Samudra manthan

Samudra churning or Samudra manthan is the Hindu myth about the churning of the sea of milk. Using the great naga wrapped around mount Mandhara on top of Lord Vishnu in the form of a tortoise, the devas and demons cooperated in churning the sea to achieve the ultimate prize, the nectar of immortality, Amrita. Even though the Amrita was supposed to be shared by both the devas and demons, Lord Vishnu used trickery to deny the demons the nectar. Embolden by the effects of the amrit, the gods would go on to defeat the demons. You can see a sculptural representation of this myth in the foyer of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.

Although this is meant to symbolize a spiritual exercise, it could also be used as an analogy for the political process and this especially true in Thai politics. For all their good intentions, politicians must ultimately resort of deceit, trickery and misrepresentation, to achieve their goals and win the hearts and minds of their constituents. We hope to use this space as a forum to make some sense of what it is all about and in the spirit of reconciliation find out what it is the Thai people really want after the election.

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16 July 2011

The Rain Retreat

This month is the start of the rains retreat in Thailand. In accordance with Buddhist tradition, monks will stay inside their temples for the next 3 months to allow the countryside to peacefully rejuvenate in the life giving rain. Farmers use this time to plant rice, spending whole days leg deep in water going from paddies to paddies. Cattle are herded along dirt roads often slippery with reddish mud and puddles.

Isaan is a realm of forests and plantations full of spirits, of ancient dialects alluding to the people's diverse ethnic origins and of unchanging traditions from a world far simpler than ours today. That's not to say modernity has not made an impact. Motorcycles replace horses, a satellite dish is mounted over the temple roof and the Red radio accompanies the hard working farmers in their field.

Life in a Red village is almost exactly as I expected to be. They adorn their houses with Red flags, their only source of information on the outside are the Red Radio and Red TV channels. They did not trust anything else and did do not listen to anything else, and they are proud to do so.

Not completely without reason. The rural farmers may be the backbone of the nation but they are constantly exploited and underrepresented in the country's government. They don't care much for foreign policy or encomium growth, why should they when they are the last to receive any benefits, if any at all. What does matters is a fair price for their crops, a generous healthcare policy and a sense of empowerment and these are all things that Thaksin has delivered to them in the past and what they are hoping Yingluck with provide for them now.

Despite winning the election it is still uncertain if the Peau Thai Party will come to power. Understandably the Reds are getting restless. I have not been allowed in to their meetings or told of any plans but I get the sense that these people, many of whom have been protesting and fighting for years, will not hesitate to do so again.

13 July 2011

Isaan or Bust!

We are back in business! Tomorrow I am going to bus it to Khon Kaen, a gateway city to the Isaan region of Thailand and then onwards to the notorious ' Red villages' of Isaan.

Isaan is one of the poorest region of Thailand and it is the heartland of the Red Shirts. The Red Villages are a recent development, I don't know the exact details but I think they started popping up after the bloody clashes in Bangkok last year and many Red Shirts were fearful of further violence. The first Red village sprung up when their leader decided that they needed to show people that they were not afraid to be Red and so they hung red flags all over the village.

That understandably caused much concern in Bangkok, many people still have memories of the Communist days and rumors began flying of Red Shirt militant camps and weapon caches.

I don't know what to expect but I doubt I would see anything like that. If not the least because I had to tell them I was coming. Still, it is extremely unlikely that the Reds would be arming themselves in any large scale fashion.

What I do expect is a sense of cautious optimism. They've won the election and are now waiting to see what sort of government will appear from all the wheeling and dealing that is going right now. Experts are predicting mid August before the new government comes into power.