Don't The Nation's columnists have anything else to write about?
You can’t pick up a copy of The Nation without reading a column about Thaksin. It’s like an unwritten rule that if there is nothing else to write about then columnists should revert back to taking a pop at Thailand’s ousted premier. On Saturday Veenarat Laohapakakul opened with this:
So the deposed prime minister of Thailand finally opted for an old trick he knew best in times of trouble, announcing that he was going to buy a football club.
Old, trick, old news. It’s been two months since Thaksin announced his plan to buy Manchester City. The column continued:
With their large fan base in Thailand, the former leader's earlier proposals to buy Liverpool and Fulham football clubs drew vast interest among the public. It proved to work well back then, but unfortunately for him it is not working as well in this latest attempt.
Just like the boy who cried wolf too often, Thaksin has been unable to attain the desired wow effect with his Manchester City announcement. We have seen these flashy headlines far too often to fall into his trap this time.
What isn’t working as well? Thaksin’s had his bid accepted. I’d say it’s working just fine. Has Thaksin really laid a trap? “It's just another story about a millionaire buying a team,†wrote Veenarat. Yes, it is. Quite right. So where’s the trap in that? Veenarat even went so far as to suggest that Thaksin should be forced to undergo a “psychiatric test†because “[Thaksin] said he had really quit politics but keeps threatening to come back.†He said he wasn’t going to come back, didn’t he? He certainly hasn’t threatened to get back into politics, no matter how much of his political influence he attempts to exert.
In Sunday’s The Nation Sopon Onkgara stepped up to say much the same thing as Veenarat, although he did it with a sprinkling of bewildering statements:
Thaksin has taken a new last name, something like "Sinatra" or "Shinatra" for reasons best known to himself. Maybe he wants to establish a new identity so that he can rub shoulders with the owners of other Premiership League clubs in London with reasonable composure and grace, if need be.
To fit with the last name, he should also change his first name to "Thaksino", which was what one of his political cronies called the brand of Thai fashion that he had wanted to promote abroad, but which failed within just a few months. Instead of being well known abroad, the crony became a laughingstock, which failed to amuse even Thaksin, who felt that his good name had not been used with due respect.
If this is what he decides on, being called "Thaksino Shinatra" does not sound too bad. At least nobody can rightly compare him with Idi Amin, the deceased leader of Uganda who was once chided by a group of British men for being a "village tyrant".
That’s three paragraphs wasted on silly jibes. Then came another one:
His tales of woe of being a victim of a Russian pickpocket a few weeks ago inside a Moscow McDonald's outlet is still a joke around town. He was made Bt1.5 million poorer. If a billionaire and former prime minister chose to enjoy junk food instead of Russian beluga caviar and other delicacies, it does show something about the level of his taste.
These petty insults really undermine any vague point Sopon might have been trying to make. “There is still a worrisome aspect,†wrote Sopon. “Mr. Bean, the top comedian, might have met his match this time when it comes to unpredictability.†That’s very Thai, bringing up Mr. Bean. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Mr. Bean was the top comedian, but comparing him to Thaksin must have raised a few laughs somewhere. Possibly.
As if things couldn’t get any more absurd, Sopon concluded with, “If the two eventually team up and work together, it could be the next phenomenon along the lines of the Beatles and the Spice Girls. It could eventually entice David Beckham to join Manchester City so that the good name of Victoria won't be tarnished by the joint team of Messrs Bean and Shinawatra, the real odd couple, East meets West, so to speak.â€
Comparing Mr Bean to The Beatles and on to Victoria Beckham is ludicrous. Such tenuous links must confuse the hell out of readers. I am at a loss. I can’t help laughing at the queerness of this weekend’s editorials. What will tomorrow bring?
Techno' tags: Thailand, Thai media, Thaksin
June 25th, 2007 at 12:36 am
Do you think something might have got lost in translation somewhere along the line with that column?
Actually, I would guess that anything Thaksin related is going to influence sales, rather like Princess Diana does back in the UK still. I think the Daily Mail guarantee an additional 10 per cent on daily sales if they have a Diana-related front page headline. Perhaps it's getting a bit like that here with Thaksin.
June 25th, 2007 at 1:20 am
Don't only read the Nation. Read The BP in parallel. You will find out that the same subject is treated very differently.
I would compare the Nation to the Independent (in style, not in quality) whilst the BP would be closer to The Times. I like both newspapers (not a big fan of The Guardian at all).
Both Newspaper (Nation/BP) targets an English audience and some very educated Thais. I am sometimes amazed by the references used by them, even in Guru, sometimes I wonder "but whose Thai can understand the pun here?!"
~R
June 25th, 2007 at 6:20 am
Roger: I am not sure The Times would take to kindly to the comparison with The Post as The Times' Richard Lloyd Parry wrote:
"The Bangkok Post and The Nation used to be two of the spunkiest and most professional English language newspapers in Asia, and it's a big disappointment that in the present crisis they should have abandoned any pretence of balance to become little more than propaganda sheets for the anti-Thaksin movement."
Matt: The thing that annoys me about The Nation is they have almost no diversity in opinion. In Australia, you have the SMH, a mainly left-wing paper, who have two or three conservative columnists. You have The Australian, which is right wing, and they also left-wing commentators. The Nation has very little diversity of opinion, it is somewhat embarrassing. They are, or at least pretend to be, a newspaper.
June 27th, 2007 at 8:06 am
The Nation is a horribly edited newspaper. The reason nobody gets fired is because all the editors are old dinosaurs with status. If I was chief, I would fire the whole lot and bring in some new blood. I don't know how the publisher can tolerate losing money year after year without making any substantial changes.
For some reason, the Yoon brothers are venerated. I don't understand why. They are both horrible writers and broadcast journalists.
Suthichai Yoon is a buffoon who looks like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Right after the coup, he got an interview with the ambassadors from China, the US and the UK. This is when there were three or four major crises going on at the same time.
He spent 35 minutes of the 45 minute interview discussing how "geng" their Thai was, as if they were farang right off the plane walking into a girly bar for the first time.
And Tulsathit and Thanong, who I guess are the managing editors at The Nation, suffer from serious cognitive dissonance problems.
Out of the whole lot, not one of the columnists is intellectually consistent.
The Nation could be a great paper. Unfortunately, preserving the careers of the big shot editors is more important than the improving the quality of the paper and satisfying the readership.