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发表于 2011-7-6 11:24:59
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英语版,大家自个对着看吧。
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VOX POPULI: Yingluck must show wisdom, strength to reunite Thailand
Politicians who fall from power often leave behind thought-provoking comments. Five years ago, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a coup that took place while he was visiting the United States. "I came here as prime minister," he said upon exiting New York, "but leave as an unemployed man."
Currently, he lives in exile in a foreign country. In the Thai general elections, an opposition party led by his younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, a candidate for prime minister, secured the majority of seats. Perhaps one may say she gained a measure of revenge on those who had ousted her brother. But will Thailand's first female prime minister be able to overcome the criticism that she is merely her "big brother's puppet?"
Civil unrest between people in red shirts and those in yellow ones is still fresh in our minds. Protesters disrupted international conferences and occupied airports. In a bloody clash with security forces in April 2010, Japanese journalist Hiroyuki Muramoto was killed while photographing the protests. Conflict between the pro-Thaksin reds and the anti-Thaksin yellows, which split the nation in two, continues to rock the "land of smiles."
Thaksin was convicted of corruption. Although he was a billionaire, he was also generous to the poor. He is immensely popular, but is loathed at the same time. While his sister is calling for "national reconciliation," the rift between the reds and the yellows remains deep. It is not easy for the two sides to put behind their differences and blend with each other to make the color orange.
A writer of this column once cited how Thai monks explain the difference between hell and paradise. Both offer delicious food with chopsticks that are longer than the arm. In hell, when people try to feed themselves, they cannot eat the food because the chopsticks are too long, and they end up fighting.
In paradise, people use their own chopsticks to feed others. Since everyone does so, all the people can eat plenty of food. Can the Thais count on their new prime minister to demonstrate wisdom and competence to realize reconciliation?
--The Asahi Shimbun, July 5 |
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