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My personal preference is Honda. Toyota gives people the impression that you are old. Honda still have the youth feeling

Maybe that's the answer to Toyota slump - their customers are not out shopping at the moment and feel apprehensive while Hondas customers are a more daring bunch.

Whatever it is, growth in the times of crisis is a fluke, it cannot be sustained once the conditions return to normal.

And if Toyota manages to come back by selling leather seats, xenon lights, and offering better financing terms, then the whole point of using sale figures to compare car quality is irrelevant.

It is true that they should upgrade their engines and transmissions, though. Maybe new 2l Altis will phase out ten year old engine in 1.8 version, maybe we'll see it's new transmission adopted in lower grades, too, down to Yaris/Vios. Or maybe those improvements are unnecessary for mass market and will stay reserved for top of the line models.

Remember turbo Vios with 7sec 0-100 and manual transmission? They couldn't sell even one hundred of those. Or Honda plans to build TypeR here? They couldn't guarantee sales of 100 units per month in whole of Asean + Australia and NZ, so it was dropped.

People in this part of the world apparently don't value speed and advanced racing technology. Xenon headlights mean a lot more to them, apparently.

Oh, I remembers Honda RX here - with big red "R", not quite the typeR, as they glued the badge on 1.7l version and only added sideskirts, but that's all that was needed for the local market to appear as "fun" and "youth". Still works like a charm.

German cars here in Thailand are not particularly faster, and certainly not driven faster, and I'm not sure they offer manual on every model here.

As for extra control - why not go all the way and take ECUs out so you can manually monitor every aspect of everything that is going on when you drive - ignition, valve opening, battery charge etc?

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I understand German cars cannot be touched with human hands anymore - everything is governed by electronics. Once we had a govt minister locked inside BMW and they had to break the windows to let him out. Control freaks, those Germans.

I propose substantial negotiations with the aim of wide reaching amnesties for all involved,

So the goal is to give out amnesties to political criminals?

So you acknowledge that the country is being held hostage to their interests that need to be satisfied to reach reconciliation?

Theoretically speaking, why do you believe that after they are excused they will be playing nice in the future, and how are you going to enforce the laws on them?

He was given a stage at DAAD rally.

I, personally, think that anyone who gets on there is mentally ill to start with, but she needs a legal medical opinion to plead insanity.

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There's google for nepalese monarchy.

Please do

If you want the thread changed from Saxena to Chuan you can contact the mods yourself, you can also ask them to delete all Saxena related posts as being off topic, too.

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What is happening with our members???

Please note that Obercommando who injected Chuan into this thread hasn't come back here in three days.

If the Dems back it, it will get support in their areas

I don't think dems will back it in the name of "reconciliation". After Songkran riots PTP hasn't got any ammunition left to make "reconciliation" a priority. Red rallies are starting up a bit too early to link them to reconciliation, they'd piss everione off long before Abhisit rejects the draft and gives them a valid reason to protest.

Street rioting is PTP's only tool.

It means diplomatic relations between UAE and Thailand are at risk. It also means he hasn't given up plans for revolution as there's no chance he'd be exonerated of his crimes without overthrowing the whole Thai state.

It also means people who support this red revolution are either asskissers waiting for spoils or just plain idiots.

I believe that is the job of the senate, half of them are appointed but are not allowed to be partisan.

That's one possible solution - one chamber for professionals, one chamber for geograhical reps.

will these appointees be accountable to the people?

They are supposed to be put forward by professional groups, so they are accountable before their peers. The way I saw it - there are several candidates put forward and some bureaucratic panel choosed who's going to be appointed.

As I said - it's the easiest workable solution before complete electoral system within professional groups is established.

As for bureaucrats - if there are only three candidates and they are all farmers, you can't really make a wrong choice, can you? You'll always end up with a farmer, and he might not even come back if he doesn't please "Crop growing assossiation" that nominated him. Imagine going through hundreds of positions in a short space - no time to make sweetheart deals.

