Forgive Australia's Tony Abbott, but don't forget
Following last week's bomb at Erawan shrine, Tony Abbott responded, "Australians should continue to go to Thailand, because the object of people who let off bombs in crowded cities is to scare us from being ourselves".
We gave Abbott the thumps-up. We fawned all over him. We gullibly believed he stood up for us. One correspondent blurted out, “Whoa! I love Australia even more!”
What Abbott meant was that Australians won’t cower in their closets just because of the bomb and that they will go out and have fun whenever and wherever they want. It was his way of strengthening the national resolve to combat terrorism. His message to terrorists was, “We are not scared of you”.
Thailand’s name was mentioned because the bomb happened to happen in Thailand.
We seem to forget that after last year’s coup, Australia downgraded its military ties with Thailand and imposed visa restrictions on our senior generals. That was a slap in the face! Forgive, but don’t forget.
Somsak Pola
Bangkok
