“Faces on Twitter” – Kaewmala (@thai_talk) by @freakingcat
Thai woman Writer, Egghead-hired Gun,
Incorrigible Teaser and Provocateur of
Thai language, Culture & Politics
An Enchantress of Words and Meaning
Capturing the Subtleness of Thai Speech & Translation
Never shy of Talk or Opinion
And Happily Married!
Kaewmala is an author, blogger, and well, twitterer. She has written a book on Thai sexuality, using words as the navigator into the Thai sexual and romantic culture. The book is called “Sex Talks: In Search of Love and Romance”. She is also a co-author of a Kindle-only book called “Sweet Talk for Thai Sweetheart” start. I have to admit, I haven’t read them yet, even they are on my “books to read” list. I have devoured her blog post about “Weird Thai Nicknames” and have followed her tweets for months.
Whatever the topic, however the discussion on twitter, if a Thai word lacks an English translation, she is one of our linguistic geniuses to be approached. Since February 2010 she is almost daily on twitter and it’s all the fault of one woman. Kaewmala told how she got into the addictive world of twitter:
If something bad ever happened to me because of twitter, there is one woman to blame. No, it’s not me (the culprit is never yourself). It’s Ms. Catherine Wentworth (@WomenLearnThai). This woman lured me to the addictive world of twitter. Just a year ago she told me, “Look, darling, it’s really great. I use it everyday and never get addicted. You’ll get a hang of it”—or something to that effect. Being a trusting, gullible me, I believed her—unreservedly. And see what happened! I “got a hang of it” a little too well (for my husband’s liking). In the early months my addiction was bad enough for my husband to impose a 10pm twitter curfew on me. (But if you searched my tweeting records you’d see that more than a couple curfews were broken.) My life has never been the same…
Seriously, I joined twitter in Feb 2010 largely because I wanted to try out how it was (after having snickered at it, until @WomenLearnThai wiped that snicker off my face). Then with the eruptions of conflict from March 2010 onwards it quickly became a very timely and stimulating channel of information to keep up with the political events, a network to connect with others and to vent politically.
Like many Thais and Ex-pats, Kaewmala was fed up with the whole unfunny political circus in Thailand. Thai mainstream media were no help, as she thinks they are unreliable source of news and information. She feels that twitter has helped her to re-energize politically and enabled her to be part of the collective political consciousness.
I asked what she thought about the role of twitter on the fragile socio-political situation in Thailand and what influence might the twitter community have on the evolving events. Her response was that twitter is “very important, very useful” to her. She further elaborates:
Keeping in mind that a lot of information on twitter is not always accurate and is rarely unbiased, twitter provides a mosaic of information, lots of information bits to sift through, to choose from, to digest, weigh and sketch your own analyses. Despite some faulty information twitter allows you to follow certain important social, political events. As to how much influence twitter community has over actual socio-political events in Thailand I don’t really know. It may help as information or movement catalyst and provides a kind of connection for the Thai intelligentsia, political activists or movements, but it’s hard to gauge the real impact it really has on society or how it changes Thai society in any significant or meaningful way. The jury is still out on that I think. Twitter community in Thailand is still quite small (compared to Indonesia for example). How it’s used is also not entirely clear.
While how twitter is used among the twitter community with interests in Thailand may not be so clear, Kaewmala’s own purposes in using twitter is bullet-pointedly clear.
She categorically uses it to:
-keep up with current events and “feel the pulse” of the nation
-meet and share with interesting people while enjoying a digital social life
-share her passion for Thai language(s)
Kaewmala doesn’t have one, nor two, but three twitter accounts! Her main one is @Thai_Talk with which she tweets mostly news and information she finds interesting, often with commentaries. She said she sparingly RT tweets that are compelling to her and worth sharing, but she doesn’t necessarily agree with what she re-tweets. She has no intention to tell the whole twitter community what she eats or wears, where she is at the moment or, if she uses the bathroom and in what way. Occasionally her dogs sneak into a tweet of hers, but personal tweets in general aren’t particularly interesting to her.
Her other two twitter accounts are language specific: @thai_idioms is for Thai idioms and slang with brief explanations, and @lanna_talk is for general vocabulary and idioms of Northern Thai dialect, her mother tongue.
Different twitter users may have different purposes and perspective on how they use this little social network tool. Some use it for personal reasons while others have a lofty goals in the collective betterment of society, to share insights, experience and wisdom with the public. Kaewmala seems to cover both. Her take on her contribution to twitterverse.
I don’t think my insights are any more valuable than others’ although, of course, I’m glad if some find them worth reading. What I am thankful for is that sometimes twitter allows me to let off some steam (albeit moderated), to share my frustration with others who understand. It’s not always comfortable or wise to share political views with friends in real life, so twitter provides an outlet to connect with the likeminded. It also allows you to see how others who don’t share your view think in small digestible bits—not too much to give you brain food poisoning.
In some very small way, I’d like to think I make my contributions to society by showing to powers-that-be that not all in Thailand’s citizenry are passive cows capable of only eating grass and regurgitating canned ideas from the official idea factory. Whether or not I and others like me are being successful at this is anyone’s guess.
