 |
 |
| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Thailand�s Sour Grapes
By Antonio C. Abaya Written Dec. 04, 2005 For the Standard Today, December 06 issue Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra�s snide remarks that accumulating gold medals had been made a greater priority than upholding the sporting spirit at the XXIII Southeast Asian Games has the distinct aroma of sour grapes dipped in a pile of elephant manure. Said he: �Normally, I have no time to watch sports, but I often watched these Games and kept thinking �why do results turn out to be that way.� I don�t know what to say.� How about saying, �The Filipino athletes were just unexpectedly better.� But instead, he pontificated that �It�s normal to win or lose. But it�s not nice if we host such Games and do this to other countries. In sports, I believe we have to develop athletic skills and good sportsmanship. We should not focus only on medals and forget about being good sports.� He did not specifically name the Philippines, but who else could he have meant when he lamented that several competitors at these Games were not up to par, but win honors anyway because �the organizer aims only to favor their own athletes?� But he said that Thailand would not lodge any official protest against the results. But why the hell not? If there have been instances of unfair refereeing or foul play against their athletes, they should file protests, instead of sulking in their corner fondling and sniffing their sour grapes, and making unfounded allegations of cheating, which they seem to be not sure enough about to pursue with official protests at the proper fora.. They could have duplicated what happened in the 5,000-meter run, when the leading Filipino runner elbowed his Thai rival at the finish line to win the race. The Thais filed a protest and when the international board of judges reviewed the video of that event, they disqualified the Filipino and awarded the gold medal to the Thai. Why didn�t the Thais file protests about the other allegedly unfair matches where they felt they were cheated? Thaksin�s beef seems to have been fed him by Jaruk Areerajakaran, sec-gen of Thailand�s Olympic Committee who complained that very same day that the Philippines had robbed Thai competitors of victories in several sports, including boxing, gymnastics and taekwondo. �It is hard to win at the Games since the hosts are cheating,� he said, conceding that the Thai team would not be able to win its targeted 110 to 118 gold medals. All quotes from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Dec.01 issue. So that�s it, isn�t it?. It�s really about gold medals and winning, even for Thailand, even when Thaksin struck a morally superior air when he lectured us about being good sports and not to focus on gold medals alone. The Thais, like everyone else � except perhaps Laos, Brunei, Cambodia and Timor Leste - came here to strike gold. The Thais are just bigger hypocrites about it. It should be kept in mind that Thaksin and Jaruk made their sour-graping remarks after the fourth day of competition, when the gold medal standings were as follows: the Philippines 52, Vietnam 30, Thailand 22 and Malaysia 19, Indonesia 12. With such a poor early showing, Thailand certainly did not look like it was on its way to bagging those targeted 110 to 118 gold medals. An alibi had to be invented to explain the failure to the Thai public, especially since Thaksin is facing an investigation for official corruption that can end his political career. Hence the sour grapes about cheating, to curry favor and win brownie points with the Thai electorate, at our expense. Thai Embassy and sports officials here in Manila took pains to soften the pointed bitching coming from Bangkok, explaining that Thaksin�s remarks were �taken out of context.� But two days after Thaksin�s and Areerajakaran�s sour-graping, Surapong Suebwonglee, identified as chief government spokesman in Bangkok, repeated the allegations about flawed judging, etc. Thaksin�s snide remarks were NOT taken out of context. Said Surapong: �From live telecasts to slow motion replays, we can clearly tell there are many serious problems with judging standards in some sports�Any Thai, from leader to an ordinary citizen, is entitled to speak out against what they feel is wrong.� But any sports official from any participating country is also entitled to file formal protests when he/she feels their athletes have been unfairly judged. Referees, umpires and judges, after all, do not come solely from the host country but from an international pool that includes all participating countries, as well as many who come from other, neutral countries, vetted by everyone. Complaints about specific events should have been filed formally against the offending athletes, referees, umpires or judges, whatever their nationalities, not vented out in media against an entire country. The fact that the Filipino winner of the 5,000-meter run was stripped of his gold medal by a panel of international judges, after the Thais had protested against his unfair behavior at the finish line, is solid proof that the appeals system is alive and well and is the proper venue