Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Losing Face, Big Time
The Thais are big on 'face'. They hate to lose 'face' and will do anything to avoid beeing seen as 'weak' or 'losing'.
For Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra 'face' is no longer an issue. Refusing to return to Thailand to face charges of corruption he allows his wife to stay there under threat of a jail sentence while he lives it up in England.
His promise of using Manchester City as a vehicle to promote the interests of Thai football (read his own interests back home) have fallen apart as he can't reach much of his money which has been locked up in Bangkok.
He brought in three young Thai players to court popularity with the masses back home but when they were plainly not good enough and didn't qualify for work permits they were quietly shipped off to other reserve sides in Europe.
Thaksin is the man behind a shoot to kill policy in Thailand that eliminated something like three thousand alleged drug dealers. He has overseen an intolerant situation in the south east of the country where Thai muslims seek greater autonomy from Bangkok.
He is accused of corruption by the military junta that kicked him out in a coup last year and is scared to face the consequences. He is accused of denying the state billions of baht in taxes through a sale of one of his companys to a Singapore investment firm.
The Premier League has a 'fit and proper' test in place to assess people's suitability to run football clubs in England. It appears the 'test' has one question.
How much money do you have?
If the sum is big enough then everyone in England rolls over on their back and pants excitedly before saying welcome in a humiliating display of crass greed.
This is the Premier League. Sheer naked greed.
Thaksin, a man who always promoted a Thailand first policy when in power and who gave mixed messages to foreign investors is now begging for asylum in a country that was embarrassingly mesmarised by his wealth.
But while he denied asylum to thousands of poor Burmese he sees no shame in seeking it for himself.
'Face' means nothing to people like this. It's just an excuse to do anything to anyone and sod the consequences.
Do we need people like him running our football?
For Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra 'face' is no longer an issue. Refusing to return to Thailand to face charges of corruption he allows his wife to stay there under threat of a jail sentence while he lives it up in England.
His promise of using Manchester City as a vehicle to promote the interests of Thai football (read his own interests back home) have fallen apart as he can't reach much of his money which has been locked up in Bangkok.
He brought in three young Thai players to court popularity with the masses back home but when they were plainly not good enough and didn't qualify for work permits they were quietly shipped off to other reserve sides in Europe.
Thaksin is the man behind a shoot to kill policy in Thailand that eliminated something like three thousand alleged drug dealers. He has overseen an intolerant situation in the south east of the country where Thai muslims seek greater autonomy from Bangkok.
He is accused of corruption by the military junta that kicked him out in a coup last year and is scared to face the consequences. He is accused of denying the state billions of baht in taxes through a sale of one of his companys to a Singapore investment firm.
The Premier League has a 'fit and proper' test in place to assess people's suitability to run football clubs in England. It appears the 'test' has one question.
How much money do you have?
If the sum is big enough then everyone in England rolls over on their back and pants excitedly before saying welcome in a humiliating display of crass greed.
This is the Premier League. Sheer naked greed.
Thaksin, a man who always promoted a Thailand first policy when in power and who gave mixed messages to foreign investors is now begging for asylum in a country that was embarrassingly mesmarised by his wealth.
But while he denied asylum to thousands of poor Burmese he sees no shame in seeking it for himself.
'Face' means nothing to people like this. It's just an excuse to do anything to anyone and sod the consequences.
Do we need people like him running our football?
# posted by Me @ 5:37 AM 
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