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Published on April 9, 2008

Thailand is a big country, so while they go for political and military leaders, as well as their wives, I am happy to keep a very low profile with my rural clients. There must be a good reason, therefore, behind this petition, and that reason is that the big shots are screwing up my innovation.

You must have read about the man-and-snake marriage. This, as far as my career goes, is a masterpiece in every sense. You know, newspapers don't always pick up on what a small-town psychic like me has to say, but when I suggested that the poor lad and the weird female python were in fact a love story spanning hundreds of years, nobody could resist. In just two days, the local economy scored, and National Geographic and Discovery Channel haven't even arrived yet.

I did it without having to predict a bloody upheaval, like those heavyweights love to do when all else fails. Well, to be fair, I did indicate that the village might come under some curse if the man and the python - which had been clinging harmlessly to him - did not get married. But you have to give me credit nonetheless. I mean, if a much more famous clairvoyant told you that you were going to die and the only way to escape death was to sleep with an eight-foot python, would you follow his advice?

My point is, why steal the rare rural limelight? I should be commended for turning a female python into a goddess now feared by underground lottery bookies throughout the country. Yes, I heard about the "scam" allegations that had me conspire with the man and a few others, using a drugged snake, to draw money, but nothing can take away such an achievement from a little-known psychic.

Poor me. A very typical "bloodshed" prediction by a high-flying fortune-teller has got big notice from the man with the big nose, and everything else is history. However, though I don't like Samak Sundaravej that much, I can't blame him for this one. No matter how he reacted, the press were already sharpening their knives. He could have said "Uh, really?" instead of "Will the man [who predicted political bloodshed] hang himself if it doesn't happen?" and still have received the same media attention.

My complaint is that the top dogs' outrageous self-promotion is always at the expense of small-towners like me, and that the media are too gullible. And worse still, everyone I mention is running out of ideas. It has been either "Stars say Thaksin will return soon" or "Thaksin's astrological alignment is counter-productive". One says a constitutional amendment will spark a bloodbath, while another demands charter changes to prevent a riot.

You see what I mean? The big names have the luxury of contradicting each other or making a joke of themselves and still remaining in the business. To add insult to my injury, one of them has said - and got a lot of publicity for it - that what Samak should watch out for is not his political enemies, but his mouth. It was followed by a newspaper article admiring the prediction, which it pointed out coincided with an opinion poll favouring Samak's "straightforward" talk. Are you guys serious?

In a country where one in ten citizens can read palms or is a Taro specialist, we need to be more careful in the development of this extraordinary profession, or we will see the beginning of the end. And the media must be trained to separate bold but credible predictions from the ones that seem so but are anything but.

All I'm asking for is a little space and a bit more respect. After all, who deserves greater praise -those who take a look at Thaksin's "clout re-enhancement" rituals and thus predict bloody turmoil if the Constitution is amended to help him, or someone who has managed to look back hundreds of years and make a man agree to wed a large snake?

We need innovation to keep the profession alive. Predicting that a post-coup government full of "nominees" and planning to amend the charter for suspicious reasons will have a short life? This fits the key argument of non-believers of this precious art: fortune-tellers are simply those with expertise in making general statements look specific.

Make any politician agree to marry a frog and then we can talk.

Yours sincerely,

A rural fortune-teller concerned about our profession.  

  

tulsathit taptim

tulsathit@nationgroup.com