Last week in parliament, MP Chuvit Kamolvisit showed a video of an illegal gambling den and accomplished several important things in the process. 1.) He interrupted Ministry of Interior Chalerm Yubamrung calls for a global lese majeste crusade for a full five seconds. 2.) The casino had to pack up and go. 3.) A few top cops actually got suspended.In India, that poor man had to stop eating for two full weeks before his government would promise to just look into his country’s rampant corruption. Here too, we hoped Chuvit would either fast for two days, shave his mustache in protest, or run naked through parliament, frothing at the mouth (the lowest odds). But it turned out he had a much more powerful trick up his sleeve: a mobile audio video recording device.Some of these gizmos are so small, they can even be integrated into a mobile phone. Why this could revolutionize how crime and corruption are uncovered! Excited by the success of Chuvit’s sting operation, leading Thai newspapers and TV news programs told us they would look into the exciting new technology. “We’re used to reporting what we’re told by the police,” one senior editor said. “How is this whole undercover thing going to work? Will we get free drinks at these casinos for giving them publicity? But if we’re undercover, how will they know we shouldn’t pay for putting our car keys and house deeds on red?”“It’s scary. It means that rather than everyone just talking about this stuff everyone already knows, all of a sudden, everyone seems to be freaking out because it’s on video,” one young reporter told us. “I did post a video of my cat on Youtube once, though no comment from Chalerm yet. This new media stuff is changing the rules of the game so fast I’m not sure we can cope.”What’s really exciting is that even citizen journalists can now take the law into their own hands by sending in their own videos. If you have any clips of yourself gambling (with cops), snorting crystal meth (with cops), building a resort on a national park (with cops) or having a foursome in that illegal resort while snorting ice and playing mahjong (with cops), send them all to Chuvit, who will promptly pass them to Chalerm. Together we can!
Issue Date:
Sep 1 2011 - 11:00pm
Topics:
city living