Thanet

Prayuth was "elected" eh?

Interesting choice of words.

The man does get things done.

Ok, running for office with no competition kind of makes me wince, nonetheless.

Yes, the vote will certainly be unanimous.

Spoiled ballot papers/no votes not withstanding.

There seems to be a misunderstanding. Gen. Prayuth is not running for office. He may be selected / appointed.

Seems only fair. Why should another poor soul get all the nasty comments which resulted for Prayuth's coup

Semantics. Not running, may be selected.

In a dictatorship, there is no difference.

By far the worst in Thai history. Crazy money spending for military, less money for education and health. Total and absolute corruption (military officiers will not declare their assets it means they are free to steal as much as they want) .

Never before a government had done so much damage to a country like this one is doing to Thailand by totally destroying it.

Thailand spent the more money on education than any other country--population wise ??

Are you referring to quality, or quantity?

I'm sure he mean quantity, all 450 billion Baht of them, education budget that is.

So that means nothing then. Quantity in education? Quantity of what?

Educating kids to salute and grovel to the military hardly prepares Thailand for the cold and hard dynamics of supply and demand.

Hopefully the best PM this country will ever have!!

Fingers crossed.

This is Thailand's last hope for a transparent, fair and clean government. If the army fails, we're back to the clowns and the circus is back in town with its trick cyclists, shenanigans and skullduggery..

By far the worst in Thai history. Crazy money spending for military, less money for education and health. Total and absolute corruption (military officiers will not declare their assets it means they are free to steal as much as they want) .

Never before a government had done so much damage to a country like this one is doing to Thailand by totally destroying it.

Thailand spent the more money on education than any other country--population wise ??

Are you referring to quality, or quantity?

How intelligent are you lot by condoning the last 3 years with Yingluck. Conversations from your clan are a no go, one rhetoric one agenda from most, and a minority--that speaks volumes.

Basil was not just commenting on a new item, he was being sarcastic-your lots anti army style of rhetoric. Do you call his comment intelligent ??

a one liner slagging the army.

Without you apologists TVF would not miss out, Without the majority that have more open minds you lot would not have anyone to reply to.

All I say is give Prayuth a chance as we do NOT have much choice. I will resist the doom and gloom if not, every one goes down with the Thaksin Titanic. and PTP.

Yingluck this. Thaksin that, Chalerm the other.

Again and again.

Cut and paste your responses. They are all the same.

Amin, Mugabe, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot, Prayut.

The world hall of fame is never ending.

Right - and most of those started out as as self styled 'saviours'. They used a stand against corruption and repression as an excuse to snatch power.

Sarit needs to be added to the list. Prayuth's role model.

Amin, Mugabe, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot, Prayut.

The world hall of fame is never ending.

Don't forget General Aladeen

Wasn't he the one with the long beard who styled himself on Gaddafi and ended up running off with a feminist tree-hugger on a trip to the USA?

Presume there will be only one name on the ballot paper.

And is anyone saying no ?? there is no way out of this only this way. What alternative do we have??, what parties are there out there that would woo the voters, PTP never again-----Dems and the others we do not know. this is why elections are a no go at this time.

Thaiand now has to give Prayuth a chance, but all you splinter members----how about Jutaporn...Chalerm....All this sort of tribe are out to grass.

All Basil was are doing was commenting on a new item.

All you are doing is shouting over him by telling them that "this is the way it is".

Some people like to intelligently question things in the news. You are not one of these people, so why try to stop others having a discussion with these shouting posts?

Good observation.

The marketing talk assumes that repression and reconciliation are the same thing.

Old soldiers probably think that they are. Why would they know any differently?

Well I am a youngish "old soldier" and I don't think that peace, harmony and reconciliation can be achieved with a magazine of 20 rounds. Been tried umpteen times all over the world and never works,never.

What you can do with your guns is make the population do what they are told. But you can't make them think what they are told. Sooner or later, if you persist in controlling your people by threat of force enough of them will get pissed off, an then you risk being chased down the road by a gang of them waving machetes!

