Lives in passing: Seh Daeng
One degree of separation: several years ago my wife met the renegade Thai general Khattiya Sawasdipol, aka. 'Seh Daeng' or 'Commander Red', who was the strategist behind much of the Red Shirt's street fighting tactics in Bangkok last month. He was cremated today in Bangkok. She met him at the funeral of her best friend's mother, as during his rise to notoriety and years before the tense political climate that exists today he had befriended that particular family with the spoken intention of getting to know Aom better (Aom is the lady in the middle in this photo with Miles), and he actually turned into a bit of a stalker for a while. Bizarrely, at the funeral Seh Daeng took the opportunity to give my wife and others free copies of his latest autobiographical best-seller based on his own exaggerated military exploits. On the cover is a charming photo of him pointing his gun at the reader. It's remaining untouched on our shelves where it's kept purely for its curiosity value at the moment, but while we have it it will remain unread. And because he'd paid his respects to her mother, Aom said she would also be going to Seh Daeng's funeral today even though she had absolutely no admiration for him.
Seh Daeng is survived by one daughter, now a 29 year-old lawyer who reportedly hated what her father had become and has also been an active campaigner for the government-supporting Yellow Shirts. Since his death she's presented a very different face when talking about her late father, and is now planning to work for a small political party he founded in his own name, the Khattiyatham Party. People are inevitably wondering "why the sudden switch?" Seh Daeng received plenty of cash from ex-PM-on-the-run Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire puppet master behind the UDD Red Shirt movement and who's currently doing his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech everywhere from Cambodia to Swaziland, travelling the world on both Nicaraguan and Montenegran passports. In fact his visit to Cambodia last November to act as 'economic adviser' raised eyebrows and even annoyed many of his supporters in Thailand; it has since caused more alarm in that many of the weapons found in Seh Daeng's Red Shirt protest camp in central Bangkok, such as M-79 grenade launchers, are not used by either the Thai military or police. So where did they come from? They are easily found and bought in Cambodia, where Thaksin is now reported to have secretly met his UDD supporters near the Thai border. As an investigation it's turning into a case of 'follow the money'. And the suspicion is now that more "money from Montenegro", as Thaksin's bankrolling activities are now euphemistically known, may be swaying Seh Daeng's daughter's political allegiances too.
Seh Daeng is survived by one daughter, now a 29 year-old lawyer who reportedly hated what her father had become and has also been an active campaigner for the government-supporting Yellow Shirts. Since his death she's presented a very different face when talking about her late father, and is now planning to work for a small political party he founded in his own name, the Khattiyatham Party. People are inevitably wondering "why the sudden switch?" Seh Daeng received plenty of cash from ex-PM-on-the-run Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire puppet master behind the UDD Red Shirt movement and who's currently doing his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech everywhere from Cambodia to Swaziland, travelling the world on both Nicaraguan and Montenegran passports. In fact his visit to Cambodia last November to act as 'economic adviser' raised eyebrows and even annoyed many of his supporters in Thailand; it has since caused more alarm in that many of the weapons found in Seh Daeng's Red Shirt protest camp in central Bangkok, such as M-79 grenade launchers, are not used by either the Thai military or police. So where did they come from? They are easily found and bought in Cambodia, where Thaksin is now reported to have secretly met his UDD supporters near the Thai border. As an investigation it's turning into a case of 'follow the money'. And the suspicion is now that more "money from Montenegro", as Thaksin's bankrolling activities are now euphemistically known, may be swaying Seh Daeng's daughter's political allegiances too.