Mabon 2012

My Lord and Lady,

I give thanks for the blessings of bounty this harvest has delivered.
I give gratitude for what I have,
I give willingly to those who do not have,

Give blessings for the nurturing of the fields,
for the sun the sky and replenishing forces,

I give my thoughts to this time of rest
in the sacred hours of the Crone,
In the coming of the great sleep,
I embrace the darkness that will fall on Earth
for these coming months,
I sleep in your womb, my soul rests in its earth
in its prayers I am still and casting off the decaying
and from me comes the germ of renewal and hope
come the spring.

May this time bring healing in the stillness
May this time bring contemplation,
May this time bring courage within the dark
and hope for the coming light.

Pagan names and pagan things...

I was given the name of Bran Morgan Rowan by my pagan and Wiccan friends. I practice Seax Wicca and my friends deemed my Cham Khmer Muslim name did not represent what I stand for in a spiritual sense. I may set up a pagan blog under that name, but I am loathed to have a name for every occassion although anyone who knows Cambodians know we often go under many names. Yes my kids think it is funny that a 60 year old Khmer has moved into new age western spirituality and that I run counter to the notion of the western pack packer who finds spiritual enlightenment on some beach in Thailand. When I collect some of my pagan thoughts I will post them on here. Right now, although not very deep, I have to chase up Amazon to find out why the rock crystal I ordered for healing last week has still not arrived. My son jibed 'they are meditating it to fly to you'...I just guess the mail has let it down!....

Who is he ?

My apologies to a woman called Essie on here who's blog I have been on and off all morning, she will wonder who the hell this man is and why he keeps bobbing up like a cork in an ocean!

Exporting murder

I have been reading about the deportations of Cambodians from the US, who are deemed criminal aliens and were made eligible for deportation ten years ago when Cambodia agreed to US terms on their return. There are too many cases to go into and I can see why Americans are right to want violent murderers and gangsters off their soil....but as a whole the US policy is so hypocritical if you consider what the US did in my country. Firstly the napalm raids, one of which almost burned me to death in 1968, the Operation Menu bombings that killed my first wife Aung in 1972, the open support and financing of the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s and 1990s with some of the world's worst killers being courted by Regan and Bush senior. So it is more than ironic to think of how America wants the 'worst' of Cambodia off its soil yet did the worst things anyone could do to my country. oh why did the US not keep their killers out of our skies? Why did they not keep Kissinger (the Nobel peace prize winner lol) away from us, why burn bomb maim violate and torture my people then rail that a few Khmer hooligans have upset your balance? If there were not so many lives lost and not so much tragedy in all of this, the whole hypocrisy would be laughable....sadly it is a sorry tale of tears....

Before you ink....try to think

Lonan ditcher is 32 years old. An intelligent fun loving young man who has suffered ill health on and off for several years, fighting Aplastic Anaemia. AA is a life threatening condition requiring extensive therapy such as AGT plus Cyclosporine or bone marrow transplant. However it is treated it is a long and gruelling journey. Lonan has been forever optimistic in the face of this monster. He is a father, a son, a brother a friend. I wish him a long and happy life but know there is a chance I might not get that wish. Something happened a week or so back to really shatter Lonan's peace. Just a comment on Facebook regarding government back to work plans for the sick and disabled. These measures have been widely attacked for the devastating effect they have had on the most vulnerable people in society. Suicides are being reported by people desperately afraid they cannot cope with work, people with mental illness. Reports suggest those with terminal cancer will be made to work if they have more than six months to live and already bosses are being inconvenienced with employees who were too sick to be back in work. What does this mean for Lonan?....nothing, he works right now so this is not an issue for him personally but he knows he needs measures in place for if he cannot work. Lonan mentioned on the Daily Mail Facebook page that he thought disabled and sick people needed their rights protecting and the scapegoating had to stop. He was subject to abuse that I would equal in it's unpleasant nature to the Francis Muamba race abuse tweets. Lonan was told he was a mother fucking troll who if he was well enough to be online he was well enough to work, he was called left wing scum,then suffered abuse from another poster who only backed away when another commentator produced articles to back up Lonan's concerns. But for the night the damage was done and Lonan went into melt down, no doubt the afternoon's events had been the emotional tipping point for a man worried often that he will not see his son reach his fifth birthday. Lonan was actually in a more favourable position than he had been at previous checks. I pray next checks will yield better results. But Lonan who has studied culture across the Himalayas told me he was packing up and going to the place he had been happiest, Bhutan. As lovely as that country is, with it's soaring altitude it is no place for a man who's anaemi has also weakened his heart. So I was very scared. I am good with written words but not face to face. Lonan told me he was sick of the hate. Sick of always fighting someone's hate. He is of part Khmer part Irish Traveller heritage. He has experienced his share of prejudice and that night it was too much. I asked him what he would do in Bhutan and he told me he would probably die happy ...in the land of gross national happiness. All reason for a few hours was out of the window. I wonder had he gone to the airport would have he sulked petulantly before calming down and coming home. What if he had got a flight some place? He seemed intent on being anywhere but here. Morning came...he felt better but frightened me saying he had worked himself into chest pains. They passed and I made sure he was checked over. He was upset to ever think he could have left all his loved ones behind. I told him men have said and done much worse in the heat of the moment. He is a composed and calm man. He has had to be. But the lesson of the night is still fresh in my mind. As I said the comments were equally as cruel as the race hate tweets sent by Liam Stacey regarding the heart attack of Muamba. Unlike Stacey who got 56 days in prison, there is nothing done About those who use disability and illness as a thing to hate people for. At least I do not think there is as I live in the UK and yet to see those who mock the sick, taken to task. If they have been I would love to know. I am angry at the blatant contempt the British government shows the sick and disabled and disappointed at how some in society happily mock the sick. But this is only one reason to write this post. As much as I love social media and know too well we do not live in an age of tepid innocence, I do think it is time for respect online. I have written this post because I think people should see how their comments react upon people they will never see behind the screen. That person who is easy to mock may be going through hell. If you do not like their comments you can respectfully offer an alternate view. If you only wish to hurt someone, think twice. You may never know what being a Prijk can do to someone.

Akong...

Looking on the Free Somyot Facebook page this Wednesday I was so saddened by the death of Ampon Tangnoppakul, the 62 year old grandfather jailed for 20 years in Thailand on questionable Lese Mageste charges in November 2011. His case had been a footnote in the west to the story behind the lese Mageste jailing of Thai-American businessman Joe Gordon but soon became a massive story unfolding the full horror of lese mageste law abuse in Thailand. Unlike Gordon who's two year sentence was so much shorter than Ampon's, it seemed the grandfather who became a national symbol of stifled democracy in Thailand, was doomed from the start. Already in poor health, both physically and psychologically under the duress of the imprisonment and separation from his beloved family, Ampon's health could not hold out long enough in time for him to receive a royal pardon. He has been reported of dying from liver cancer. May I add wilful neglect that would at least amount to Manslaughter charges in most democracies. Ampon had seen the pardon as the more reliable choice dropping his appeal. He was old, infirmed and wished to be with his family. Earlier in the year the Chinese Thai man had suffered the death of his mother. Unable to attend her funeral, it may appear his will was completely broken at that point. Last week despite pleas for medical attention for severe stomach pain he was not taken to a clinic until his situation was desperate. This week died in custody at a squalid correctional infirmary. Alone, denied the love of his family even in his last hours. His wife, Rosmalin not even aware he was dead until she arrived at the prison. Now the questions begin. Lawyer Robert Amsterdam who has been fighting for lese Mageste hostages is no stranger to medical neglect being used as an assassination tool. In 2008 he raised to chilling story of Russian Yukos executive Vasily Aleksanyan who was dying in prison, on remand at Matroyyska Tishina, the notorious Russian sailors jail. Amsterdam had met Ampon and was convinced the elderly poorly educated man with failing eyesight would not have sent four defamatory texts to an Abhist official, regarding the royals to a government minister during the Red Shirt demonstrations of 2010. I am sure Amsterdam must be deeply affected by the death of Akong, the ghost of Aleksanyan has come back in sunnier climbes. What happens now? Already questions raised over autopsy of Ampon ordered to quell suspicion he was murdered. If he did die of natural cause the fact this sick man requested bail to get medical attention and was denied access to medical care only serves to state the obvious...murder by wilful neglect. Part of me thinks the Thai government must have known the death of such a tragic lese Mageste hostage would have put them in appalling light around the international community. Even Aleksanyan was released to die at home, although one could argue not the same was done for other Putin victim, Sergie Magnitsky. With the trial of labour campaigner and Voice of Thaksin magazine figurehead Somyot Pruksakasemuk under way and tensions simmering in the land of smiles and tears, Ampon's death presents a level of collateral damage to the Thai government and Royalty comparable to the death of Diana Princess of Wales in the UK. But already the die hard royalist fanatics are saying Ampon's death serves as karmic justice for his supposed insult to the royals in superstitious fervour as paranoid as Sarah Pailin's ramblings on Julian Assange. Was Ampon allowed to die to serve the Thai public with a superstitious warning as to what happens to those who defame the father of the nation? Despite King Bhumipol's demands to be subject to critics like other monarchs, the Thai King is seen as a Demi God who has steered Thailand safely through the political storms that have engulfed other south east Asian countries like neighbouring Cambodia and Burma. Indeed Thailand was seen as the most open and democratic country in the region, much loved by western travellers. Only drug smugglers had need to fear Thai justice. But the red/ yellow shirt wars have changed all this. Lese mageste, a law not seen implemented in the UK since 1715 has become a buzzword of oppression. Open debate on the monarchy is almost impossible with even academics such as Somsak Jeamteerasakul becoming targets of those with agendas to set. Facebook postings to comments in the street are enough to see you jailed for decades, unless you are lukcy enough to be granted royal pardon. Perhaps it is a self-condemnatory remark that the EU observes these arrests with 'deep concern' the usual consiliaritary League of Nations approach to post Iraq Invasion politics. In the UK a few brave MPs have spoken out, notably Tom Watson who has called for an EDM to take Thailand to task following the detention of Prachati editor Chiranuch Premchiaporn. But this has not been a one sided fault finding. Indeed all sides have been blamed for Amphon's death, red shirts who have shown images of his dead body and wished to display it outside the courts have been branded shameless attention seekers. Yellow shirts and royalists have been seen as accomplices in his murder. Some critics of Ampon have raised questions about exactly what was in the SMS texts. Under lese mageste law, courts are restricted from repeating what was in the messages. They may have been cheeky acts of bravado, but some have noted they could have been sinister threats of terrorism. I would have thought however, Ampon would have been charged for such crimes on top of lese mageste if such rabid assertions had been the case.  For now and for some time to come this debate rages on. For now Amphon's old cell mates wish to perform a Chinese funeral rite in his cell, that Akong's spirit finds its way home. As his wife said outside the prison 'you can come home now'....this death has raised the bar in demands for reform of lese mageste with charges already being dropped in one case. Thailand remains though for the time being a hostage to this arcane and chilling law. Perhaps the most constrained hostage is King Bhumipol himself, how ironic the King who is seen as a demigod becomes himself a lever...a mere pawn in the games of those who wish to play the ace card in lese mageste, for Ampon himself this would be a tragic  and unforgiven Ace of Spades.



By Xan Tok, with thanks to Heather Kai for assistance.

Beautiful friends

I have heard a lot of bad things said about social media sites like Facebook and twitter over the last few years but I can only say I have met some very wonderful, intelligent and talented people over the last year.

I have learned a lot about myself as well and become more in touch with others, more open minded and I am developing a whole new set of beliefs and ideals. I am not who I was a year ago, I have new friends, some like family to me, even though I may have never met them, they reside with me in my thoughts.

I am glad I came onto Facebook, my kids think it is unusual I have such an expansive view on it. I look forward to making more friends and just enjoying the every day transience of thought and friendship.