As for ideology - it's all nice, but the reality is that there are no ideological differences between parties in Thailand, and so there's no big deal if the number of ideologically elected MPs is reduced (from what? zero?).

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What about a mix of nationally elected MPs with professionally elected MPs to counterbalance interests of public in general and professional interests, or Senate and Lower House mix, and more independence and guaranteed budgets for locally elected guys so they don't have to beg for money from party owners?

This reminds of the murder of Theo Van Gogh, he made caricatures of Muhammad (a big no-no in islam) and some muslim extremists took offense and killed him.

I'm pretty sure it's not what happened.

Are we witnessing a birth of a myth?

the military answers to no one

Not true - otherwise they wouldn't have blamed Prem for the coup.

Also the military seems to be conscious of their own image and following their own standards, which are a lot higher than standards set by politicians.

Despite all the blame - the coup was flawlessly executed, new constitution was written and voted by people, elections held and new government was allowed to run the country, at least until it got fixated on rescuing Thaksin again.

And guess who people were expecting to sort out red rioters in April? Politicians? Police?

Duh.

The army - they are guarantor of sanity and stability here, no one else comes close.

I agree with Stephff that people watch this stuff for emotional response, just like with 9/11 videos - you won't learn anything new, just make your blood boil once again.

Not necessarily fun or entertainment, but a strong emotional response nevertheless.

And then revenge starts...

I don't get it how people in one post can say that Thaksin still remains the favourite PM and then in the next breath that his party would have lost elections if there was no coup.

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As for failed state - Thailand was on verge of civil war, should April revolution have succeded. Now the country is pretty much united against reds (and military coups, too), but those alleged social conflicts are nowhere near being resolved.

They are not even properly identified yet, as leftis propaganda from post-coup days failed to take any root. The fight is not urban vs rural, or poor vs rich. Now new divides must be found in order to heal them.

The new politics proposal is to let representatives of professional/social groups a guaranteed place in parliament.

Okay, perhaps I should have said representational democracy. While an occupational constituency group in parliament is an interesting idea, it will merely lead to the replacement of one type of "feudal lord" for another. It seems to give a carte blanche to any group rich enough to buy their way into those positions, or, is a way for one group to ensure proper succession when the time comes. Neither does much for the voice of the people, but continues the idea of the Pu Yai dictating what will happen.

Maybe, but there's another point here - geographical representation is abused because of mismatch of intentions - people elect local politicians to serve their local needs, but those politicians then go to Bangkok and serve interests of big national parties, so they can trade their parliament votes for funds.

And another one - MPs are elected locally but go to Bangkok to work on national issues that have nothing to do with their constituencies. Instead they decide fates of industries, social and religious groups that are not even represented!

Basically - people at the voting booths are not stakeholders in government or parliament work, they don't vote for national policies and agendas (apart from 20% of MPs on party lists).

And even if they wanted to have a say in how this or that ministry is run, as they might feel directly involved as rice traders or auto part makers, they can't - they can't vote for separate ministries, only for the whole package. Then it's up to party quotas and coalition demands, and only the PM has a final say on which party gets what ministry, regardless of how people voted.

That's just a recipe for corruption - local politicians trading votes for budgets and positions, with no representation for anyone.

Occupational representatives, by comparison, would be direct stakeholders protecting interests of the groups that sent them. Less opportunity for corruption, MP and Cabinet positions trading.

It's not important HOW representatives get to power, it's important that they DO get the power, one way or another.

Are you sure? I think history tells us otherwise. I think it is important to know WHO will get the power

Who? Representatives of social/professional groups. That's who should be in parliament according to New politics.

Not bureaucrats and not military, despite what reds lead us to believe.

What are they going to do with their power? Protect the interests of social/professional groups? Since that's who they will be answerable to, instead of bit party bosses and local pooyais who invested in their election campaigns.

There's Wimbledon right now, and it's not raining.

What are those glasses for on UBC? They had a couple of 3D shows a few years back, can't remember which ones, though.

