Friendly Thai Soldiers Spread Out Over Bangkok

Thai solider patrolling at the Chitlom Skytrain station.

Bangkok, Thailand. September 8, 2010. The state of emergency, which was declared five months ago at the beginning of the riots and arson which destroyed lives and property in Bangkok, continues in Bangkok and a few other provinces. Whether it should be prolonged further is a political issue because the riots and arson ended on May 20, and the red shirt mobs causing the violence have been disbanded. However, two bomb attacks in central Bangkok within the last 10 days, have given support to the government’s decision to keep the emergency decree in effect in Bangkok.

After last week’s bomb explosions, the government said it would keep 464 Bangkok locations under 24-hour military surveillance. By this past Saturday, armed individual soldiers or small groups of soldiers, had fanned out over the capital, and can now be seen at Skytrain stations, malls, and public buildings. As currently deployed, the soldiers cannot provide any real security, but they serve as a reminder that the calm in Bangkok may only be a surface calm and that the red shirt terrorist elements are ready to resume their violence when and if they regain the strength and resources to do so.

I was at the Skytrain station at Chitlom on Sunday with my personal trainer, and I saw a lone soldier in full battle gear. I ask his permission to take his picture, which he readily granted with a smile. Seeing this, my personal trainer, Nat, thought he would like to have a picture also, and I took his picture with the soldier. Both seemed happy. In an effort to prolong what had now become a little party affair, I asked the soldier if I could have my picture taken with him. He agreed. It was a nice little incident and we all parted friends.