Politics

So, I don't know how many of you have heard about the political crisis, but I know words like "State of Emergency" and "protests" and "protecting democracy" have been thrown around a lot, which could make many people nervous. I've also read a little bit of what the American news is saying and it's obvious they're interpreting things with an American mindset, which would make sense. However, I thought I would share what I have read from the international Bangkok newspapers along with some things I've heard from my Thai friends.

First, the PM has had people protesting during his entire time in office, which has been brief. The protests escalated within the past couple of weeks. There was one clash with the anti-government protesters and pro-government demonstraters, however from what I understand from people who were actually there was the pro-government demonstraters were given compensation in order to cause a scene, hence the PM was looking for a reason to call for a "state of emergency" and, as many believe, he created one. However, the leader of the army refused to use force against the people to break up the demonstration, even though a state of emergencey would allow him all the power he needed to get them out of the equivalent of the White House. Last week, the PM said he was going to remove the "state of emergency" because no one was listening to it anyway. Yes, I actually read that in the Bangkok Post.

This week has been a bit more interesting. The PM was brought to trial for violating the constitution. What did he do? He hosted a cooking show and recieved payment for it. Did he break the law? Yes. By Thai law, no PM is to accept any money outside of his payment as a PM. Did he do a silly thing to break that law? In my opinion, yes. What is even more ironic is that he was dismissed as PM on Tuesday and now his current party is renominating him for the "new" PM. Is this legal? Somehow, yes it is. I'm not exactly sure how, but I have been assured by many people and newspapers that it is legal. Early this morning I saw that a lot of people were against him becoming the PM again and many powerful people do not want it, but we shall see what happens. They were supposed to vote today, however less than half the Parliament showed up because they didn't agree, but rather than say no, they just didn't go to vote. So, since not enough people showed up to vote, they couldn't vote on it.

Now, the big question . . . What is life like in a "state of emergency"?

For me, nothing was different. I went to work. I came home. My students studied adn they went home. For primary and high schools, teachers and students got 3 days off. If you were around the government district, it might have been a little tense, but everywhere else in Bangkok, life proceeded as normal.

Please don't get too worried if you hear these things in the news. The best thing to do is to go to a Bangkok international newspaper or talk to me :D. I hope you laughed about some of it as I have while all of this has been happening. However I would greatly appreciate your prayers as there is more to this story than I know. More is here than meets the eye and money is an ugly thing when used badly. Pray for the people of Thailand and for the leaders as well.