May 19, 2010
I jolted out of bed and couldn’t get back to sleep this morning when my phone beeped with the following text message from our management:
“Urgent: Office closes till Friday. Please work from home and please do not enter to the office building. It’s too dangerous now”
Hardly offering any peace of mind to be rather rudely awaken by that, after several nights of restless sleeps while the uncertainty loomed in the air. With an alert like that, it seemed inevitable that we have to get ready to be evacuated from our apartment building soon enough.
Actually, since we have been holed up at home for several days now, my management has been checking up on me on an almost daily basis. Only yesterday did they insist that they wanted us out of the area, and suggested evacuating us to a safer place, (which we initially thought was exaggerated and unnecessary), as their assessment on the situation looked quite grim. One thing for sure, my CEO was pretty adamant about it and arrangements were made immediately the moment I gave a go-ahead after a discussion with Silver Bullet. They had actually engaged a risk management company that specialises in evacuation, and flew people out of Singapore to specifically rescue their staff out of danger zones. The beauty of working for a huge MNC, I tell you. 🙂
In the late morning, all packed up with clothes, some essential documents and cats in tow, we were ready for “collection” by a bunch of people emerging from a white van. It really sounded and felt exaggerated that we had to be escorted out…! But, we bit our tongue and followed their white vehicle as Silver Bullet drove closely behind their driver, while another burly guy escorted us in our car. There were also a hell lot more soldiers througout our sois. While they all smiled at us, somehow their eyes seemed to say that they meant business.
As we drove out of our area, we saw thick black smokes in the somewhat near distance. I could feel the knots in my stomach as I snapped the shot here as we drove into Soi 3, the Arab quarters.
May 18, 2010
It is nice to be a cat, isn’t it?
May 18, 2010
Today seemed relatively calmer and we continue to monitor the news closely. We are still pretty much holed up at home, with no near end in sight at the moment. [W(hen)TF are they gonna start ding-donging?!] At least , we have not been hearing the sounds of gunshots and explosions from our backyard. For now.
Following the news in the last few days though, I thought I sensed some level of biaseness from the international news broadcasters. While I believe they tried to be objective, I didn’t particularly like the way the interviewer threw the questions or how the events had been presented. In fact, I voiced out the bubble thoughts in my head out loud to Silver Bullet over the weekend. He was quick to dismiss my sentiments as he thought they did OK. In some way, he had a point in saying that it probably was because I was already biased, and that they were just trying to give another perspective from the underdogs. I acknowledged his POV, thinking I could be overtly sensitive. However, I did not think that I was imagining the existence of an unjust and biased view points.
The Thai society and culture is one that is extremely complex. Without the local perspective, it really is hard to understand the under-lying issues that have been brewing. It is, of course easy to take sides with what seemed like innocent civilians, and diss the government. It is good to know that there are people out there voicing their opinions in what they thought were biased reporting:
- (This one takes the cake!) An open letter to CNN
- Post #28, 2010-05-18 08:06:46 (3rd from top): Letters to Editor
The existence of local sites/media like Thai Visa, The Nation and even social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook give us another perspective to form our own judgement; or otherwise be swayed by just one perspctive from international media. In this day and age, it is hard to deciper what’s accurate and what’s not.
After seeing/experiencing the Reds camping right outside our streets in the past few months, I really do think they should go home and stop behaving like spoilt brats. I thought (and that’s only me), the only thing the Thai government did wrong was that they were too lenient in the early days of the protest by allowing the massive number of Reds to congregate and eventually takeover the city centre in the name of peaceful protests. Given the current circumstances, I do think the government is trying to do the right thing by not giving in, and that the protesters should wise up , go home and stop playing victim. Because this time, they (the leaders, especially) asked for it.
