"The Rounds" February 24, 2005

Just a reminder you can sign-up for free to receive the BangkokAtoZ.com Updates (plain text) e-mail to always know when I add something new to the site or modify it in some important way. A great way to be sure YOU don't miss something of interest, best of all is that this service is absolutely FREE!

The defection of Major-General Chamlong Srimuang to the anti-Thaksin camp must have gotten a lot of attention in the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party, as evidenced by the meeting Prime Minister Thaksin had with his Cabinet at his home last night, apparently in response the General Chamlong's call for P.M. Thaksin to resign.

General Chamlong is widely respected in Thai society, regarded as he is as a moral luminary. People unfamiliar with him may not know why.

In 1992 General Chamlong led protests against the dictatorship of the day, protests which led to the resignations of the dictators and the restoration of democracy in the Kingdom, making quite a name for himself in the process. While I knew nothing about him (or anyone else in Thai politics) at the time, and certainly had no idea I would move here just two years later, I remember seeing Chamlong and the leading dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, approaching His Majesty the King in a formal audience to which His Majesty had summoned the two. Both were practically on their stomachs as they traveled the long, red carpet leading to the throne. His Majesty, reacting to street violence that led to deaths, suggested the dictators step down. It was electrifying, even to one not familiar with the scene here.

Chamlong went on to lead the Phalang Dharma Party. He became Thaksin's political mentor; previously Thaksin had been in private business only, holding no public office.

Now Chamlong has completely abandoned Thaksin to the winds of political fate -- or political destiny, if Thaksin emerges triumphant.

Chamlong is a member of the smallish Santi Asoke Buddhist sect, and is reported to have said he may bring some of them to join in demonstrations against the Prime Minister. The next such demonstration is scheduled for this coming Sunday.

If the media are to be believed, it appears there is a widening of the opposition to the Prime Minister.

Both sides are calling for supporters on both sides to remain peaceful; surely, no one wants a repeat of 1992's violence. I certainly hope those calls are heeded.

It would not be surprising to learn the Prime Minister and his supporters feel someone has directed the ancient Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times" their way -- for them, these are indeed "interesting times," albeit unpleasant ones. [Monday, February 20, 2006]

As a former university-level teacher of Cross-Cultural Business Communications and Cross-Cultural Management Business Communications, I have some reasonably honed appreciation of the difficulties one can experience when plunging into an alien culture, as Westerners do when they come out here East of Suez. I thought it appropriate to mention a few points.

There's the matter of the red availability lights on the dashboard of taxis. Those lights don't really mean the taxi is available at your beck and call to go whither thou wish go. They mean two things: first, the driver will damn well take you there if that suits his fancy, and, secondly, it is a "farang-target-acquisition-radar" -- i.e., it's like a heat-seeking missile: why take a knowledgeable Thai when you can take an un-informed foreigner on a ride???

Speaking of target-acquisition radars, let's talk about Thai pedestrians. Unlike with Thai taxis, whose target-acquisition radars are forward-facing, Thai pedestrians' comparable radar is rearwards facing. That is to say, even if you're on a sidewalk ten meters wide and with only you and the Thai pedestrian in front of you in sight, you can rest assured that should your speed be faster than the local's and you wish to pass, that won't happen: the local's rear-target-acquisition radar turns on, and he or she will veer in exact symmetry with your detours, thereby blocking your path. The U.S. military should look into buying the rights for our fighters and bombers.

Next is crosswalks, a.k.a. "zebra crossings." These aren't meant, in Thailand, for the safe passage of people afoot from one side of the road to the other. Indeed, they instead provide the front gun sight to the rear gun sight provided, conveniently, by carmakers worldwide, in the form of hood ornaments. With a bit of practice -- after all, the driver doesn't aim directly over the hood ornament; it takes a certain amount of skill to compensate for one's driving offset so as to be able to use the hood ornament and the crosswalk together to draw a bead on the hapless pedestrian -- the driver can mow you right down. Often the driver will floorboard it, flash the car's light's and sit down on the car's horn. Not by serious way of warning, mind you, but to see if you can rabbit out of the way in time to avoid being pancaked on the pavement.

