virtualtraveller

Up to now I've mostly suspected the Cambodians of starting the skirmishes to suit their leader's dodgy agenda, now I'm beginning to wander if the Thai military are equally complicit. What have they got to hide, apart from their silly pride.

I'm sure there are several capable and charismatic leaders in Peua Thai who could help them win an election and then go on to be a good prime minister but, at this point, non of them want to be lackeys to a man in Dubai, nor are they 'loyal' enough to be given the green light by this party's shadowy leader. That's the whole problem with this so called 'political party', and if/when they lose the election perhaps their members should start reflecting on this.

Throw alot of shit at the wall and see what sticks! That seems to be the Peua Thai's strategy here. Since day one the UDD (and by extension the PT) have set out to force this government to spill blood and be shamed, eventually they got the blood but by then most the public had seen through their ruse and decided not to shame the govt. So, once again, for the umpteenth time, PT (and the UDD behind them) are trying to drum home the message to the public that the government be shamed when we all know (all except dyed in the wool reds) that it is the UDD organisers who should be shamed for the Ratchaprasong dead.

It's a shame really that the party that claims the largest support has very little to campaign on other than 'this government are murderers' and 'we will bring back Thaksin and his cheque book'. They've revealed little substance about corruption and government incompetence in this debate (though it does exist), they don't even have a shadow cabinet suggesting their 'better' way of doing things.

I suppose it's all in the verb. How on earth do you succeed in removing protesters by 'persuading' them to leave. It's nothing to do with the army, they would have them out of there in a day if they had the authority. Someone, somewhere is instructing the police to go easy on the PAD and let them continue harassing this government. What a joke law enforcement is here.

Sp far the much anticipated smog has been a non event this year in Chiang Mai - you can all come back now.

It's interesting, the timing of this. With an dissolution pledged imminently, and the oil and food prices set to go haywire in the next few months, it might have been wiser for the Dems to abandon the mid year budget milestone and instead call an earlier election before it gets worse. They could have trumped Puea Thai by avoiding this censure, which is nothing more than a pre-election mud slinging match.

Peua Thai's censures generally focus on one of two scandalous issues (like the temple shootings last time) and bang on and on, often with sketchy evidence that the educated urbanites scoff at while the rural folk take as fact. The Dems must have calculated that on this basis they can probably come out of the debate with interest by exposing the lies of Jatuporn Prompan et al. With Mingwan's soft debating and Chalerm threatening to keep quiet it's a good calculated gamble, hopefully it doesn't backfire for them, or the oil and cooking oil prices don't go bezerk in the next three months.

I think the very best suggestion is for both the Peua Thai and UDD to split into two movements each; one for genuine politicians with a manifesto and plan to benefit their 'masses' and improve the lives of many in an holistic, lawful and sustainable manner. The other party for each can focus on 'bring back Thaksin' and exonerating those who should be sitting in jail for various dodgy acts. Then let the voters show the country just which of these two they genuinely want to throw their support behind. Of course the two could be allies in forming a government, falling out with each other and so on, but at least the issue of how much Thailand really loves Thaksin and his cronies, would finally be settled.

Yes, OberKommado is right, it's an election tactic, a cheap stunt by Jatuporn to once again throw some shit at Abhisit and see if it sticks. Perhaps Mr Amsterdam suggested it.

It's quite simple really, some influential elite with time and money simply has to send a demand to the ICJ putting Thaksin up for charges of crimes against humanity. Do the math; 91 by Abhisit, 2,500 + 85 by Thaksin. Of course it will be a cheap stunt but it will shut Mr Amsterdam up. Everybody knows that the ICJ can't consider either case (and for that matter hundreds more by real tyrants around the world from Libya to Zimbabwe), it's just a way to justify Amsterdam and Peroff's ripoff fees and keep Jatuporn in the news before he goes to jail.

I wish someone would 'take care' of Jatuporn, loud mouth lying son of a Buffalo. Funny how it doesn't trouble him that his paymaster Thaksin has nationality of several countries, some of them very questionable.

Charging $32,000 and going on about quality and sincerity assured but their website is a joke, looks like it was made using FrontPage, and the English a cross between a Taiwanese and a Thai attempting to show off their English language skills.

Lock them up and throw away the key...cowards. Lots of big talk but when it's time to sit in jail for a while they do a runner while their comrades do the right thing and turn themselves in. What's the conviction for evading arrest (no bail?).

Chiang Mai has some of the most reasonable and honest taxi/transport services in Thailand, this complainer obviously hasn't been to Samui or Phuket! Here's the situation;

the transport in Chiang Mai is dominated by red songteaws, about 3,000 of them (for a population of 300,000!) which are organised by a well establish Sri-Lanna Taxi Association (effectively an untouchable mafia), they are a traffic nuisance but always available, cheap, honest, and will take you anywhere in the city for under 50 baht, that's what this tourist should bave used.

Then there are tuktuks lurking in tourist areas, offering shorter rides for about 60-100 baht, not a rip off but not the cheapest. They are useful at night or outside tourist sites.

The metered taxis were only introduced a few years ago and generally operate from the airport or outside key points like Airport Plaza. Since they aren't allowed (by the taxi mafia) to trawl the streets, they generally only survive by agreeing set fees (since they can't pick up someone off the street for the return journey), but generally don't overcharge severely like some of the islands. They are under the semi supervision of the taxi association.

Then there is a bus service, introduced a few years back after much haggling between the mayor and the taxi mafia, but they are confined to set routes and the city council has to pay the taxi mafia a compensation fee to keep the songteaws off those routes.

