Thailand's Parliamentary Shenanigans

Another point made in an article made in today's Bangkok Post (see "Suvarnabhumi Expansion") talks about the hard work of Thailand's parliamentarians, Tuesday's session had the members - those who bothered to attend and who stayed throughout, that is - sitting for 16 hours. Towards the end, tempers clearly became frayed.

The most entertaining portion of the session came just before midnight when Puea Thai MPs proposed that the session be extended to another day. They also accused House Speaker Chai Chidchob of mismanaging the present session. Naturally, government MPs protested. Puea Thai MPs jeered back. Screams, shouts and insults were hurled around, making it seem like a school cafeteria.

 

The situation got so out of hand that the House speaker called in security. Rampaging MPs were escorted to their seats. The House speaker, only half jesting, said he saw many MPs taking off their shoes, hence the need for security. (MPs removing their shoes and throwing them at each other, including the speaker, is a favourite hobby of parliamentarians, sort of like a food fight in a school cafeteria.)

 

Puea Thai MP Suchart Lainamngern shouted expletives at the speaker and said the next time he wouldn't just take off his shoes, he'd throw them.

 

My initial reaction was disgust and contempt at this behaviour coming from the people's representatives. I screamed, ''Who in Hades elected these people?'' One second later, it hit me: Oops, we the people did, didn't we?

 

Then I thought of the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey: The scene at the beginning in which two groups of apes posture and taunt one another, snarling over a habitat. I don't know why the scene popped into my head.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/218909/if-an-ape-wore-shoes-could-it-walk-like-a-man

Of course, elections in Thailand do not always reflect the will of the people nor the quality of the candidates. Those little red notes, we are informed, work wonders when it comes to the ballot box. A bit like the laisee red packets we see handed out around this time of year with Chinese New Year on the horizon.