T reported, is to “…ban alcohol advertisements from local television, magazines and other forms of media under a proposed law aimed at curbing underage drinking, an official said Thursday.”

At the precise moment that Thailand’s bars and clubs felt a little relief from the strain of 2am closing times, the government has haphazardly attempted to tackle underage drinking. [sarcasm] How noble of the new government to think of the people. [/sarcasm] Is the government unaware of all the deaths

I’m going to quote the entire opening paragraph from a report that appeared on the AKI website today:

“Thailand's military Council for National Security, which assumed power after the 19 September coup, will publish a book to explain to the world the reasons behind the military takeover and the decision to depose the government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, according to a report on the The Bangkok Post. The decision follows the advice by the revered Thai king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who on the occasion of the swearing in of the post-coup cabinet on Monday, stressed the importance of improving Thailand's image abroad, which had been damaged by the coup.”

Instead of backing up the coup with a series of democratic moves that returned the power to the people of Thailand, we are going to be graced with a book justifying the coup in order to bolster Thailand’s image abroad. What good will a book do? People abroad can see through this sort of blatant propaganda. Surely it would be better to save the money from the publishing costs and hire someone to draw up a constitution that has the needs of the people in mind.

Superficial efforts such as writing a book point towards the military council really having no idea what to do in the current climate. If they firmly believed in their actions then this alone would speak volumes to the rest of the world.

We are currently in a state of martial law and it looks unlikely that this will end any time soon. If Thailand’s military council cares so much about what the Western world thinks then it should not act in such a drastically contradictory manner to the Western ideal of democracy. So many times I have heard from the mouths of Thai people that the West should simply leave Thailand to its own devices, but one of Thailand’s primary concerns is evidently what the West thinks. It cannot work both ways.

One thing that the new government is actually going to do, as the IHT reported, is to “…ban alcohol advertisements from local television, magazines and other forms of media under a proposed law aimed at curbing underage drinking, an official said Thursday.”

At the precise moment that Thailand’s bars and clubs felt a little relief from the strain of 2am closing times, the government has haphazardly attempted to tackle underage drinking. [sarcasm] How noble of the new government to think of the people. [/sarcasm] Is the government unaware of all the deaths

king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who on the occasion of the swearing in of the post-coup cabinet on Monday, stressed the importance of improving Thailand's image abroad, which had been damaged by the coup.”

Instead of backing up the coup with a series of democratic moves that returned the power to the people of Thailand, we are going to be graced with a book justifying the coup in order to bolster Thailand’s image abroad. What good will a book do? People abroad can see through this sort of blatant propaganda. Surely it would be better to save the money from the publishing costs and hire someone to draw up a constitution that has the needs of the people in mind.

Superficial efforts such as writing a book point towards the military council really having no idea what to do in the current climate. If they firmly believed in their actions then this alone would speak volumes to the rest of the world.

We are currently in a state of martial law and it looks unlikely that this will end any time soon. If Thailand’s military council cares so much about what the Western world thinks then it should not act in such a drastically contradictory manner to the Western ideal of democracy. So many times I have heard from the mouths of Thai people that the West should simply leave Thailand to its own devices, but one of Thailand’s primary concerns is evidently what the West thinks. It cannot work both ways.

One thing that the new government is actually going to do, as the IHT reported, is to “…ban alcohol advertisements from local television, magazines and other forms of media under a proposed law aimed at curbing underage drinking, an official said Thursday.”

At the precise moment that Thailand’s bars and clubs felt a little relief from the strain of 2am closing times, the government has haphazardly attempted to tackle underage drinking. [sarcasm] How noble of the new government to think of the people. [/sarcasm] Is the government unaware of all the deaths

ant propaganda. Surely it would be better to save the money from the publishing costs and hire someone to draw up a constitution that has the needs of the people in mind.

Superficial efforts such as writing a book point towards the military council really having no idea what to do in the current climate. If they firmly believed in their actions then this alone would speak volumes to the rest of the world.

We are currently in a state of martial law and it looks unlikely that this will end any time soon. If Thailand’s military council cares so much about what the Western world thinks then it should not act in such a drastically contradictory manner to the Western ideal of democracy. So many times I have heard from the mouths of Thai people that the West should simply leave Thailand to its own devices, but one of Thailand’s primary concerns is evidently what the West thinks. It cannot work both ways.

One thing that the new government is actually going to do, as the IHT reported, is to “…ban alcohol advertisements from local television, magazines and other forms of media under a proposed law aimed at curbing underage drinking, an official said Thursday.”

At the precise moment that Thailand’s bars and clubs felt a little relief from the strain of 2am closing times, the government has haphazardly attempted to tackle underage drinking. [sarcasm] How noble of the new government to think of the people. [/sarcasm] Is the government unaware of all the deaths

l end any time soon. If Thailand’s military council cares so much about what the Western world thinks then it should not act in such a drastically contradictory manner to the Western ideal of democracy. So many times I have heard from the mouths of Thai people that the West should simply leave Thailand to its own devices, but one of Thailand’s primary concerns is evidently what the West thinks. It cannot work both ways.

One thing that the new government is actually going to do, as the IHT reported, is to “…ban alcohol advertisements from local television, magazines and other forms of media under a proposed law aimed at curbing underage drinking, an official said Thursday.”

At the precise moment that Thailand’s bars and clubs felt a little relief from the strain of 2am closing times, the government has haphazardly attempted to tackle underage drinking. [sarcasm] How noble of the new government to think of the people. [/sarcasm] Is the government unaware of all the deaths

T reported, is to “…ban alcohol advertisements from local television, magazines and other forms of media under a proposed law aimed at curbing underage drinking, an official said Thursday.”

At the precise moment that Thailand’s bars and clubs felt a little relief from the strain of 2am closing times, the government has haphazardly attempted to tackle underage drinking. [sarcasm] How noble of the new government to think of the people. [/sarcasm] Is the government unaware of all the deaths attributed to drink driving each year? Surely that is a better place to start than by lashing out at alcohol companies directly. Once again Thailand appears to be misfiring on all cylinders. Is underage drinking really Thailand’s biggest problem anyway, and why is the government not channeling money into the education system to raise awareness of the dangers of alcohol abuse?

General Sondhi had some less than reassuring words to say recently on the army’s radio station, as was reported by the Taipei Times. "We have to realise that once martial law is lifted, if anything happens it would be hard to resolve. At this moment, martial law is not affecting the daily life of people."

So as long as people are getting their salaries and the soaps are still on TV, it doesn’t matter. Is that what we are to believe - that the overthrowing of democracy and the withholding of the people’s right to access information and protest this movement does not affect their daily lives? If the military council brings out a book on that one then I will be sure to read it.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, again lifted from the Taipei Times:

"We value the freedom of people and civil liberties." Could have fooled me.