[Two days ago I wrote a short piece below for an Op-Ed page of a U.S. newspaper, but unfortunately they couldn’t use it due to the paper lacking enough space for it still be news. So I decided to put it up on my blog.]

Cleansing the City of Angels

On a clear Sunday afternoon of 23 May 2010, four days after the anti-government rally of United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD, nicknamed “red-shirts” for the color they chose) was dramatically dispersed by the Thai Army, I went downtown to central Bangkok to witness the “Big Cleaning Day” event hosted by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

At least 1,000 volunteers showed up to help clean the streets of grime, debris, and political graffiti left behind by the thousands of protesters who turned the typically busy Ratchaprasong (literally “royal intent”) intersection into a makeshift rebel camp. Municipal water trucks slowly moved down the streets, pumping water from hoses for volunteer cleaners who scrubbed and swept the streets with passion and solidarity. The smell of detergent in the air mixed uneasily with the lingering odor of charred wreckage of Central World, one of Thailand’s glitziest shopping malls. Hundreds of people came to take photos of and with this instant ‘tourist attraction,’ including foreigners and whole families.

I counted no less than 10 pick-up trucks that slowly drove through the crowd, people in the back freely handing out bottles of water, soda, and face masks to volunteers. A couple offered me a tray full of bags of guava slices, neatly bundled with chili and sugar dip the way we like to eat it. “Take one,” they insisted, and flashed me a smile. Right then, I felt so good that, had I turn around and gone home, I might feel reassured that this political crisis is a thing of the past, swept away like grime on the streets.

If only it were that simple.