April 15,2010
Buddhist Peace tent
Lumpini Park
Bangkok, Thailand
My friend Toto, the tuktuk ( tricycle)driver is missing after last Friday's bloody encounter between the red shirts and the Thai army at the Banglangphu district near the Fang fa bridge where the main stage/central command of the red shirts was located near the democracy monument.
I first met Toto when I went out of the Red shirts'shirts camp under the rail of the Skytrain in a big intersection road where Toto and some red shits were acting as spotters for the red shirts watching possible movement of the Thai red army against the main red shirts stage/central command in the Fang Fa bridge near the democracy monument.
Toto is no ordinary Thai prachachon. He is a living result of the American involvement in the Vietnam war. His father is an American soldier who met his mother in Ubon Thani, a province in the northeast where a big U.S. airforce base is located. Toto speaks some English and very soon he was speaking to me in Thai mistaking me as a Thai . I just smiled and nooded and smiled as if I can understand Thai. Very soon he kept on asking me more questions so I just showed him the press card hanging on my neck prepared by Tim from the CPT office and he just laughed when he realized I am a brown Farang (foreigner) who looks like Thai from the Thai peninsula where the Thai muslims who are malay are residing and that I took him for a ride. Soon Toto was asking me in broken English why I am in Thailand, where I was born and so forth. So I explained to Toto and his red shirts friends that I am a peace observer from the Christian Peacxemaker team from the Philippines, a Christian Peace group who believes in the non-violent resolution of conflict. By this time, I was surrounded by some red shirts and some Thai army as well so I ivited them to pose together for a picture which the Thai army members refused upon seeing their officer was watching them inside the humvee military jeep but the red shirts willingly allowed me to take a picture of them. A good looking Thai red mama who cannot speak English showed me her lighter and a piece of red headband and was showing to me that the gas tank of the humvees has no lock and I understand from her gesture that when fighting starts, she will blow up the humvees with her lighter in its gas tank. By sign language and gesture, I told her that killing is no way to peace and that dialogue is the best way to peace to which she replied that the Thai army is killing red shirts by showing me some pictures of the red shirts in Bangkok who were killed by the army late in the evenings. Later on the red shirts guards shared with me some sweet sticky rice and pieces of mangoes wrapped in wax paper which was shared by all. It seems that sharing sticking rice and mangoes in Thai culture is a way of saying that you are now our brother in our struggle.
That is how my relationship started with Toto, the tuktuk driver in Bangkok.He became my guide with the red shirts in Bangkok taking me to the different red shirts encampments in Rajadomouen, a virtual city by itself compete with mobile toilets, bathroom facilities, generators, first aid stations, water tanks, depots for rice,drinking water in plastic bottles, ice coolers for meat, fish and vegetables and mountains of all kinds of vegetables that keep on coming from the provinces.The whole camp is wired to the central command and has 150 giant screens every 150 yards showing the speakers from the central stage and occasionally greeting from Thaksin is flashed from abroad.Everyday new red companies from the provinces are ariving and old companies are departing. The new red shirts arriving have with them fresh provisions of meat, fish, fruits and vegetables available in their province.Almost all the red shirts are armed with a plastic clappers and a plastic trumpets as a way of emphasizing the non-violence nature of their mass struggles. Earlier they expelled from their ranks a small number of red shirts who espoused violent methods in their struggle who I understand is now located at the Sunam Luang park called Red Siam. Some of those expelled red shirts are followers of a retired Thai general who believes in armed struggle and a small faction of the former Communist party of Thailand whose initial coincides with the initial of the Christian Peacemaking Team CPT.Toto explained to me that the red shirts made this move to emphasis non-violence as the basic philosophy of the Thai prachachons red shirts.
Having Toto as a guide and driver taught me how to survive in Bangkok given that I have very limited resources. Toto made a covenant with me that he will drive and translate for me free for two hours in the afternnon but I will have to go shoping as a foreign tourist in some selected exclusive tourist shops in Bangkok where there is a system that the taxi and tutuk driver bringing foreign tourist is given gas coupon for two liters gas for every tourist they bring in the cost of the gas being divided between the Thai department of tourism and the business establishment plus the refreshments that the business establishment usually give the foreign tourists which they can afford since these establishments are typical tourist traps with very high prices but with beautiful young sales ladies who encourage you to let go of your dollars which unfortunately for the tourist shops I do not have.
But I soon have problems with Toto that can cause me my life. In his tutuk (tricycle) he has several red flags flying and whenever he drives he will loudly curse the Thai army and make the dirty fingers signs at them. And worst, his tutuk engine always backfires resembling the noise of rifle bring fired which several times caused the Thai army to point their guns on us and stopped us for closer inspection which is scarry specially in the evening.I was able to stop Toto from cursing the Thai army but I could not make the engine of his tutuk from backfiring.Toto in several occasions also tried to look for a "Thai wife" for me by pointing at my wedding ring in my left hand and then he will point to my empty fingers in my right hand and would say for your Thai wife.I assured Toto that that is a dangerous proposition for my wife Clarita in the Philippines will kill me and may even include my Thai wife to which Toto would just laughed. But he did not stop looking for Thai wife for me by taking me around in Bangkok to meet some of his Thai lady friends.Toto is indeed a lady's man. He has several girl friendfs in almost every district and soi in Bangkok and most of them are committed red shirts coming from the rural places in the north and northeast working in the informal sectors in Bangkok mostly selling food in street corners.
