PattayaMale Posted November 27, 2008 Posted November 27, 2008 Reading the Bangkok Post and The Nation to day it seems that most ministries are blaming the PAD for things from reduced tourism to an expected high level of unemployment in 2009 as well as the government not making it's predicted 5% growth rate. If you also read the Pattaya Mail of this week in the Letters to the Editor sectionis a letter from a guy that has been visiting Thailand for 40 years and another from a guy that said when he was trying to book a room for his vacation, hotels were fully booked. I thought that things many don't admit to is what the guy that has been visiting for 40 years said. Basically he wrote Thailand is getting very expensive compared to the past. He gave some good examples. There is also the stress of a lot more traffic and terribly maintained beaches. Last week I took a visitor to the Sanctuary of Truth which we really enjoyed. One of the activities is speed boat ride that takes you out in front of the Sanctuary. We drove through meters and meters of waste floating in the water. What a way to turn off visitors!! I never saw any beach or water area so filthy. The point being that in my view the PAD (although I don't agree with all their tactics) have become a very convenient target for the government to point at for all the problems the government should have fixed long ago. Quote
Gaybutton Posted November 27, 2008 Posted November 27, 2008 The point being that in my view the PAD (although I don't agree with all their tactics) have become a very convenient target for the government to point at for all the problems the government should have fixed long ago. I agree with what you say. In my opinion it's a situation in which both sides are right and both sides are wrong, hence the "Mexican Standoff." Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted November 27, 2008 Posted November 27, 2008 I fully agree that both sides are to blame. All governments have a duty to secure their international airports. I can remember flying in to London from Rio early in 2003 when Heathrow airport was ringed with tanks. Some terroist threat was perceived and the government swooped in to action. This government abandoned its responsibility - obviously for a reason. The PAD targeted Suvarnabhumi before, so similar action was obviously an on-going possibiity. 3,000, or however many, people descending on an airport is not something that just happens. I have not read the reports of how it all started, but someone somewhere must have seen so many vehicles in the motorcades and rung alarm bells. Yet, the hoards were able to take over the airport seemingly without resistance. What would have happened, I wonder, if a small band of terrorists had entered the terminal building with guns blazing? Yet listening to many of the comments from stranded passengers, the biggest complaint seems to be the lack of information flowing from the airport authorities and the airlines. Presumably the airlines cannot give out information if they do not get it from the airport staff. So there's a whole chunk of blame to be meted out to the airport's senior executives who seem as paralysed as the planes on the ground. I expect I'm being simple-minded, but I cannot help asking: why is no-one showing any leadership? Quote
PattayaMale Posted November 27, 2008 Author Posted November 27, 2008 The word terrorist is now used every time someone disagrees politically. I may be wrong but I do not believe the PAD has bombed, shot or kidnapped anyone. They have a very large group of people that seem determined to pressure the government to resign. and change policy. During the USA civil rights movement and Vietnam war, American citizens that opposed the government (democratically elected) protested to change policy. Some where beaten, shot at, gassed, burned out, and murdered by the military (Kent State Massacre *). Some would call them terrorist, then it was radicals or hippies. But today many feel vindicated by the election of a black man as President and hopefully soon gay couples having the same rights as "married". Many times radical change does not come easily or neatly. *I was at Kent State when then national guard fired on students. Quote
