The Beauty

*

Well these were the things, the birds in the dripping trees, the white cranes picking their way through the red water lilies, the handsome boys dancing on the stage, the nicely turned out, handsome, dark young man lounging at the door, all of it took him grasping and gasping into a skylark sky where everything was trashed, where everything that was lost, those terrible days, were just nothing, fleeting. Before the sunshine comes the rain. Before the good comes the bad. We Thais have a saying, he heard the man say, or now, lost in those labyrinthine bars, was it a woman, warning him, you have the heart, you have the heart, be careful, these things always end up crashing on stony ground. Rent boys. Charming smiles. I love you long time, cheap, cheap, the girls barked. It was the smile that did it. He smiled at him and the rest was history. Kindness, he pointed at the word in the dictionary; pleasing, pleasant, happy; an entirely different set of words to only a few weeks ago, moody, treacherous, untrustworthy, disturbing, conflicted, so he pointed at the sky and nestled into his stomach and the words came easily: bad times are good because they are always followed by good times. Before the rain comes the sun, before the sun comes the rain. Everything is fleeting. Let go of all attachment.

He had entered a hyper-real state; just approaching the meditation site was enough to change his consciousness; and the deep overlaying greens of Limpini Park, the birds bending the bows, the branches of the trees, the woman with her plastic legs; off today for the ostentatious purpose of begging; he almost put money in her cup to see what it felt like, so fascinated by her had he become; but that gesture could wait. He had been kind enough; contributed to the local economy more than was sensible, or more to the point, sane. He couldn't see how it could last forever; he dreaded the dark, he dreaded a time when he wandered down ancient country roads with nowhere to sleep, no possessions, nothing left, no ability to string together a sentence, to access an internet cafe, to wash himself, to know where he was. Wandering, wandering. Beyond the border of the real, most certainly, but beyond many another fragile line; the days when luxurious apartments in Bangkok and a handsome, affectionate lad in his bed were distant memories because he had chosen an unsustainable lifestyle. I worry about that, too, Alex said, clutching the galleys of his latest manuscript, ready to plaster the future against fate. I worry that my fabulous life will somehow end. Then I realised, there will never be enough money; there is only today, we can only be happy today. The Dalai Lama was once asked what was the happiest time of his life; he looked at the interviewer, thought for a moment and replied: "Now."

"My first book, Rainbow Boys, made a sensation and none of the subsequent ones have even come close," Alex told them in the canteen at Saint Louis Hospital. Perhaps this one, to be released in spring, Boyfriends With Girlfriends, would prove the circuit breaker, designed to sell by the bucket load. Every now and then, ecstatic moments, in the boat cruising the river, looking at the fireflies, showing the tourists everything there was to see, red light districts during the day, seaside resorts out of season, everything out of phase, everything draped with an astonishing beauty, he couldn't be here, he couldn't be now, pissing on the day, head in the past, worried about the future, so he determined, then and now, in the park with the birds bending the trees as the skies broke and the rain poured down, enjoy the day, enjoy the boy, enjoy the affection paid for or not, I love you, sure, sure, a practical love, you take good care of me, I take good care of you, I can show you off to all the other boys who didn't get customers for the night, who dance till dawn and fall in love with each other, boyfriend, boyfriend, it was pointed out as that astonishing thing; two of them in love with each other, was shared about amidst the thumping music and the provocative poses. If only it would never end.

The channels were well worn. The sci fi fantasies which had occupied so much of his life had run fleeting into a different plane, because nothing could replace the astonishing beauty and complexity of the present moment, the searing, soaring skyscrapers that greeted them as they exited the upmarket condo, good John, good, the boy would say, pointing up at the curling, blissful sweeps of modern architecture, the lights shining off the liquid blue glass as everything reached upwards, upwards into the boiling sky; nothing could be more ecstatic than God, the Buddha, the blessed spirits, prickling through the fabric of everything. Their hands touched briefly as they waited for the inevitable taxi. Happy together, happy to be together. He didn't care at heart what the arrangement was; he wasn't going to pay any attention to anyone. F... people, as Peter kept repeating, now occupying the spare room the boy had been systematically, at first tentatively, colonising ever since he had first arrived; hardly daring to believe there was so much space in the middle of Bangkok. And on the roof he swam his laps, surrounded all around by the skyscrapers he loved so much, even the sight, so blissful, over the weekend of the handsome man lounging on the roof of one of the neighbouring apartment blocks, his girlfriend stroking his head in her lap, lounging blissfully as they stretched together; for the Buddha had provided everything, the beauty, the indulgences of the flesh, the happiness in each other, these remarkable moments when desire was so evident. The beauty, as the boys would say, the beauty.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/rudd-destroyed-labor-in-wa-alp-source-20100705-zw0x.html

Kevin Rudd destroyed the Labor brand in Western Australia, a senior ALP source says, and the party "suffered enormously" under his leadership.

