Calming Southern Thailand; at The Oriental Bangkok

BANGKOK — I was here when the street protests against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was at its rowdiest. It was only a matter of time when he would have to go, my friend The Nation multi-media group editor Thepchai Yong told me.

Thaksin had enemies and faults but his undoing was hastened when he allegedly bad mouthed the monarchy as well. That was the last straw. In all the protests against Thaksin the Muslim crisis in the South was never far behind. The Thais accept there is a problem that could engulf the entire country if violence were to continue and this was not helped by Thaksin’s tough policies. Still they did not want to kick an international fuss. This was an internal peace and order problem that could be readily solved and that confidence grew when the military took over.

Thaksin’s tough policies may have not worked but the military did not fare better. The interim government would have realized that military solutions are not the answer. Today, the government has 27,000 troops in the area and more recently has armed civilian militias but the violence continues daily.

In a surprise move Friday Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont threw in the towel and talked on granting amnesty to militants in the Malay-speaking South as part of a government strategy to restore peace in the Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. With elections coming soon, insiders say Surayud wants the amnesty to come into force during his administration. An amnesty would guarantee that the surrendered insurgents would not face further legal charges. It may ease the situation for the short term but it will need more than amnesty to bring peace in the area, crisis watchers told me.

The government is at a loss on who to meet with or talk to. The violence is leaderless and it may be that some are just using jihad to justify the trouble making. Not surprisingly Thailand’s powerful army chief rejected an American offer to help quell the insurgency which has cost more than 2,000 lives in three years. Instead he asked access to US intelligence to track foreign financial contributions to the insurgents, if any.

The amnesty will give a breathing spell while the government puts longer term solutions in place such as economic and social development plans to lift up the lives of the people in the area, majority of whom are Muslims. In these efforts, a blanket refusal to outside help would be unwise. Development plans can certainly do with some help from other concerned groups which have a good track record for helping impoverished Muslim communities.

Indeed, former Foreign Minister Dr. Surin Pitsuan who headed the National Reconciliation Commission has put forward a seven-point proposal for calming the region that should be put immediately in place when the violence subsides. I was kindly put in touch with him by Don Pathan, the Nation’s expert on the crisis.

Here I am as I told Cherisse Chuidian of Mandarin Oriental in Manila to experience the legend, one of the 1000 places to visit before I die. The first lesson to learn is that when in Bangkok, The Oriental Bangkok is The Oriental, even if it is part of the Mandarin group and not Mandarin Oriental as we know it in Manila. The Oriental has been in existence since 1876 on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. When the Mandarin group bought the hotel and its fabled history, Mandarin added Oriental to its name and not the other way around. If you ask a taxi to bring you to the Mandarin Oriental, he might drive you to the Mandarin and that is different from The Oriental.

That learned I became more aware and sensitive to its history. It is not just a five-star hotel and there are many in Bangkok. The Oriental has kept its legend as a writers’ retreat except that writers these days can very little afford its mandarin prices. But part of the hotel’s mystique is to preserve its history because Joseph Conrad, Somerset Maugham and Noel Coward once stayed at the Oriental. They now have suites named after them, as do Graham Greene, John le Carré, Barbara Cartland and James A. Michener. So it is part of the hotel’s public relations to welcome writers as special guests. A bottle of champagne from its general manager Kurt Wachtveitl was waiting for our arrival.

They may have other distinguished guests with an impressive roster among them Neil Armstrong, Lauren Bacall, George H. W. Bush, Jacques Chirac, Sean Connery, Mel Gibson, Václav Havel, Audrey Hepburn, Mick Jagger, Henry Kissinger, Helmut Kohl, David Beckham, Stewart Wilson, Niki Lauda, Sophia Loren, Yehudi Menuhin, Richard Nixon, Pelé, Queen Sofia of Spain, Princess Diana and Prince Charles, Omar Sharif and Elizabeth Taylor. But did they write and write like Joseph Conrad, one of my favorite writers?

Over a lunch of French haute cuisine at Le Normandie, Sornsri Hansirisawasdi, director of Public Relations told me the hotel is proud of its long association with the literary world. There are even suites named after the famous authors who lived here. There is an Author’s Lounge which I think must be the only one in the world which has. The room revives the mood in those golden days when authors lived here while struggling to write their novels — white wicker chairs, stalks of bamboo, louvered shutters and Victorian doors and windows.

Although Joseph Conrad never lived there, he was a frequent visitor when he was an obscure seaman and not yet an author. Whoever thought about it, the dedication to preserve its history as an authors’ hotel was brilliant. Every time I pick up a Joseph Conrad book, I will think The Oriental. There is also a restaurant named after his mysterious character — Lord Jim — a man obsessed with redeeming his honor. It is said that while in Bangkok, overseeing the reloading of the ship he spent his evenings in the bar of The Oriental. "We talked of wrecks, of short rations and of heroism…and now and then falling silent all together we gazed at the sights of the river." Something modern day tourists do now sitting by The Veranda.

A younger generation of Asian writers is listed on a plaque near the entrance to the Author’s lounge, all winners of the prestigious SEA Write Award. Part of the award is to be treated to a week at The Oriental.

Interestingly, my husband and I were welcomed at the lobby by a Filipina, Maria Reyes Marcos, director of sales and marketing who swears she is not related. Not to worry, with such beautiful and elegant surroundings, I could very well write another book here and it needed not be about Marcos.

My e-mail is cpedrosaster@gmail.com.