Professor
of Southeast Asian History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
-An
Open Letter to President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, History Department Chair of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, U.S. Ambassador to Thailand, and Mr. Donald Trump
Dear sirs:
The
following is the quote and its English translation by the critic,
“คนที่มีความสามารถ “Competent people are oppressed,
Book
of the year podcast, by Mr.Edward Lucas, Senior Editor
On
the book, “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” by Richard Flanagan, in his
podcast available in iTunes, Mr. Edward Lucas said the Japanese tried to build
railway from Taiwan to Burma.
My critique:
Madre de Dios! Thinking about the bridge across the turbulent
South China sea from Taiwan to Mainland China, and thousand of kilometers on
land to Burma, the railway must be deadly indeed!
Mr.Edward Lucas, sir, are
you really a senior editor at the Economist? Not an impostor? Sans blaque!
Link to the BBC
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57WDIGl6J5A
วัดช้างเบื้องบาทรู้จักสาร
วัดอุทกชักกมุทมาลย์ แม่นรู้
ดู ครู สดับโวหาร สอนศิษย์
ดู ตระกูลเผ่าผู้ เพื่อด้วยเจรจาฯ
Old saying: To
measure an elephant, look at its feet. To fathom the water, pull up a lotus
stalk. To judge a professor, listen to how he teaches. To recognize his family
of origin, observe how he talks.
At video time 50:41, Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak
Jiamthirasakul said, “ I suggest that the LOYAL(ลอ ยัล) family is biased against
the LED (เลด เชิร์ต) shirt.”
At video time 51:20, he said, “This is one of the LEESON (ลี ซัน)
that this law is so obsolete and should be abolished.”
We do not need to feign ignorance trying to argue that
pronouncing royal family as LOYAL family, red shirt as LED
shirt, and reason as LEESON is a case of freedom of speech, or
more appropriately, a case of liberty of expression. And that such
pronunciation represents a particular way of self expression of certain
individuals, and the rest of the world must bear with it; toleration of
difference is the moral here.
Following the same line of reasoning, Paris can then become
PALIS, French fries becomes FLENCH FLIES, and Freedom fries can
be FLEEDOM FLIES. But the the liberty of expression, in this case,
technically works one-way, for example, Statue of Liberty will remain Statue of
Liberty, it cannot be changed to Statue of Riberty.
In reality, in
France, to purport such an argument Mr.Deputy-Prefessor Somsak Jiamthirasakul will
have to fight a losing battle with the French authority, l’Academie
française, the old guard of the French language.
An attempt at such argument never crossed my mind, for it
is well over my paygrade. However, in a small way, I would like to make a helpful
suggestion to Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak Jiamthirasakul, who was granted
political asylum status and now lives in France, that even in France he can
ameliorate his English.
The French can effectively teach him the language of
Shakespeare. There are good English language schools all over France. Eventually,
Mr.Deputy-Professor would be able to tame his tongue so that his usual pronunciation
of “My tailor is LICH” will correctly change to “My tailor is rich”.
At video time 51:04 Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak
Jiamthirasakul complained that, “Even this quite simple question I’m now in a
difficult position to give a straight forward answer.”
That is awesome, sir, but :
First, I
am afraid I disagree. I don’t think the question of the BBC’s journalist is “quite”
simple. Doesn’t Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak Jiamthirasakul, here, undermine and
underestimate the fundamental of contemporary journalism of the BBC – asking(framing)
good questions in an interview?
Second, I
understand that Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak J. always has an easy answer to all hard
and well-framed questions, and this one is an excellent evident.
Third, I
wonder whether Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak J. is not being somewhat pretentious,
snobbish, insincere, and cleverly calculating. Hadn’t he rather take the opportunity filling up the
political asylum application form on air than making an effort to answer the “quite
simple” question of the BBC journalist?
But, whatever, now that you, Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak
J., lives in France, enjoying full liberty of expression and freedom of speech
to give any straight forward answers about Thai politics and her political régime,
you should take this opportunity to the fullest and say what you have to say. It
has now been about a year of silence since you arrived in France with political
asylum ticket. Your followers, friends and foes, in Thailand and around the
world, on Facebook and on the internet, are eagerly waiting to hear from you.
Sir, please don’t let us down.
J’accuse la BBC. At video
time 51:02, the transcript in Thai on screen of the BBC video says, “ใช่ครับ แม้ว่า...แม้ว่า...แม้ว่ามันจะเป็นเพียงคำถามธรรมดา ผม..ผมในเวลานี้ก็อยู่ใน สถานะภาพ ที่ยากต่อการให้คำตอบแบบตรงไปตรงมา”
, -- bold type by the critic.
BBC’s translators of this video used pen names ดอกจำปา and ไกลปืนเที่ยง. The British
global media should have used British taxpayers’ money more wisely and hired a
better person for the job, myself for example (sans blaque).
This banal faute
d’orthographe – misspelt “สถานะภาพ”
that the correct spelling is “สถานภาพ” without the vowel
sign “อะ” is self-evident. Et
pourtant, and in fact the BBC has broadcast in Thai for about half a
century, notwithstanding the number of Britishers living in Thailand in the ten
of thousands, many are reliable informants.
อย่าโทษไทท้าวท่วยเทวา
อย่าโทษสถานภูผา ย่านกว้าง
อย่าโทษหมู่วงศา มิตรญาติ
โทษแต่กรรมเองสร้าง ส่งให้เป็นเองฯ
Old saying: “Don’t
blame the gods. Don’t blame the mountains or the valleys. Don’t blame family
and friends. Blame your own karma that you have performed by yourself.”
What I intend to mean by this quote is that if one’s
mouth shuts, it could be because one does not have anything worthy to say. Tu
n’as rien à dire. One is empty-headed, or one is a garbage dump full of grosse
merde, please excuse my French. One deceived the world that one’s mouth “is
shut” while actually “it shuts itself”.
OMG, what straight forward rubbish has come out of my
mouth! And how I adore liberty of expression and freedom of speech! Though they
could sometimes smell perversely and convulsively rotten to the core like
sewage of Bombay, but I like it still. Je suis malade.
At video time 50:31, BBC journalist said, “And for
critics of the status quo, it’s not just a question of choosing your
words carefully, it’s wondering whether you should open your mouth at all.” Now
with political asylum status quo in France, as for Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak
Jiamthirasakul the BBC journalist’s purported argument had explicitly been cancelled.
Dan Baile(ปรีชา ทิวะหุต)
Lang Suan district,
Chumphon province,
December 23, 2015
Other posts (links) about Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak
Jiamthirasakul,
