womble

Snoh puts challenge to Thaksin

Published on Feb 06 , 2006

Wang Nam Yen faction leader Snoh Thienthong challenged Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Monday to expel all of his faction members following the resignation of two ministers who belong to the faction.

Snoh moved after Information Technology and Communication Minister Sora-at Klinpratoom and Culture Minister Uraiwan Thienthong - his wife - stepped down last week.

Snoh denied reports that Sora-at resigned in return for favours he owed to Snoh. Sora-at had stood down for ideological reasons, he said. "Everyone volunteers to work for the country and should return the gratitude to the land and the people by sticking to the righteousness."

Snoh said that in his long years in politics he had never known a situation when a respected national figure who always bestows degrees for major universities would ask a "particular man" to quit. He was referring to a meeting at the PM's house last week when the premier was allegedly advised to stand down.

Thaksin insisted on Saturday he would resign only if His Majesty the King told him so.

Snoh said if Thakin expelled him, he would make all Wang Nam Yen faction members resign with him - then seek justice with the Constitution Court.

He refused to say how many MPs would follow him. He said he would join with Wang Nam Yom faction to call for a change to the Constitution.

Nation

Just because there is no obvious successor it does not mean that there isn't one. People often step up only when a situation arises that puts them in a strong position to lead.

Many argue that who-ever takes over could infact turn out to be even more corrupt, which may well turn out to be true, but that doesn't mean that a corrupt leader should be tolerated in any way shape or form.

Thailand will have to just keep dismissing those that prove through their actions they are unworthy of leading and keep trying and hoping to find someone that truly cares more for the people than for their own well being.

Media blackouts, baning the rally at Royal Plaza, all points to a very paranoid regime!

If Sondhi is being interviwed live on CNN then it's pretty obvious that it's being taken very seriously by media outside of Thailand.

When you censor news and keep the truth from people, you have to be prepared for a large backlash when the truth finally gets out.

We're not at that point yet, but you can be sure international news teams will be at this Saturdays rally.

I wasn't implying Thaksin directly profited from CTX, I said "The current administration",

What he is guilty of though is failing to repremand or even seriously investigate those suspected, whilst at the same time waging a so called war on corruption.

"International companies will not seriously consider coming in with a 25% cap on ownership"

Exactly you said it, so it seems a bit of a coincidence that as soon as another Telecom Giant is looking like taking on foriegn investment he lowers the cap, whilst just a few days before the Shin sale it is raised back up to 49%.

Does this not strike you as a little odd?

Or is it another unluckily timed coinceidence.

There seems to be a lot!

I have a feeling that banning the rally at Royal Plaza may be a very bad tactical move, this will only increase peoples interest as it makes it look like there's something to hide, especially after having it stopped at Suan Luang too.

There's plenty of places to hold a Rally, and i'm sure the organisers will come up with something which will be worse for the government than having it at the same location again.

One thing for sure, the International media is following this. I have seen more coverage on CNN and BBC World than on Thai TV, ok only a short piece, but the fact it is making worldwide news is significant in itself.

And not good for investor confidence, especially at a time when the PM is looking for big time foriegn investment in mega projects.

It's looking like the 3 main cores of the previous election's manifesto are very much off track.

1.) Privitisation of State owned Industries

2.) US FTA

3.) Mega Projects

also not forgetting the UN Secretary General position which is just not gonna happen.

good grief people, why can't you accept that thaksin is still the prefered leader by the majority of voters in this country? they came, they partied, they left. general Prem was not even around to accept the petition. if HM really wanted to get rid of the PM, don't you think he would have made Prem present to receive the petition? the 1.40 a.m. delivery to the army general was definitely not the original plan and was a last resort face-saving solution. read between the lines people.

the monarchy has placed importance on the setting up of a democratic constitution. the drafting of the present constitution was chaired by Khun Anand after the 92 coup attempt. it is a balanced and well-drafted document. i don't think HM would want to intervene and reverse so much progress unless the government is really shooting people in the streets.

this is a democratically elected government that won by a landslide barely 12 months ago. if you read Sonthi's 5 point petition without bias, you would realise that its based entirely on opinion and conjecture, how can a democratically elected government be replaced by a list of accusations such as this? it would be a dark day in history when something as ludicrous as this is allowed to happen.

a bangkokian anti-thaksin friend of mine decided not to turn up after seeing the type of protesters turning up on t.v. were not the middle-class/university types she saw marching in 1992, when things were truly serious. she even commented on how they appear to have had to make up the numbers.

i have made the point repeatedly on this forum that everything you read about Thaksin is cooked up by the media, bent on revenge and paranoid of being gagged by the government. professional standards of objective news reporting are totally lacking in this country. reporters act like spoilt brats spinning up scandals and blowing up stories. the present unhappiness is really amongst those who can read the news but can't discern between truth and spin.

i hope things will stabalise and we can continue with our lives. let the PM do his job and i can bet that thailand is not going to fall to pieces.