Now we come to English-language skills. One can often meet a service person here who, when you engage him or her in conversation, seems to have rather fluent abilities. Don't count on it, unless you know the person. Otherwise, you may well order, say, a prime rib at a 5-star hotel restaurant and get Thai beef and rice. In this particular instance, if other diners have what you want, don't depend on language: point. Even there, no guarantees.

Then there's bureaucracy, which as an American I can say with authority isn't unique to the Kingdom. But since I live here, Thai bureaucracy is my concern. Never mind the rules. Never mind the procedures. Never mind having a print-out of relevant regulations/laws/whatever. Just go with the flow and do whatever the apparatchik instructs, if you want to have any hope of succeeding. At least in the West there are places to complain, but there really isn't any such place here.

Finally -- for today's lesson -- there's the notion of "Thai time." What "Thai time" means is "whenever, if ever, it suits me." That is to say, if you make a dinner date with a Thai friend for this Friday at 7:00 P.M., don't be surprised if your friend doesn't show up at the appointed time but much later. Nor, for that matter, if six weeks later you get a testy phone call from your local friend demanding to know where you are, since he, or she, is sitting in the restaurant awaiting you. (I've had this happen many, many times, so don't even think about arguing.)

See -- it's easy: just suspend everything you expected before, and maybe, just maybe, you can finally get to the point of being able to stumble your way through life in Asia! I've been here two decades, and that's about all I've been able to accomplish -- stumbling along -- and I'm damned proud of it! [Tuesday, February 21, 2006]

Anyone with a U.S. tax obligation may wish to know that a representative of the Internal Revenue Service will be in Bangkok next month to give advice, according to an e-mail I received from the American Citizen Services Unit at the U.S. Embassy today. The full e-mail text is below:

Greetings from the U.S. Embassy:

We are happy to announce that the dates for the annual Internal Revenue Service visit (IRS) to Bangkok have been finalized. IRS representative Ms. Sally Williams will be available to provide individual tax consultations at the U.S. Embassy from Tuesday, March 21st through Friday, March 24th.

Ms. Williams is scheduling 15-minute individual consultations for the following dates: Tues.-Fri., March 21-24. Appointments will be available from 7:30-11:10am and from 1:00-3:00pm.

In order to schedule your individual consultation, please call American Citizens Services (ACS) at 02-205-4049.

In addition to individual consultations, Ms. Williams is offering two one-hour seminars on tax issues for U.S. Citizens living abroad. Those seminars will be held here at American Citizens Services on Wednesday, March 22 at 4:00pm and again on Thursday March 23 at 4:00pm. No reservations are necessary, just come to ACS a little before 4:00pm on those days and tell the guards at the front that you wish to attend the tax seminar. Ms. Williams has asked for information on what topics would be of most interest during the briefing, so that she can make the best use of the available time. If you plan to attend a briefing, please let us know what subjects you are most interested in.

Ms. Williams will not have the ability to electronically file your tax return during consultation sessions.

Commonly requested tax forms are now available at ACS. However, there is no need to make a trip to the Embassy to pick up these forms. You may also download and print all tax forms for 2005 and prior years from the IRS website. Go to www.irs.gov and click the "Forms and Publications" link on the left of your screen.

We look forward to hearing from you and scheduling your appointment with Ms. Williams.

Sincerely,

American Citizen Services

U.S. Embassy Bangkok

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this list, go to:

<http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/embassy/acsemaillist.htm>

The U.S. Embassy Consular Section is located at 95 Wireless Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand (Nearest BTS Skytrain station: Phloen Chit) American Citizen Services Unit Window Hours:

Monday - Friday, 7:30 - 11 AM and 1 - 2 PM

Note: The ACS unit is CLOSED on all American and most Thai National holidays, as well as the last Friday of every month.

Tel: +66-2-205-4049 Fax: +66-2-205-4103

E-mail: acsbkk@state.gov <mailto:acsbkk@state.gov>

If you have tax issues in the U.S., this is a good time to seek advice -- remembering, however, that by the IRS is not responsible if one of its representatives gives you wrong advice. *You're* responsible, period. (I know from the best university of all, "The School of Hard Knocks.") [Wednesday, February 22, 2006]

Today is the day of the annual parade focusing on landmines in the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia, a parade held in the Cambodian provincial town of Pailin to kick off the National Mine Awareness Week there.

