Mob, Part 2

Since the coup that left Thaksin without a day job, the country has been given a new constitution that weakens elected officials, by making it easier to impeach the prime minister, and increasing the power of the courts.

The judges have been busy. This week they threw three members of Thaksin’s legal defense team in jail on bribery charges. (The lawyers claimed to have gotten their cake boxes mixed up when they handed one containing $60,000 in baht to some minor court officials. The press is calling the incident “Pastrygate.”)

A longstanding border dispute with Cambodia has also flared recently, keeping Thai politicians from tackling, say, inflation, currently over 5%. Instead they’re debating which country should control the concessions around a 900-year-old border temple that may soon become a World Heritage site.

Next the courts will rule on whether or not the ruling party must disband in light of election irregularities. Bottom line: the government is struggling to survive.

Waiting in the Wings

Thai language borrows the English word “mob,” meaning crowd of people. I hear it used to describe the group that has been protesting outside the prime minister’s office nearly every day since the new government started up six months ago. But here the term doesn’t imply lawlessness or lowest-common-denominator thinking.

This mob seems mostly to be made up of the elite. The real target of its complaints doesn’t even work in the prime minister’s office anymore. He was removed by a coup nearly two years ago.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire businessman who led Thailand until September 2006, was never really sidelined. The current prime minister admits to being Thaksin’s proxy. Former members of his party still hold senior posts. And while several court cases accuse him of corruption during his term, he’s unlikely to ever go to jail.

He claims he’s done with politics. The people in the mob don’t believe him, but they can hardly wave signs saying “No more!” while he’s already saying “Enough!” So the object of the protests, and the alternatives being offered, seem a little fuzzy.

The true common folk, in fact, wish Thaksin would come back. His populist policies are the reason the leading party succeeds so well upcountry. His confidence and take-no-prisoners style may explain why he made the military nervous enough to overthrow him. And the fear that some day he’ll pick up where he left off fuels the “mob.”

Bash for Burma

It’s not uncommon here to do reverse birthday parties during one’s zodiac year. I was born in the Year of the Rat, which has come around again.

In honor of my four trips around the cycle, and of my friend Nick taking a job in Rangoon at the end of this month, last night he and I threw a bash downstairs by the pool. We raised over $2,100 for Burma cyclone relief. The proceeds are going to three Burmese-run groups that we’re sure will use the money wisely on behalf of people who are still in great need.

Two of these groups have bank accounts outside the country. They received half of the funds. On their websites you can read more about them, and add to our efforts if you wish. They are:

http://www.metta-myanmar.org/

http://www.nargisaction.org/

Our research also pointed us to a consortium of effective Burmese NGOs. Nick will distribute the remainder of the money to that clearinghouse when he arrives in Rangoon.

A few days from now, Aung San Suu Kyi turns 63 years old. The government has extended her house arrest yet again. This is her 13^th year of detention. Let’s hope that soon her country has something to celebrate.

Wait Till This Year

You’re probably thinking I’ve gotten over being a Cub fan, living twelve time zones and 30 years removed from Chicago. Or maybe you’re thinking, who wouldn’t cheer for a team that hasn’t won for 100 years?

Me, I’m thinking of that great quote from Paul Farmer, the advocate for health care among the world’s poorest:

I have fought the long defeat and brought other people on to fight the long defeat, and I’m not going to stop because we keep losing. Now I actually think sometimes we may win. I don’t dislike victory.... We want to be on the winning team, but at the risk of turning our backs on the losers, no, it’s not worth it. So you fight the long defeat.

In 2008 I actually think we may win. You have to have noticed the streaks. This year’s Cubbies have been stringing together five and six in a row, especially at home. And how about the three Cub players—two playing their first year of major league ball—who top the National League All-Star voting at their position? Maybe best of all, let’s not forget Fukudome, the best Japanese import since the Toyota Prius.

Sure, we’ve been disappointed often. Some percentage of the patient sufferers around the globe who call themselves Cub fans may even expect to be disappointed. But that doesn’t stop any of us from saying, “This is the year.”