents a hefty fee by Thai standards. As such, most of the kids are from upper middle class families and a fair sized portion of them are spoilt. That wasn't such a problem last year when I was teaching grade five. Most of the kids there were still, well, just kids. You get your good ones and your difficult ones. This year though it's grade nine - that means fourteen and fifteen year olds.

Now I'm not so old that I've forgotten what it's like to be a teenager at school and I can still relate to the kids pretty well - that has helped me in my career - but there comes a time when you have to stop making excuses for teenagers and get them squared up.

This year I'm teaching social studies. I was delighted to do this because it's a subject I love and I really thought I could bring it to life. By inducing the power plays of politics and the twists of the legal system I really thought I'd spice it up for the kids who thought learning jurisprudence in a foreign language would suck.

It turns out I was overoptimistic, at least for now. Five weeks into term, I've won over one of the classes but the other three are hopeless. Never before in my career have I come across students that will continue to do homework right in front of me after four requests to stop, who will refuse across the board - all thirty five of them - to answer questions to something they learned and wrote about the previous day, who curse teachers simply for asking if they are OK, shout and scream at me and each other out of the blue and generally have a totally negative and unco-operative attitude.

The fact that they speak English very well just exacerbates the aggitation on both sides, since they can't pretend they don't understand. They are not all like this of course - every difficult class always has some good kids and vice versa - but it's a huge majority in some cases.

Like I said, I've dealt with teenagers in bigger size classes before and more often than not, I've won them round. I once wrote about a class of forty five girls I taught every day for three years. On my last day of teaching them, every single student gave me a signed picture and a gift. Many of them cried and I nearly did myself. (I still carry their photos with me in my work bag, it gives me a boost to look through them during times like this). But that was government school students, now I'm dealing with spoilt, moody teenagers from rich families and it's an even bigger challenge.

I have a general system of tactics for difficult teenage classes. Plan A is simply to tolerate a lot and go easy with them for a few days. Plan B is to strike a good rapport and reward good work with games and 'fun' lessons. If that still fails, plan C is to firm up, give them a few speeches reminding them who's boss and who they shouldn't agitate if they want to enjoy the rest of the year and 'final resort' Plan D is simply to put the smack down. That means deducting points from exams, escorting offenders to the principal, shouting them down if they talk too much and so on. Basically, rule by force.

I'm now well down the line in plan C and entering plan D. I don't like doing it, in fact I hate it. It's not me and although I'm thick skinned, I don't really like to have thirty five hostile faces looking at me when I walk through the door to teach a subject I love. But at least two of my current classes have given me no choice. After trying to make the classes fun with games and mock silly elections and such, there was no improvement from them. I've dropped a few "Look , we can work together and have fun and get on or you can keep on with your big sulk and I'll still be here, and you'll just get lower tests scores and fewer activities" type speeches to them. These talks worked with nearly every other class I've taught and can often turn the tables, simply because what I say is true and fair. Not this time though.

I made my final decision to toughen up after I asked a class to close their notebooks at the end of a lesson. Most kids did , a few didn't. I asked them again three more times and still one girl - who was glaring at me - didn't. I asked her personally, and got the same glare. I walked to her desk and asked her up close. Never stopping her glare, she lifted up her book to my face, turned it over and dropped it on the desk in front of her. Basically an unspoken "fuck you" to the teacher who dared to ask her to close her book.

So it's time for rule by force. Every kid in the class now has full exam marks, but loses some of them every time they refuse to work or didn't make the effort. There's no end of lesson games, homework for other lessons is removed from kids who try to do it in my class and talkative students sit alone every lesson (they really hate that one). I don't like being a bastard but if it comes down to that or being a doormat in an out of control class, I'll take the former. When the kids realise why I'm doing what I do (I frequently remind them, it's only fair) and make the effort to change, I'll go back to being myself again.


I don't give up easy. Like I said, I've turned classes completely around before and I'm determined to do it again. If I can manage it with this lot, I'll be forever sure that I'm a good teacher.

But every "down day" in teaching usually has an opposite,and that opposite is my Saturday afternoon class. The class from heaven. (If you're reading this Carla, or Joe, it's the same class you both used to teach) Seven girls and one boy, all about twelve years old. They work, they listen, they try and they love to play games. It's so rare to get kids that like to play and learn, and even when they do, they usually want to spend more time playing, that's all part and parcel of being a kid! Not this class though, they love to play games but as soon as it's over, they'll open their text books and get cracking once again.

I make a point of telling them how great they are, and the feeling seems mutual. Today , when I returned to the room after coffee break, the kids had drawn a caricature of me on the board and written underneath: "Mr.Greg is the best teacher in the world".

