Sunderland

I like Thais, but many of them won't give up on masks until they are told to. They really have no idea of how the world has moved on.

I recently visited Shanghai and was pleasantly surprised that most people there have ditched their masks outside the airport and some restaurant staff. It was particularly noticeable that young people don't wear masks much at all. Very different from Bangkok and most schools here.

The worst place I have visited recently where it was mandatory to wear a mask to go inside the Chinese visa processing centre. Then you try to navigate a conversation with the (Thai) officer though. a thick pan of glass while both you and the officer wear masks. At this stage it is pure theatre and all logic and critical thinking has gone out of the window. 

The new coalition is a bigger collection of thieves, bandits, liars, criminals and bullies than even before. Complete sham.

If Thailand is not moving backwards, then it's certainly doing no more than treading sludge.

This is the worst movie ever. No wonder the cinemas struggle to sell tickets.

On 8/29/2023 at 4:55 PM, Adumbration said:

Opposition is the the best place for MFP to be right now.

 

Next election will be a landslide victory.  PT sold out on their mandate and they have lost it forever.

 

Over the coming months expect all effort being focused upon disbanding MFP....it is the only hope any other party has.

We are moving into 'Whac-A-Mole" times. They will keep trying to destroy MFP and its reincarnations, but new ones will continue to pop up and the old git parties are running out of voters to back them. I'd estimate that less than 25% of the population genuinely support this government coalition.

If you keep kicking someone in the head, but they don't die, eventually they will retaliate, jump up and rip your head off. This is where the country is headed.

24 minutes ago, Hunz Kittisak said:

BJT was born from People’s Power Party which its predecessor was Thai Rak Thai 

as was Pheu Thai so they are all from same lineage. You can call them Sibling parties  It’s now a reunion 

Newin and Thaksin has reconciled to make Thailand great again

Thailand? More like make themselves richer.

11 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

212 is PT + BJT only. They need at least 39 more MPs. Democrat 25 + Prachachart 9 + Thai Sang Thai 6 = 40 MPs would do the trick. But that would be too close for comfort so probably need some more parties. They can't do it without Democrat.

The Democrats will leap into bed with anyone who offers them enough money. They are not even a proper party now. They can't even organize a meeting to select a leader let alone play a role in governing the country.

Anutin or Prawit will be PM by the end of the month. Failing that, Prayuth will stay on forever.

2 hours ago, fondue zoo said:

He is the Highhhlander after all

There can be only one!

 cue soundtrack

 

 

Also, something else is brewing in the background, important arrivals spotted at airports after long absences, and it ain't Thaksin.

Yes, but not mentioned in Thai media because shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh .... pretend it isn't happening.

22 minutes ago, UbonEagle said:

If the toad gets in he’s going to be in for a very bumpy ride, pm in a minority govt, hated by the public

 

I think MF will run a very modern spoiling tactics campaign, using social media to organise mass walkouts etc and put in all over the international media.

 

 

 

 

Hated is accurate. It's a struggle to find many junta supporters.

4 hours ago, cleopatra2 said:

Going into opposition is not a good idea.

This option is usually made assuming the government is a minority and the opposition have the numerical numbers.

However it fails to take into account that MPs are not a loyal to any party. 

What would happen is a number of MPs would switch political allegiance from opposition parties to the parties of the ruling government . Thus the opposition would be a minority.

This is where the population shows its lack of balls. It never gets rids of the snakes in the following elections. Blindly electing them over and over again. Nuts.

4 hours ago, Keep Right said:

It seems progressive Pita is rather arrogant. Maybe he learned this at Harvard. Time to "move forward" Pita and get out of the way. Your time is up.

If he's arrogant what do you make of Prawit, Prayuth, Anutin and the flour dealer from Phayao with a crooked degree?

3 hours ago, Shop mak said:

 

They call it Thailand 4.0

 

 

0.4 would be generous. It's more like -44.0

If this nonsense played out in the UK, the people would burn down Parliament. I am not suggesting that should happen here, but the majority of people are apathetic towards taking on the establishment.

15 hours ago, fdimike said:

We are guests in this country and I believe we should act that way.  None of us can vote here and I think it's very inappropriate to comment one way or the other in the politics of our host country..  JMHO

It's called free speech. Thankfully free speech will be accepted more under the coalition that seeks to boot out the mafia.

23 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

Could be for pollution. Masks were being worn long before Covid hit.

It is commonly quoted point. It is true that masks were being worn long before Covid, but the numbers were very low indeed. Certainly far fewer than in Japan, and even in Japan the maximum was about 10-20% at its peak pre-Covid. 

2 hours ago, Dario said:

Seeing the impasse with the 250 senators who would not approve a Move Forward government, in my humble meaning there is only one thing which could, and I think, will happen:

Peu Thai will not side with the Move Forward party. They will form their own coalition together with Bhumjai Thai (Anutin), Palang Pracharat (Prawit Wongsuwan) and United Thai Nation party (Prayut), maybe some others as well. That would push Pita into the opposition.

This might also explain why Anutin has not made his moves yet.

I might be wrong, but I think I'm not. Time will tell.

This is a distinct possibility which will also spell the end of Pheu Thai in the next general election. The Democrats are finished after siding with Prayuth, Prawit and the rest. The same will happen to Pheu Thai. Move Forward did well in the party list vote even in areas dominated by Pheu Thai and Bhumjaithai.

19 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

They can write a new constituion but if the senate is the only one according to the constitution who can amend it then how would it be enacted? That's my point. The senate has a complete veto right on every bill and the constitution. It doesn't even matter who the government is.

 

There are only two ways out of this: either they sway enough senators (highly unlikely) or somehow tople the senate, a civil coup which would be very very ugly. It's a very tough situation because the military enshrined their power through the senate into perpetuity pretty much.

That would appear to be the only way forward. Are the people willing to accept X more years of not having their wishes followed upon. Social media tweets will not upset the establishment/army. Boots on the ground and a general strike that affects ... excuse the pun ... the businesses of "generals" or the elite are the only way to twist the knife. They'll only start listening if they're losing big money.

I don't know if it is possible, but I foresee the senate members abstaining in the vote for PM meaning nobody can become PM. Therefore, allowing Prayuth to keep holding the position of temporary PM indefinitely for the next 2 years.

Even in Buriram where Bhumjaithai won lots of seats most people have voted for Pheu Thai or Move Forward in the party list vote. Confusion or something else, I don't know. None of it makes sense.

28 minutes ago, asf6 said:

The 57% is actually how many votes have been counted out of the total number of eligible voters (52,238,594) rather than 57% of the votes cast - unless there is a 100% turn out.  ???? 

 

If there is a 65% turnout, there will be about 34 million votes to count, so another 4 million or so still to count. In that scenario, we'd be at almost 90% counted now. 

About 80-85% turnout I think.

There are multiple constituencies in Thailand - try for yourself here https://www.ectreport.com/overview - where Bhumjaithai, Palang Prachart and the United Thai Nation Party have won constituency seats, but failed miserably in the Party List vote in the same constituency. The voting in many of these areas makes no sense. Massive numbers of votes for Anutin, Prawit or Prayuth's party for the candidate, then Move Forward and/or Pheu Thai get far and away the most votes in the Party List from the same constituency.

In the UK, it would be like voting for the Tory candidate, and then voting again for the party but putting your cross next to the Labour Party. It's pure nonsense.

8 minutes ago, BenStark said:

Too many potheads in Thailand

But the people are not voting much for Bhumjaithai on the party list.