There’s something creepy about Miss Teen contests. What is it that drives parents to subject their daughters to these contests? I’m treading a thin line here because we have a guest columnist at work at the moment who is a current provincial teen queen. Her latest column was about the contest in which she participated. It reads like a list of clichés related to the entertainment industry in Thailand.

After winning her provincial heat, the teen queen went on to the national final in Bangkok. She was told that to achieve success in the final, she had to look whiter, taller and thinner than she was. I can’t fault this girl, who, after spending her life in Europe working on her tan, wrote of her bewilderment at a nation of people obsessed with maintaining light complexions.

If a child can see how absurd this situation is, why do adults choose to perpetuate it? These teenage beauty contests are twisted in so many ways. They actively promote young girls wearing makeup, dressing like women and looking sexy. It’s wrong on so many levels to package a 14- or 15-year-old child as an adult and say that “beauty” is supposed to fall within a series of boundaries.

I cannot imagine what goes through parents’ minds when they see their little girls up on stage, effectively subjecting them to sexual desire. Girls in the West experiment with makeup and dressing to attract the opposite sex, so I wouldn’t say this is something unique to Thailand or Asia. Teenage magazines around the world peddle certain ideals, but in Thailand, everything is intensified to this one tall, thin, pale image.

I have a dislike for beauty contests in general, but teenage pageants are something else altogether.

I found this on The Nation today. It looks like an interesting story, although I don’t really understand it.

The Election Commission decided Tuesday to issue yellow cards for three winning People Power Party candidates in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Constituency 3, EC member Sodsri Satyatham said.

They are Boonlert Krutkhunthot (110,944), Linda Cherdchai (89,976) and Prasert Chantarawongthong (88,139).

EC regulations allow those who were given yellow cards to re-run in the by election set tentatively on January.

Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Constituency 3 comprises Sikio, Sung Noen, Dan Khun Thot, Theparak, Phra Thong Kham and Non Thai districts.

What are these yellow cards for? Either my own stupidity is hindering my understanding of this story or a Nation reporter has done a shoddy job.

I’ve been blessed with a half day tomorrow, which means I can go out tonight, party and go to work some time after midday. I have absolutely no Christmas feeling inside me. It’s really just another day out here. The longer you spend in Thailand and the older you get, the less Christmas means. I stopped getting presents a long time ago.

I’d like to wish anybody out there who still celebrates Christmas a happy time.

Today is the day. More than a year after a bloodless coup, millions of Thais will turn out today to vote in a general election. It’s an exciting time as an observer, but it’s also one of concern. The thing that stands out about this election is the enormous impact Thaksin has already had on it. People appear to be voting in favor or else against Thaksin.

The mere mention of Thaksin’s name is often enough to sway people to vote one way or another. If you hate Thaksin, vote for us; if you love Thaksin, vote for us. None of the political parties should even be able to call themselves political parties – they have few political ideals between them.

I am terrible at analyzing political issues – especially in Thailand – but the reliance on Thaksin by the Democrats and the PPP does little to establish my faith in there political parties.

Bangkok Pundit has an interesting post about voters casting their ballots not for or against Thaksin, but against the coup. This adds another twist to the whole election. The Democrats, it would appear, are a little too closely linked with the coup makers for some people, making the PPP the natural alternative – in spite of people disliking Thaksin.

People like to harp on about democracy, but would Thaksin’s return not take us back to square one? There has been no closure on the Thaksin issue. Many people still miss him because he made their lives better and when they vote PPP, they vote for him to come back.

Perhaps if the coup makers had been able capture the support of the people, we wouldn’t have an election in which people vote for or against other people without any real political motivation. It’s like a very complicated popularity contest, with an abundance of people tipping the scales.

Bangkok Pundit and New Mandala will have plenty of election coverage. I might chip in with a few ill-educated thoughts from the South. We’ll see what happens — expect the Democrats to win in this neck of the woods.

Less than a day after saying that she would sue the US Justice Department if she were linked to the Bangkok Film Festival bribe scandal and that the whole debacle would have no effect on her or her party’s political campaign (Puea Pandin Party), former Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Juthamas Siriwan has announced that she will today resign from the Puea Pandin Party.

From The Nation:

Ex-tourism chief Juthamas Siriwan will tender resignation from Pue Paendin Party on Thursday after having been linked to US’ alleged film festival scandal.

Juthamas, who is running for proportionate seat under Pue Paendin party, will submit the resignation at 10am, said the party’s press division.

According to the division, Juthamas decided to resign as she did not want the case to have impact on the party’s political campaign.

Clearly there are those within Puea Pandin Party higher up than Juthamas who thought it would be better to have someone other than one of Thailand’s most corrupt women flying the party flag.