Your absolutley right, I couldn't agree more.

The CTX scandal was all fabricated, how could there be any corruption in such a transparent project, especially when the current administration has been so honest and open about all similar projects.

And as for the Asset concealment case a few years back, well that was an honest mistake, just like the wrong box that was ticked on a multi billion baht contract a couple of weeks ago.

And how could anyone think that ammendments to foriegn ownership % quota's in telecoms could be anything more than a simple coincedence in timing.

"i have made the point repeatedly on this forum that everything you read about Thaksin is cooked up by the media"

Glad someone agrees with me.

Saturday's rally was very peaceful, I wonder if this will attract more people to the next rally as many may have been put off think things could turn ugly.

What do you think?

interestingly it's front page of todays Thai Rath. Or at least on website, havn't seen the print version.

My mrs is going mad at the Thai tv news, flicking through all the channels she hasn't been able to find anything on it this morning.

The only coverage we could find on tv last night was a little every so often on mcot. We watched it on the internet link.

Incidently I thought the show was put on very well, you could tell that many of those there would just have gobe out of curiosity, although with the atmosphere created 'Thaksin Thaksin Thaksin, Ork bai, Ork Bai, Ork bai!!!

Nothing would make me happier than to see Samui's economy colapse. It is an island full of gangsters, and the police are nothing more than their lackeys. The island has been going into the gutter for years and it is a shame because it is a beautiful place. som nam na samui.

That's nice, so every single expat and Thai worker deserves to end up in the gutter due to your sweeping generalisations.

Those of us that live here know the truth, yeah it's not perfect far far from it, but it certainly not the hel_l whole some make it out to be.

Remember after the tsunami the media tried to bring phuket down with half truths and sensationlist reporting, thats whats happening to Samui now.

Many things are in urgent need of adressing here in Samui, but thats not surprising considering the immense growth that has occured in the last 5 years. As always things in Thailand have to get bad before they can be made good, actually world wide press coverage may well be our saviour.

Totally disagree,

We should set an example (as we do) and use strict but fair immigration rules. Overstayers should be treated far more harshly though and as for the illegals well...........

In general immigrants get a very good deal in UK, we treat them fairly and they get equal rights, Thailand is light years away for such treatment for foriegners and it really holds the country back, not to mention it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Ok the shin sale is suspect to say the least, but using the nationlist card is not the way to bring down Thaksin, I hate it when people use these tacticts to further political ambitions. The most dangerous politicians ALWAYS use nationalistic rhetoric.

Streaming is working fine down here on my ADSL link. By the looks of things people are starting too arrive, there's quite a few thousand there now.

I know quite a few Thai's traveling up from Surrathani to go to this, a whole group from my gf's work place have traveled up.

100,000 is a lot of people and I do think it's attainable, one thing is for sure even if the crowd isn't big enough, all the media coverage of this will chnage more peoples minds and help open there eyes.

I also think this could bring an end to Thaksins control of the media, this is being widley reported, and it seems the Thai press is certainly becoming more crital of the administration.

You are young, still 32 this gives you one very important advantage over older investors, the magic of compounding. To quote Einstien 'The eighth wonder of the world'.

You should put all this money into a Mutual fund, let a pro take care of it as if you think you can retire now on that amount and buy a house, you obviously can't invest the capital succesfully using your own knowledge.

If you go it alone....

You say your don't have a high risk tolerance, fine, but with age on your side you should at least be semi agressive in your investment strategy. Go for around 55% in equities, around 35% in fixed income securities and the rest in cash or equivalents. Don't touch any of the earnings, let them compound and when you have some spare cash add to the portfolio. Trust me in later life you will be extremely comfortable. If you try to retire now and live off that amount you will regret it big time.

Oh and if you really do take the crazy decision to retire so young and not use proffessional advice or a fund manager, make sure you diversify as any hit from the markets or structual changes in the economy which may take place over time will send you straight back home looking for a job.

And if you do decide to go it alone make sure you rebalance your stocks at least annually. Cos if those waitings change you could be in for a shock one day.

