Guarded by global ‘pinpoint’ satellite

BANGKOK – The Americans are taking no chances. When United States President George W. Bush flies to Manila on October 18, then goes on to Singapore and finally Bangkok, his every movement will be tracked by a US global satellite – high up in space – which has been specially re-positioned for this purpose.

The readjustment of the satellite cost scores of millions of dollars, but Dubya, as a result, will always be in sight, and everything around him within a radius of thousands of meters. The satellite eye will be able to focus to within two square feet of where Bush is standing or walking, and is reportedly capable of detecting even the brand of cigarette anyone next to him may be holding.

The Americans, as already known, will also be bringing along their own security, equipment, and reaction teams, not depending on local forces. Mr. Bush certainly will be ferried here in Bangkok from one site to another by helicopter.

The venue for major state and royal events for the 21 heads of state of the 21 Asia-Pacific member — nations on October 20 and 21 will be the Ananda Samakom Palace, where the King’s own Throne Hall is located.

The foundation of this Italian-style designed Palace, interwoven with Thai decorative patterns, was laid by King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s great-grandfather, King Rama V (King Chulalongkorn). That monarch, inspired by touring the palaces of Europe, ordered the construction of the edifice in 1907, allocating a budget of Bt 15 million. Construction was not completed, however, until 1915, during the reign of his son, King Rama VI.

Delegates will be surprised to see how much it resembles, although not as massive, St. Peter’s in the Vatican and St. Paul’s in London. It was designed by Italian architect Mario Tamagno, in collaboration with Chao Phraya Yommarat, along Italian Renaissance lines, and was built of marble imported from Italy.

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The Thais have a word for it: phak chee roi na, meaning "a temporary facelift".

It’s similar, ‘di ba, to our own Todos los Santos of whitewashing and cleaning up the graves of our ancestors and loved ones before the annual All Saints’ Day visitation.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who brags Thailand will have eight percent in 2004, following an optimistic forecast by his Finance Ministry of 6.1 percent growth for the economy this year, has personally thrown most of his energies into preparing for the influx of the APEC leaders.

Special colorful plates, for instance – to mention just one detail – have been designed and manufactured for the potentates’, presidents’ and prime ministers’ dining, embossed with their initials. The plate collection will be washed immediately after each dinner, boxed, and presented as gifts to each state leader.

On the entertainment side, delegates will be brought to the Royal Navy Institute to view the first-ever-staged nighttime Royal Barge procession on October 20. To ferry the leaders and their spouses (will the First Gent be coming?) from the Royal Navy Conference Hall where they will enjoy a gala dinner, thirty electronic Tuk-Tuks have been specially ordered.

This is the renowned Thai equivalent of our jeepney, a three-wheeled vehicle originally with a two-stroke engine – which gave that ubiquitous and normally polluting vehicle its name, derived from the sound tuk-tuk-tuk. In any event, the new blue-painted Tuk-Tuks are now operated electronically to get rid of smoke exhaust pollution. On the APEC Tuk-Tuks have been painted the word, Chai or Victory.

The 30 Tuk-Tuks, the government believes, are needed to bring the leaders from the Conference Hall to the Navy Institute viewing platform, a route which requires going up a steep canal bridge.

Alas, in an inspection trial last July, the Tuk-Tuk demonstration vehicle failed. The portly, burly (overweight?) Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and a Navy official seated themselves in the passenger seat, but the Tuk-Tuk failed to climb the bridge because it "lacked sufficient power". Presumably, the Foreign Minister has gone on diet. The Tuk-Tuk developers claim, anyway, that they have improved the quality and design of the new vehicles, boosting their power – so any heavyweight Chiefs of State need not fear being stuck in transit.

The "improved" Tuk-Tuks will later on sell for between Bt 130,000 to Bt 140,000 each. Many hotels and resorts have placed inquiries, the authorities say, with regard to purchasing these new "environment-friendly" vehicles.

It’s time, for our part, to retire our poisonous smoke-belching jeepneys. But not adopt Tuk-Tuks. Those oversized motorized tricycles are already being phased out of Bangkok traffic, and banned from the main roads and boulevards.

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The usual things are being undertaken. Squatters are being evicted from the districts surrounding the conference routes and the hotel sites; stray dogs are being rounded up.

Like us Christians, devout Buddhists aren’t supposed to be violent, but in Buddhism this injunction not to kill extends to all living things, from animals to insects. Thus, the dogs being rounded up were originally intended to be dumped into a facility capable of containing 250,000 dogs in a nearby province, but the local residents angrily objected. Doggunit: The question now is where to put those rounded-up canines. There’s no love lost between the Thais and their neighbors – the Cambodians – where a riot in Phnom Penh a few months ago saw raging Khmer mobs sack and burn the Thai Embassy there and a nearby Thai-owned hotel complex. Some Bangkok wags have suggested that the dogs be donated to Cambodia, where some Cambodians "eat them". This, I repeat, is a joke, not the government’s attitude.

Sanamagan, if Thaky-Baby ever made such a remark, the tough Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, an ex-Khmer Rouge who has just begun sacking the government officials originally appointed by his disliked political rival Prince Norodom Rannarridh of Funcinpec, would surely take noisy umbrage.

The authorities are also cleaning up garbage. Buildings on the APEC perimeter are being given new paint jobs. Street vendors are being gifted with new parasols to give their stalls a neater appearance.

According to Wasunt Techawongtham of the Bangkok Post, residents of slum communities such as Khong Phai Singto, across from the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (another APEC venue), have begun tidying up their living quarters to head off any official decision to kick them out of the area on the excuse that they provide "eyesores" to the incoming APEC summiteers and delegates. (How about some Imeldific fences to conceal those ugly communities?)

Why, they are even flushing out the klongs (miles of canals) with clean water. They can’t prevent the sewage, though, from flowing in – and polluting them again. This will require a longer-term solution.

But we can’t criticize or throw stones. Look at that romantic river, the Chao Phraya, which flows under my balcony window at the "Oriental", and also by the banks of the King’s Chitralada Palace. It used to be stinky and malodorous decades ago. On the terrace of the "Oriental", during our Vietnam War time visitations (we flew in via Korat, Udon or Sattahip), we used to have to swat away squadrons of mosquitos zeroing in on us on dive-bombing expeditions. Now, the river is clean and almost fragrant.

And certainly romantic, with the lighted barges crossing it at night and riverbank lamps sending motes of light to dance on its surface like sparks from fairy candles.

And there are no more mosquitos.

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Prime Minister Thaksin certainly learned something from his trip to the Philippines.

According to an editorial in the Thai-language daily Matichon, Thaksin had declared when he was in Manila that his government "did not pay any attention to the opposition MPs because they always oppose, but he cannot deny that a parliamentary democracy must have an opposition to check and monitor the government’s performance."

Did Thaksin tell GMA that she also should ignore the opposition?

Matichon, while it criticized their Thai P.M. for ignoring Opposition MPs, urged parliamentarians "to sit down and think about the future, instead of engaging in petty issues and seeking ways to win the next elections".

A familiar plaint, I’d say.

One thing can be said: This nation of 61.5 million, which used to be so backward that once upon a time the Thais sent 14,000 scholars to study in the Philippines to learn how to modernize their country and improve their agriculture (no kidding), has shot far ahead of us. In a year or two, they will even have their new subway (underground train) system in operation, decongesting traffic in Bangkok by one half.

What the Thais have today (they used to be noted for their high suicide rate) is optimism – a commodity we have begun to sorely lack. It’s time for us to get a grip on ourselves and get back on the train to Better Times and the fulfillment of our true destiny.