Being a tweep in Thailand she is very well aware of Article 112 and thinks it would be reckless not to think before tweeting or say anything online which will stay for eternity. She believes self-censorship is necessary when tweeting on a certain topic in Thailand. She admits that she does “take care” of what she says, given the hyper-sensitivity of Thai authorities in pursuing lese majeste or computer crime offenses.
I do take care but still worry sometimes if anyone, a cyber scout or a zealous official, might take offense. It is unfortunately a real concern. Look at the steep rise in the number of LM and computer crime cases in the past year and the manner in which these laws have been used (Exhibit A: Prachatai’s Chiranuch @jiew’s case). It’d be unwise to think that nobody is watching, or that you can say whatever you want without consequences. A sad commentary on Thailand’s state of affairs.
Do I question my tweets? Yes, sometimes. I’d delete any tweet if I second-guess it.
Kaewmala loves the diversity of tweeple from different walks of life, different age groups, Thais and non-Thais. There are just too many follow-worthy tweeple for her to follow them all. She follows just over 100 people and feels bad about not following many people among her followers. When she follows someone it’s because she wants to read their tweets, but she can only handle so many tweets on her timeline. She follows a lot of people because they are good sources of news and analyses or interesting articles, others because they are witty, profound, provocative, or funny. Some of her followings are nice chat partners. She has gained some really interesting friends via twitter.
Given my selective following (her following:followers ratio is nearly 1:9) I don’t take it personally if anyone would unfollow me. I don’t think people should take it personally if someone don’t follow or unfollow them. Many people I follow don’t follow me and I don’t feel slighted in anyway if any of my followers drops me…
If someone’s tweets take up too much space on her timeline (don’t forget she is working within a tight 10 pm twitter curfew ) or if their tweets become boring, she will unfollow them. “It’s nothing personal.” And she hopes nobody she unfollowed would take it personally either.
There can be some hard-hitting debates on twitter. I asked if she has had some tough experience debating on twitter and here’s what she said.
Serious debating on twitter isn’t easy to do with the 140-character limit and potential misunderstanding from such a limit, so I don’t typically engage in lengthy debates on twitter. I mostly tweet news and commentaries on current events and there might be a few exchanges with other tweeple on the subjects but no long, drawn out discussion. Bantering is more fun for me on twitter.
Born and growing up in Northern Thailand, spending years studying and working abroad and now living happily with her husband in Bangkok, she has spent most of her adult life in a cross-cultural environment and enjoys contact with people from different cultural backgrounds. But active use of twitter can be a challenge to a happy marriage.
A few times in my early twitter career my husband teasingly mentioned ending the life of my iPhone. Luckily he didn’t put that threat into practice and he hasn’t made me choose between him and my iPhone, which makes me a very happy woman. No, I haven’t spent any nights on the sofa or been sent to the dog house. I try to be a good and functional addict by moderating my use of twitter.
Her understanding husband, who is on twitter as well, (yet she didn’t reveal his twitter id), has a very gentle way of telling her when she should consider to stop tweeting and spend quality time together. There is one rule they have both agreed to for marital happiness: Turn off the iPhone before going to bed! Kaewmala attributes their sustained happiness to her husband’s clever technique in dealing with her heavy use of twitter.
He uses positive reinforcement rather than punishment to help moderate my twitter use and it’s paid off. We sometimes discuss what we see on twitter and he’ll sometimes tell me that he likes certain tweets of mine. So, I learned to be mindful and keep twitter as a part of my daily life, not the part of it. (Maybe we should start a twitter rehab program.)
Asked if she would like to see any anyone not on twitter to be tweeting, Kaewmala said she would love to see tweets from the orange-vested motorbike taxi guys or cab drivers, noodle street vendors and especially the mor doos who advise Thai politicians. If only they would start tweeting!
Some of @thai_talk ‘s websites:
A small random excerpt of some of her tweets:
There won’t be any catfight. Restrain your fantasy, gentlemen. Women are more evolved. 
In “wallpaper” phenomenon, MPs huddling around camera focus in parliamentary debate…to show faces on TV. http://goo.gl/rzNMB
falsify = ปลอมแปลง(เอกสาร) not same as lying or giving wrong info
So Suthep goes on w/ his incredible line of untruth as if Thais were a bunch of toddlers ready to believe any crappy lies. Hmm
I think too many Thais allow & condone the lying thus far. And mainstream Thai media are the main enablers of powerful liars.
Nation says cartoon was “published erroneously…a scheduling misunderstanding”<Like cartoon would be funny at different time?!
Self-incriminating as a hot dude? I rather suspect BP fears being exposed as a hot chick.
Gawd, Thais fearing “potentially contaminated Japanese imports”?!! Try skin whitening products already on Thai women’s dressers.
So UDD webmaster got 3 yrs for posting Ji Ungpakorn’s article, but 10 yrs, we won’t know for what exactly, just that it’s lese majeste.
#Thailand where you can get away with killing, cheating, robbing on a grand scale, but can go to jail for years for speaking yr mind.
