The Pinocchio Principle

Most everybody knows about and loves the story of Pinocchio. Pinocchio was a puppet carved from a piece of pine by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a small Italian village. He was created as a wooden puppet, but dreamt of becoming a real boy. The name Pinocchio is Italian for "Pine eyes".

Geppetto and his Puppet, Pinocchio

There’s also a similar story about a different kind of puppet, Abhisit Vejjajiva. He was created by the amart/military faction Thailand so that that country could appear to be democratic when it truly isn’t. Abhisit dreams of being a real “ELECTED” prime minister but the Thai people know that he is only a puppet. Incidentally, the name Abhisit is very bad English for “Ape shit”.

Prem and his Puppet, Abhisit

There is one part in the story of Pinocchio where as he tells lies his nose begins to grow until it is so long he cannot turn around in the room.

This allegory teaches us a very valuable lesson in that lies are usually easier to see through than the liars imagine them to be. The nose is only a symbol of how obvious and shameful lies are.

We can apply this “Pinocchio Principle” to “Abhisit the Puppet”.

National Reconciliation Plan?

Arrests of hundreds of opposition leaders with no bail; closed media; frozen the bank accounts of suspected supporters of the Bangkok demonstrations; etc… C’MON!

Then there’s the case of Prachatai Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of independent Thai online news portal. She was arrested on March 6, 2009 under Thailand's repressive Computer Crimes Act. Police claim the alleged illegal postings were allowed to remain on Prachatai for periods of one to fifteen days. Police consider each posting to be a separate violation of the computer law even though these were removed promptly after notification by Thailand’s ICT ministry. Chiranuch is facing 50 years for not self-censoring webboard posts fast enough for government censors.

Back in March 2009, after Ms Chiranuch’s arrest, the military installed Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit, told an audience at St John’s College, Oxford that he had “sorted out” Chiranuch’s case and that it was a “misunderstanding by the police”.

It is now January 2011 and Ms Chiranuch is currently in jail with no bail awaiting trial.

Then there is Abhisit’s statement on September 24 2010, to the Council of Foreign Relations, that the authorities are no longer using the State of Emergency to detain people:

"CRES is clearly having problems in communicating with Human Rights Watch. Because I read your report that was issued, I think, a couple of days ago, or yesterday, and I was surprised to learn that you mentioned things like detentions under the emergency decree, because that’s no longer happening. It took place in the early post-rally stages, when these people turned themselves in and before they were charged with — under the criminal procedures law. But now nobody’s — is detained."

Then on October 5th, Police arrested Amornwan Charoenkij for selling flip flops with pictures of the PM and Deputy PM on them. They charged her with an offence under Section 9(3) of the Emergency Decree.

Here’s another lie: The headline of the official statement from the PM’s office on August 24, 2010 is “Prime Minister affirms that no close aide went to visit Viktor Bout as Jatuporn claims” (นายกรัฐมนตรียันไม่มีคนใกล้ชิดไปพบนายวิคเตอร์ บูท ตามที่นายจตุพรฯ กล่าวอ้าง).

Then the next day, the truth appears in a Bangkok Post story:

“Sirichoke Sopha, a Democrat Party MP for Songkhla and close aide to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, on Wednesday admitted having visited Viktor Bout at the Bangkok Remand Prison…”

Wow! With a nose that long, I sure bet it’s hard for him to kiss General Prayuth’s ass. I guess there is ONE way I can envision this happening but I’d rather not think about it.

These are only a few examples of Abhisit’s lies. I could go on listing them but then that would just sound mean on my part.

Of course, having one’s nose grow every time they tell a lie is only a fairy tale. It doesn’t actually work that way BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS TELL WHEN ABHISIT IS TELLING A LIE… HIS LIPS ARE MOVING!!!

Just for fun, here are a couple of other well known liars in the Thai government:

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has tried to explain the relationship between the Democrat Party and the military in a Bangkok Post interview. He was asked: “People say the Democrats are under the military’s wing. What do you say about that?”

Suthep’s response:

“That’s definitely not true. People know what is going on. I was the person who coordinated with other parties in forming the coalition. I talked to every sector and told them our goals. The military never gave directions or laid down policy. We have the freedom to do our job.”

Right! And how ironic! Suthep’s nose is as crooked as he is!

Then from NPR there’s “Colonel Liar” himself, Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesman for the military’s Center for Resolution of the Emergency Situation responding to a question over the army’s culpability in the Bangkok Massacre of 2010:

“I can categorically deny that the army has killed or hurt any Red Shirts or protesters, including the Japanese journalist,” he says. “Killing those persons would bring us no benefit whatsoever.”

If the Colonel keeps this up then he’ll need a longer arm to pick his nose.