Royal chaos in Thailand and trafficking tragedy in Vietnam

Hello friends!

I have been struggling in this record-setting heat in Bali for the last week. It’s been an absolute dream to join the gang at Ubud Writers this year, I’ve learnt so much and met so many people! I’m drafting up a reading list to send out in the coming days for what I spent all week obsessing over (and explaining away why there’s been no regular blast!).

I’ve been unusually disconnected during the festival, so rather than try to scrape together and catch up instead I think we’re best off looking properly at the two biggest stories in the region. First, though, Indonesia!

Big news with the inauguration of Joko Widodo for his second and final term and the naming of the cabinet. Obviously, it’s the Prabowo Subianto, his former challenger in the race to president, news which has stunned but there’s a lot more to it. I laid out some immediate thoughts in my weekly column at the Diplomat. I also really enjoyed this one from friend of the letter Liam Gammon which is very handy for the religious ministry and NasDem takes, two angles which have been largely overlooked. And keep an ear out for the next Indonesia dan Lain-Lain podcast, I suspect co-host Hayat is going to have some very insightful context to share. 

I’ve opened this up to all subscribers this week because the background and context for the Vietnam-UK story should be read by as many people as possible. Please forward this on to any friends who may be interested, who can sign up for $6 a month or $60 for the whole year:

But we’ll leave Indonesia there for this week and jump straight to Thailand and the emerging horror in Vietnam.

See you very shortly,Erin Cook

🇹🇭 A week is a long time in Thailand

You’d be hard placed to have missed the royal drama of Thailand over the last week and a bit, but I think it’s hard to really contextualise what it means. As we know, it’s often really difficult to get into the royal family given how tight lese majeste laws are but there have been some really excellent explainers and reporting from journalists and sources outside of the kingdom. 

Last Monday, Thailand and watchers were stunned with the booting of the first royal consort the monarchy has seen in nearly a century. Sineenat Wongvajirabhakdi, 34, had been named consort to King Maha Vajiralongkorn back in July. Her title meant that she was formally recognised as an ‘official companion’ of the king but not on the same level as wife Queen Suthida. While this happened in July, SCMP notes that Sineenat is not a new figure and has been spotted with the King for a while now. Sineenat had previously been in a military nurse, before stints as a pilot and eventually in the king’s royal guard. 

What went so horribly wrong for her? A heavy-handed Royal Gazette, so widely viewed it reportedly briefly crashed the website, she was accused of a string of offences including trying to undermine the monarchy, the country and attempting to prevent Queen Suthida from being coronated. This really excellent read from the Times (I knew it was going to be so good I signed up for the paywall) says many of the problems are believed to have existed prior to Sineenat’s naming in July and the historical titles were hoped to chill her out somewhat. 

She was followed out the door Wednesday by six senior officials booted for similar offences. “They have severely breached disciplinary conduct for their evil actions by exploiting their official positions for their own or other people’s gain,” the gazette said of the group, which includes a nurse and a vet. 

One thing I’ve really been interested in all the reporting is the brief asides in how Thais have learnt how to read into royal gazettes to parse the true message. It’s a hard thing to report on, but I’d love to read a longer piece on what symbolism or wording is identified, how one’s political leanings change the message from the tea leaves and the process of learning how to do it. Bangkok flight alerts time! 

What The Ouster Of The Royal Consort May Say About Where Thailand Is Heading (NPR) 

🇻🇳 Vietnam’s horror show 

The suffocation deaths of 39 people whose remains were found packed into the back of a truck in the UK last Wednesday is one of the most revolting and saddening things we’ve covered here in the newsletter, I think. Initially, it was believed most of the victims were Mainland Chinese being smuggled into the UK before it very slowly began emerging that they were probably Vietnamese nationals. Maurice Robinson will face 39 ‘counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.’

In the days since two stories are coming through. The first is the horrible process of identifying victims and notifying their families. The second is: what is going on in Vietnam that the economic fairytale is clearly not reaching the lives of normal everyday people and so many are still willing to take dangerous routes for the promise of a better life. As this is still breaking we’ll focus primarily on the second angle since I don’t want to blast out a whole bunch of information which is still incomplete. 

That said, please do read this on Pham Thi Tra My, whose family believe she is one of the dead following devastating text messages sent by her from the truck. "The smugglers said that this was a ... safe route, that people would go by airplane, car ... if I had known she would go by this route, I would not have let her go," her father told CNN.

Migration is not created equally. One path for wealthier migrants is known as the VIP package and can cost upwards of US$50,000. For that massive fee, migrants are provided with a passport, travel arrangements and even a migration lawyer. Typically, those who take on the package are flown into the UK via Europe, rather than the ‘overland’ missions such as this tragedy. 

Trafficking experts are, sadly, not surprised. They say the sector has been sounding the alarm for years that young people from Vietnam are being specifically targeted. Young men and boys are often forced to work on cannabis farms, while women and girls are put to work in nail salons. Both are subject to sexual exploitation and forced prostitution. This from the Guardian is essential reading, I think. 

Young Vietnamese would-be workers are at high risk due to a lack of jobs at home, BBC reports, with an overwhelming majority of UK-based Vietnamese workers coming from a handful of provinces. This report includes a frightening figure showing that around 18,000 Vietnamese are smuggled in Europe annually, with under 1,000 a year going to the US. The UK is believed to be the most lucrative spot for workers. 

Vietnamese migrants face treacherous journey on the way to UK (The Guardian)