Just my two cents worth......

What you mention is but a small part of a very complex problem, it goes much deeper than the simple registration of migrant workers. This is the story peddled by back slapping local press such as Community magazine and local civil servants.

If every migrant worker living on Samui registered tomorow I bet you wouldn't really see much change in in a year or two by the time the supposed funds have trickled down. If that was the case then the government could have a serious crackdown on all those that havn't registered as it is in fact law to do so. They havn't bothered because they know that isn't the real root of the problem.

Well what can I say, Samui certainly deserves to suffer for the complete lack of thought of infrastructure

Infrastructure decision making is made by the Provincial Government, not the local government and allocation of funds is made based on the number of registered residents. A huge percentage of the Thai people living on Koh Samui are unregistered, preferring to stay registered in their home provinces. Thus they are using infrastructure beyond its registered capacity.

If you would like to blame someone for the lack of infrastructure spending you could start with the Provinciall government that refuses to disburse money based on a real census count of ALL people living on Koh Samui (thais and foreigners) and instead bases it on an outdated list of people registered in the Tabien Bahn.

The true fact of the matter is that local Samui government would like to become its own province along with Phangan and Tao thus using their own tax money on their own infrastructure instead of seeing their tax money head to the mainland to build magnificent roads to nowhere. But, this is just a pipedream as long as non-local Thais refuse to register on the Tabien Bahn.

Well.........

You are right in what you say, not enough money is given to the island, and the lack of registration is ofcourse a large factor in this, however..............

Funds have actually been given for countless projects which are eigher never finished or constructed to such a low standard they are useless.

and why is this?

Yup good old fasioned corruption!

And whilst creating a Samui province would channel larger amounts of much needed funds I just wonder how much will go into projects instead of certain peoples pockets.

Well what can I say, Samui certainly deserves to suffer for the complete lack of thought of infrastructure and the attitude of some of the locals.

however, All flights to the Island are extremely booked up and accomodation is also very full. I have discussed and shown this thread to friends on the island and no-one believes the figure. Most people are reporting record earnings from their businesses and there certainly seems to be no lcack of Brits about.

Could it be that someone has taken the initiative and made this report in the hope that the powers that be sort out these problems before tourists really do stop coming???

Also i'm surprised no-one else has thought of this but... Brits make up the highest percentage of visitors to the Island. don't forget this event happened one month ago. If 30% of the highest proportion of nationality visitor cancelled then there would be seats on planes and many rooms vacant. This is not the case, and it certainly isn't because other nationalities have taken there place. If so that would mean if the murder hadn't happened then there would be a huge rise in visitor numbers, so high infact that it would make last years influx of tourists after the tsunami look small.

Think about the timescale and the figures, then decide for yourselves how acurate this report is.

All these laws are just plain silly, this is certainly about a lot more than just looking after peoples health. There must be some very powerful people involved in the alcohol business that are a threat to the people holding power at this moment in time.

If this goes through it certainly will be the nail in the coffin!!!

From reading the forum it can be seen that many members here hold mutual funds, and practice a wide range of other investment strategies, just wondering how many members are investing in Hedge Funds.

Green street is the biggest pile of toss i've ever seen. Frodo wouldn't last five seconds in the real football hooligan world, terrible casting I thought. And the <deleted> leading the gang was just as unconvincing, he might lead a school gang, but not a hard core ultraviolent football gang.

I can't believe any brits who regulary go to footy matches could find this in anyway convincing.

Football Factory, ID, two class films.

Green Street - Toss

The opposition should get random teams of middle to lower class Thais and go to various airfields and see just how many flights they get on, I bet they don't get on any, they probobally won't even be allowed past the checkpoint!

I wsould say anyone can use these plans provided they are connected, not nessesarily through government, but military, airforce etc etc.

I doubt many peasant farmers would get on one!

It looks like Glitter is going down for a very long time, under vietnamesse law he could even face a firing squad. Vietnam is a communist country and will certainly not want to be labelled as a sex tourism country. I should imagine he'll be punished extremely heavily to disuade anyone else from thinking vietnam is a place for such activity.

***********************

Gary Glitter will spend at least four months in a Vietnam prison after police claimed that medical evidence has been found which corroborates claims that the former star had sex with young girls.

The public security ministry has ruled that enough evidence exists to hold the singer, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, while inquiries continue.

Nguyen Duc Trinh, deputy head of the investigative police in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, said: "We have enough evidence to charge him. There are several proofs of his crime.

