Philip Shaw

Bangkok Blows Up in Violence
By Philip Shaw M.Sc.

with Dr. A.K. Enamul Haque PhD

Some things are just hard to picture.  Over the last few weeks I have watched the events in Bangkok unfold and wondered about my friend.  I’ve never been to Bangkok Thailand.  However, my friend Enamul is in Bangkok often.  He goes there for meetings on a regular basis as it is only about a 120 minute plane ride from Dhaka.  So with him there at the height of the violence in Bangkok over the last few weeks, my concern was heightened.  I couldn’t picture him among the violent streetscapes, which are pictured on television.

It just so happened that I found myself with time on my hands during this period.  So I watched my computer light up on several days with Dr. Haque on the other end of a Skype call.  We make a habit of chatting when he is in a foreign capital as usually the Internet connection is quite good and Skype works quite well.  So I answered his calls, my first question was how was he doing and did he know what was going on in Bangkok?

He answered in the style that he always answers, there is no problem where he is and that it is in Bangkok city.  There is no trouble here.  Enamul was at the Asian Institute of Technology 30 kilometres outside of the city of Bangkok.  When I talked to him he almost was seemingly unaware of the violence that was going on in the city.  However, on the other side of the world we watched together a BBC news report on the violence in the city.  I think everybody at this end was quite relieved to know that Enamul was safe.  I’m sure that his family back in Bangladesh was wondering about the same thing.

Of course I asked him at that time what some of the Thai people were thinking about the “redshirt demonstrators”?   He told me that he did not have a lot of contact with the regular Thai people and the ones that he did have didn’t say too much.  He said it was almost a cultural thing as in many Asian people don’t like to describe some of the chaos that is going on in their home country.  He was at a conference, which was mainly put on by foreigners.  So his exposure to the political violence in Bangkok thankfully was minimal.

That was the good news.  However, the daily images from the television showed a much more violent story.  Thailand in the West has an almost idyllic reputation.  When people think of Thailand, they think of the beaches Phunket, the gentle nature of the people and of course I’m sure there are many people who think about the food.  Needless to say, increasingly that image of Thailand is changing as the country has shown an increasing tendency for instability over the last few years because of protest, a weak democracy and corruption.  The latest manifestation of the “red shirt” rebellion in downtown Bangkok was one of the bloodiest stains on that country’s reputation.   Increasingly, peaceful and tranquil Thailand is losing that reputation.

Some might argue that the political instability centers squarely in Bangkok and not in the surrounding countryside other than the north and northwest of the country.  I will let Dr. Haque handle that one.  Bangkok is one of those exotic places on the world stage that demands press coverage.  So when the yellow shirts took over the Bangkok airport and the red shirts staged a rebellion in downtown, it surely grabs the world’s attention.  It surely is a unique Thai situation because shirt collar has never been a distinction on political factions around the world, at least to what I could remember.

Protest comes in many forms and the Thai example is truly unique for that part of the world.  I know in Canada I have actually led protests on Parliament Hill, the seat of the Canadian government.  I have done that with 10,000 protesters in front of me.  However, I can remember very clearly the extent of cooperation between protesters, police and even the government, which we were protesting.  It was truly a Canadian example of how we do things here.  Unfortunately, what took place in Thailand over the last few weeks has become increasingly common of how they do things there too.  Or maybe I should say to be fair in Bangkok.

The challenge I suppose in many ways is to spread the wealth between Bangkok and other parts of the country.  Enamul will surely be back in Bangkok many more times.  It’s not a second home for him but he is there often so he should provide a very unique look into what happened over the last few weeks.

Bangkok Violence – the other side of the story
Dr. A.K. Enamul Haque  PhD

Before landing in Bangkok I was aware that the city was in trouble.  Its main business district is out of reach for visitors and the tension between governments and the Red Shirts was reaching a point of no return.  My mother, brothers and sisters, of course, my family members (wife and son) were all very tense because of this.  However, organizers of the course (where I was teaching) told us that it is no problem in their part of the city.  Luckily, it was not my first trip and so I knew that I could avoid the downtown area by using the freeways and could reach the Asian Institute of Technology without trouble.  I was not tense at all.

As I arrived in Bangkok, things seemed to be quite normal for me.  Taxi drivers were there; buses were there to take visitors.  People were at the airport to receive visitors and I did not see any tension in their faces either.   The following day, we visited a local retail market (weekend market) and things were normal too.  Two/three days later, the BBC told us that Thai military is zooming in and a possible crackdown is imminent.  Since I could not speak Thai, Thai channels are off limits for me.

At the conference center, people are busy as usual but we decided to talk.  Most of them are not like us, and they were not ready to talk about their political situation in front of foreigners! Luckily, one of the organizers was staying in the center for a month and she had developed a good working relationship with a few Thai girls at the center.  She was telling me that most of them do not like “Red Shirts”. On the other hand, she also told me that the “Taxi drivers” are with the “Red Shirts”.

You could see the colors in Bangkok about liking and disliking.  White color people were not interested in red shirt (they are happy with the current government) but the blue color people seems to be more sympathetic to them.   The BBC had been telling the same except that they were terming it as more of rural vs. urban divide.  Whatever, may be the case, the silence of the local Bangkok people, the indifference of the general public in Bangkok towards the movement must have frustrated the Red Shirt leaders and the boosted the moral of the government and the Army who later on decided to take on the Red Shirts.

Meanwhile, the local media seemed to be divided too. “The Bangkok Post” seemed to me was favoring the government while “the Nation” was sympathetic to the Red Shirts. You all know the story.  However, what struck me is this, before the day Red Shirt leaders decided to surrender they had a meeting with their followers.  In all calmness they requested their followers to go home – it was a no win situation and they cannot win against an organized force.  They informed them that they can go home freely (without being harassed by the army or police) and that in turn they [the leaders] decided to surrender to the police and face the consequences.  Many of the followers cried and said that they too are ready for the same consequences but the leaders told them not to do so.  Instead they insisted that they should take advantage of the negotiation and go home but remain organized and that the fight is not over yet.  At least 15 other provinces were also involved in this revolt but it was less reported in our media.

The next day amidst the chaos in Bangkok, one picture caught me totally unprepared – a solo Red Shirt worker, a lady, was sitting on a chair in the middle of the podium where the Red Shirts were with a red flag in her hand.  She decided not to go home.

I can see two things out of this chaos and sad events in Bangkok – a) the quality of leadership – who were negotiating a hassle free exit of their followers at the price of their own arrest, and b) the divide between the white and blue color people in their social, cultural and political thinking.

Hopefully, these two groups can come into a common platform and keep the Thai economy alive and competitive.