Who do you favor red or yellow?

[Flashermac]

Secondary Poll

 

 

 

I cannot vote for any of these options, mainly because Yellow is NOT FUCKING IN CHARGE!

 

 

[Julian2]

As an academic Flash, what was the general reaction by your Thai colleagues to Thaksin's educational reforms and scholarship schemes?

I get the distinct impression that the general anti-T feeling in universities goes a lot deeper than outrage over a little cheating on the taxes.

[buffalo_bill]

Sir ,

 

roughly two weeks ago has been a demonstration in front of Bangkok Bank upper Silom on a Friday . I went there on my own feet and folks in the hotel said I would end up in a coffin . But I did not . I went there to have a statistically non-relevant idea what these red shirts are like . I say all of them were flat nose Isaan farm lice people , the guy with the microphone was an idiot. I received a coconut and a red t-shirt probably sponsored by Shinawatra directly . Judging from the ethnological point of view, no middle class BKK citizens anywhere .

 

BuBi

[WorldFun]

bubi sir,

 

thanks for this marvelous believable report & for still being alive

 

however as much as my favorite color remains green I must admit to have spotted quite a few 'cute younger' girls among the reds be it in the news or live

whatever that means

[Gadfly]

Maybe a slight ambiguity in the question. What I had in mind was just whether a person prefers the reds or the yellows, or thinks neither are good for the country.

Wasn't after who they would prefer win elections or get put in / kept in power.

 

That is how I read the question. I am also surprised by the poll results. I expected to see something like 80%+ voting "neither" and perhaps a few token votes for the reds and yellows.

[Gadfly]

The leadership of both yellow and red are despicable. How can I support either of them? Sort of like me asking which I prefer ... the Crips or the Bloods.

 

Absolutely agree with this. A few additional comments.

 

There are opportunists in both camps. Bear in mind that one of the leading yellows - often considered one of its founders - was originally one of Thaksin's biggest supporters. Most leading yellows only started opposing Thaksin when Thaksin became so powerful that he (mistakenly) thought he didn't need to shovel cash into their greedy troughs anymore.

 

The rural poor in Thailand are often treated like garbage by the elite in Bangkok. On some boards, you will see posters with Thai names and pretty good English calling the rank and file reds "buffalos". I saw one thread where they went on about how it was an insult to buffalos to make this comparison. There is some serious and genuine resentment fueling the red movement, but Thaksin is simply an opportunist trying to take advantage of that resentment.

 

Most, but not all, of the red leadership is horribly corrupt. Thaksin is not the only opportunist in its leadership, and that has been one of his biggest problems, particularly since he has to operate from abroad. There are others that want to use the power of genuine rural resentment to procure their own power and wealth. And there are even a few that genuinely care.

 

It's a mistake to equate the current government with the yellow shirts. It has senior ministers who are clearly yellow and it has senior ministers who made a pact with the yellows to obtain power. It was a Faustian bargain, and many in the current government are (belatedly, IHMO) beginning to realize this.

 

I am not sure how this plays out. The reds cannot topple the government now, but the current government cannot survive now ether without their shotgun marriage to the many legacy TRT MPs in the coalition government.

[Flashermac]

Sir ,

 

roughly two weeks ago has been a demonstration in front of Bangkok Bank upper Silom on a Friday . I went there on my own feet and folks in the hotel said I would end up in a coffin . But I did not . I went there to have a statistically non-relevant idea what these red shirts are like . I say all of them were flat nose Isaan farm lice people , the guy with the microphone was an idiot. I received a coconut and a red t-shirt probably sponsored by Shinawatra directly . Judging from the ethnological point of view, no middle class BKK citizens anywhere .

 

BuBi

 

 

Kawpjai lai lai for the SITREP. Actually, my wife is a passionate Red Shirt and has yet to put me in a coffin.

 

She is not Bangkok middle class; she is Chiang Mai middle class. She says Thaksin is irrelevant. I reply, "Then get rid of him." She says they can't. (Thai logic?)

 

I have mingled with red and yellow demonstrators ... to date I have survived such encounters. My neighbours are a mix of red, yellow and who-gives-a-fuck. No one has fired an M79 grenade at the others so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mentors]

Secondary poll...Peacefully with YELLOW still in charge 33%...ohhh, I don't think this would be good for the 90% poor in LOS...

 

but good for the regime and...

[Flashermac]

As an academic Flash, what was the general reaction by your Thai colleagues to Thaksin's educational reforms and scholarship schemes?

 

I get the distinct impression that the general anti-T feeling in universities goes a lot deeper than outrage over a little cheating on the taxes.

 

Remember now that I was at a generally very liberal university. Thaksin was perceived as a phony, someone who had never even kept his promises as a deputy minister. If any of our students benefited from his "scholarship schemes", I am unaware of it. I believe he had something to do with removing the government universities from the civil service and making them more or less support themselves, which really went over like a lead ballon filled with rocks. But that was before he became PM. As PM, he went through I don't remember how many Ministers of Education. Policy changed every time they changed. The T-man also did not ever increase foreign university lecturers' pay, despite his saying foreigners needed at least 65,000 a month to live on her. Since gov uni (now officially "public universities") base pay is still 17,850 a month plus 8,000 housing, he didn't win any friends from us! Once upon a time you needed at least an MA for a name university. Now a BA will do just fine. Must unies have had to add money of their own to the Min of U's salary, or else they couldn't even get anyone to work for them.

 

The T-man is not viewed as a friend of education, no matter what you may hear. His human rights conduct was very much disliked.

 

p.s. The business faculties did tend to favour Thaksin, while the other faculties hated his guts.

 

[colorwolf]

Hi,

Just wondering who you guys favor, if any?

Personally, I think both red and yellow are equally bad for this country.

Sanuk!

i favor both!

thailand's a much more interesting place for it.

and where else in the world does one find a conflict featuring two colors?

may they both live long!