Why do they lie so blatently?

A short post, to be followed by something longer when we at PPT have a chance to write it up. The Nation has this: “The Metropolitan Police estimated that about 25,000 red-shirt people took part in the march around Bangkok Saturday.” On television, a policeman has just said 65,000.

We at PPT can say that the first figure is complete rubbish. The second is highly doubtful. PPT stood at the side of the road on a short stretch of Sukhumvit for 4 hours and the essentially non-stop red shirt cavalcade was not finished. That’s 4 hours! Motorcycles, trucks, cars, bicycles, tuk-tuks, taxis. It was huge. Hundreds of people cheered endlessly as the vehicles went past.

The current news is of the government cracking down further. The televisionnews is barely reporting the cavalcade and is talking of traffic problems. The media is being tested by this event and they have totally failed. All they seem to do is claim that everything is to do with Thaksin Shinawatra and to diminish the significance of this event.

Meanwhile Abhisit Vejjajiva and General Anupong Paojinda are talking of nationalism, threats and dismissing the huge demonstation. This is a risky strategy.