It is quiet

Bangkok is open for business again - the military are returning to their barracks; the streets are being cleaned up; schools have returned; the traffic has returned. Still one can't say that it is business as usual.

There is e certain hesitancy in the air - maybe it is shock, maybe it is tiredness, maybe it is quietness. The razor wire remains around the Marriott in Suan Phlu. Elsewhere the wire is gone. Yesterday as I passed the Marriott yet again, I expressed my view as a citizen to the management. I said that the wire was staying longer than needed and serving to continue the message of fear in our street. After all, the Prime Minister announced to all that Bangkok was now secure. I felt proud of having done my civic duty and hopefully I was an example of how to behave in a democracy.

Thailand has a long way to go to learn about democracy. It does not just happen. Neither can it just be given or built up under the leadership of corrupt politicians or institutions. The Thai PM made a statement at the weekend that spoke to me. He said - We must rebuild the spiritual house that is Thailand.

Baghdad is quiet

We have just had our second night of curfew. There are two more to go. Bangkok is still on holiday. All seems quiet but nothing has returned to normal - what is normal after this?

The military are clearing up and making Bangkok secure - whatever that entails? Many shops and malls remain closed. The 7-Elevens are packed with people buying up supplies bigtime. Skytrain and the underground remain closed. Roads remain closed and buses are taking very funny routes. The mess on the streets is still waiting to be cleaned up.

I hear people are in shock and I suspect there is truth in that. There is also a sense of what will happen next as the protest may have been stopped but the issues have not been tackled. The issues it would seem are now deeper and the divide wider.

For now, it is good just to stand back. In the not too distant future, the issues need to be honestly named and people need to face up to them. It can no longer be just naming the two sides as pro-Thaksin and anti-Thaksin. That takes one into talk that is too simplistic and not helpful. The issues are much more complex, much more in tune with people's reality. They speak of a divide in a society where there is a huge gap between
the powerful and the powerless;
the haves and have nots.

We may be in shock in Bangkok but that may lead to a needed change in the local mindset so that the citizens of Thailand can start facing up to the issues and not leave it in the hands of corrupt and self-seeking leaders of all sides. So quiet time and a bit of shock may not be a bad thing.

Greetings from Baghdad

Well, it feels like living in Baghdad except this is bangkok, Thailand.

I do okay. The government's decision yesterday to make a final move against the UDD protest site in central Bangkok unleashed a violent outburst that has seen much destruction. Something was due to happen, given how the situation was allowed to develop by both sides, but this was not the way to go - ever! Thais killing Thais is not the answer. This is just shameful and useless behaviour. No resolution will be reached this way and now the situation is even worse for Thailand. Who knows where it will go from here? I will not even conjecture here as there are just too many possible scenarios, including just fading into an unreal sense of oblivion which Thais can do so well. Going this way solves nothing.

As for me, the power is out at my apartment as they blew up something or destroyed something yesterday that provides power into my area. So I had a hot night caring for me and my fridge as it defrosted. I figured it was a good chance just to be quiet and reflect.

We will see what happens today. So remember Carmel - within a bad Bangkok, I am doing okay.

A sad day for Thailand and Thais

Today is a sad day for Thailand and Thais. It is 8.30 am in Bangkok and the government has sent in the military for a final assault with the APCs moving in. Killing of anybody is not the way to go and solves nothing. It would seem that it will only make matters worse. Where goes the basic right to life? What happens to the respect for life held by people of all religious beliefs?

It seems easier to hate others we don't like or disagree with and do them harm when we give them evil labels and put them into their boxes. It used to be that those who were our 'enemies' were labelled as communists and we could do with them then what we willed. Now they are labelled as terrorists.

In Thailand during the present troubles, this has been done superbly. There is so much misinformation in this country. The two sides of the story are not being told within Thailand. Only one side is being told and heard in Bangkok. Label them all as terrorists, make the population afraid of them and do with them what you will. Will we ever learn?