Best thing to do in Chiang Mai is rent a scooter!

It's extortionate, these tuk tuk and taxi drivers on Phuket have absolutely no idea how expensive they are, when you try to reason with them and explain that a 45 minute taxi ride from Suvarnabhumi to central Bangkok is less than 300 baht, or a cross town tuk tuk ride in Chiang Mai is never more than 100 baht, they simple tell you that no taxi driver in Phuket will go anywhere for less than 200 baht.

Well, as a travel writer publishing some very popular travel guides online, I've advised all visitors to Phuket to rather rent their own scooter or arrange a hotel transfer and to use the tuk tuks and taxis as little as possible. In the same way I've advised everyone not to hire jetskis ever. About 3 million people see these guides every year, if everyone stopped using taxis or tuk tuks they would then have to think about being more reasonable and lesser mercenary.

"Hun Sen wants to promote his son, who is a West Point graduate, to become the army commander. He sent his son to the border to wage a war," said Sondhi Limthongkul, a co-leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy,

This is the crux of the matter, and one of the few sensible things Sondhi has said recently, Ban Ki Moon will be well aware of this I'm sure. You can't trust Hun Sen, he's a trouble maker, always has been.

I bet this mob are imagining they can re-create what's happening in Egypt - pretty sad how misguided and overly ambitious this lot are. Perhaps, the Govt should resign and hand the reigns to a PT government who would be the PAD's worst nightmare; justice for the airport invasions would be swift, Thaksin would be home and running the show within 6 months, all the UDD leaders will be left off the hook and given party list MP jobs, and Cambodia will get their 4kms of land in return for a private island somewhere for a lucky Thai politician...

As with many of Thailand's ills, if law was better enforced here (ie a more honest and honorable police force) then it would be far more difficult for the rich to bribe their way out of accountability, or to unfair opportunities. More tax would be collected to distribute the poor and the rich would find it more difficult to run roughshod over them (e.g employing them as permanent part-time employees to skirt minimum wage restrictions).

The laws are made with the best intention and are pretty sound, if sometimes impractical, but beyond that they are useless since the police are so corruptible and society in general seems to favour a pliant constabulary.

He couldn't have put it better! Go Abby

here we go, international court of justice...Perhaps Hun Sen could hire Robert Amsterdam, they were made for each other!

Read between the lines...

Even the PT know that a coup at this point would be illogical, the military can't actually govern by themselves, they need a democratic front and in the present administration they have the best option they could wish for. Why seize power from your allies, only to cause yourself greater ill feeling among the popular and international community.

What the coup mongers are doing (and there will always be plenty of people in Thailand to fuel the gossip of a coup) is setting up public opinion against any possibility of a coup in the future, since now is a ripe opportunity for 'rumours'. This will give the military something to think about if ever they should decide that a PT victory at the next poll is too unpalatable.

Remember, if PT come to power - and there is a distinct possibility - they will move much more quickly and boldly this time to vote out the 2007 charter and pave the way for a swift return of Thaksin, before the establishment has a chance to block their moves.

well put!

Funny thing is, Arisman could be charged with a very similar offence, pity the Cambodian security apparatus is less effective at finding and jailing him. The Cambodian legal system is a joke really, so if you're going to play a high stakes game of crossing into disputed territory this is what you get.

8 Years for allegedly spying? How many years for being a Khmer Rouge leader accused of murdering thousands?

The more these two protest groups can discredit themselves ahead of an election the better for Thailand. Neither has anything good to offer Thailand whatsoever. If they started out with some sort of noble cause or ideology it was perverted long ago. The sooner 95% of the country can let both the UDD and PAD know that they are marginal, radical, fringe movements that would do the country a favour by winding their necks in, the better for everyone.

The UDD will surely be wringing the hands over this one 'see everyone hates the government, even it's own allies'.

But this is quite a political gamble for the PAD, they have neither the numbers, nor the moral basis for seriously taking on the government. If the reds couldn't force them out after Ratchaprasong then all the PAD stand to do is make a nuisance of themselves and create unnecessary pressure for the government leading up to the next election. Frankly it's suicidal, at best they will demonstrate that they do still have the numbers, at worst they will weaken the democrats election chances by wrong footing them over this standoff, thus opening the door to a Thaksin-clique return.

I think it's all going to backfire spectacularly on them. With their own political party (the NPP) and a looming election, the PAD are likely to piss off everyone except their hardcore support group that is not really centred on any one constituency or region. They won't undermine the Dems in their Bangkok and Southern strongholds, the electorate are likely to disapprove a yet another protest (and one with a very unreasonable, and frankly trivial cause), and this may well be the PAD's fatal moment. Come the next election they will soon discover how little influence they have at the polls, now that they've stooped to the new lows set by the UDD.

They've made a massive misjudgement.

Enforced is the key word! In 8 years living here and driving, I've never ever once come across an alcohol check point. Likewise speeding camera. Helmets, safety belts and drug check points yes, but the two biggest causes of road accidents? Never.

That's the problem with these protests, it's very easy for a 'third hand' to let off a bomb to discredit their opponents. Security isn't great, the police can barely cope, if you've got 10,000 reds marching through Bangkok from Ratchaprasong to Ratchadamneon, how easy is it for an individual to let of a bomb out of spite, kill a few reds, let the government be damned...

All this protesting is a recipe for further disaster and the sooner the government can get the new act passed on assembly, the better. IMO these people have exhausted their right and privilege to protest and tough action is called for, let them find other effective means to express their discontent.