for other, similar complaints. The problem with the Thais is that they have an attitude problem. Thailand is the undisputed dominant power in the Southeast Asian Games, and it is hard for their sports and political officials to admit being bested by an upstart country like the Philippines, which they have gotten used to regarding with disdain. In the previous 22 SEA Games, Thailand won the overall gold medal standings in nine of those Games, including all five in which it was the host country (1959, 1967, 1975, 1985, 1995). Thailand was second best in gold medals in ten of those Games, and third best in only three. Thailand has never ranked below third. Truly an enviable record. The only country to match Thailand is Indonesia which was first in gold medals also in nine of those Games, including all three in which it was the host country (1979, 1987 and 1997). Indonesia was second best in gold medals in another two of those Games, and third best in another three. Indonesia has also never ranked below third, but did not participate in the first eight Games, from 1959 to 1975. By contrast, the poorly motivated and perennially disorganized Philippines has never come out first in gold medals until now, even though it hosted the Games twice (1981 and 1991). It was second best in gold medals twice (1983 and 1991), in both cases losing out to Indonesia, third best in another five of those Games, fourth best in another three, fifth best in another three, and even sixth once (1977). A dismal and uneven record, by any standard. We also did not participate in the first eight Games, from 1959 to 1975. But as of December 05, 2005, with only eight events to be contested, the Philippines has won 113 gold medals, compared to Thailand�s 72, Vietnam�s 66, Malaysia�s 56, Indonesia�s 46 and Singapore�s 41. The lead is overwhelming and cannot justifiably be explained by �cheating.� The biggest haul ever in gold medals (192) was made by Indonesia in the 1997 Games in Jakarta; followed by (185) also by Indonesia in the 1987 Games, also in Jakarta; (157) by Thailand in the 1995 Games in Chiang Mai (Thailand); (156) by Vietnam in the 2003 Games in Hanoi; and (111) by Malaysia in the 2001 Games in Kuala Lumpur. Do I have to spell it out for the Thais? All things being more or less equal, home teams always have an advantage when playing against foreigners in their home territory. It does not necessarily mean cheating. The cheering of partisan crowds increases the adrenalin rush and helps make athletes perform better than they usually do. This is true for the Indonesians and the Thais and the Vietnamese and the Malaysians, as I have shown above, and it is also true for the Filipinos, even if we have been a little slower than they in harnessing our energy and in realizing our potential, which is true for us not only in sports but also in many other fields as well.. But by and large, the Philippines won the 23rd Southeast Asian Games fair and square. Congratulations to our athletes, their coaches, their trainers, their corporate sponsors and our sports officials for their splendid victory. And since we are so quick to blame her for our failures, we should in fairness also congratulate President Arroyo for this singular success. And if the Thais cannot find it in themselves to accept our victory as having been won honorably, I suggest that the Philippines boycott the XXIV SEA Games in Bangkok in 2007. ***** Reactions to [email protected] or ax 824-7642. Other articles in www.tapatt.org OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
| Reactions to �Thailand�s Sour Grapes�
Dear TONY, Have been reading about the SEA GAMES... The country should be celebrating more, being happier, uniting proudly, enriching itself literally. National sports fests are always a way - in most cases - of unifying a people, lifting a sagging morale and more importantly, of boosting a sluggish economy. A regional or intra-continental sports competition should be an excellent way of treating against the ills that plague a society. Back in 1998, France was feeling the pinch of a morose national and worldwide economy. Politically, the nation was divided with an anti-immigration sentiment dominating all forefronts. Jean-Marie Le Pen�s Front National Party was virtually instigating for a racial divide. He was saying �French First� and even those that were not normally inclined to follow his lead were attracted by his demagoguery. Labor unions were staging protests left, right and center. The overall national feeling was dissatisfaction. I really can not pinpoint the whys and wherefores for the national malaise but I remember that there was a worldwide economic stagnation at the time. However, the 1998 World Football Cup in France changed all that. In an era when national leaders were calling for careful spending, the French spent, shopped and celebrated like there was no tomorrow. What that spending spree did was money circulated; businesses, big and small thrived, employment rose. There were other things that happened but the most important of them all was France united. In one single stroke, the French victory on July 12, 1998 saw politicians, from the extreme right included, and people of all creeds, races, colors, stations in life cry proudly in unison �Vive la France!