backtonormal

The red cheerleaders here don't seem to understand that in a corrupt country like Thailand checks and balances are vital. The Government has done all they can to remove them and put cronies in important places so they can control it all. If they can control the senate too there is no end to the corruption and theft of the countries money. A impartial senate will also check future goverments. Its important that the checks and balances are restored in all of the bodies to undo what the reds have done. This is the only way to ensure a fair and as less corrupt a Thailand as possible. I would not mind a red government that is in charge if there are independent bodies to check it, not like it is now. With independent bodies we would not have been in the mess we are now. Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

From this I am to believe that there was no corruption before 2000.. The people trying to stop Thaksin are the same people who were raping this countrys coffers for decades.. and they know Thaksin back will push their snouts from the trough...for ever. If you were trousering billions would you go down without a fight

Sounds like Suthep wants a civil war or is utterly insane.

Sutheps last Hoorah..sh1t or bust. If he wasn't doing any jail time before he will be if they lose this battle. Forgot he will scarper with his rent boy buddy

I wonder who's paying for this......

It would be fair to ask who is paying for the anti government rally? They sure are not sitting there spending their own money. Sorry i forgot its ok for the other side to be financed by faceless people with an agenda to send Thailand back into the dark ages

'Ordered the dispersal'? Wouldn't say that was the strongest of arguments.

Yet there was clear video footage of a men in black coming up behing a soldier on Rama 4 and shooting him from behind, and yet nothing was ever made of it.

Link please. There were so many videos cited on here of MIB or Red Shirts killing civilians/military I get confused which one this is you refer to?

Just youtube it. There are plenty of videos, and I suppose you will ignore it all kicked off with grenades being lobbed at the army killing 7 soldiers. In any country that I know of, if you do that, then people are going to die.

Only in Thailand are the PM and deputy indicted, not because they are guilty of anything, because it is all part of the childish red political farce.

The only reason the AG has singled them out and put them up for indictment, is because he was handpicked and put into office on the orders of Mr T in the hope that it would hold extra incentives for the dems to go along with the dopey amnesty bill. But look what happened to that. haha.

They won't be found guilty of anything and everyone knows it apart from the blind red sheep, whom want high caliber scapegoats. It is hilarious to think they are so stupid they think there will be a conviction.

It's all politically motivated, it will never and should never happen.,

There are rules of engagement set out long before this happened, and it played out the way it did because CORRECTLY, the rules of engagement were validated by red aggression and violence.

If anyone should be indicted, it should be Thaksin for sending them in to be knowingly (by him) slaughtered just to stoke sympathy.

As soon as the army were within their right to protect themselves and the nation's capital, and the guns started, the reds should have got the hell out. But they didn't, they continued to confront and battle the army, not out of bravery, out of stupidity.

The only person I felt sorry for was Hirohito. The rest? You play with fire, you get burned.

To think the PM and deputy issued direct orders to murder is ludicrous. You won't kid anyone on here matey, you are only kidding yourself and may I add, you are being very successful at it.

The only evidence around the killing of the 7 soldiers is that one of their own lobbed it in from the side to up the anti. (Amsterdam report) for his time in office, Abhisit never offered any contaray evidence so we must be right to assume he could not contradict the report.

'Ordered the dispersal'? Wouldn't say that was the strongest of arguments.

Yet there was clear video footage of a men in black coming up behing a soldier on Rama 4 and shooting him from behind, and yet nothing was ever made of it.

A couple of likes from like minded people. I would rather see the link before commenting. Can you post a link to it please

EP programs are purely 'cash cows' and I doubt any Thai Teacher working full time in a government city school EP program is making less than 50,000 per month and freebies (international holidays etc). Most Thai teachers in EP programs cant speak English but their assistants can. They work less than 7 periods per week and are guaranteed jobs on their seniority.

Always make me chuckle how they require Native Teachers to be young and vibrant yet all the Thai Teachers in the EP are old and past it

Its a pity that resorting to threats of violence has likely stemmed from Thailand being inadequately, or most likely maliciously represented at the ICJ because of influential entities with vested interests most likely working to distort the outcome.

Hope common-sense prevails amongst those deliberating, however, fear they will make decisions on less than accurate information and back room handshakes.

Political colours nailed to the mast with that post. Not to worry its exactly the same rhetoric as the sponsors

Can this government get any lower?

Yes they could....they could order the troops to shoot people at will...live fire zones...2200 snipers round fired. Oops that stunt has already been done

Not sure what really happened but in my opinion, it was either to do the 180 degree turn or face a coup.

Noting the way in which Mr T and the Army Chief had engaged in discussions over recent months, and the very clear signal that the General recently gave that he would have to direct his troops to step in if violence erupted, I think Mr T had to accept the inevitable, to withdraw that piece of sh1t bill or face the downfall of his government ... which, by the way, would still seem to be inevitable...!

