Comedy and the coup II

We understand that the military dictatorship’s comedic qualities are not appreciated by all. After all, much of its “comedy” has quite grim outcomes for many. But really, they are such a bunch of hilarious dipsticks.

Think of the laughable claim that red shirt activist Yongyuth Boondee, aka “Daeng Shinjang,” like Kritsuda Khunasen before him, has “requested” that his detention by the military dictatorship be extended beyond the legal limit. The military presented a document allegedly signed by Yongyuth but still refused “to disclose the whereabouts” or allow anyone to contact him, including his lawyers.

Such antics by The Leader and his coup cohort is either very, very funny or they are simply a bunch of ridiculously egocentric dolts and criminals. We leave it to readers to decide which category to place them.

Here’s some more humor-cum-egotistical nonsense the military dictatorship has come up with in recent days.

A report at The Nation reads like a script for a comedy show. It tells us that speaking to his hand-picked – although some were compelled to attend – Prayuth is said to have been cheered. Of course he was! What would be expected from a bunch of anti-democrats who love the military almost as much as the monarchy. Here’s some excerpts:

The audience applauded loudly when he talked about education…. “Students don’t have textbooks. They’ve got only sheets. I don’t know what the Teachers’ Council of Thailand has been doing,” he said…. He said students were made to work too hard, with many having tutorial classes on top of their normal classes…. “Children nowadays don’t know how to do housework,” he said. “Parents see them overwhelmed with homework until 10pm, so they don’t want to tell their kids to do it [housework]…. “The father helps his kid with the homework, and the next day the kid tells him the answers were all wrong.” Prayuth added to laughter.

Clearly Prayuth is being funny or he has no conception of the situation for children in the vast majority of schools around the country.

Like most comedic dictators, he thinks he knows about everything and can fix everything too, with military orders and discipline. For example, he talked about garbage sorting. Seriously, he did. He said: “What’s the point of garbage sorting in bins when the garbage collectors later put it all in the same truck?” We don’t know which enclave Prayuth resides in state-funded splendor, but where one of the PPT collective resides, the garbage collectors spend quite a few hours very early every Wednesday morning sorting the garbage they collect, mainly so they can sell the recyclable stuff and make a bit extra for the pretty awful job they have.

When Prayuth got to the coup, he babbled that “he did not lead the coup due to a thirst of power” and complained that the military junta “haven’t had a holiday since the coup…”. Yes, seriously, Prayuth thinks that he and his military morons deserve holidays every couple of months. The garbage collectors and other workers might like such a job, with regular holidays.

When Prayuth claims that he only gets a per diem of 400 baht a day, is anyone feeling sorry for military leaders who engage in corruption that allows them to own expensive holiday properties, houses, cars and watches.

When he says: “Our wives are going to leave us” because of all the work and pitiable allowance, we can only wonder about all the mia nois.

In another comedy story at The Nation, about the same event, we are told that “many” of the hand-picked participants predictably “agreed it was time to reform the country and are optimistic the efforts would finally end the political crisis.”

And just in case anyone missed it, they “expressed confidence in the leadership of the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).” That’s the junta member’s minions polishing the junta’s boots for them.

The hilarious bit here is that The Nation even reports such tripe. When the media is controlled, the participants chosen by the dictators and The Leader on stage, what else could be said?

Adding mirth, in quoting supportive delegates, The Nation goes to an official of the Department of Local Administration, part of the Ministry of Interior, long central to the country’s hierarchical authoritarianism, says the “meeting … was useful because it gave knowledge about the reform.”

The someone from “the Mass Internal Security Operations Command.” Given that the guy goes on to talk about bus drivers and traffic jams, we assume he’s really from the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority rather than ISOC. said he was optimistic the NCPO would lead the country out of the current turbulence. While his official location may be confused, he’s naturally impressed by Prayuth!

Also at The Nation, the jokes continue, with the junta, which kept Kritsuda in custody for almost a month and then released her, now has a warrant our for her on weapons charges. It is funny that the military dictatorship only issued the warrant after she complained of torture while in custody. They are a bunch of obnoxious wise guys.