I don't think he molested those kids, but it sure was controversial.

I remember being very impressed by his declaration to live up to 150 years back in the eighties. He was banking on his diet and lifestyle.

Didn't work out that way.

Anyway, he had some really great music twenty something years ago, but I don't think modern pop has taken much from him. I'd say Aqua and Michael Learns to Rock were more infulential in the long run, and then there's hip hop. All kinds of crap but nothing resembling MJ.

You clearly have not followed this. They didn't count the votes. It is being seen as a coup by their "supreme leader" and we have not heard the end of this. They went with the BIG LIE rather than the small lie. You actually parroted the lies of their Supreme Leader. Amazing.

Ahmadinejad's win was reported all over the world as a fact, as were allegations of electoral fraud.

I'm saying that the size of the win makes it a settled matter, fraud or not.

He was surely a King of Pop for a while, but has he left any lasting legacy, apart from inspiring an endless line of lookalikes doing moonwalk?

I think I remember that fat dude doing Bad even better than MJ's original.

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Thriller and Billy Jean for me, btw.

Ok, ok, they sold more Hondas last month.

What will you say if Toyota retakes it's top spot by the end of the year?

Yes, Navarra doesn't seen to project size as well as Vigo.

What about turning radius? In small sois and tight parking this is just as important as size.

Are you talking about Chuan or Rakesh?

All latest posts here are about Chuan, while the thread title is still about Rakesh. Do you think mods should change it so we can have a reasoned discussion based on facts about Chuan's brother?

That move to change National day from Dec 5 to June 24 was interesting - I thought they were against the coups in principle. It was surely not a people's revolution back in 1932, just a coup for democracy.

I think people click on "own" in a sense they don't rent, even if paperwork is in their partners names.

The PAD are no less mired in "behind-the-scenes" ulterior motives, but theirs are more dangerous to discuss.They also have plans to reform, but their reform is a reduction of elected positions, moving back to a system of power within a group of appointed officials.

That's what reds tell you.

The new politics proposal is to let representatives of professional/social groups a guaranteed place in parliament.

Geographical consituency based representation has been corrupted beyond repair, especially upcountry, where local feudal lords rule with absolute impunity and keep the population in line by all means necessary, it's them who send their repesentatives to parliament, not the people.

Profession based constituency is a rather fresh idea, excluding those feudals altogether.

What the opponents get fixated on is the system of getting those representatives into parliament.

It's not important HOW representatives get to power, it's important that they DO get the power, one way or another.

People argue that appointing them is undemocratic, but it's the easiest to implement solution in the short term, before those professional/social constituencies develop their own, internal election systems. The country needs to start with something.

It is also a fresh idea because it looks at the country not just as a collection of 76 provinces, but as consisting of various industries, social and religious groups that need to have a voice in how the country is governed.

If this idiocy continues, we might one day see people like Newin or Chalerm as Prime Minister. Compared to them - i would have preferred a Thaksin

Does it mean you are proposing to bring Thaksin back, for the sake of controlling Newin and Chalerm, since neither Dems nor PTP can control them?

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And just how Thaksin's control over Interior is better than Newin's? Do you mean to say that Thaksin had never let his govt to control "the village, subdistrict and district levels"???

Until the Dems learn how to formulate policies and communicate them as well to the people in Isaarn and the North instead of talking a lot and doing nothing, they will stay completely ineffectual

They can formulate policies and communicate to the rest of the coutnry pretty well, beating PPP in the national policies ballots last time.

It's Isanese fixation with Thaksin that neither the coupmakers, nor Dems nor Newin have been able to break, and I don't see it as a problem with policies. Policies are fine and they work everywhere else.

By extention - I wonder how much strength the red movement derives from its dedication to Thaksin comparing to reason and belief in democracy. I think it's a personality cult more than anything else.

Should they let her receive her "street justice" just to prove your unclear point about violent mobs?

How about you sacrificing yourself instead? For the sake of the discussion.