There is no way the army can intervene in this process and be seen helping to remove this government.... and they know it. Removing another democratically elected government will have repercussions (ask Abhisit..no government did any business with him) and bloodshed on a scale we could not comprehend.

A war of chess is underway. The decent people of Thailand have won the first battle. PTP will have other battles already well planned. The ultimate goal is to allow Thaksin back into Thailand as a free man and to reclaim his corrupt billions of baht along with an ongoing steady stream of corrupt money. He doesn't give one iota about the average decent law abiding Thai.

Many of my Thai friends talk openly about Thaksin's ultimate desire to overthrow the Monarchy and install himself as President of a Thai Republic. They also talk that Thaksin's elimination (read execution) would be a good/best outcome for Thailand. Think of other despots (Robert Mugabe, Kim Jongil, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, Muammar Al-Qaddafu, Hosni Mubarak) and there can be no argument that Thaksin is a despot.

The outpouring of resistance against these so-called amnesty bills by ordinary decent Thais of all political persuasions is the only weapon they have and it is a mighty weapon. Public protest has worked in the past in other countries. Decent Thais want to be rid of Thaksin and corruption.

The war has just begun.

What a crock of s h 1 t. So little you know. No facts in your story buts what new. If you are fantazising try this. Thaksin will be back and he will be invited to fill the the most prestigous position available to a Thai citizen (of course apart from the monarchy). He will not need an amnesty but some in Thailand do still need amnesty for the decisions they took in 2010

Who was the PM at the time of this? 555

Why is he not up on charges like the Dem leader is being brought up on charges for the 2010 crackdown?

A bit like Abhisit gave the orders but did not fire the gun..Thaksin gave the order but did not throw them in the truck. Totally abuse of army power with an agenda supplied by those who really run this country.

Maybe Abhisit has the same paymaster as the army and it would appear Khun Thaksin now has the army where he wants them

The sooner he returns the quicker this country can get out of the dark ages

Chai Suwannaphap one of the leaders of the equally unpopular Pitak Siam...who threatened a takeover and then went home because it was raining. Now the leader of another protest group by the name of Dads Army. Same hard core paid for troube causers and same inept leadership. When will they learn that their day has gone and they have no support.

More importantly when will the financial backers of these groups realise that they can not create any sort of uprising to overthrow a democratically elected government. These backers have had their snout hoofed out of the government contract trough and are not likely to be milking the citizens of Thailand again.... anytime soon

The 3 pillars of Thainess. That old chestnut...covered up many a discretion as that

Thailand is like a stool, with its 3 legs (religion, monarchy and the flag) but like any other stool, take any of the 3 legs away and its sure to collapse

As mentioned in another thread, when they actual rewrite Thai history and the roles of individuals and certain groups is laid bared with regard to some of Thailands darkest days...it will be one hell of a read

The 3 pillars of Thainess. That old chestnut...covered up many a discretion as that

Somebody saved me the trouble of writing it

.......apart from the security of being a civil servant with guaranteed employment and a pension, and the extraordinary cultural respect for the profession, there is little incentive to choose a future as a teacher in a government school. As a result, most classes in secondary schools are overcrowded with often as many as sixty students in a classroom, a situation that continues to favour the rote system that is firmly anchored in Thai culture as the only method possible.

As teaching by rote requires little pedagogic skill, once qualified — apart from weekend seminars which are considered to be part of the reward system — teachers tend to resist attempts to encourage them to engage in any forms of further training to improve their subject knowledge and to adopt new methodologies which will require them to use more initiative and to be more creative.

Students are not encouraged to develop analytical and critical thinking skills, which is clearly demonstrated by their inability to complete a cloze test, or to grasp a notion through context. The teachers will avoid introducing dialogue into the classroom or eliciting response from the students — to give a wrong answer would be to lose face in the presence of one's peers, a situation that in Thai culture must always be avoided.

Dr. Adith Cheosokul, professor, Chulalongkorn University, September 1, 2002: "Thai kids have no courage to question their teachers… foreign students are very eager to communicate with their teachers. The Thais are usually silent in class. I think it's the culture. Our students tend to uphold teachers as demi-gods" — a perception that is reinforced by the celebration of wai khru (literally 'praise the teacher') day, in all schools and colleges shortly after the beginning of the new school year, where during a festive general assembly, the students file before the teachers on their knees and offer them gifts, usually of real or hand-crafted flowers.

The essence of education therefore still hinges first and foremost on the traditional values of Buddhism, respect for the king, the monkhood, the teachers, and the family (in that order) through the rote method. Whilst indisputably very noble, these features are the main hurdle to the implementation of modern educational methodology and the development of a Western cultural approach to

communication.

