210906

photos here & here on Pantip forums via 19sep. 'impromptu' national day parade, or e armour version of Aerospace exhibition comes to mind =P coup or no coup, there must still be time for sanuk! cat like e coffee & ice tea tuktuk =)

on another note, this has made e cat wonder how 'well' many Singaporeans know their neighbours & understand their psyche....is shopping & eating & nightlife all that makes a country? are all views based solely on what e local press feeds them?

excerpt from a CNA report, quoting e Ajaan-with-a-Pokemon-loving-son who taught e cat how to write Thai (almost totally forgotten, sorry):

Thais in Singapore not surprised at coup, hope for normalcy soon

Many Thais in Singapore say they agree with the coup.

In fact, they say Thais have been pressurising the military to act against Thaksin's rule.

"It is not a surprise at all; it is just too bad that we had to use this option because we have been trying all the democratic ways to persuade Thaksin to step down, so that independent agencies can go in and do investigation regarding the accusation of corruption. I don't think it is a real delay in the process of democracy. Some people say that it is ok to step back one step in order to be stable," said Asst Prof Titima Suthiwan, Deputy Director, Thai Language Programme, National University of Singapore.

excerpt from 'Yellow ribbon coup' was a very high price to pay in The Nation by Suthichai Yoon:

Quite apart from the debate over the pros and cons of this coup, however, this latest political episode underscores a deep-rooted flaw of this country. The fact that this change of government was effected through force shows that, whatever we say about having matured politically, we are basically still an extremely fragile society.

In fact, we are so vulnerable that any politician with sufficient money and clout, plus a shrewd marketing strategy, is capable of whipping a large segment of the population into a frenzy, confusing electoral manipulation with grassroots democracy. Worse, once a corrupt and powerful leader is entrenched, none of the existing constitutional mechanisms are capable of dealing with him.