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Regarding the Princess





RE: THAI PAPER PICKS UP STORY OF "BURMA AND THE PRINCESS"
Response  1 of  1

Laurence Godfrey writes:

>Given that this is apparently the greatest insult to sirindhorn that has
>ever appeared in print, is this not a rather pathetic attempt at reporting
>by the Nation?  Granted, it is better than the BKK Post, which has never
>been exactly a courageous newspaper, but not quite a splash, is it?
>Incidentally, I doubt that the quoe was defamatory in the legal sense
>of the word, since it made no allegations about the princess at all, 
>truthful or otherwise.  Of course there is no doubt that it was an
>insult, or that it was undoubtedly intended as one by the Burmese.
>
>Do you think the Khun Sa "leak" was connected, or is it just my 
>suspicious mind?  And what do you suppose the Burmese were trying to
>achieve?
>
>laurence

Laurence,

I generally avoid responding to your posts but as your points and question
seem like more than flamebait this time, I will respond in the same spirit
that you wrote.

First, the report by Aung Zaw was much better than "pathetic".  Aung Zaw is
a Burmese journalist whose columns appear frequently in the Post and Nation
and he is by all accounts, pretty good.  More than that, he is courageous. 
His reporting has drawn the wrath of someone on the Thai National Security
Council (military officers pick up his mail at the Post Office) and a Sino-
Thai businessman (karachigan) with interests in Burma has recently threatened
him.  For him to touch a story like this at all is an enormous  personal risk
and to his credit.  It is also to the Nation's credit for running it.

As for the Nation; they have at least printed the story and perhaps we should
withhold judgement until we see what Yindee does.  She is an extremely good
reporter and if anyone can get it on the front page, she can.

You write that the Bangkok Post is not "courageous" but are you aware that it
is only half Thai-owned?  The Nation can afford to take more risks because
its owners are Thai and, like the people of most countries, Thais are
somewhat less sensitive to being criticized or offended by other Thais than
by foreigners.

As for the Khun Sa "leak", I'm guessing that you mean the story reported in
The Nation about his wanting to attach Shan State to Thailand.  If so, this
story was just plain wrong and The Nation botched it (see Khun Sa's denial
reported by the BBC and the BurmaNet posting of a few days ago on the same
subject).  

Finally, as to why the Burmese did it....  Several people have asked that and
although I speculated on it in the original article, I just don't know. 
There's no truth to their article and there was no good or logical reason to
have printed it.  In fact, there are lots of good reasons not to have done
it.  Had I not seen the original, I'm not sure I would have believed it.  But
whether one can explain it or not, they printed it just the same.

There is a joke the Burmese sometimes tell to the effect that in the Burmese
language, the name for "Thailand" is "Ayuthaya".  In case you don't get the
joke, the Burmese captured and sacked the capital of an earlier Thai kingdom
named Ayuthaya.  For their part, many of the Thai national heroes became
heroes by killing Burmese (e.g. Rama I, Naresuan the Great).  The current
alliance of convenience goes back about five years while the rifts between
the two cultures spans centuries.  Your country and France have been allies
for many decades and yet more than a few French and British will still say
unkind things about the country next door.  Is it really a surprise that some
Burmese, or some Thai would behave similarly.

That article was written by someone who is almost certainly a Burmese
military intelligence officer.  I don't know for sure, but I would guess that
he did it on his own initiative and because he doesn't like Thailand for some
reason.  He was probably able to get away with it because the magazine in
question is published directly by Burmese military intelligence and is
therefore, not subject to censorship.

What is more interesting than the fact that some Burmese wrote something
nasty about the Thai Crown Princess is not so much that he wrote it, but how
both countries will react.  There will likely be elements, especially in the
Thai military, who would prefer not to notice that anything has happened.  If
you don't see any more on this story, you can probably assume they've gotten
their way.  The reason they would want the story to die is because they want
nothing to get in the way of their business interests in Burma; not refugees,
not human rights and not lese majeste.

Given past behavior in other lese majeste cases, one would expect that the
offending issue of the magazine to be banned in Thailand and possibly, a
protest lodged with the Burmese embassy.  If the story makes it onto the
front page of one of the papers, look for this to happen.

The problem for the Burmese government is that they will have a hard time
convincing anyone that magazine wasn't theirs.  No one in Burma prints a
ninety page magazine with no advertisements, a low price, a large press run
and no censorship unless the government smiles on it.  The wise thing for the
Burmese to do would probably be to apologize quickly and profusely, fire the
person who wrote the story and blame everything on him.  

The possibility exists however that they will not be wise and will refuse to
admit or apologize.  They've been foolish before (shooting the students,
holding the election, cancelling the election, jailing Aung San Suu Kyi).  It
will be interesting to see if they have gotten any wiser.

That is the best answer I can guess at for your question.


One last thing Laurence, like many readers of s.c.t., I wish your postings
weren't so gratuitously cruel.  You are smart enough and know enough about
Thailand that you could offer constructive criticism rather than simple-
minded and mean criticism.  There are problems enough in Thailand, Great
Britain and everywhere else without making more by making enemies.

Sincerely yours,

             Strider