Roger Beaumont's take on things ...

[Flashermac]

THE NATION

5 February 206

 

HUMANITY WRAP: Life, liberty and the pursuit of profit

 

 

So how was it for you? I attended the rally at the Royal Plaza last night but can't tell you what happened as this piece had already gone to press. Wish I knew what was on the front page today.

 

What were the expectations? Handbags and lite-violence? Bit of plastic-bottle throwing? Mob on mob? Gunfire and bodies -- God forbid -- or just a huge fizzle with drunken edges, which most of my colleagues predicted.

 

The last rally I attended was in Perth, Western Australia in 1990. Around 50,000 turned up to demonstrate against the proposed introduction of a national ID card. A huge chant started at the front of the crowd. "No! No! ID Card!". By the time it had filtered through to the back the chant had become "Oh! No! Where's my CAR!?".

 

Whether the PM is legally right, ethically wrong or morally warped, everyone keeps throwing hysterical darts at him. Most have fallen out or missed. So far. Does he look worried? Nope. Not yet. But it's been a tough week. Apparently some of his environmental opponents would also like to question the PM in connection with the suspicious death of a whale in the London area.

 

And whatever did happen last night, I just can't picture the prime minister humbly resigning from office while he's in his home town of Chiang Mai. Offence, by definition, is in the eye of the beholder. Still, I find it difficult to encompass our prime minister within the definition "right". If he's "right", where wrong is doesn't bear thinking about.

 

And if the rally really did get out of hand and I got caught in some murderous crossfire I might be dead now. If so, it's been a gas. Bit short, admittedly. I'd like to come back as a dolphin please. Or a Cambridge don. Or a giant black basketball player. Anyway, heaven would be boring. I mean, I wouldn't know anyone.

 

****

 

You have to love that name Ample Rich. Such a pleasing ring about it. Obscenely Rich or Nauseatingly Rich doesn't quite cut it. Ample Rich will do nicely. Ample means more than sufficient, and comes from the Latin amplus, meaning spacious. Imagine spreading Bt30 billion out in Bt500 notes. A vast purple swathe covering what, 510 rai? Imagine walking on it. Barefoot. Or rolling around on it. Imagine asking a potential girlfriend: "Wanna come over and see my magic carpet?"

 

And if the only mistake Panthongtae and Pinthongta made was to tick the wrong box, you can imagine their mother saying Just wait till your father gets home ..." Attitude to moolah is very much a cultural thing: if I came into Bt30 gadzillion at 18 years old in a country where more than 80 per cent of the country earned less than Bt10,000 a month, I'd be extremely nervous. In my own culture, if I parked my new stretched Ferrari limo in East Manchester, people wouldn't gather around to admire it, they'd gather round to burn it. Or spit through the sun roof. Or worse. Any ostentatious display of wealth does not go down well in England. Never has. Unless you're Elton John. Not here though. Wealth is to be admired, flaunted, bowed down to.

[Nervous_Dog]

<<Whether the PM is legally right, ethically wrong or morally warped, everyone keeps throwing hysterical darts at him. Most have fallen out or missed. So far. Does he look worried? Nope. Not yet. But it's been a tough week. Apparently some of his environmental opponents would also like to question the PM in connection with the suspicious death of a whale in the London area.>>

 

That some it up for me, a lot of middle class in Bangkok, a few rich who aren't getting as rich as they wanted too - Sondhi for examle, who has MADE mney from all that is going on (remember he sells his content to the local cable guys who are paying good $ for it!) and others.

 

Whereas the people in Villages still love Thaksin because they have the chance to go into debt legally at last!

 

DOG

[limbo]

Big question indeed is who can replace Taksin?