Old soldiers who think realise this.

Isn't it terrible from morning to night we are threatened, with army, every otherday I am escorted to Tesco with a gun at my head. I need a pass to go out of my county, For Thai people they must be terrified.

Don't flatter yourself.

Why on earth would they bother with you? Nobody cares much about old foreign geezers living in the boonies. You are hardly a threat to national security, you agree with everything they say and do, and they can boot you out at a moment's notice by raising the bar on retirement visas at their whim.

So, what would you like as interim constitution? How much time should be spent on an interim constitution? Will you accept if the NCPO takes a year to get an interim constitution together after which the NLA and NRC/CDC can get started?

Do you simple want the 'old' constitution with all the politicians again? Well, that has been ruled out. They had their chance and made a mess of it.

We'll have the CDC to either improve the 2007 constitution (even Publicus said it was faulty, based on the faulty 1997 version), or write a completely new one. Unlikely, I expect a lot to be the same, but with major safeguards to ensure peoples freedom and self-entitlement and some extras to make politicians and government more clearly accountable.

I'm not certain as to how the timeframe it took to write the interim constitution entered into the discussion, nor were any points made for returning to previous constitutions.

My observation was that the Section 44 basically invalidates the rest of the constitution because of the unlimited power it gives with absolutely no legal recourse.

Would you sign a contract that laid out terms in specific detail, but then gave the other party the ability to go back on any terms of the contract, for any reason, with no recourse on your side? I would call a contract like that dodgy. This is the contract that has been imposed on the Thai people.

Under the assumption that reforms are necessary and that the NCPO should not stay on longer than absolutely necessary for the NRC and CDC to do their work on reforms and constitution respectively (and hopefully with help rather than the obstruction displayed here by foreign specialists), this interim constitution is not a contract with the people, just a way to ensure peace while others go on with the work to be done.

The interim constitution is not a contract at all. A contract requires agreement between than just one party. Anything else is a nothing more than a diktat, and can't be described as a contract in any sense of the word.

The interim constitution is merely a façade of legitimacy to placate gullible fools, behind which a military dictatorship sits, perhaps indefinitely.

Don't you love the quoted section 19 of the interim constitution Rubl ?

I like the buz words and marketing talk. Especially the "strengthen unification and harmonization of Thai people"

Unfortunately the subjects being unified and harmonized have absolutely no say in the matter.

Good observation.

The marketing talk assumes that repression and reconciliation are the same thing.

Old soldiers probably think that they are. Why would they know any differently?

Well I am a youngish "old soldier" and I don't think that peace, harmony and reconciliation can be achieved with a magazine of 20 rounds. Been tried umpteen times all over the world and never works,never.

What you can do with your guns is make the population do what they are told. But you can't make them think what they are told. Sooner or later, if you persist in controlling your people by threat of force enough of them will get pissed off, an then you risk being chased down the road by a gang of them waving machetes!

Old soldiers who think realise this.

My apologies for the over-generalisation. There are indeed some old soldiers who think intelligently. I come from an Air Force family myself.

The old soldiers in this country could never be accused of doing that, however, looking at their track record. As you quite correctly say, reconciliation has never been achieved under the barrel of a gun. The problem is forced underground, only to resurface with renewed ferocity later on.

History shows us endless examples of this, as you know.

Oh come on now, let's not be too cynical here.

Career soldiers are paid next to nothing, and their pay scales are publicised.

Other than their meagre salaries, they don't have any assets to declare.

Why is everyone making an issue?

Why are they wearing suits and pretending to be civilians?

To give an illusion of democracy where usually there is something called "Separation of Power". One cannot be in the Legislative and in the Executive (e.g. government or army) at the same time. But that's only for a democracy, so no bother for Thailand.

Ah, got it.

Military uniform on = dictatorship mode

Business suits on = democracy mode

Tourist trap. There are other (and better) floating markets in Thailand.

Poor woman. She was lucky.

Whether life is better or not depends entirely on your frame of mind.

