Leosia

Islam is Evil

July 14, 2009 · 1 Comment

I thought I would start a new tag called “Islam is Evil” because I’m bored with writing about Thai politics (it never gets better) and I’d like to upset some religious people. Just kidding, I think.

I’m actually a keen follower of the science versus religion debate, in particular the works and opinions of writers such as Richard Dawkins, Jerry Coyne, Christopher Hitchens – you know, intelligent people.

Personally I believe that all religions are evil  – in the sense that religions are man-made through fear, superstition and ignorance; and evil is also man-made through intolerance, hatred and greed. However, I reserve a distinction for Islam, because it encourages men to persecute, rape, torture and kill women for no other reason than jealousy and (familial) honor.

One of the main reasons I believe the West and democratic countries fail to make much progress against terrorists, for example, is because the increasing use of “politically correct” language means we have to accommodate different faiths, no matter what their demands. I don’t believe this is right. We should be able to say, for example, that “all terrorists are muslims” – but we can’t. If we can’t describe the cause of the problem we won’t find the solution.

Anyway, there is some sanity in Europe and that comes from Nicholas Sarkozy, who caused a furore last week when he described the head covering worn by Muslim women as ‘a sign of subservience’. Which of course it is.

So here are some links to some stories over the last few days describing wonderful aspects of the Islamic faith practice:

  • Saudi religious police blamed in ‘honour’ killing of sisters. Link.
  • Law will let Afghan husbands starve wives who withhold sex. Link.
  • The hijab debate: ‘I don’t want to be judged on my looks’. Link.
  • Somalis watch double amputations. Link.

→ 1 CommentCategories: Crime · Culture · Islam · Muslim · Religion
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Why Sufficiency Economics don’t work

July 10, 2009 · Leave a Comment

From an interview with Dr Sumit Champrasit, director of the Sufficiency Economy Office for Community Development:
Four months into implementation and with one-third of the budget disbursed, managers of the sufficiency economy fund are finding that it is still difficult to make people understand its concept.
His office has approved 25,000 projects, mostly aimed at cutting production costs, with a value of 7.2 billion baht. The government has allocated 21 billion baht to the office…
“We must fine-tune people’s understanding and our public relations. I have to admit that it has been not good enough so far,” he said.

“Rural people started from things they lack, like roads and money to buy fertilisers. Very few people understand the [sufficiency economy] concept.”

People don’t understand the sufficiency economy concept because it’s meaningless in today’s society. The philosophy boils down to “make do with what you’ve got, rely on yourselves, don’t produce more than you need.” It’s an anathema to the desire to build a better life for yourself, to break out of poverty, to make money. There are some sensible concepts involved – avoid over-farming, make better use of land – but this is just common sense, and nothing new.

The implementation also leaves a lot to be desired – give money to projects which meet the criteria but don’t educate and don’t follow-up. I also appreciate the irony of a sufficiency concept proposed by the world’s richest monarch.

From the definition of localism in Wikipedia:

Foreigners were for the most part left confused. After a meeting with Ministry of Finance officials where the need for more sufficiency was explained, Standard & Poor’s director of sovereign ratings noted, “No one knows what [sufficiency economy] really means.” The Asia Times noted that, “There is a concurrent risk that the royal philosophy will be twisted by less scrupulous government officials as an opportunity to abuse their authority for rent-seeking and extortion, particularly among foreign-invested concerns.”

Indeed.

Update 13/7/09: Today there is an Op-Ed piece by Chang Noi in The Nation. It’s a critique of the Orwellian campaign by the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) of the Army. Basically this is a special unit of the Army set-up so that large budgets can be dispersed to senior officials with no explanation as to where the money gets spent.

The trendy new campaign to brainwash everyone into thinking about moderation and sustainable thinking is plastered across television, skytrain and the website mosothai.com

This must have cost hundreds of millions of baht – a first class example of moderation. And I wonder how the contracts were awarded to all the companies who worked on this drivel?

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Inglorious Bastards

July 10, 2009 · Leave a Comment

bastards_posterTwo articles today in the news made me think of an apt description for media and political figures in Thai society who twist reality so much that we forget what the original issue was about.

First up is Luksna Kornsilpa, who I joked wrote about here. She is in the news again, and this time it’s even more ludicrous than her initial charge against the FCCT. Here are some excerpts from the press release:

In addition to the charges under article 112 of Thai Criminal Law further charges are to be filed this day against Thaksin Shinawatra, Jakrapob Penkhair, Veera Musikapong, Nattawoot Saikuea, Jatuporn Prompan, Marwaan Macan-Makar, Jonathan Head, other FCCT directors and UDD members that are implicated in crimes against the nation.