The last line

Yesterday, I shared my reflections from my homily on Sunday. In my haste to get home safely, I left out the punch line, or the last line. Simply:

To know that God sustains us and that Jesus is our companion is to nourish us to face the challenges of our reality, no matter how harsh.

This will be the opening for next Sunday's homily when we celebrate Pentecost.

Meanwhile the troubles continue to boil in Thailand and one just not know what will happen next as it truly is the land of the Unexpected.

Pictures speak a thousand words

I just downloaded pictures that I took on Sathorn, a major Bangkok thoroughfare near my home. It is at the edge of the Bangkok 'war zone'. I took them yesterday. They tell my story of what is happening here. So I will not repeat myself. Instead, I would like to share some of my homily from mass yesterday as I would rather share a reflection that hopefully makes some sense out of all taht is happening and that offers some message of hope.

So here goes.

We are all theologians. As we face the harsh realities of a present Bangkok, we need to ask the theological questions and theologise on our reality.

Firstly, today is the Feast of the Ascension. This is not about Jesus being an astronaut but is firmly part of the easter event and tells us that Jesus is truly and really with us. This is our faith tradition handed down from the early Church. Even more, the same tradition affirms that we are called to be in intimate relationship with the risen Jesus here and now.

Having theologically situated ourselves, we can now ask the theological question:
Where is God to be found here and now?
In the midst of a Bangkok caught up in violence and killing, following on from long and hard political protests, the question may be more specific and expressed as follows:
How do we deal with chaos, if we say we are intimate with Jesus?
How do we deal with life when everything seems to be going so terribly wrong, if we say we are intimate with Jesus?
How do we deal with life when all seems beyond our control, if we say we are intimate with Jesus?

We can now come to a theological response. Herein, in the midst of the chaos, lies the key to our entering into true intimacy with Jesus. The key is our vulnerability. This tells us that we cannot go it alone; that we need something more; that we need someone else to go on.
Our Easter faith tells us that the key response is that God sustains us and that Jesus is our companion.

Now definitely there are developments

It has been an intense last twelve hours in Bangkok, in more ways than one.



I am sure we have all seen the news and know how the army has moved in on the red shirts in Bangkok and how a leading red shirt figure was shot in the head. There is now chaos engulfing the section of Bangkok where the red shirts are making their stand. Shots are being fired. I could hear them when I was trying to get to work. That is another story.



Before going too far, I think I should begin, not at the red shirt site in Lumpini, but with me at a friend's place last night. You see I went to a dinner at friends' place where they were hosting a work group. One of the aims for me was to meet for the first time someone with whom I had a connection through my time here. So I duly went up to this person and introduced myself. The proposed purpose was to share with him about one part of my experiences here in Thailand. So I said "Hi" and just went into my negative experiences with two particular people in my work here. Looking back, I see how bizarre my behavior was, just rocking up and giving an earful, but I had assumed so much because I had been briefed by my friends about how enlightened and how on side this person was. Also I was ready to get some stuff off my chest.



Well, wrong move! Wrong assumption! This person responded immediately to my sharing with a huge, over the top angry fit, expressing himself verbally and physically. I was in shock and just asked - "Did I make you angry?" (I think this part so funny as I look back.) "Yes," he replied. To which I said, "I didn't mean to". Actually I was quite calm and not angry as I shared with him about how these ones have hurt me. He just said, "I would hate to see you if you were trying to make someone angry".



I know I was at fault and apologized. I share this encounter not so as to seek pity but to share a learning for me with you. We can make others angry so easily and not even realize what we are doing, acting quite innocently. Then the anger descends and how do we respond? I responded calmly and with an apology. That dealt with the situation. If I had got angry in response, the whole situation could have escalated to a nasty fight.



At the same time, we were all standing in the living room watching the news regarding the happenings in the streets of Bangkok. We saw the 'rebel' Thai Army General - Seh Daeng - being carried off to hospital after being shot. This news, despite all that has gone on here already, seemed unbelievable. I suppose because it has such huge possible consequences for ongoing violence and fighting.