My company sometimes receives speeding tickets that show a photo of one of our vehicles, with the speed.

It seems that unmarked speeding cameras (and red light cameras) are being used more and more here.

Be a lot easier just to get the rich to pay the current taxes they appear to avoid.

That's true.

I don't know how he will cut taxes for the poor either. They already don't pay any income tax, so how exactly will he cut their taxes further?

I also thought that the NCPO had forbidden populist policies.

Good to see the General is not wearing his Army costume anymore and is ready for his new function.

His new function is the same as his old function. It's enshrined in the constitution.

The easiest way to avoid debt is to issue a law cancelling all debt.

He can do that.

No one can say a thing.

Agreed, that's all he has to do.

We'll not only be happy, but debt free and happy.

Why are they wearing suits and pretending to be civilians?

His agenda? You mean you don't know? tjeez, the poor chap is on life television for hours every day. Don't you watch television?

Anyway the voting is not a façade, but according to the interim constitution

"Section 19. The King appoints the Prime Minister in accordance with the resolution of the National Legislative Assembly and not more than thirty-five other Ministers as recommended by the Prime Minister to constitute the Council of Ministers having the duties to carry out the administration of State affairs, to conduct reformation in all aspects and to strengthen unification and harmonization of Thai people."

Don't you love the quoted section 19 of the interim constitution Rubl ?

I like the buz words and marketing talk. Especially the "strengthen unification and harmonization of Thai people"

Unfortunately the subjects being unified and harmonized have absolutely no say in the matter.

Good observation.

The marketing talk assumes that repression and reconciliation are the same thing.

Old soldiers probably think that they are. Why would they know any differently?

I do not give a shi# if you believe I have been here 33 years or not. I am not sure about the takeover, but go along with it, if you do not like it --take a hike as you will only cause more friction with your questions. Do something about it if you cannot stand the strain.

Did you slag PTP every day on how they governed ??? no so wrap up now, you create the bad feeling with your anti army stance, and non of us is in any position to do anything anyway------get your proven reds to oppose them--they tried once egged on by Thaksin--bought and paid for---then cried because the army got shut of them. then they tried it again--Thaksin never hurt his finger----

No strain mate. Just perplexity and a natural desire to make things better.

And I have just as much right to ask questions as you. More so, you are a foreigner.

If that was the case he'd let them run against him to show the people how loved he is

Doing the right thing doesn't always make you popular.

Mind you, that's no reason not to do what needs to be done. Gen. Prayuth is not in this as a popularity contest.

I don't know what his agenda is, it seems to be the PM job but hey-ho, maybe it will be better, time will tell. I just don't know why the facade of "voting" on 21st? Nobody can enter for it and he's telling everybody to vote for him so what's the point of having votes? Just get on with it. Assad did the same every few years, election time but he was the only runner! Anyway, we can all guess at what the outcome will be - who knows he might get into bed with Thaksin.

His agenda? You mean you don't know? tjeez, the poor chap is on life television for hours every day. Don't you watch television?

Anyway the voting is not a façade, but according to the interim constitution

"Section 19. The King appoints the Prime Minister in accordance with the resolution of the National Legislative Assembly and not more than thirty-five other Ministers as recommended by the Prime Minister to constitute the Council of Ministers having the duties to carry out the administration of State affairs, to conduct reformation in all aspects and to strengthen unification and harmonization of Thai people."

As if the constitution makes a jot of difference to the outcome.

Interesting that the subject line uses the words "Prayuth" and "Voted" in the same sentence. Recent events have shown the two words to be contradictions.

In any case, what difference does it make who the PM is? Mere window dressing, or a veneer of decency. The dodgy new constitution ensures that the NCPO (Prayuth) get the final say no matter what.

'dodgy'?

May I remind you that the interim constitution is the law of the land, with H.M. the King graciously pleased to proclaim it?

Ahaaa - you'll be accusing me of LM next. That's the favourite backstop for the yellow lot when they run out of things to say.

Can't you do better than that?