Bleat on all you like but what is wrong could be put right simply by reversing or discarding some or all of the above. Personally the first thing I would do is ban military style uniforms for teachers

Removing a uniform requirement is the wedge to a point where eventually people will start to ask the need for such uniforms for government workers and officials, teachers and endless other positions which are seen as paramount in keeping the masses... just that the masses. maintaining that suppressant referred to as the Thai culture or Thainess.

Thainess holding back the prosperity of the people for decades

In a country where everything is about status and class and money and social standing, it is school- uniforms, that are making the big difference?

What a sorry- a$$ excuse!

from a sorry ass bum wipe rag with an agenda hell bent on keeping the status quo. if you follow the dress code of government workers they look military so they can be wai..ed according to the breast salad dressing which indicates their position to other government workers. Army uniforms all head in one direction and we are not going there. Just ask yourself why most people dont argue their case with any government worker..because the uniform is the link between and ................. and to question such uniform may be construed as offensive to the moral fiber of a Thai

Surin Pitsuwan...look which political party backs him, look at the editor of this paper, look at the editors hatred of Thaksin, look at he power players who dont want competition in the form of ASEAN...who are supported by the dems and Yoon...mix it up and see if you get the same answer as me.

Does any foreign national really fall for this one sided bias political tripe. Take said article to the crapper and wipe you poop pipe with it

lots of talk, let us hope there is some walk to go along with it. If the pollies and other government officials can make a quid out of it maybe something something will happen.

one might be forgiven for thinking that corruption is actually the problem, that even head teachers are syphoning off funds that should go into education, as well as the other schemes such as one tablet for each pupil!

Not to mention the questionable qualifications of teachers to actually teach the subject they teach, and dare I say that includes some of those Farangs teaching English!

Considering the amount of cash from government funds that goes into education and how little of it reaches the front line, one might conclude that corruption is the first problem, actual teaching the second because the corruption drives the whole raison d'etre for the whole system.

I think a thread on personal experiences with corruption in Thai schools from TV members that teach here would be an interesting read.

I know a little story about 20 thai teachers who went on a 3 country European holiday to visit schools. The names of the schools were googled from a misplaced document and none of them existed. Just a jolly...oh forgot...they were all given 100,000 baht each to spend.

Or a school accountant who stood over a fire bin while the groundsman burnt 100's of documents. She never left until every paper was ashes.

I have been on a 30+ teacher jolly flying for 3 nights in 4 star hotel in Phuket. The cash comes from school fees and entrance tea money.

I have seen a country school director build four new air con offices while the classrooms had no windows and some had no electric. The same guy brought in heavy equipment to make a garden on 2 rai in the school and build a toilet block so far from the school building it was only used for students to have a cig in. He trousers 100's thousands of baht and thats in the village. I now know of a school who are about to build a four storey toilet block yet have no canteen facilities for 3000 students. big rake offs in construction.

I would love to hear the thousands of story out there

Suriyasai Katasila the spokeman of People's Alliance for Democracy . Same old paid for by the elite rent a mob. Why dont they crawl back up the orifice they came out. Politics has no place for these facist dinosaurs.

The court said the three men conspired with Anek Singkuntod to push a fruit cart concealing a homemade bomb, which was made from a gas tank, to the back of the Bhum Jai Thai Party's building near Paholyothin Soi 43.

The bomb damaged the building, a food shop and a car and left Anek blinded.

Oops. Poetic justice at work I see.

Poetic justice for the Pad supported who died with a ping pong bomb in her pocket.

I liked Chuan. He was PM when I 1st came to Thailand to reside. I think he's now getting a bit old and rusty.

Like him you may but his government was just as corrupt as this one. Land scandal brought his political career as PM to an abrupt end.

They lost their 'good' image the moment they colluded with the coup-making army generals to form the only post-coup government possible. Not that they had much of a choice at the time, I'd imagine. I blame the army's meddling in politics for all of this turmoil. Made a complete martyr out of Thaksin.

Did Taksin pay you to write such rubbish?. Or have you not lived long enough in Thailand to have seen many previous goverments come to power or changed in exactly the same manner as Abhisit came to power. The army-coup makers had nothing to do with him coming to power. All the MP's who voted for him had a free vote all transparantly shown on TV in spite of the huge bribes Taksin was offering for the support of his nominee. The choice of Abhisit with his integrity and fine education and expertise against a policeman!! Many chose what was best for Thailand. Taksin told his supporters that that it was the army and coup makers who put him in powers and unfortunately they beleived him.

What a load of borlocks. The coalition was formed in an army base with the invisible hand alledgedly making offers the Chart Pattana political party "simply could not refuse" to join the coalition. Newin made his infamous "its all over boss" phone call to Thaksin and jumped ship purely for cash promises but he learnt his lesson and Thaksin cut the Bhum Jai Thai party adrift into the political wilderness at the next election.

Integrity...jumping conscription. If you write nonsense I may be here to challenge you again