In this crisis-weary world, it's easy to forget the legacy of a war that finished a generation ago. Yet the fact remains that Cambodia (and Laos and Vietnam) are still wrestling with the landmines left over from that war.

I'm not in the slightest interested in getting into a discussion of the legitimacy of that war. The relevant issue is that the Cambodian people are still grappling with a vast number of landmines that inhibit the country's economic and social development. There are fairly regular occurrences of peiple trying to salvage a mine, only to be blown to bits for their efforts.

While I've long been aware of the legacy, it became somewhat personally more urgent to me a few years ago when I had the signal honor of becoming acquainted with His Excellency Sam Sotha, Secretary-General of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority. H. E. Sotha is a man completely dedicated to serving his nation, and is one of the most drop-dead nice guys I've ever met. I would defy anyone who didn't already know he holds, roughly, ambassadorial rank to guess it from meeting him in a social situation. By the way, he also, in his Secretary-Generalship capacity, serves as an advisor to the Prime Minister, and recently was honored to be appointed an advisor to Cambodia's Supreme Patriarch.

Cambodia has made stunning progress over the past decade, something the Western media sometimes overlooks. In the mid 1990's, there was a certain risk involved in traveling even to the capital, Phnom Penh, as drunken soldiers and police would walk around firing off their AK-47's hither, thither, and yon, with no regard to safety. People such as H. E. Sotha have sheperded the nation into a much more peaceful situation. I have never had even one millisecond's trouble there in my numerous visits, which I began making when a dear friend convinced me it was safe to go. While a certain amount of discretion needs to be exercised by any visitor to a capital city, in the main I have no worries about strolling down the street, not even late at night.

The Cambodians are trying, and are muddling their way through their past. For that, and for the efforts of the Sam's of the country, they deserve support -- and respect.

A word about Prime Minister Hun Sen is in order. Like many of us, I had my doubts about him, given his political past. But I heard a private story about him that gave me pause to reconsider. No, I've never met him, nor ever hardly expect to do so. But in the present context, he has been enormously instrumental in trying to see to it the people he represents are freed of the scourge of explosives. And he doesn't pull any punches -- in fact, it's amazing so blunt a man has made it on the international stage; diplomatic niceties just aren't his style. And he has most excellent people, not least of whom is H. E. Sotha, to whom he listens.

For this, the Prime Minister deserves full marks. I know my own doubts have evaporated -- and I've thanked the source of the private story for letting me in on the inside knowledge track.

A tribute to the Prime Minister, H. E. Sotha, and everyone else involved in this titanic effort to rid the Kingdom of landmines and other UXO -- "Unexploded Ordnance" -- is in order. [Thursday, February 26, 2006]

Here's the weekend broadcast schedule for sports of this evergreen favorite.

THE OFFICE SPORTS SCHEDULE
Fri 24	13.00	Rugby	Super 14’S Hurricanes c Cats LIVE
	17.30	Rugby	Super 14’S Force v Chiefs LIVE
	23.00	Cricket	20/20 Series SA v Australia LIVE
	23.40	Rugby	Super 14’S Stormers v Brumbies LIVE
Sat 25	12.00	Rugby	Super 14’S Crusaders v Sharks LIVE
	16.00	Rugby	Super 14’S Reds v Blues LIVE
	16.00	Bikes	World Super Bikes Qatar LIVE
	21.00	Rugby	Super 14’S Bulls v Waratahs LIVE
	21.00	Rugby	6 Nations France v Italy LIVE
	21.55	Soccer	Chelsea v Portsmouth LIVE
	21.55	Soccer	Blackburn v Arsenal LIVE
	24.00	Rugby	Super 14’S Cheetahs v Highlanders LIVE
	24.00	Soccer	Newcastle v Everton LIVE
	00.30	Rugby	6 Nations Scotland v England LIVE
Sun 26	14.30	Cricket	SA v Australia 1^st ODI LIVE
	19.10	Soccer	Liverpool v Manchester City LIVE
	19.54	Soccer	Bolton v Fulham LIVE
	20.00	Hockey	Men's Gold Medal LIVE
	21.30	Soccer	Wigan v Man U LIVE
	22.00	Rugby	6 Nations Ireland v Wales LIVE
	22.00	Soccer	Bromwich v Middlesbrough LIVE

Yes, my lead story this week is on exactly the same topic -- but I wrote that Monday, and today is Friday, a different age entirely in political terms.