"For example, the victim's confession, his landlord’s testimony and checks on his computer and medical checkup of the victims."

Glitter was arrested on Saturday at Ho Chi Minh City airport as he tried to leave for Thailand, following reports that he was living with a 15-year-old girl.

Mr Trinh said that investigators had since interviewed five girls alleged to have had sex with Glitter, 61, including a 12-year-old.

"Obscene acts with children is a specially serious crime," he told reporters in Vung Tau city.

In Vietnam, anyone having sex with children under 13 is deemed to have committed child rape, which can carry the death penalty. The penalty for raping children aged 13 to 16 years is seven to 15 years in jail. The legal age of consent is 16.

Le Thanh Kinh, a lawyer acting for Glitter, said that he would seek bail for his client.

"I am arranging another meeting with him soon," Mr Kinh said ."We are still pursuing the plan to bail him out."

Vietnamese officials have voiced nervousness about proceeding with the case against a British citizen, but a representative of the Vung Tau people’s committee told the AFP news agency: "If we don’t bring him to court, other countries will then not respect Vietnam in the field of fighting child sex abuse.

"We don’t want the world to look at Vietnam as a new sex tourist destination, like Cambodia and Thailand."

State newspapers have said that two girls, aged 12 and 13, had sex with Glitter several times and that he had paid them between 150,000 dong (around £5) and 300,000 dong each time. He has denied the allegations and told prosecutors that he was teaching the girls to speak English.

Paul Higham, the British High Consul in Ho Chi Minh City, met Glitter today in the Phuoc County detention centre outside Vung Tau. Glitter is being held with around 400 others, about 85 per cent of whom are awaiting trial or court appearances.

"The living condition in the centre is very poor," said Dang Van Son, an officer at the prison. "If he wants to eat something, he gives us the money and we bring in better quality food for him."

Glitter is reported to have told his lawyer that conditions were acceptable and he was allowed to keep 1.4 million dong (about £50) to buy extra food.

Conditions in Vietnamese jails are very different from Horfield Prison in Bristol, where he served two months in 1999 for possessing "sick and degrading" images of children. Vietnamese prisons are notorious for their squalor, harsh treatment of prisoners and lack of attention to sanitation, hygiene and food.

Even if he is not prosecuted in Vietnam, Glitter could face charges in this country if he ever returned under Britain’s "sex tourism" laws - the Sex Offences Act 1996.

A Home Office spokeswoman said that British police could ask for the file on any alleged sexual offence that is recognised in this country to be sent to them for consideration. "We would always prefer someone is prosecuted in the country where the offence is committed, but if not we have the power to look into it here," she said.

The Times (UK)

It is on the edge of the runway, but still a new runway should be look new.

Also the runway was supposed to have been completed at the time Bangkok post broke the story, so if that the case then if they say it wasn't finished it still won't be a good enough defence in court.

Or at least it shouldn't be..........

Who knows these days tho

Well if that pic was taken at the new aiport then i'd saying that's pretty damning evidence. I'm no expert on runways, but i'd say that 'crack' isn't for drainage eigher.

It's funny that all these defamation suits only seem to attract more attension to the allegations. If those pics are taken from the airport then the defamtion case against bangkok post should be dropped immediately.

I really think that one of the governments biggest mistakes is all these defamation cases with such high figures attached. All it does it keep things in the news longer, the huge figures also bring suspicion, especially when you look at similar methods in Singapore and Malaysia.

They are their own worst enemy!

"I can see him getting a third term."

I think i'm right in saying that under the constitution a PM is only allowed to serve two terms in Thailand.

Ofcourse this won't bother taksin as he's only shown contempt for the constituation during his entire premiership.

I smell something here, if there is no problem, why are they being so secretive?

How about an outside unbiased investigation (yeah right!) to look at the runway and judge whether it had been constructed properly.

I don't like the way they have blamed the runway cracks on foriegners, to suggest they made a runway with cracks as they were used to snow covered runways is ludicrous, anyone designing a runway will be well enough qualified to change design for hot tropical climates with heavy rainfall. sounds like an excuse that would sound plausible to a poor farmer, or make sense to any idiot who is supposed to cover up any problems.

Jeez, after all the corruption there it wouldn't surprise me if they hired local labourers to design it and charge way above what it should be, possibly even using inferior materials.

They did this with the roof and other things.

It really seems that just about every aspect of this airport is somehow tainted with corruption or at the least a severe lack of transparency.