Instant action is demanded as the cases expose a co-ordinated gang of conspirators committing acts of treason and concealment that not only threaten the Kingdom of Thailand and her national security but also insult Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain…

To represent the Kingdom of Thailand and her people Ms. Luksna Kornsilpa, 57 years of age; an analyst, management system auditor, industrial sector consultant and hazard analysis specialist having an engineering education with a solid management background shall file the charges against all conspirators identified herein and hereafter.

Presently she is working on her doctoral research in visualization (forming correct and twisted perceptions, understandings and misunderstandings through graphical and textual information).

Ms Luksna has researched, detected, analyzed and documented evidences of numerous acts of treason and treachery using sound academic principles.

This is almost surreal. Khun Luksna clearly has more than a screw loose – but the sad thing is she is allowed to press ahead with these charges and the media (or anyone else for that matter) hasn’t denounced her actions.

Secondly, we have the PAD threatening to sue the PM and the police over the terrorism charges (finally) brought against them over their occupation of the airport last year:

Mr Suwat (their lawyer) said the accused found the charges to be baseless because the siege of the two airports “caused no damage to aviation”.

The rest of the accused PAD members will deny the charges when they report to police and then lay criminal charges against the police investigation team and Mr Abhisit, he said.

The prime minister was included because he allowed the police to proceed with the action. Mr Abhisit and the police will face criminal charges for malfeasance and false incrimination, the lawyer said.

Core PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang yesterday insisted he and his colleagues were not worried about the charges because they were the product of a false allegation.

“We believe the charges are exaggerated and disproportionate for actions of ordinary citizens like us,” Maj Gen Chamlong said. “We’re determined to take legal action against everyone involved in this move against us.”

No damage to aviation? Millions of baht in lost revenue, tourists stranded for over a week, Amazing Thailand’s image further down the drain and armed PAD guards firing into crowds – yes, of course, no damage at all.

Chamlong, who like his co-conspirator Sondhi, is no ordinary citizen either. From Wikipedia:

Chamlong had supported the military junta that overthrew Thaksin in a coup. A devout Buddhist and follower of the controversial Santi Asoke sect, he is now celibate, a vegetarian, and claims to have no worldly possessions.

It’s convenient to start a sect which preaches truth, righteousness, and integrity and then to act so thoroughly immoral yourself.

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Gundam in Tokyo

July 10, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Gundam in Tokyo, originally uploaded by switchstyle.

This is nothing to do with Thailand but it’s so cool I had to post it. An 18 meter, 25 ton, transformer style robot has been built over the Tokyo skyline. Let’s hope when they’ve finished with it it can be sent to Thailand to trample over all the fuckwit politicians and bureaucrats.

For more information see this Flickr blog post.

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A White Elephant

July 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment

RoyalWhiteElephant

There’s been some interesting news over the last few days regarding an effort to rid Bangkok’s streets of elephants. Of course it is already against the law to bring elephants onto the streets but long-term residents understand that the financial gains are too lucrative for the police and criminal gangs to ignore. So why would this change?

But now, authorities say elephant begging is going to be phased out with a mixture of financial inducements and tougher fines.

A foundation with links to Thailand’s Queen is offering to buy elephants from their owners for more than $20,000 – hoping the owners will instead use the money to buy land or start a more conventional business. The fine for bringing an elephant into the city will rise from just a few dollars to a few thousand.

Well, the foundation has links with Thailand’s Queen so at least there is some moral authority behind the push – if it’s true that is. The amount is also reasonable. Mahouts generally have to purchase elephants in order to use them for begging and they cost in the order of 1-1.5 million baht each.

But here’s the catch. Many of the estimated 1,000 mahouts (pdf) are ethnic Karen or Thais from Surin. Perhaps some come from the estimated 1.7 million (unregistered) migrants who live and work in Thailand who have no legal status or access to health-care and education. As such they cannot buy land or start a conventional business.

And where do the mahouts get the money to purchase elephants in the first place? Probably the same place the taxi drivers and motorbike riders get the money/loans needed to work in Bangkok.

So how is this scheme actually going to work then? The police will chase down (that would be interesting to see) and then either arrest and fine or offer to buy the elephant from the mahout? If they buy the elephant the mahout will first need to prove ownership, but unsurprisingly, since this is an illegal activity, this will be hard to do.

The Elephant Reintroduction Foundation is a real foundation, not, as you would expect, an organisation set-up to extort, bribe or fund criminal activity. It even has former PM and privy councilor, General Surayud on its (substantial) Board of Directors. You know, the guy who, with General Anupong, paid 19.5 billion baht for those gripen jets, almost double that of any other country. The same former career soldier who has assets of 24 million baht whilst his wife has assets of 65 million baht.

Let’s hope the cost of the foundation is not out of proportion to it’s usefulness.

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