An annual sacred ritual produced conflicting omens yesterday for Thailand, mired in a deep political and constitutional crisis.
A royal astrologer and a group of civil servants wearing traditional red and white costumes solemnly marched behind the oxen as they plowed a symbolic furrow in the dusty ground below the gilded rooftops of Bangkok's Grand Palace in an ancient ritual broadcast on national television
The beasts were then offered seven platters of food on banana leaves to select from: rice, maize, green beans, sesame seeds, alcohol, water and grass, while officials spread seeds to mark the start of the farming season.
PHOTO: EPA
"The oxen ate grass and drank water, which means that this year the water will be sufficient, and food, vegetables and crops will be plentiful," Sithiporn Chiraphan, an Agriculture Ministry official, quoted the astrologer as saying.
WRONG CLOTH
But the senior Agriculture Ministry official leading the ceremony, offered a choice of three pieces of cloth to wear, chose one signifying inadequate rain and a bumpy crop year for the world's biggest exporter of rice, rubber and tapioca.
The omens are not always accurate, however. In the previous two years, they foretold abundant rains and healthy crops. The country's prime industrial zone had its worst drought in years and southern coastal areas had worse than usual floods.
Private astrologers interpreted the omens from yesterday's ceremony, which marks the end of the dry season and was overseen by Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, as signifying a roller-coaster year in politics.
POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS
"There will be battles and chaos in the country," said Pinyo Pong-charoen, head of the international Astrological Association.
That would surprise nobody in Thailand, where a Bangkok street campaign against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra set off months of political turmoil.
Thaksin countered it by calling a snap general election which he expected to demonstrate his overwhelming popularity in the countryside to the metropolitan middle classes who accused him of corruption and abuse of power, charges he denies.
The plan backfired when a boycott of the April 2 election by the three main opposition parties left seats in parliament unfilled and the legislature unable to convene to form a new government and a top court declared the poll unlawful.
Still, at least one fortune teller believed the choice of grass by the oxen was good news for Thaksin in the re-run election on a date still to be determined.
GRASSROOTS BOOST
Retired Police Colonel Attaviroj Sritula said it meant the grassroots voter would get more attention in the new poll and Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais love Thais) party would win again.
"But my personal advice to Thaksin is he should step aside and let someone else in the party be prime minister," said Attaviroj, who failed to win a Senate seat in last month's polls.
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that it might take until September to unravel the constitutional hurdles to installing a new government.
That forecast was in line with the reading of the stars by Kengkard Jongjaiprah, who said stability would return in October when Jupiter, which represents Thailand, moves into an auspicious location.
"Jupiter is moving backward now, but it will move to an auspicious spot from October," the astrologer said.
DEATH CONSTANTLY LOOMING: Decades of detention took a major toll on Iwao Hakamada’s mental health, his lawyers describing him as ‘living in a world of fantasy’ A Japanese man wrongly convicted of murder who was the world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been awarded US$1.44 million in compensation, an official said yesterday. The payout represents ￥12,500 (US$83) for each day of the more than four decades that Iwao Hakamada spent in detention, most of it on death row when each day could have been his last. It is a record for compensation of this kind, Japanese media said. The former boxer, now 89, was exonerated last year of a 1966 quadruple murder after a tireless campaign by his sister and others. The case sparked scrutiny of the justice system in
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
‘HUMAN NEGLIGENCE’: The fire is believed to have been caused by someone who was visiting an ancestral grave and accidentally started the blaze, the acting president said Deadly wildfires in South Korea worsened overnight, officials said yesterday, as dry, windy weather hampered efforts to contain one of the nation’s worst-ever fire outbreaks. More than a dozen different blazes broke out over the weekend, with Acting South Korean Interior and Safety Minister Ko Ki-dong reporting thousands of hectares burned and four people killed. “The wildfires have so far affected about 14,694 hectares, with damage continuing to grow,” Ko said. The extent of damage would make the fires collectively the third-largest in South Korea’s history. The largest was an April 2000 blaze that scorched 23,913 hectares across the east coast. More than 3,000
RSS