Sometimes Thailand is a little surreal.
A store at my favorite shopping mall, Terminal 21, has a hitler-esque, Ronald McDonald-like statue that people pose with, thinking it is cute. After the Israeli ambassador complained, the store owner put a mask on the statue. Now he looks like a terrorist/serial killer, hitler-esque, Ronald McDonald-like statue. You can see some pictures and commentary here.
Now it seems that poor Ronald has been made over into a buddha image and the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be investigating the statue. A Bing translation of one article says that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “will ask for complete details about it before” and “make notification to the place, knows the importance of Buddhism that is delicate, and the statue is not appropriate.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson also noted that the statues owners may not be aware of how offensive Thai Buddhists found the statue and requested “if anyone knows whether the statue is in place?” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will “coordinate to the Embassy in the country and will continue to strongly consider a quick fix.”
Somehow, I don’t think they will request a mask.
plusthailand 