Events the past two days have been nothing short of stunningly breathtaking. Yesterday the Prime Minister met with the greatly respected General Prem, Chairman of the Privy Council. The government has leaked the PM sought the conference; street intelligence doesn't support that, though I have no direct idea what the facts are.

Mid-morning today, I was taken aback to get a news alert on my hand phone the PM had requested an audience with His Majesty the King. I expected that would happen sooner or later, but I didn't expect it quite this soon.

Then, later in the afternoon, I got another news alert saying the PM has announced the dissolution of the Lower House. There was no indication whether he had had an audience with His Majesty.

Though the local stock market rallied today, a bit, concerns are widespread. Foreign investor confidence is said to be shaky, particularly in the government's mega-projects (a number of which I feel are ones whose time has come, such as expansion of the mass transit system).

The Securities and Exchange Commission has declared the PM's son guilty of minor, and merely technical, violations in the sale of Shin Corporation to Singapore, though it also said his sister is innocent of any mistakes.

A handful of the PM's party's parliamentary representatives have openly called on him to resign or to dissolve Parliament.

Also today, General Chamlong, much the subject of this week's lead story, is said to have announced that this coming Sunday's anti-Thaksin rally won't end on Sunday, but will end only when PM Thaksin resigns i.e., go on indefinitely.

The Thammasat Student Union is claiming to have collected about 41,000 signatures for a censure of the PM, collected in just two weeks flat. Other universities' student unions are vowing to assist in the campaign. (It takes a minimum of 50,000 signatures of qualified Thai citizens to force the issue.)

In short, it appears the opposition to the PM has reached a critical mass since the sale by his children of Shin Corporation stocks at a handsome profit -- they bought the stocks one day for one baht per share then sold them shortly thereafter at 49.50 baht per share. It didn't help the PM that tax authorities said the sale was exempt from capital-gains taxes.

On the plus side, the military has again said the troops are staying in the barracks, leaving law-and-order issues up to the police. Though some leaders of the armed forces have close ties with the PM -- one is even his relative -- they clearly have in mind the troubles in 1973, 1976, and, most recently, 1992.

Even General Suchinda, the chief military dictator deposed in 1992, has sort of come out (according to press reports) in favor of PM Thaksin giving ground, come out admittedly in a rather mild way.

An astute friend with professional reasons to be attuned to local politics (and with bunches of experience qualifying him to be attuned in a knowledgeable way) wrote a command performance of a succinct, clear analysis of the then-current situation just two days ago, an analysis I had planned, with his permission, to publish here. Yet events have overtaken his analysis -- I spoke with him just three hours or so ago about it.

For the sake of the country, it's arguable that for the PM to have resigned would have been better than to dissolve the lower house -- but dissolving the lower house is vastly better than not giving any ground at all, something the PM has shown a singular reluctance to do in his five years in power. He apparently doesn't take even the best-meant constructive criticism aboard at all, much less with grace.

There have been reports that the fine for overstaying one's visa are sceduled to increase from the current 200 baht per day to 500 baht come March 15th, though I've not yet got absolute confirmation of that. I did call a friend who's a Senior Sergeant-Major in the Immigration Bureau here in Bangkok yesterday and asked him about it. He doesn't work in the visa section, but said he, too, had heard this was the case. I asked him to look into it with his buddies over in the Visa Section then get back with me, but he has not done so as of yet.

The Kingdom is very generous on such matters when it comes to visitors, if less so when it comes to foreigners wanting to settle down here. Overstays are treated with great tolerance.

But if this increase indeed takes place, I'll have to wonder just what the authorities are thinking. Say someone comes over here on a five-week stay, i.e., 35 days. Any tourist aware of Thai officials' generosity towards minor overstays can be forgiven for thinking "Why pay 1900 baht for an extension when I can just pay 100 baht at the airport on my departure then be on my way?"

I'm a bit puzzled by this purported move. True, the Kingdom's coffers might take in some more money than they do at present, at least in the short term, before the move gets widely known. It seems to me the potential damage is greater than the potential benefits, though I have no mathematical basis for feeling so.

