Day 5 - Lights! Camera! Monsoon!

It is probably my own bad karma for insulting the rain spirits in my last post but yesterday was wet. I’m talking vengeful, relentless, change-my-underwear-when-I-got home wet. But more about the state of my underwear later..

Yesterday was the last day for campaigning and both parties had ordered massive rallies for their constituents. Peau Thai at Rajamangala Stadium and the Democrats at the Royal Plaza. Because of ease of travel I decided to check out the Democrats’ final push for votes.

Traffic was so dense around the rally that no Taxis or tuks tuks was willing to take me in there. The only way to get through the traffic was literally, on the backseat of a motorcycle weaving in and out of cars and buses. Even then the direct road was completely blockaded by hundreds of smiling but determined Yellow shirts waving and shouting ‘Vote No’ at the oncoming traffic.

The final 500 metres was on foot, and in the pouring rain. The heavens opened up, sending thousands of democrats supporters scrambling for shelter and grabbing whatever improvised cover they can. I saw cardboard, straw mats, jackets, banners, even plastic bags worn over the head in a vain attempt to stay dry. Hundreds of supporters turned back but the faithful stayed on, brandishing umbrellas or squeezed in together under cover. I found myself underneath one of the big screens hiding out with the technical crews giving the politicians on stage the rock star treatment.

Despite the downpour the vibe at the rally was positive, fanatical even. Cries of ‘Ahbisit!’ and ‘Number 10’ echoed across the plaza. Especially during the awkward 5 minutes when the main stage sound went out just as Abhisit himself was about to speak and the tech crews around me rushed out into the soaking rain to fix the technical hiccup. Ahbisit was soon back onstage outlining his party’s policies to help the poor and working class, as well as reminding the audience of the evils of Thaksin. The way he was going on, it felt like he was campaigning against Thaksin himself and not his younger sister, which is perhaps not far from the truth.

Eventually it was time to head off and in the confusion of the mass exodus I ended up heading in the opposite direction of where I should have going. By the time I came to my senses I found myself in inner city Bangkok which was still lively despite the torrential rain. Cold and starving I was relieved to find some food vendors (not that they are rare) and bought myself the best barbecue pork skewers and sticky rice I’ve ever had, though being soaked for 3 hours probably effected my judgment, now that I think about it the skewers weren't even warm.

I stumbled along for a few more blocks before running into a high school student getting rejected by a taxi. I had been looking for a taxi myself and so I ran up to wave the taxi but the driver didn’t see me. I then turned to the boy and asked him why the taxi wouldn’t let him on and apparently the traffic was so bad heading to the BTS (monorail) station that it wasn’t worth his time. I was also trying to find the BTS station myself and so Kane and I joined forces. Just then Kane’s mobile phone rang, his ring tone was Mario’s theme song. Kane had 3 friends waiting undercover for him to get them a taxi but apparently a bus had come that would take them to the station. Kane and I started running but we just missed it, Kane slapped the side of the bus in frustration as it rolled out. Mario’s theme song came on again, Kane’s friends was on that bus. Kane then he had an idea. He told me to follow and we started running down a dark alley that commonly crisscrossed inner city blocks in Thailand. These alleys are narrow and only meant for shop keepers to access the back of their shops, where they also lived, and certainly not meant sprinting through. Dodging mangy dogs and amused locals eating dinner, Kane told me that we were going to try to cut the bus off as it rounded the block. I was glad I’ve been keeping up my cardio as it was a good 300 meters of puddles and slippery concrete before we reached the other side and leapt onto the bus. Home bound at last we relaxed and chatted about his schools and laughed about the rain, which stopped the moment we got on the bus. Lousy night of shooting but at least I made a friend.

PAD to petition for Pheu Thai disbandment

PAD to petition for Pheu Thai disbandment
As the time draws closer to the election, we should be seeing more statements like this. It remains to be seen when the 'Yellow Shirts' will hit the street with any significant numbers and if they will be able to rally any support.

The Divorce is final

It has been evident for quite some time that there is no love lost between the Democrats and PAD.  The events that brought the Democrats to power, although they were instigated by the 'Yellow Shirt' protests, it was more a marriage of convenience rather  than a blooming love affair.  Almost from the beginning the Democrats incurred the wrath of the PAD leadership and seen some a number of 'Yellow Shirt' protests against some of there policies and as a result, PAD has formed their own New Politics Party to contest the election (There has since been a schism between PAD and its own party but more about that later).  More recently there has been a war of words being batted back and forth amongst the party leaders in the press with the Democrats claiming the PAD 'No Vote' campaign is the result of collusion between PAD and the exiled Thaksin.

Yellow Shirts

The People's Alliance for Democracy is also known as the National Liberation Alliance but are more commonly referred to as PAD or 'Yellow Shirts'.  At one time their leaders included the media tycoon, Sondhi Limthongkul and General Chamlong Srimuang.  Originally formed as a coalition of protesters against the government of Thaksin Shinawatra, they were a major player in the Thai political crisis of 2005-2006, the 2008 crisis and the Cambodian-Thai border dispute surrounding the Preah Vihear Temple.  After the Thaksin government was overthrown, they announced that their goals had been achieved and they voluntarily dissolved.  The PAD protest resurfaced following the 2007 election of the People's Power Party, who were perceived as affiliated with the former Thaksin's parties and their policies.  PAD mobilized support around the country and caused major disruptions in transportation services including seizing a number of regional airports in the south.  Eventually the protests escalated to a blockade of the Parliament house, taking control of government offices at Don Muang Airport and finally taking control of Suvarnabhumi International Airport.  The sieges and protest came to an end when the Constitutional court dissolved the PPP and banned its leaders from politics. 

Birth of an Idea

A number of years ago, I was in Vientiane, Laos preparing to take the train that evening to Bangkok.  I was traveling with a friend, Lucas Li, who was also a film maker and neither of us knew what would greet us when we arrived back in Bangkok in the morning.  The events the past several weeks had thrown the whole region into turmoil.  Protests by the 'yellow shirts' had moved from the parliament house to the airports and no flights were coming in or out of Thailand.  It didn't really matter too much to either of us, Lucas was meeting family in Bangkok and I didn't have anywhere I had to be for a few weeks.  Before we left to go our separate ways the next morning, I mentioned to Lucas that he should think about developing a film about what was happening here.  A few months later, Lucas and I met up back in Australia, while in Thailand a new government was in power and protest against that government was being lead by the 'red shirts'.  With these new developments, I brought up the subject of a film again and we talked about different ways we could approach this.

Fast forward to this years Australian International Documentary Conference and again we were talking seriously about developing a film on the Thai political landscape.  This time we felt we had a pretty good handle on how to approach this type of film.  The idea was to make the film more about the people rather than the groups or political ideology.  We would want to include families from various socio-economic strata and political leanings in Thai society and investigate how the political machinations have affected them and where they think the solutions lie.