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The Cartoon Network has three Powerpuff Girls. Thailand has now gone one better with its Aree, Wandee, Udomporn and Pawina. They, of course, are all Olympic medal-winning weightlifters, the first two taking bronze and the last two coming away with the coveted gold. Interestingly, it took the Thailand 48 years to win its previous two golds. Udomporn Polsak and Pawina Thongsuk won theirs only six days apart. Pawina’s win was especially gratifying because she had to overcome tremendous pressure and a huge weight disadvantage to do it. Lifting days after her other team–mates and almost five kilogrammes lighter than her chief competitor, Pawina not only won the gold but set a new world and Olympic record in the process. All the medalists seem to have an idea of what is in store for them when they return home to Thailand early next week. There will be huge amounts of cash and other rewards awaiting for them and the demands on their time will certainly be high, especially for the gold medalists. Both Pawina and Udomporn seem well prepared, however. They say they are determined to remain true to themselves. “My life will change. But the gold medal will not change me as a person. I will remain the same. I won't try to live a luxurious life,” said Pawina “The whole country now knows me. I’m like a movie star. I’m now a public figure. I have to adapt to the new life, but my basic way of life will remain the same,” Udomporn vowed. The welcome home receptions should be very interesting indeed. Normally, such affairs attract droves of politicians eager to share some of the glory. This time, however, they may be a little more careful. The reason, of course, is last week’s angry public reaction to the news that Deputy Prime Minister had latched onto Udomporn’s gold medal only a few hours after she won it. He immediately took it back to Bangkok, happily showing it off to journalists. He said he did so at “the command of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra” for the cabinet to admire. While the public is used to such antics by politicians, that was a bit much and Mr Sawat was harshly criticised. Soon the medal was back on a plane bound for Athens and its rightful owner. |
About the only thing that’s clear about next Sunday’s election for Bangkok governor is that it is confusing. We have opinion poll results galore, but with the media forbidden to connect the names of the candidates to the polling results, we really have little idea of what’s going on. According to Kanjana Spindler, the Bangkok Post’s assistant editor for the editorial pages part of the confusion appears to be the result of a deliberate attempt by the Thai Rak Thai Party’s to stop Democrat Apirak Kosayodhin from winning. She says that as many as six of the 22 candidates may be receiving some sort of support from TRT based on their potential to take votes away from Mr Apirak. Such tactics, Ms Kanjana said in her commentary last Wednesday, demonstrates “the utmost contempt for the well-being of our capital city and the spirit of democracy.” This election is extremely important and it is unfortunate that it so difficult for voters to make an informed choice, Ms Kanjana said to me last week. Even she admitted to be confused. In last week’s commentary, she said that probably only three candidates had a realistic chance of winning. “The other 19 candidates are running as spoilers or for personal reasons ranging from preparing for the next senate election to ego escapades,” she wrote. One of these candidates, however, may be in some trouble with the Electoral Commission according to a story in Sunday’s Bangkok Post. Ms Pavena is apparently under investigation for giving free handouts, something which is not allowed under the election law. Watch this week to see if anything comes of that. And, of course, keep a close watch on our electoral coverage as the election approaches. Oh yes. If you can, vote! |
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We’ve had a run of dreadful diseases recently in South East Asia, what with SARS last year and avian ‘bird’ flu a few months back. More than 20 people died and almost 200 million birds were culled during the bird flu epidemic in Asia. Indeed, just a couple of weeks ago, Thailand reported a new case of bird flu, although that now seems to be under control. A worrying development has come from China where it has been reported that a virulent strain of the bird flu virus has been found in pigs. The spread to pigs has yet to be confirmed, but there could be serious implications for human health if it is. Research suggests that if the bird flu virus were to mix with the human flu virus (which can also be carried by pigs) it could mutate into a strain that can be passed from one human to another. The consequences of this, of course, could be catastrophic. It would appear from our experience with chickens that the only way of eradicating the disease is to kill those who are infected. This sounds just about acceptable with poultry but is it really going to happen if humans start spreading bird flu? The only alternative is to find an antidote. But that is currently impossible as the human version of bird flu does not yet exist. Thankfully, there is probably no reason to be alarmed just yet. Scientists in China need to do more tests in order to confirm their findings and there is a chance that, although the pigs may carry the virus, they won’t necessarily be ‘infected’. Follow this story carefully to see whether the outcomes of the tests confirm the existence of bird flu in pigs.
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