I've mulled over the notion the idea may be to discourage backpackers. There is a certain aversion to such visitors here, an aversion that has considerable justification. However, backpackers are a significant percentage of the number of visitors, so although their per capita expenditures are relatively low, in aggregate they are substantial.

I've also mulled over the fact that certain members of the current administration are arguably anti-foreign. Seems to be fact, as far as I can tell. But also seems to be fact that folks with their hands on the controls recognize the importance of the tourism industry, even people in control who may themselves be personally against foreigners, so do nothing to discourage us from coming here.

Whatever the reason(s) may be, it appears the per-day fine will increase substantially mid-month next month. Plan accordingly. [Friday, February 24, 2006]

Well, the tired old fools who huddle in the West Wing of The Forbidden City in Beijing are up to their usual 19th-century, imperial shenanigans on at least two fronts.

Short history: the Chinese suffered a civil war before, during, and after World War II. The Communists emerged victorious on the mainland, while the Nationalists retreated to the island of Taiwan (where they misbehaved mightily, to put it mildly). Chairman Mao didn't pursue them across the water, for whatever reason.

Yet the old fools who've ruled along the way have treated Taiwan as a "renegade province."

Kinda hard to say a government that never controlled a place in the first place has a right to call it a "renegade province." Hell, Beijing essentially funds that idiot in North Korea and can barely keep *him* under control (and may not be able to do so over the longer haul).

Second has to do with the Internet, about which I wrote last week. The Washington Post had a superb multi-part series about this issue this week. (Look in the Technology Section.)

The Old Men employ several tens of thousands of Internet police to make sure no one commits a boo-boo, "boo-boo" as defined by their ridiculous standards.

The mainland government recognized, rightly, a decade ago that China had to climb aboard the Internet train or get left standing in the dust. What the leaders haven't quite figured out is they can't have it both ways: let information flow, or go the way of thier client state, in their case North Korea, where hand phones from foreigners can't call one and all.

Related to this is the hoopla surrounding Google. Just a day or two ago it emerged that Beijing is that Google do even more than it already has done to accommodate their dictatorial wishes. Google has gone a lot of extra miles to try to balance The Old Fools' concerns, in my view, so shouldn't be expected to do more. After all, Google has already taken a major PR hit in being seen to violate its own unofficial corporate motto "Don't be evil," a hit reflected in the dramatic downturn in the stock price of the firm. Just how much more does Zhongnanhai expect? (Well, I know the answer to that: to do as bid, period, and to hell with investors, Western culture, democracy, etc. etc. etc. Those concerns don't even register on the CCCP leadership's radar.)

The Old Fools will lose this battle, sooner or later. They've already had to retreat in ways unimaginable when I first landed in the Heart of the Dragon August 18, 1985, particularly over the past seven or eight years.

They may even wake up to the fact that after 57 years of having no control over Taiwan maybe things have changed there in ways displeasing -- but unavoidable -- to them.

The current Beijing administration has proven to be a major disappointment, moving, as it has, in a retrograde manner. Let's hope the next leader-choosing August meeting at Beidaihe produces something other than conservatives-in-disguise. China is an emerging power, and it is only a fool elsewhere who doesn't pay a bit of heed to what is going on there. [Friday, February 24, 2006]

Sign-up here for e-mail notification when I add or change something on the site. Just go to the sign-up page.

So you've been a slacker and still haven't signed up for the free BangkokAtoZ.com Updates Mailing List??? ;-) Well, get with the program and sign up right now to be notified via e-mail whenever we add something to the site -- that way, you don't even have to visit the Updates Page to see if there's anything new -- we'll let you know by e-mail. If you want to sign up, just go to the sign-up page. I'm pleased to say that more and more of you are signing up, and I urge all of you not to hesitate!

If anyone reading this has a website and want to link it to BangkokAtoZ.com, you can copy-and-paste the banner and text link below into your site; they are live links to this site's homepage:

I'll appreciate an e-mail telling me the URL of where you placed it. If you want me to put a link on BangkokAtoZ.com for your site, do tell me where you have placed our link, and I'll give you a link in a comparable position, of the same nature (i.e., banner-for-banner, text-for-text).

THE OFFICE SPORTS SCHEDULE