�, �Vive la R�publique!� This new-found unity continued for a long while and it was good enough for us in France. The morosity, the malaise, the sluggishness were all replaced by a nationally united exuberance and joy unseen in decades. The World Cup drove up the sluggish economy to heights that the country had not witnessed in two decades and lasted for a good many years while our European neighbours like Germany, Spain and Italy were going downhill. France proudly displayed, televised its people, its wealth, its culture and its unity to a cumulative audience of 37 billion people worldwide, the largest TV audience in history. Handled deftly, the SEA games in the Philippines could or could have galvanized the people into action and heal sick Philippines. Anna de Brux, [email protected] Belgium, December 01, 2005 MY REPLY. 37 billion? You must mean over a period of two weeks or so. You may want to read my comments on the 2002 World Cup in my article �World Cop? What World Cop?� (June 20, 2002). wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Oh my goodness. You finally gave Gloria some credit for something. (I gave credit to Gloria for the Libis-Katipunan interchange in my article �Villamor-Boni Torture� of Nov. 27, but you apparently missed that. ACA) Excellent points made about the Thais. Thaksin already knew he would put his foot in his mouth, http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/11/21/thai.pm.ap/ He should have known better. His astrologist did. Carlos Celdran, [email protected] December 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Very nice article today, Mr. Abaya. Apologies, but I have not been able to read your past postings and sending comments. I would like to share that I have two Thai classmates in the Ateneo School of Government's Masters in Public Management Program. Both of them hate Thaksin. Now I know why. Thank you so much for continuing to send me your articles and including me in your e-mail lists., Nicole Paterno, [email protected] December 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony J Could it be our reputation preceded us? Maybe, when Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra learned that Garciliano had returned�well he just put two and two together and ~?@*&%^$ ! Cheers! Romeo G. David, [email protected] December07, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr Abaya, Thaksin's sour graping was a case of tail-wagging in the hope of deflecting attention from a lingering and hounding accusations of corruption, nepotism, disrespect to the monarchy (a taboo for Thais), his CIA-puppet past, among many others. Let me tell you something about Thaksin. Of course, his police past is well known. He graduated from the Police Academy in 1973, went to the USA to pursue graduate studies where he was recruited by the CIA. Back to Thailand, he rose to the rank of police deputy superintendent (Lt Col) after finishing his PhD in the USA in 1978. The 1970's were particularly shady for Thaksin. He worked for the CIA as a covert agent gathering information on and subcontracting assets in the newly established communist Vietnam. Reportedly. he was involved in a small but critical operation undertaken by American spooks to liaise with Khmer Rouge militias then rampaging in Cambodia. What is not clearly was the role played by the CIA in the episode. But we know what happened after. Cambodia was ravaged by genocide. Vietnam interfered, causing a rift with China. The over-all result was the fragmentation of communist cohesion in the Indo-China Peninsula that had the effect of a 'containment' scenario favored by the policy wonks at the National Security Council; thus, turning a patent disadvantage (lost of Vietnam in the American sphere of influence) to a favorable circumstance for the USA (parcelization of communist unity in Indo China). Thaksin is not from a wealthy family. He is of Chinese ethnicity. It is a riddle that during the 1970s period he progressively acquired unexplained wealth. Some reports point to his supposed links with the drug syndicates of the Golden Triangle area -- the same syndicates the CIA used to fund their covert wars in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Suddenly in 1987, he resigned from the Thai Police force to form a communications company, which is now the main provider of mobile phone service. He could not have possibly acquired the initial capital to start and develop his business without connection both within the Thai government (then under a military junta) and money from the CIA and drug syndicates. Do you remember a few years ago, when Thaksin did an "Alfredo-Lim" act in liquidating drug pushers and other criminal syndicates? Is it not surprising the efficiency his hit squad went after these syndicates? Some reported that in a span of 1 month almost a 1000 suspected drug dealers were killed. This could only be possible if Thaksin liquidation squad knows who they were after. And they were after the former associates and surrogates of PM Thaksin. I just hope I gave you some idea on Thaksin. By the way, I'm an avid reader of your column. Ibn Khaldun, [email protected] December 06, 2005 MY REPLY. The book �Thaksin� by Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker also mentions that Thaksin was accused of concealing some of his assets, worth 2.4 billion baht, 1.5 billion baht, and 0.6 billion baht, in 1997-98 by putting them in the names of his housekeeper, maid, driver, security guard and business colleagues. But he was cleared of these charges by the National Counter Corruption Commission, which allowed him to win re-election in January 2001. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tocayo, This accurte and articulate exposure is enough for all to know the "attitude" problem of Thais. No need to boycott any future games. Let us just...in the words of our alma mater to her wards...FIGHT!!! Tony Joaquin, Anthony@[email protected] Daly City, California, December 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, Fil emailed me your column on Thailand's Sour Grapes which I forwarded to my Ateneo e-group called Mbasa. Here is a reaction to your article. For your disposition. Jun Alvendia, [email protected] December 06, 2005 Just my two cents worth of opinion. I hope that 'ALL' the Filipino athletes are reading this column. I hope this will give them the motivation and desire to look forward to the 2007 SEA games to be held in Bangkok. If the Filipino athletes can perform the same way or better in 2007, then Thailand's Sour Grapes remarks have been proven wrong. I suggest, someone should organize a committee to solicit for donors and sponsors for our athletes competing in 2007. (2007 is just around the corner) I'm sure there are some Filipino-Americans who are willing to sponsor/contribute monetary funds for our athletes in training. Sponsorship and contributions should be monitored and audited to the last penny so there are no hidden agendas. A full disclosure in writing should be made when all the funds have been collected and also to show where they all went. This way , the next time around, donors and sponsors are more comfortable about knowing that their donations actually was used for what it was intended for. Let get the best trainer and training equipment including giving them the proper food supplement/diet to compete internationally. I would like to see professional medical doctors taking care of the Filipino athletes. Let us be selective and chose only those that are truly dedicated to sportmanship, and have a strong determination for the gold. Let's have competition and a pool on which to select only the best Filipino athletes to represent the Philipines. I would like to see more Filipinos be afforded the opportunity to compete around the world i.e. shooting, boxing, chess, basketball, swimming, Cycling, diving, martial arts, etc. We need only to organize and unite as one group/one mind with one goal -toward the betterment of the Filipino athletes. Maybe later on, we can have our own 'Hall of Famers' who would have names included such as 'Flash Elorde'. Here's a salute to our Filipino athletes who won and who will be competing in 2007.. Demetrio Jayme wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Bravo, Tony! We should not allow ourselves to be pushed around. Regarding my letter about our perennial lack of forward planning, I tried accessing that website you mentioned in order to read your comment. I was denied access. Favor: could you e-mail it to me? Butch Zialcita, ferzialcita@@yahoo.com December 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, I admire your dutiful attention to statistics! Merry Christmas. Mahar Mangahas, [email protected] Social Weather Stations, December 06, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Antonio Abaya, With the Philippines outgunning Thailand as the country with the most gold medal and also has the most combined medal standing in the last SEA games, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra obviously had to find an excuse to avoid being blamed by their own people for their dismal performance. He was quick to say that cheating was rampant by the judges, without thinking that the multi-national group of judges cannot be influenced by the host country in any way. This behavior is lame and a classic case of sour grapes, more sour than sukang iloko because they lost their bragging rights as the most dominant force in the SEA games to reckon without. Congratulations to all our athletes and hope they will show a repeat of their excellent performance in 2007! Emil Diaz Jr., [email protected] Vancouver, Canada, December 07, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Thaksin faces 'Yellow Revolt' at home - 500,000 to rally in Bangkok on Dec.9 wearing yellow - 'They'll be wearing RP's national color of protest . Cheating raps vs. RP was Thaksin's version of 'Wag the Dog' - Recto Embattled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is facing a "Yellow Revolt" in his homefront after his foremost critic, Thai media personality Sondhi Limthongkul has called 500,000 people to wear yellow to a Dec. 9 rally in Bangkok's Lumphini Park. Sondhi has been holding well-attended rallies to levy corruption charges against the Thai leader. If