Status Quo

Lyrics by Khun Opas; Music by Faiyen
Arranged by Port, Jom, Khoontong (of the band Faiyen)

This song is on Faiyen’s new album บทเพลงของมิตรสหายท่านหนึ่ง ภาค 1 (“Songs from One of Our Comrades, Part 1”), released June 19, 2016, which is available at Bandcamp. CLICK HERE to purchase the album or individual songs.

No translation needed on this one. It’s in English and the Karaoke words are on the video. The man in the video is Opas Chansuksai, 68 years old and in poor health, who got 3 years in prison, reduced to a year and a half, for scribbling some graffiti on a bathroom stall at a shopping mall. He reportedly wrote [in Thai]:

“The comedian government that robbed the nation, led by f**king Prayuth. They have issued ridiculous policies of amature comedians. Their main job is to use the monarchy (The uncle [a censored physical description]). Their main weapon is the Article 112. You [***] I’m sick of seeing your face everyday. It tells me that you are near the end because of the looming internal conflict.”

When he had served most of the time, the authorities threatened to prosecute him for a second message he written on the same day as the first message. The lyrics of this song were written (in English) by Khun Opas from prison.