Heads or Tails?

It’s been over a year now, and we are on the eve of electing a new government to take over from Our Military Overlords. The real question is, has anything really changed?

What I really hate is the mentality that if I speak out against one side, it is automatically assumed I am rooting for the other side. Back in the days of the TRT government and the era of Thaksin Shinawatra, I was very outspoken against almost all of the policies and their blatant in your face nepotism and corruption. People would therefor think I supported the Democratic party, or I believed in the PAD. The truth of the matter is, I consider them two sides of the same coin. And instead of flipping the coin to see if I get heads or tails, I’d rather just throw the whole coin away!

So now, looking at the coup government and trying to determine if they accomplished anything, do I like them? No. At first, I was glad that the coup happened, and I was glad that the menace of Thai Rak Thai was removed from the political sphere. But, seeing as how the coup government is trying to pass military equipment purchases for itself ranging in the billions of dollars, as well as passing laws which restrict the liberties and freedoms of the people, how can I not do anything  but loathe them as well? They are just as bad, if not worse, than the government they ousted.

And now that we are about to elect a new government, we really must ask ourselves, has anything really changed from over a year ago? Thaksin is out of the country, but has not been convicted of anything (sadly) and is still living the high life off of money he stole from the people of Thailand. The banned politicians of TRT are still around and have found sanctuary in the People Power Party (aka TRT2!) albeit in the background. And as for the election itself? The same faces and the same names of the same politicians as before. Thaksin was targeted as the symbol of the failing of the last government and why a coup had to have taken place. But, we must face the reality that Thaksin is but one man in an entire political system that is corrupt and dishonest. Even eliminating 100+ politicians from the old regime is not going to change 40 years of greed and self interests in the span of a single year.

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you

So I am sure this is old hat for many people who live in Thailand, as this was announced months ago, but I just have to get it off my chest… When the EU offered to help administer and mediate the elections in Thailand, I thought that finally, Thailand will be able to have a clean and honest time at the polls. Unfortunately, the military overlords that be seemed to think differently. A lot of people were saying that Thailand was a sovereign nation and is more than capable to handle our own elections; we don’t tell the EU how to do their elections, so why should we expect them to meddle with ours?

The delicious irony in these people’s statements are that if Thailand is so great at Democracy, and if Thailand has no problems in running elections, then why was it necessary to have a coup in the first place? In fact, shouldn’t people be more concerned that Thaksin’s government, you know, the one that got kicked out by the coup, was the first ever democratically elected government in Thailand to last a full 4 year term? If anything, if I were to take a look at Thailand’s political history, I wouldn’t blame the EU for offering help; Thailand is just plain awful at democracy.

More importantly, having the EU offer to monitor Thailand’s elections would have brought legitimacy to the election results. Considering that even Thais don’t trust the election results when they vote, it is amazing to see a means to gain instant recognition and acceptance on the world stage for the upcoming election was turned down so readily and blindly all due to a sense of falsely fortified national pride.

Wake up Thailand! We are a backwater third world country that desperately needs help. When the tsunami strikes, you are more than happy to take the help (and money) from foreigners, but when they ask to help with our elections you feel that we are a sovereign nation that is more than capable to take care of itself? You hypocritical asses. Stop acting like a little brat with two black eyes trying to act all tough; when something like the EU wants to help us transition back from a military dictatorship back to democracy, take the help!

Under the Radar like a Tortoise

So before I start producing diatribes regarding the failings of Thai society or the Thai government, I considered it prudent to erect several layers of anonymity to mask my activities. Although people have told me I am paranoid to think that the police will bust down my door in the middle of the night and haul me away, the fact remains that in the end, that some of the things I will say and do, which are perfectly legal in more enlightened parts of the world, are considered illegal in Thailand and are punishable with up to 20 years in prison. So with the consequences being so high, and the person subject to such penalties being my own person and not the people who say I am paranoid, I will err on the side of caution and try to remain as anonymous as possible. If people engage in questionable activities and are completely blatant about it, then it is only an eventuality they will get caught. You have to remain ever vigilant; it is when you are too lazy to safeguard yourself that you will get busted. I just hope that what I have in place will be enough.

I often hear comments along the lines of, “Why is the net in Thailand so slow?” or, “Why is latency (lag) in Thailand so high?” My theory behind this lethargic state of affairs known as the internet in Thailand is that it’s the government’s fault.

Until about two years ago, if an individual wanted to bypass the Thai censorship list, all they had to do was run a simple web proxy program that would superficially change the header where a packet of information originated from. To give a more real world (and understandable) example, imagine that you are receiving a letter from someone in the mail. Now on the letter is your name and address, as well as a return address from the sender. What a proxy server would do is change the information on the return address to read as being from someone else. All the contents inside of the letter remain unchanged, but on the outside, the letter looks to be from someone else.

The Thai government has since gotten “smarter,” however. Now, instead of looking at the headers of packets to see where they originate from, the government does a complete analysis of the packet to see if the entire contents contained within are what they appear to be. So back to the letter example, instead of merely looking at the return address of your letter, the government now opens up your mail and looks at the letter itself to see what it says. If it is blacklisted material, then it is thrown out, and instead of a letter, you receive…nothing. Now since the government has to open up and read a huge amount of letters (packets), you can imagine that a rather sizable bottleneck forms. Logically, it would be impossible for them to open up and read every single letter that passes through their hands, but I believe that they try their hardest to do so.

And this is why Thailand’s internet is so slow: The government is reading your letters.

With this in mind, it is understandable as to my wanting to keep my activities secret and private from the Thai government. I mean, if you knew someone was going to read your mail, would you be willing to send sensitive information? I think not.

If you would like to know more about how to encrypt your transmissions or how to remain anonymous or to surf through black listed sites, a good place to start is facthai.wordpress.com They will give you all the information you will need to get started. Be warned though, that they give no instructions on what to do, so I suggest you either have some decent computer knowledge, or have a friend who can provide you with assistance.

The Longest Journey

So after much trepidation, and indecisiveness over whether to do something like this, I have finally taken the first step in venting about Thailand and committing it to the web. This is mainly due in part to the fact that media freedom in Thailand is on the decline; new laws are passed to lock out press coverage, the police still hold control over the press, ALL the local TV stations are controlled by the government, and internet freedom is practically nonexistant.

In such an environment, can you really blame anyone from being hesitant about putting themselves out there on the web for the whole world to see? The paranoid side of me looks at the new internet laws, laws which were enacted and passed by people no one voted for, and that side shudders to think that one wrong word here, or one dangerous idea there, and the police can break down my door with no warrant and drag me away and throw away the key. However, to sit back and do nothing, to say nothing, is exactly what I abhor about how things run in the Kingdom of Thailand.

I feel it is my duty, as well as the duty of all people in Thailand, to speak up for themselves and for the nation, because it is only by doing so that we can ever hope to see change come about. This path for a better tomorrow will be difficult to follow, and will be littered with roadblocks and dangers that I cannot even begin to imagine, but it is better than a life of pretend apathy.

Even the longest journey starts with but a single step. So, welcome to this, my first step.