The latest Newspoll in WA, taken during the height of the war over the government's now dumped resources super profits tax, revealed that the state's Labor party slumped from 37 per cent of the primary vote to 32 per cent.

In the preferred premier stakes, Labor leader Eric Ripper has struggled to make any inroads, trailing Premier Colin Barnett by 60 per cent to 19 per cent, according to the Newspoll published in the Australian on Monday.

A senior Labor Party source said the poll reflected the damage that had been done federally and Mr Rudd's handling of the mining tax feud.

"The feds have been bleeding into us," the source told AAP on Monday.

"Our brand has suffered enormously from Kevin Rudd's prime ministership and the fact he could get us down to 26 per cent of the primary vote federally - of course it's going to have an impact."

The source said Mr Rudd's friendly relationship with Mr Barnett also enabled the premier to exploit that friendship for the government's own political gain.

"Colin Barnett took a baseball bat to Kevin Rudd and that helps. We're in WA; you attack Canberra and it helps your approval rating," he said.

"Rudd destroyed our brand and boosted Colin Barnett all at the same time.

"I'm surprised that the Newspoll isn't worse to be honest."

Despite Mr Ripper's preferred premier rating sitting at 19 and his net approval rating at minus eight, the opposition is in no rush to seek an alternative leader.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/thailand-facing-nervous-wait-until-election/story-e6frg6zo-1225888206760

THE fragile peace may not last until the poll.

THERE is one central question in Thailand today. Can the nation, and specifically the capital, Bangkok, get through to an election, probably in about 12 months' time, without another outbreak of serious violence?

The betting is no more optimistic than 50/50.

In April and May of this year Bangkok was convulsed by demonstrations, led by the Red Shirts - supporters of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2007. Clearing these demonstrators ultimately cost 90 lives and 1400 were injured.

The Red Shirts wanted the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajiva to immediately resign and face new elections. Abhisit offered early elections as soon as November this year, more than 12 months before they are due, but negotiations for a compromise broke down. A faction of the Red Shirts became violent and used lethal weapons and forced the military intervention to clear Bangkok's streets. Since then much of the country has been subject to emergency decree which limits the rights of protest. By-elections will be held later this month and these will give an important indication on whether the opposing sides will fight each other peacefully at the ballot box, or engage in more violent confrontations.

Having just spent some time in Thailand, and having talked to as many people as I could, I think it's clear that most Thais now are genuinely sick of violence and were shocked by the deaths in March and April.

This gives a real chance for non-violence holding. Elections are not that far away. People will have a chance to peacefully vent their anger at any government or politician they don't like.

Perhaps even more important than this strategic mood are a series of tactical factors. The Red Shirt leaders are mostly in jail. The most violent leaders of the most violent faction are dead. The Thai police and intelligence services are much more tuned into any signal of a big operation coming along from the Red Shirts.

The violence of March and April has also given the security services a kind of mandate. They won't let demonstrations get so big and they won't let them dominate the centre of Bangkok for months on end.

As well, the Abhisit government has an extensive program of welfare measures for the poor. It recently raised the age for free schooling from 12 to 15 - perhaps the single most important pro-poor move any government could make. .

The government is also looking at free public transport entitlements for poor families. In fact it is basically looking at any measure it can adopt to give money to poor people to prevent them rioting.

Abhisit's government has also set up a slew of commissions to try to make Thai politics fairer, for example by making it harder to have politicians and political parties struck out by the courts. There's some irony in this because such measures were previously seen as one effective way of battling corruption.

So that is the case for optimism - people are sick of conflict, the election is coming, the police are on the job, the government is doing its best.

It's a substantial case.

But the case for pessimism is also substantial. The anger against the government in the northeast is still very severe. They have three grievances. They still feel they have not had their fair share of benefit from Thailand's decades of strong economic growth. They still like Thaksin. And they are angry that the Red Shirts have gone to jail while the Yellow Shirts have not.

This anger is so great that it is unlikely that many members of the Thai government could travel safely to the northeast of their own country.

Floating markets, Ratchuburi, Thailand.