The Thai Pirate - Thai Blog and Travel Stories

Somchai's premiership over before it has begun?

Somchai Wongsawat, current PM of Thailand, could well be given his marching orders only 2 weeks after getting the job as PM.

Senator Ruangkrai Leekijwatana, who is filing a complaint to the Electoral Commission, was also the guy responsible for toppling previous PM Samak with a similar legal challenge.

His complaint centres on Somchai's ownership of 100,000 shares (worth 368,000 baht) in a listed telecomms company, CS Loxinfo, which does business with state enterprises throughout Thailand.

Thailand's Constitution prohibits members of Parliament from holding shares in companies that do business with state enterprises. If the Electoral Commission agrees with Mr. Ruangkrai and the complaint is upheld, this will then pass to the Constitutional Court who will quickly bring about a trial.

The legal case filed by Mr. Ruangkrai, if successful, could be drawn out over several months, and if found guilty by the Constitutional Court, Somchai would be disqualified as a member of Parliament, and therefore 'booted'.

While interesting, it is astonishing to see how easily ministers can get into hot water over seemingly trivial issues. 368,000 baht's worth of shares (less than 6k) in a telecommunications company? Hardly enough to class somebody as corrupt, is it?

Much of this stems from the re-writing of Thailand's Constitution by the military junta in 2007 brought about in the wake of the Thaksin premiership. Many proclaim the charter was designed solely to protect the interests of Thailand's elite, and perhaps there are strong foundations to agree with this.

Having said that, many Thai's support the Constitution, stating that it is clear, and needs to be tough in order to combat Thailand's never ending fight with corruption. The Constitution does seem very effective in keeping those in power on their toes, with even the slightest wrong doing potentially leading to swift penalties and possible removal of the accused member of parliament.

I wonder how this type of strict Constitution would translate to British politics? The job of judge, jury and executioner in our system seems to be in the hands of the media rather than formal institutions as in Thailand.

Thailand's political problems are intrinsic, those in power and those vying for power are first and foremost concerned for themselves, rather than those they are supposed to be serving.

Sound familiar?

Carbon footprints top of Thailand schoolboys agenda's

A round of applause please for these socially conscious lads who are obviously worried about their carbon emissions.

Rather than take separate transport, FOUR of them have nobly chosen to squeeze up on one moped.

A brilliant ethical message and an amazing balancing act. Well done.

Notice the fat lad in the middle gets the helmet and the handle bars, I hazard a guess that it's his bike.

It never rains but it pours, eh Sam!

Poor old Sam.

September has been a terrible month for Sam, not only was he booted out as PM of Thailand, it now looks as though he's staring down the barrel of a two year jail sentence.

Old Sammy's mouth just won't behave. Back in 2006 he gobbed off (on TV) about a deputy mayor of Bangkok, stating that he had received a swish car from a construction firm as a bribe.

Samart Rachapolrasit, incensed at the accusation, promptly produced receipts for the car, proving without doubt he had bought it legit, and in retaliation slapped Sammy with a fat defamation lawsuit.

Having been convicted in the criminal court in 2007, Sam's appeal yesterday failed, with the court agreeing that old Sam is just not learning his lesson.

(That's right Sam, two years!)

You see, Sam would have gotten away with it, but it turns out he is a serial gobber, and has been convicted in similar circumstances for defamation on three previous occasions, each time receiving only suspended sentences.

Looks like the old Karma wheel has gone full circle and finally caught up with old Sam.

As he is still a member of parliament, parliamentary privilege allows him to stay out of jail until the end of the House of Representatives session in November.

Sam has 30 days to appeal to the Thai Supreme Court. It will be interesting to see if he actually does any time........

A Wild East (West?) Funeral

A very sad funeral last week, a guy just 32 years old, got cancer in his late twenties. Left behind a young boy, big strapping lad, must have had him whilst still very young.

The usual ceremony, a temple called 'Wat Bankrang' is across the road from where we live so most funeral travelling times for us are under 3 minutes.

Lots of people were in attendance. I have posted some photos in the albums (Wild East Funeral).

Once the initial ceremony was concluded, the coffin was lifted up by the nearest and dearest and taken to the outside quarters, where I (again) forgot my sandals and danced around on the sun drenched tiles that are as hot as an over hob, whilst walking with everybody else around the kiln / chimney 3 times.

As we were walking in the procession, I heard several very loud, very close gunshots from somewhere in the compound. For a moment it sounded as though we were walking straight towards a shoot out more fitting to Tijuana than Thailand. I thought it must be fireworks, but as we turned the corner I saw three guys happily blasting away at the sky.

As we approached they began reloading for another go, so I whipped out the camera and took some pictures. Lucky they didn't seem to mind. The guys were close relatives of the deceased; the guy on the right of the pic is the guys brother I think.

It's not unusual for Thai's to keep guns at home for the usual reasons ie. to protect the home, although owning a gun legally in Thailand is not straightforward, as the gun laws are strict. I guess like most things in Thailand, if you really want one, there are means and ways and you probably wouldn't have to look too hard if you had the cash handy. Owning a Thai gun legally is subject to strict guidelines, and there are checks and processes prior to being granted a permit. Farang cannot be granted a permit unless of special circumstances I am told, and Thailand is planning to further tighten up its gun control laws. Interestingly, the Thai government has relaxed some gun ownership in the far South due to all the problems with separatist Muslims, and it is OK for teachers (who are often targets in attacks) to carry guns in order to protect themselves and their school classes. There is a very nasty situation occuring in the far South of Thailand on the border with Malaysia, not well covered in Western media.

I found these interesting (but fairly loose) stats on gun ownership on Wikipedia, apparently Thailand is around mid-table, well below countries like the US (check out the US stat!!!), Yemen and Iraq. See here

You rarely see guns in public though, and I have not seen them used at a funeral before. These guys easily got through a hundred rounds. I don't have a clue what the restrictions are for owning a gun and legally firing one in public, fairly lax it seems if this funeral is anything to go by.

It's lucky the Thai's haven't adopted our English drinking culture. Booze, guns and hot weather at funerals not a wise combination.

Thai spag bol (........with rice)

Introducing what I call the Thai spag bol, or properly known as pork with chilli and basil.

V simple. Chuck garlic, chopped onion and 3 or 4 chopped chilli's into hot oil. After a minute chuck in your meat, usually pork mince over here but you can pretty much use anything.

Add fish sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and water on top, plus a handful of basil leaves. If you like chuck in some green beans too.

Wait five minutes. That's it. Thai spag bol, without the spag, or the bol, but just as easy. It looks a bit like spag bol, I think, with rice. Maybe it should be called rice bol?

Dunno, anyway, great for those in a hurry.

Also handy for gauging how your chili strength has developed. When I first came to Thailand even a mild dish of this was too hot. Not any more. I'm loving the burn!