I'm not sure if that statement is true, but it was a damn sight nicer than the reception I get from my teenage friends at the moment.

Still, that's teaching for you!

*********************

My good friend Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom is hosting a meeting at the Bangkok Foreign Correspondants club on Tuesday evening. Guess who is attending the press conference?????

I might just have an interesting blog to write next week.

Why Abhisit must stand alone

Abhisit Vejjajiva should be feeling on top of the world these days. The Democrat leader has seen his party survive a transparent and efficiently handled dissolution trial in the Constitutional Court and - in the same fall of the axe - the opposition Thai Rak Thai party was dissolved. It created an ideal political void, seemingly tailor made for the Oxford educated leader.

Just when it seemed things couldn't get any better, the military junta announced the date of the national election could be bought forward, stealing time away from any rival party or disassociated politicians looking to clamour back to power.

So why, then, does the young party leader seem to continue festering a deep streak of insecurity?

Abhisit appeared recently at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Bangkok to state his cause to foreign journalists. I was unable to attend but a colleague informed me that Abhisit presented himself well but seemed more concerned with drawing criticism of Thaksin and the current political situation than he was with propagating his own ideas. "Lack of vision" was the abridged summary of the Democrat's front man.

It seems the foreign journalists aren't the only ones having their doubts. Reports from The Nation state that since the conclusion of the dissolution trial, Abhisit has been in regular contact with political heavyweights like Banharn Silapa-archa and Chavalit Yongchaiyud. One doesn't need embellished imagination to guess at what was being discussed.

Clearly, Abhisit lacks faith his own group's ability to take a clear majority in the elections. In such circumstances, he has decided to follow the laws of realpolitik and co -operate with the old brass to ensure he gets a controlling stake in the house.

But for Abhisit to collaborate with 'old school' leaders like Barnharm and Chavalit carries huge risk.

Everything about Abhisit Vejjajiva represents a "new generation" of Thai politician. Young, fresh faced and western educated, Abhisit has always presented himself as a detachment from the past that is unaffiliated with military politics and perceived as cleaner and less contentious than Thaksin. His promises of asset declarations for all MPs and pledges of transparent checks and balances have always been delivered with the gentle but firm tone of voice and the handsome smile that endears him to the Bangkok middle classes.

Abhisit also speaks with boldness of a progressive breed. He openly criticsed Sondhi and Thaksin's dual use of astrologers in the process of politics and has pledged compulsory asset declaration for his own party MPs.

Such actions at well with the core bases, but as Abhisit well knows, it hasn't gained any ground with the traditional non Democrat areas such as the North East. In such areas the ghost of Thaksin the politician looms large, and voters are less concerned with emulating western style politics than with receiving tangible benefits for voting one particular way. So far Abhisit has failed to convince them, and it appears his concern has forced him to look to the experience of old leaders.

But Abhisit must be sure that in associating himself with the likes of Banharn Silapa-archa for the sole purpose of reaching a new audience, he doesn't destroy his own base. Neither Barharn nor Chavilit achieved a lot of good for Thailand during their reign, and time has done little to boost the public's faith in the old brass. If Abhisit is sincere about reducing the "old boys" network of corruption in government, he cannot possibly expect people to accept his collaboration with a man who gained the nickname "Mr ATM" during his tenure as PM.

Likewise, Chavalit Yongchaiyud has done little to restore himself credibility in recent months. As the junta and the people struggled to return to normal after the coup of 2006, Chavilit was more concerned with making sure that everyone heard his cries of discontent at the ousting of Thaksin and publicly demanded "a deep, deep wai" from the CNS. For many voters, the old general represents the antithisis of a modern progressive government.

None of the candidates for a coalition with The Democrats have shown any interest in party policies, all of them have shown a willingness to switch parties and jump ship at any given time.

Abhisit can see the opportunity of his career looming ahead of him and he's straining to ensure it doesn't pass him by. But in doing so, he must ensure that he doesn't wreck everything he stands for by associating with the type of politician who is everything Abhisit professes not to be. The only true victory for The Democrats in the next election would be a clear majority. If Abhisit can't do it achieve that now, he never will.

Published!

The Nation Thailand is one of the two main English language broadsheet newspapers in Thailand. Today, they featured my blog on Thaksin Shiniwat's bid for Manchester City with a picture of my ugly mug and a 'must read' tag on their main web page and even printed a link address to my blog on the front page of the printed edition!!!!

1580 hits so far. In twenty four hours it's garnered more hits than my whole
one year's worth of blogs combined!

This proves one of two things.

Either a) I'm a budding journalist or b) I'm the only foreigner with such a non social life that I actually write about Thai politics.

Still, I'm chuffed!

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