it materializes, the Dec. 9 rally, wire reports said, will be the biggest against Thaksin yet. Sen. Ralph Recto dwelt on this information to guess the motives behind the Thai premier's blast against host Philippines for allegedly rigging games so it can pace the medal count in the ongoing SEA Games. "Thaksin is doing the Thai version of 'Wag the Dog,'" Recto said referring to a Hollywood movie about a fictional US president who has to invent a foreign war to boost his reelection chances amidst a scandal he is embroiled in. "Or should it be called 'Wag the Gold' ?" Recto said. "To create a ruse, to divert attention away from a scandal, is the oldest trick in the politician's manual." But while many local politicians are seething over Thaksin's broadsides, but which his own sports officials have, however, contradicted, Recto urged "Filipinos not to let one cry baby dampen our victory." "Time to move on. Time to party. Let him sulk. But we, let us be happy," he said. "Let the Thai people deal with their own leader. Thaksin will have his comeuppance from 500,000 of his constituents wearing the Philippines' national color of protest - yellow," he said, referring to the color that was the symbol of the 1986 anti-Marcos 'EDSA revolt.' Tens of thousands who attend weekly Sondhi's rallies sport the now-trademark yellow T-shirt with the black logo "We shall fight for the King". Sondhi, who chairs the editorial board of ThaiDay, has regularly conducted his weekly talk show Thailand This Week while wearing the same kind of shirt. Sondhi called the Thaksin government undeserving of the people's respect and support, and had spiced up his bombast with allegations of cronyism and corruption by the Thai leader. "On December 9 , we shall retaliate," Sondhi was quoted by wire reports as saying . "I ask that 500,000 people show up on December 9, even though Lumphini cannot handle it." (30) Sen. Ralph Recto, [email protected] December 04, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reaction to �Villamor-Boni Torture� (Nov. 27, 2005) Dear Mr. Abaya, I don't know how i got into your mailing list and finally becoming a part of tapatt But thanks for having me. I think that all these comments and suggestions about solving the traffic situation in Metro-Manila are looking at the trees and forgetting the forest. There should be a change in the concept of transporting people in the metropolis because that is what this really is --- moving people from one part of the city to another. What we is happening now is laissez-faire situation where everyone with a public utility vehicle uses the roads we have. Some of the jeepney routes have outlived their usefulness like, why do we still have a Fairview-Pier jeepney route? Shouldn't this be better served with buses which carry more and use up less space? Since it is now so highly developed, only buses should be on Quezon Blvd/Espana. Let�s look at the evolution of a mass transport route. Firs t there were only horses and carabaos when it was a trail. As the road developed, the tricycles were the mode of transport. As the population grew, the jeeps started coming in and finally the buses when the roads and number of passengers could handle them. Metro Manila has reach full development but nothing has been done to rationalize this situation. Some of these jeepney routes are stuck in a time warp. Tricycles, jeeps and buses all use the same roads even if they are no longer supposed to be there and are no longer viable or take up too much of the precious road space we have. The concept I propose is this: the tricycles feed the jeeps, the jeeps feed the buses and the buses feed the MRT/LRT. As a consequence, routes will be specified so that where there are tricycles there are no jeeps, where there are jeeps there are no buses or tricycles, etc etc. In effect, no buses or jeeps on Edsa or wherever there is an MRT/LRT span. Yhere should be no duplication on any route. The small eskintas can then be serviced by tricycles, the roads in between the major thoroughfares will be serviced by jeeps who will unload their passengers near the bus stops, and on the big avenues the buses unload passengers near MRT/LRT stations. Imagine a bus terminal at the DPWH area across GMA-7. Buses from Fairview can unload their passengers here and then turn back to where they came from. Passengers can then ride the MRT to Makati and there would be no need for a Fairview-Makati bus route. And so on and so forth. I�m sure that once this concept is accepted, we can solve the specific problems on different areas of metro-manila just as long as we adhere to it. Thanks and more power, Buddy Resurreccion, [email protected] December 06, 2005 PS. If this can help in any way or if anyone is interested or wants me to expound on this, i would be very willing to volunteer my services. I�d like to help build and not just criticize and make noises from this corner. MY REPLY. Fine, but your proposal will not solve the particular problem being discussed, the perennial jams at Villamor-Bonifacio interchange, unless the infras is redesigned. Most of the vehicles that pass here are private cars. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |