Really good interview today in The Nation with professor of law Stephen Young who came to Thailand in 1961 with his father the American Ambassador, studying at the same school I went to – the International School Bangkok-  and  later  volunteered  in the Vietnam War where he met his wife and helped with the resettlement of Vietnamese refugees after the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975 (the year after my family left Thailand).

Much of the interview is about his perspective on the recent Red Shirt / Yellow Shirt divide, how it is covered in the international press and his very negative opinion of the deposed Prime Minister,  Thaksin Shinawatra.

I have a feeling that there’s something special to us, to our family, my father, my mother, or myself, my brother, my sister about Thailand. We care about Thailand. My dad was close to His Majesty, close to [ex-PM Field Marshal] Sarit [Thanarat], and in 1961 there was this [big] gap between the Bangkok elite and the rural poor, a real gap. So, today, 2009, when I hear the red shirts say there’s a gap between Bangkok and ban nok [upcountry], I think it’s ridiculous. Today, there’s a gap, but in 1961 it was much bigger…

…I just went back to Ban Chiang. When I went there 43 years ago, there was no electricity, no flush toilet, and if you needed hot water, you had to boil it. Chicken was too expensive. You had to eat little fish from the pond. Today there’s electricity, flush toilets, hot water and ATM machines. Most of the houses have Internet…

…Thaksin has divided the Thai people and this is sad. The Thai people should not be so divided and angry. Even my family friends, the family is divided. Some of the brothers and sisters are yellow, and some are red. And around the dinner table, they argue and get angry. So I think … sabai … where did it go?…

…Rural people in their communities have always had their patrons. They can always have some influence in this group and that group. I have my view, my patron. I look up to you, you take care of me. You are at the provincial level and you reach the Bangkok level, so I can get it to the Bangkok level only through you. This has been true for a long time”

From National divide mystifies an old friend of Thailand – The Nation

The whole interview is worth checking out along with the negative comments about Young from Thaksin supporters on New Mandala where Young is referred to by someone as a “Royalist Twaddle.”