I was assigned kitchen duty in red company 52 cutting papaya for som thum when the secretarty of the group approached me and gave me a cotton face mask, a bottle of alcohol and a face towel and instructed me on how to use wet face towel and alcohol in case of a gas attack in the red camp. They received intelligence reports that the army will attack that evening.He assigned two young women and instructed them that in case of attack the two Thai women will take care of me.
The army attack came by way of a police proving attack coming from Thanon Phasalinok piercing the red camp in Thannon Rajadomuen where a police fire trucks just rooled over the tents and kitchen facilities of the red shirts. The red shirts formation just gave in luring the police V wedge formation to penetrate but at the same time encircling them on a wave like formation on three sides. Fighting non-violently by pushing and shoving and employing the vietnamese tactics of hanging closely by the belt of the enemy, the police could not use the water canon or employ effectively gas grenade and soon they were surrounded by the red shirts amd surrendered peacefully. After negotiations with their officers, the police were allowed out of the areas escorted by the red shirts black guards on the condition that they leave their batons, shield and crab like armour.Thai police do not have arms.
The attack on Thanon Phisalunuck proved to be a diversionary attack. Two main attacks by the army armed with pistols and armalites and shot guns came from two directions, one coming from the intersection below the skytrain rail and the main one coming from a small street at the east side of the democaracy monument where most of the killings occured. This was the last time I saw toto, he was busy leading hundreds of tutktuks and taxis full of red shirts to block the army coming from this breach.
Following the instruction of the red secretary, I followed the two Thai women who joined the red shirts reinforcement in stopping the army at the junction. There was a short stalemate for around 30 minutes both side waiting for reinforcements. By this time , one of the older Thai woman Patchara told me that their instruction is to protet me at all costs and they feel that the army will be firing live ammunitions once they have enough force. So the three of us slowly made our way away from the main intersection to the central stage of the red shirts at the Fang fa bridge. It was at the time that hell broke loosed when the army started to fire gas grenades and live ammunitions and shotguns. My eyes were affected so Patchara throw water from a plastic bottle and led me in a prone position behind a canal embarkment near the wall of the Thai department of education. When My eyes were cleared we run to the safety of the main stage and while running I was felt a terific blow on my buttock which cause me to fall with the others. The two ladies helped me run until we reached the safety of the back stage and they brough me to a Red shirts red cross station where a red shirt nurse had a look at my buttock. The nurse told me that except for three large lumps, the metal balls from the Thai army shotguns did not penetrate my elephant skin.
At this time when we were in the red cross station a the back of the main stage, a Thai miliary helicopter flew around saveral tinme on the central stage and then dropped several gas bombs on the central stage.The speaker in the min stage just covered his eyes and continue speaking on how the crowd could protect themselves but there was no panic. The public program was not disrupted and instead there was an annoucement that the attack from the intersection beloww the skytrain was repulsed but the main army attack proved to be behind the democarcy monument is a narrow street of business and residential area. It seemed that the Thai army was able to hide several armoured vehicles inside its camps near the main red encampment and this time real figting occurred with grenade launchers rifles and shotguns. This is when the blacksirts made a sudden appearance by lobbing a launcher grenade that decapitated the top army leadership on spot causing panic among the soldiers causing them to leave their dead officers and armour vehicles. That is bloody April 10 in Bangkok where the red shirts saved their camp from being demolished by the Thai army.
It was already 1 AM Sunday when we finally reached my dormitory room in Khurasap, the Thai teacher council dormitory in Bangkok which is an interesting place since both the Thai Police, Army and red shirts stay in the huge dormitory. I Invited the two ladies to stay with me in my room since I have two beds. Later on they were able to call the rest of the red company 52 who gradually fill up my room nursing their wounds, taking shower and contacting the rest of the red company
The next day I found out the complete extend of the bloody carnage, 22 dead and 800 wounded and a lot of Thai red shirts missing. The red shirts captured a total of 13 armour vehicles.There are some suspicions that the Thai army hid the dead bodies of the red shirts to lower the number of casuaties. It was a complete route for the Thai army, several generals and colonels killed plus the embarrassing capture of around 13 armour vbehicles by the red shirts.
After bloody April 10, Toto my friend, tuktuk driver and guide is no where to be found.Let us continue praying for Toto and the Thai people as they fight for real democracy in Thailand.
The best way we can honor them is to break the Thai and western media blockout and distortion on what is happening in Thailand on the genuine fight for democrary of the Thai prachachons (people)red shirts.
Let us continue to pray for the Thai people in their struggle for true democracy.
Please share with others.
Shalom,
Reservist
Christian Peacemaker Team Philippines
Tel. 842-5677
mobile 09185616869
rl_psom@yahoo.com
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