Thisrupt

02/03/2025

Lies, Hypocrisies & Refugees

Around 2am on Thursday, February 27, police trucks with windows blacked out by tape transferred around 40 Uyghur refugees from the immigration detention center in Bangkok’s Soi Suanplu to the Don Muang Airport to board a South China Airline plane headed to China. There have been rumors of the deportation for over a week, and a Thai news crew stationed at the detention center caught the footage. When the news broke, human rights groups and the opposition expressed outrage, while the Thai government remained silent. Around noon, the Chinese media released footage of the refugees in China meeting with families and receiving health checkups. By 7pm, the government finally addressed the issue.

Which is the truth?
On the same day, reporters asked Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra about the deportation. She pleaded ignorance of the situation, “I have not discussed the details.” However, on Friday, she told the press of how she has been in talks with Chinese leaders ahead of the deportation who guaranteed the safety and humane treatment of the Uyghurs. She said she was confident of China’s sincerity. Hence, she agreed to the deportation.

Which is the truth?
The PM told reporters that all refugees willingly agreed to return to China of their own accord, pointing out that the footage shows they were not “dragged” but “walked normally.”. However, the Matichon Newspaper revealed a letter from an Uyghur detainee specifically requesting that Paetongtarn send them to a third country, not China.

The Pot & the Kettle
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) issued a letter condemning Thailand’s action. However, the headline of The New Humanitarian’s report on May 2, 2024, read “UN declined offers to assist Uyghur asylumn seekers detained in Thailand,” with the subhead “UNHCR balked because they feared Beijing would get angry and reduce cooperation or donations to the agency.”

The Pushback
The United States Embassy in Thailand posted a condemnation of Thailand’s action on its X account. Thai citizens flooded the comment section with outrage, citing President Donald Trump’s refugee and immigration policy.

Who’s telling the truth?
PM Paetongtarn stated that no third country is willing to accept the Uyghurs. Therefore, it’s better to return them to China as they have been languishing at the Thai detention center for 11 years. However, opposition MP Kannavee Suebsang, who has previously worked with the UNHRC, stated that Turkey made an offer to take the refugees 11 years ago, of which Thailand sent 173 women and children to the country while refusing to send the rest.

The question then is, does Turkey’s offer still stand today?

Marichon Photo: The Uyghur letter to the PM.

11/02/2025

Finally, it happened.

In January, Thaksin Shinawatra received cheers from supporters and jeers from critics when he stated that Thai women could become world-class models because even African women, who he said have “flat noses that make it difficult for them to breathe,” are world-class models.

Yesterday, the British former supermodel, who recently received a five-year charity ban in the UK due to a funding scandal in her Fashion for Relief organization. Naomi Campbell arrived in Thailand to give the kingdom’s soft power a helping hand. She is to help train young Thai models to become world-class models, thereby spreading Thailand’s soft power across the globe. At least, that is what Thaksin and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra are hoping for.

Naomi is not without experience in coaching aspiring young models. After all, she was a mentor in The FACE UK, a reality show on training young models, which was canceled after one season due to poor ratings, with another coach and some models accusing Naomi of bullying them.

Here’s the thing.

Modern fashion is the West’s cultural export that took root in the colonial age and is emulated by the rest of the world. The modeling industry is a Western creation to market its fashion brands. The West creates the beauty standard of being tall, white, and thin, and the world follows. The West tells us that dark skin is in, and the world follows. The West tells us that plus-size is in, and the world follows. The West changes its mind and says to us that the anorexic look is back, and the rest of the world also makes a U-turn. The entire fashion industry is the West’s soft power, demonstrating Western cultural dominance.

Isn’t it comical then that a Thai billionaire uses 20 million baht from his bank account to hire a former supermodel from the West and appoint her as advisor of Thailand’s Soft Power Committee, headed by his daughter, the prime minister? Tasking her to train young Thai women to embrace the Western soft power to send them to the West to be judged by the West on whether they are tall enough, pretty enough, skinny enough, and have enough “it” factor to walk on the runway of New York, Paris, London, and Milan. Meanwhile, the father and daughter say to themselves and the Thai people, “Yes, this is Thailand’s soft power.”

Well, at least it’s not the taxpayers’ money (yet).

Photo credit: Bangkok Post.

11/02/2025

Gender violence is not generational, nor is it either a conservative or liberal issue. It’s an issue that affects all generational and political spectrums. There is no feminism without class struggle and no class struggle without feminism. It’s time political parties remember that.

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09/02/2025

Ajarn Pirongrong VS the True Digital Group: Does the punishment fit the crime?

