Last week BreakofDawning posted probably one of the best journals I've seen on TF.  It has some much heart and emotion and tired to communicate her disappointment over what Thailand has become over the last several weeks.  I really applaud her not only for her honesty but for finding the words to communicate her feelings so effectively.  

On the other hand, there were parts of it that I thought deserved more discussion.  So instead of making a comment on her post I thought I would just do my own journal using her journal as the inspiration.  

BoD Said:

I've never thought I'd say this, but I doubt I wanna carry on calling this place my home. Thailand is no longer the place it once was. After seeing the country during the past few weeks, talking to few friends, I start losing faith in this country. I've always thought that Thailand is on the verge of being a developed country. I thought we had what it took to step up to the international level. The past few weeks were an eye opener, that Thailand is not, in any way, ready to move up to be one of the first world countries. 

Personally, I don't feel Thailand has ever been on the road to becoming a first world country.  I'm sorry.  I love Thailand as much as the next person but there are so many areas where Thailand falls short of being on the road to first world status.  

Really, you don't need to look any further than the corruption to see this is the case.  The Thai police force was just recently labeled the largest mafia in the world.  The report concluded that there is no possible way to fix the police other than completely disbanding them and hiring and training a new police force since corruption is so engrained into the system that it's all the police know.  And since many police getting rich off of being police would likely object to disbanding them they would fight back it would take an incredibly brave person to even suggest trying.  

LIkewise, when business leaders openly talk about how much they had to pay in kickbacks pre-Thaksin vs. post-Thaksin in the press, that doesn't really bode well for being considered a country on track to being a first world country.  

I could go on with more examples of institutionalized corruption or even discuss other ways in which Thailand is not ready and is not even on the road to first world status but the point I'm trying to make is that living in Thailand can often cause one to be blind to the flaws others see so obviously.  

Whether it is patriotism or simply never having seen another system, many Thais don't want to discuss or even acknowledge the flaws.  But flaws can't be fixed unless one is willing to admit that there's something wrong.  

It's not easy.  Many first world countries have undergone civil wars and other hardships to get to where they are today.  Admitting there are flaws and having the conviction to remedy those flaws often requires sacrificing one's own safety or well being for the greater good of the country.  

And personally, I don't see that in Thailand.  I don't see a leader willing to risk his/her life for change.  

Bod Said:

The government has been trying so hard to end this protest through various civilized methods, but it doesn't seem to register among the protesters. It seems impossible to reason with these people. It is to a certain extent unbelievable how people can be so brainwashed by doctored audio clips, same old meaningless sentences that "Soldiers kill the people" and "Abhisit is a killer". 

I have been through a lot of emotions watching the news on TV, and following up news on Twitter. It's been interesting reading up a lot of information from field reporters from various sources domestically and internationally. I've been so upset about how the situation has been to the extent that I felt like shutting down. 

Earlier today, I chatted to a friend online about the protest. We agreed that there seemed to be no way that reason or ration can be used with these protesters, and we were quite upset that there seemed to be no end to this. Then she said "This country might not deserve him as a Prime Minister." 

My bf also said the same thing that what the goverment is doing right now, only gets through to the educated minority, who look far beyond in the future. What this government has been trying to achieve will show its result in the next decade, if not two decades in the future. Yet the majority of Thai people are only looking as far as their eyes can see. They need Thaksin style of government to give them the quick, yet unsustainable fix to their problems. But it is like giving the fish to a hungry guy. He will keep waiting for more fish, and will eventutally die, when the fish is not given to him. It is also a nature of people in this region to be lazy, rather than working hard and trying to advance in life.

I find this an interesting pickle that Thailand has gotten itself into.  Thailand has done so little for these people for so long that they became ripe for being manipulated by someone like Thaksin and now the people who did so little for so long are angry that the people are so easily manipulated.  

I've always believed that Thailand's poor educational curriculum (especially in Isaan) is not a mistake.  The fact that critical thinking isn't even tolerated in Thai schools hints to me that the government has always been afraid of what might happen if the people began to start asking questions. 

In many ways, Thaksin woke up people in Isaan to how much they weren't getting.  Now that they know, they're angry.  They want what's fair.  

I should point out, I'm not pro-Thaksin or pro-red shirt.  I think there is a massive difference between what the red shirt leaders want and what many of the people protesting think they're protesting for.  When I talk about the people, I mean your average, every day guy or gal living up in Isaan.  

