Too many red shirts, too much turmoil and barbarism

A couple of weeks ago PPT posted on Vorakorn Chatikavanij, the hi-so wife of Finance Minister Korn. At that time, the post was about a letter she’d written to the Bangkok Post, complaining about red shirt types taking her words and using them to describe her attitude. In recent days, The Nation has another story on Vorakorn, headlining her as a “Woman of Substance.” It is a wonderful article not least for the way it exposes her attitudes even more than in the first interview mentioned in our earlier post.

Vorakorn is said to be a “[k]een social network user …[who] speaks her mind about what democracy really means.” She is, it seems, “a popular Facebook user and one who doesn’t hesitate to her share political opinions.” Some might ask, so what? Well, The Nation says she “acts as assistant to her husband…”.

Vorakorn’s initiatives on Facebook are to sign up political friends, and she has some 3,000 of them. She only accepts “friends” on Facebook “when she’s sure the person does not have psychological problems or a tendency towards violent behaviour.” And she explains: “I ‘unfriended’ a friend of 40 years on Facebook as lots of her friends are red shirts who post extremely harsh criticisms of the government. I’d rather not see their posts…”. That’s an interesting commentary on 40 years of friendship!

Vorakorn “began to post political opinions and open her page to a broader circle of friends in April, at the height of the political crisis.” She explains that the red shirt “rally in the Rajprasong area affected people greatly. People could not hang out so they spent more time on Facebook.” We mentioned that particular complaint about the rally some time ago. Long-time readers will recall the spoof on hi-so attitudes like this (left).

Korn and Vorakorn were not, however, fooled by the nasty red shirt supporters: “Some posted complaints as to why the government did not act against the protesters. I passed the complaints on to Korn. But we realised that these were part of a plan to provoke and force the government to take action so they could accuse the government of using violence…”. Of course, the government used extreme violence several times, killing and injuring thousands.

Changing topics, Vorakorn makes a rather extraordinary statement: “This year’s political turmoil made her decide to send Karn and Kraisiri, her children born to Korn, to study in the UK.” She adds: “I don’t want my kids to grow up seeing barbaric acts.” This elite regularly sends their kids to England. Think of Korn himself and his mate Abhisit Vejjajiva. That’s simply about being part of the royalist elite. This statement says more, suggesting that the elite that wants so badly to control the country as a virtual fiefdom is annoyed that they have to be barbaric to keep it theirs!

What’s the greatest advantage of being a “minister’s wife”? Of course, what else can it be: “having the chance for a Royal Audience with His Majesty the King at prominent events.” Whoopee!

The royalist elite is, we think, living in a strange world. They control by any means necessary but are disconnected from the people they exploit and repress.