Then I rang a great Thai friend to talk with him about the happenings of the night and when I mentioned that General Seh Daeng had been shot, he just replied, "He can die". I was in shock for a second time in the night. I do not take sides in this as I see both sides lacking and I would hope for a third force for good to come forward - but from where? There is no US cavalry here. Still, no matter what or who, we are dealing with people's lives and it is not worth one person's life lost or threatened in all of this. I wondered what has happened to the gentle, loving Thai. Where are they going?



Now It is Friday morning and I see the two sides of humanity, the two sides of the people here. After all, Thais are only human like the rest of us. A woman I work with here says to me, "Thailand is sad". I agree. It is sad. I feel sad. Then I move into another office area and they are talking gleefully about the sniper who shot Seh Daeng and they are even laughing. We all have two sides - good and bad. As Christians, we know that the good has won the day but I feel the need to hope and pray that this is very much so here and now.

Out of all this time being in Bangkok for this period of turbulence, one image that will stay with me is that the nation has not descended into civil war or anarchy. What has happened in Bangkok is that life just goes on and people go on with their business just going around the trouble areas. Maybe that is an image of one way of dealing with the chaos of our lives - get on with life as best you can. An image from amidst the chaos of Bangkok.

Finally a development

Well, over the last 24 hours, there have been developments within the chaotic scene of Thai politics. I think they have gotten more chaotic.

There was a proposal for a way ahead put forward by Abhisit, the Prime Minister. It seemed as if things were quietening down and people might go home but then it has all come to the fore again. Why? The red shirts accepted the PM's proposal but asked for one more condition - that Suthep report to the police for his part in ordering the April 10 action that resulted in anumber of deaths. Well he reported to the police but to a department where he is the boss. So the red shirts did not accept this, while the government said that he reported to the police as requested.

So now the PM has withdrawn his proposal and the red shirts remain determined to stay their ground. So who knows what next? The army has a plan to blockade the red shirts in their base site in Bangkok. From there, who knows what?

These developments don't appear as involving much action but they are important and much more subtle than any on the ground action taken by either side. These could lead to much more turbulence or just to a longer period of sitting it out.

It all just goes on

It seems a long time since I last wrote, considering what may seem to be going on in Bangkok. Well you know what? It all just seems to go on and on and on. The redshirts continue to be barricaded in the major, central hotel and shopping district of Bangkok. The soldiers and police continue to stand guard every day despite looking hot tired and tired. From one angle, it all just seems to be one big stand-off with a major incident happening every so often.

I suppose part of the harsh reality is that when these barricades are pulled down and the protestors and the soldiers and the police all go home, the basic, underlying problems will remain. Nothing in the short term will be resolved. No one election will produce a solution.

What is needed is long term action targeting change at the very basics of Thai society. There is a need to narrow the inequality gap. There is a need to have a decent Constitution that speaks for the whole of Thai society. There is a need to clean up corruption in government institutions and build up institutions that serve well their society. All this takes time, commitment and perseverance. Still, as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day. It's not impossible.

Is there an explanation?

It seems that what we have before us in Bangkok is a huge Mexican stand-off. Both sides involved in the present troubles hold onto their positons and it all seems to be going nowhere. So the redshirts stay in the central business area, having major businesses shut down for a month. The soldiers and police stay in Silom, being as friendly as ever. I must say that the soldiers seem much friendlier than the police. I imagine they are getting bored. It must end sometime, somehow.

I heard yet another possible and intriguing theory that may explain this. It has a psycho-social base. The person sees that in a culture where you cannot freely express anger or even your honest feelings, it all builds up over time and comes to the surface in a huge way. What we are seeing is the venting of years of pent-up anger that has never been allowed to be appropriately expressed. The anger is over how the rich and powerful have treated the poor and powerless in Thai society. Anger doesn't just disappear. It has to be dealt with or it becomes destructive. Interesting?

The PM offers a possible solution - elections on 14th November - but is it that easy? I suspect not as there are so many layers to this and so many players. We will wait even longer and see.