Scary warning

A Bangkok Pundit reader, Ty, has written: “In 1976, before the October 6 massacre, a rumor went around that Vietnamese sappers had infiltrated Thammasat students. On October 6, the story was that the students who were killed were Vietnamese who couldn’t speak Thai, the unspoken message being that therefore it was all right to kill them. In the run-up to the massacre as well, a song that received heavy daily airplay was the song ‘Nak Pandin’ (which is translated as ‘those who impose a burden on the land’ and thus do not deserve to live). And back then, as today, the government in power was the Democrats, led by an intelligent, British-educated and obviously decent man who had little inkling of how things in Thailand really worked. Are we seeing the masses being psychological prepped for another orgy of violence, of Thais killing Thais? Is history about to repeat itself? I hope not, but the parallels are scary.”

Bangkok Pundit has added a note: “One can read more about this in a journal article by noted former scholar Ajarn Puey where he states some of the organized thugs went around and asked people ‘Are you Vietnamese, you social scum?’ Yes, the parallels are scary.

“Well, so says Deputy Prime Minister Suthep in an interview with Matichon in which Suthep stated that there were reports of others being brought in to protest against Abhisit on his trip to Chiang Mai on November 28. Suthep warns the protest leaders not to allow others who are not Thais to protest ‘because it is not possible to communicate with such people and they cannot be controlled. They may also create problems.’

“Suthep also wanted to pass a message on to non-Thais that peaceful protests under the constitution was limited to Thais only. Therefore, if a foreigner protests, they have broken the law.”