“Let the punishment fit the crime,” wrote Cicero in his treaty, On the Laws, in 106 BCE. “Let the punishment be excessive and arbitrary,” says the reality in Thailand a few days ago. On Thursday, February 6, the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases sentenced Pirongrong ...

02/02/2025

The result of the Provincial Administration Organization elections is a disappointment for both the People's Party (Orange) and the Phue Thai Party (Red) but not for the Bhumjaitai Party (Blue).

Targeting between four and five seats, the Orange only won Lampoon.

Predicting massive sweeps, the Red Candidate in Chiang Mai only edged the Orange candidate by around 25,000 votes, with over 46,000 spoiled ballots. Meanwhile, the Red Candidate lost to an Independent Candidate in Chiang Rai. Significantly, the Red Candidate lost to the Blue Candidate in Sri Saket. All three provinces were targeted by Thaksin Shinawatra as "must-win" and "win-big."

In a phone-in interview with Thai PBS, Thanatorn Juangrungruangkit expressed his disappointment but vowed to fight on.

In the next phone-in interview, Pheu Thai's Minister of Tourism and Sports Sorawong Theintong voiced frustration at the two news anchors, who kept pushing questions about Pheu Thai's "failure."

In a separate interview with reporters, Anutin Charvirakul was all smiles, telling the story of how he kept calling one of his candidates for weeks, telling him, "You're losing," to motivate him to push beyond limits.

Nonetheless, a win is a win, and a lose is a lose, no matter how big or small, and Red won the most seats at 18 out of 47. Followed by Blue at 12 and Independent Candidates at six.

Most importantly, it shows the power-that-be that Thaksin can still get things done.

01/02/2025

On January 30, well-known citizen journalist Sa-nguan Khumrungroj posted a translation of what he claimed China’s assistant minister of public security, Liu Zhongyi, said to the Thai authorities: “Why don’t you have some interest in taking care of your own home?”

The next day, prime minister’s advisor Natthawut Saikua stated that this must be fake news, as a diplomat would never say such a thing.

Here’s what you should know about Thailand and scam centers.

An in-depth examination of Thailand's role in facilitating scam centers, exploring the complicity of its government and law enforcement.

16/01/2025

“I went to live abroad, and I thought to myself… African people, they are so black… and their noses are so flat… difficult to breathe… but apparently, they’re hired to be world-class models, making millions… but our people are better looking… don’t need a nose job… don’t need to add jawline [facial contouring]… don’t need plastic surgery… don’t need to add milk [breast implants]… we should find our people with a good personality, train them and send them to compete as world-class models…”

Thaksin Shinawatra

LINK:

An analysis of Thaksin's latest statements, comparing his rhetoric to Donald Trump's style.

13/01/2025

WE'RE BACK!

Thailand’s political system is a patronage democracy. Voting is not a matter of ideology or vision for your country but loyalty to your patron. The generals, capitalists, and big bosses rule to benefit their patronage networks, giving the people just enough to keep them content with the status quo.

LINK: https://thisrupt.co/index.php/2025/01/13/thai-politics-101-same-same-no-different/

#การเมืองไทย #ประเทศไทย #การเมืองการปกครอง

(It has been more than three years since the last article by Thisrupt. Let us begin again by laying the groundwork for understanding Thai politics.) If one had fallen into a coma on May 22, 2014, right after General Prayuth Chan-o-cha took power in a military coup, waking up today is an experience i...

19/01/2024

To whom does this land belong?
………………

Activist Bas Monkol, aged 30, today, received 50 years imprisonment. He was indicted for Article 112 and Computer Crime over 27 Facebook posts.

He said, “I did it,” and admitted his posts were “very aggressive.” He also confessed he had no hope of mercy from the court.

I remember three years ago, dodging rubber bullets, soaking wet from water cannon, and eyes filled with tear gas. I remember the chant “This land belongs to the people.”

But where are the people who led the chant? Anon? Penguin? Roong
? Everyone Else? The answer is, not dissimilar to Bas Mongkol, they await prison time.

So, if there’s any doubt as to whom this land belongs to, the answer three years later is crystal clear, “you, the people, just pay rent here.”

Mongkol Thirakot receives record sentence under kingdom’s strict lese-majesty laws for posts on personal Facebook account

18/01/2024

History is full of ironies

…………

The irony is that in the olden days, Westerners of Christian piety fumed over Thai women going topless, which was normal for us back then.

It wasn't until modernization under King Chulalongkorn and then under Field Marshall Plaek Phibunsongkhram that "appropriately dressed" became the cultural standard.

Today, the bikini-clad tourists are considered inappropriate, as Thais fume over them sunbathing in the park.

A photo of two women sun bathing in Sanam Luang, a public square that has hosted royal ceremonies, went viral over the weekend, attracting criticism from locals.