Monday, June 25, 2007

NATIONAL MUNICIPAL LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The Conference

National Municipal League of Thailand 51st Annual Conference was held for three days commencing 20th June in Ambassador City Hotel Jomtien, Pattaya. The meeting brought together more than 2,000 mayors and other municipal officials from over 1,000 municipalities of different levels in Thailand, including the cities (thesaban nakhon), towns (thesaban mueang) and townships (thesaban tambon).

Various issues relating to local government policies and practices and updates were the main topics of the seminar, and the main objective was to create more efficient functioning at the local level of government.

The first day was for participant registration. Upon registration, participants were entitled to a bag with seminar materials, souvenirs and seminar allowance, regardless whether they truly showed up for the meeting!

The conference started on 21st June. There were many participants inside the seminar hall and they were also many hanging around, chatting or visiting the booths outside the hall, or even went out for fun. It seemed to be a rest and relax conference. Many exhibition booths were set up outside the halls. As this is the annual big event gathering all mayors and municipal clerks, the exhibitors did their best to promote their products and making offers to the mayors or other municipal officials. Somebody told me that there must be three important factors for one to do business with the municipalities: firstly, connection; secondly, connection and thirdly, connection too! :)


Conference In Progress/Exhibitor and Conference Ushers
Mayors & Product Promoters/Visiting The Booth

There was also a special session to discuss the issues in Southern Provinces in the evening. The mayors expressed their concern over various problems, for example the security, the development and the budget etc. It was more on a listening and collecting information session.

Like many other mayors, I intended to leave earlier for Bangkok. However, knowing that I like to see shows, my friends persuaded me to stay for the dinner performance. A lot of seminar participants had left but the grand ballroom with 300 tables was still full.

The opening performance was the colorful and sexy ¡§Ah Gua¡¨ show, which Pattaya is popular for and followed by the human puppet show. I only realized that the puppets were real people when I went near the stage to take pictures. The show was marvelous and worth my stay. I ended another of my work and play trip with tiredness and happiness.

Dinner/The Ah Gua Show
The Puppet Show

Saturday, June 23, 2007

VISIT ANTI-JUNTA RALLY


I just came back from Bangkok today and I am a little tired. However, after watching the special interview of the ousted Prime Minister Mr. Thaksin in Phoenix TV just now, I decided to write something…

Last year I visited the anti-Thaksin rally site, accompanied by a senior police officer. The scene of the rally still leaps up vividly before my eyes. When I passed through the crowd and stood in the midst of the rally, my tide of thought was rising up and down. There were people chanting, listening to speeches, shouting…booths were set up to sell t-shirts, paintings and other anti-Thaksin related theme products. There were also distribution of banners and provision of free drinks and food for the protestors. To my surprise, the rally seemed commercialized and was more like a carnival. It was indeed a shocking and unforgettable experience.

Today, I am in another rally, the anti-junta rally in Sanam Luang. The crowd apparently significantly less than the rally last year. There were no booths, no free drinks and food, only high-spirit protestors listening to speeches and responding with applause and shouts once in a while. Many of the protestors wore headbands that read “CNS get out”. There were police and security officers standing by to ensure the situation kept under controlled.


One of my friends Rat, who is an architect from Chiang Mai, told us a lot of interesting stories. According to him, after the clash in May 1992, death squads were sent out to liquidate or kill protesters. Police just triggered their guns towards the protestors and his brother was among those who were shot dead. He had personally driven the car towards the police and the police fired at him with many shots but luckily he managed to have a narrow escape.

On the way returning to the hotel by cab, my friends were eager to talk about the political situation in Thailand. It was said that there were many anti-junta people including students and businessmen being arrested in the North, that the small business owners suffered because of no orders, that there were also many soldiers stationed in different areas to be on alert of any sign of disturbance, that there was no media freedom at all currently, there all these were just out of personal jealousy and retaliation, that there are more corruptions going on, the only difference is that it will be corruption with no development. The taxi driver also joined in the conversation, saying that the mafia and drug sellers were currently eager to move because their number one enemy had gone…

I only listened quietly to the elders’ conversation. Like many others, I’d been in this country for some years. There are beauties and faults of this country. It is not better nor worse than my own country, it is just different and I am attached to it, as I see that I will have my life going on here. True or false, the country is being hurt now and I only wish that the country recovers as soon as possible.

During the interview, the words that impressed me the most is that, Mr. Thaksin had said something which made me feel sad. He said he missed his home and his country. I can feel this …only think about it when one day we travel overseas and suddenly we cannot go back to our home...This I totally sympathize with him.