The people mostly just want a fair deal.  And when I said Thaksin woke people up, he also woke up people like Abhisit who is now trying to do something to help the people up in Isaan.  The government and the elite class are starting to realize that this is what can happen.  Keeping the people poor and uneducated can have blowback.  People like Thaksin can come in, flash some cash, and fire them up with doctored tapes and empty promises and turn them against the elite and government.  

But, like you said, some of this may take decades to see fully developed.  Unfortunately, that's what happens when you neglect a segment of society for several generations.  It takes a long time to fix.  

I would like to make a special point to comment on your statement that people from this area are lazy.  Many are.  Not all.  But you know what?  They say the same thing about every group of people forced into an endless cycle of poverty.  People call the black people in America lazy.  People call Mexicans lazy.  When you look at the common thread they all share it's that their poverty is institutionalized to the point where the people have no hope of ever betting their lives by working hard.  

If you grow up on a farm in Isaan and you're going to school, what is the incentive to get good grades?  None.  Chances are you're going to be working on a farm or driving a taxi in Bangkok or some other job that pays low wages and doesn't require you to demonstrate any real intellect.  So why even try?  

For most of them working harder isn't going to help them.  They have no hope of ever getting out of the cycle of poverty.  They're poor, their children will be poor, and chances are pretty good that their children will be poor.  There's no way out for them.  That's just the cards that life has dealt them and they have no alternatives (except maybe if your daughter lands herself a rich farang).

So when you say that these people are lazy, again, look at why.  It's generation after generation of people exploiting their labor.  Like several years ago when there was a shortage of rice and the price of rice went through the roof . . . one would think the farmers were making tons of money but they weren't.  It was the middlemen who bought the rice and sold it domestically or overseas that were reaping all of the profits from the price increase.  

Again, the lowly farmer got screwed.  So again, I ask, why even try?  

BoD Said:

I was told just now by another friend that a lady who sells made-to-order food at her apartment around Victory Monumnet is complaining how all her Burmese helpers have disappeared to join the protest. They earn 300 baht a day working for the lady, but 500 baht sitting at the protesting site. 

An ex-colleague who works at Central World Office building was threatened by a few protesters that if she didn't give them money, they would block the way and didn't allow her to take the car out from the parking space. 

A friend of a friend and his colleagues gathered on the balcony at their office today, and booed at the red protesters, who paraded the dead around the city earlier today. The group of protesters stopped their vehicles, stood in front of the building and shouted "Why don't you just come down?" in a threatening manner. So the reds can make a noise and others cannot? We no longer have the rights to voice out our opinion towards their action?

Do the red actually know what Democracy is all about? Or they are just a group thugs, cloaked in fancy red flags with Democracy spelling on top? If worse comes to worst, the government has to dissolve the house, we are gonna have these group of people leading the nation. What kind of a nation we will become?  

This is why I distinguish between the people and the red shirt "movement."  The movement is nothing more than a private army and propaganda machine being paid for by Thaksin.  Yes, they are thugs.  Yes, if they get their way and the house is dissolved they will buy every vote they can and harass anybody who doesn't support their views.  Because that's what Thaksin is paying them to do.  Once he gets back into power, either directly or through a puppet, he will steal everything that isn't nailed down.  He'll get his $1.1 billion back plus some.  

BoD Said:

This might be the reason why there have been so many "brain drains" from so many third world countries. I used to think it was very selfish of the educated people, who went overseas, instead of coming back to improve their motherland. But they might be right after all, if they have a choice, why would they wanna be stuck in this similar situation? There's no stability, no freedom of speech, no security in life and belongings. 

This is not Thailand that I used to know. I doubt I'd still wanna call this place my home.

Unfortunately BoD, it is the Thailand that you used to know.  The only thing that has really changed is that now it's being forced out into the open.  It's disrupting your life.  It's real for you now.  

For as long as I've been coming to Thailand people have been predicting that the fragile strings holding things together in Thailand would eventually break and when they did it would not be pretty.  The status quo was never sustainable.  

If the end result is that it motivates change that will move Thailand in the direction of being a first world country then I think many years from now people will view this period differently.  Just like the civil war and the civil rights movement in the US, it may seem like the darkest hour during the painful change but if what you come out with on the other side is better then people will view the struggle as worth the price.  

So don't lose hope.  Do something.  Be a part of a positive change for Thailand.