Eric Loh

If the junta has genuine intention to bring happiness to the people and has no hidden agenda as proxy to larger powers, they can consider stepping down and establish a National Government consisting of political parties and civilians. The National government can implement the reforms and set up an election thereafter. A civilian government will be more acceptable to the West and may unshackled many roadblocks politically and economically. Of course, that will be a big blow for the military and an admission that the coup is a total waste and it certainly looks that way as days passed.

non-elected civilians? Didn't the 'main' political party denounce such movements? Didn't Ms. Yingluck tell us about such things being against the law otherwise she'd be willing to step down for it?

Of course, before we can move to a National Government we'd have to get answers to a few tricky questions. Who to select for PM amongst others, a non-elected, appointed PM. Till now political parties don't seem to like the idea.

All in all I think you've just tried to position the current government in an impossible position and from there start to blame them. Not so subtle, my dear Eric.

Yingluck opposed then when we have an elected government and the 2007 constitution was still in place. No elected incumbent government would step aside from demand from an anti government mob. We now have a coup government and the 2007 constitution has been shredded and will be replace. No elected government incumbency. This government has no popular mandate and premiership position is dispensable.

The military can forge a National government like they did forming AV government. The NCPO can even appoint the PM (civilian). Reforms that are critical can be decreed and implemented. When the charter is completed and referendum approved by popular mandate, the government calls for election.

I will think a civilian government albeit appointed is more palatable to most major countries and the monkey off the back of the military. Ya, wishful thinking but just thinking out of the box.

If the junta has genuine intention to bring happiness to the people and has no hidden agenda as proxy to larger powers, they can consider stepping down and establish a National Government consisting of political parties and civilians. The National government can implement the reforms and set up an election thereafter. A civilian government will be more acceptable to the West and may unshackled many roadblocks politically and economically. Of course, that will be a big blow for the military and an admission that the coup is a total waste and it certainly looks that way as days passed.

Waited for Prayuth usual explosive blow out like he did with Chavalit and others after Thaksin poured scorn on his performance. Didn't happen; he just avoid Thaksin's remark. 2 coups to eradicate Thaksin power and influence seem not working to plan and the reconciliation attempts are falling to the wayside. Prayuth power is waning perhaps not entirely his own doing. Another wasteful coup and 2 years lost opportunities.

if you call stopping protesters being killed and charlem allowing it too happen then yes it was a wasteful 1 year....

Let's agree to 3 wasted years with 1 year PDRC Bangkok shutdown.

Before agreeing you might want to define the periods you talk about. At looks like you have some overlap between wasted years and PDRC BKK shutdown as well.

Anyway, Thaksin has no plans, no plans to mobilise the red shirts. I wonder what he really said. He's good at stating things like "who am I to do such?"

Rubi, do you think Thaksin still have the power and influence to mobilize the red shirts in mass? He may have the wealth but there will be little of anyone willing to put their lives at risk for the few hundred Bahts. If the Reds are mobilized, it will not be due to Thaksin influence or his money but for their beliefs that they have been discriminated and unfairly treated. That will be a even more dangerous proposition.

When will we see speedy prosecution and conviction. So far I only see transfers, inactive posting, removals, quick denial of involvement like the military officer in the human trafficking case, prohibited to press more from generals having excessive wealth. I quess in Thailand there are too much corruption with linkages to powerful people and better to made some noise and then push them aside until all are forgotten. Well except for political enemies which always have prompt attention and speedy conviction.

People still refuse to see the big gorilla in the room. No coincidence that there are 18 coups all for the reasons that the establishment want to spin and setting the scene. Thailand will be a much peaceful and progressive country if the big gorilla stick to their job of defending the country and not turning their guns inward.

Utter crap as usual.

The Army would not have been there if the police did their job. Can you explain why they didn't ?.

Armed gunmen were on the streets of the capital city and were escalating the situation. They would have been cleared out much quicker in any Western country by riot police. Maybe the government should have declared a 2 Km exclusion zone and left them there ?.

When red-shirts say 'Justice' they mean that the Army are found guilty. This is their version of justice : right and wrong don't come into it. They have no clue what really happened and don't care either.

The same reason why didn't the army use water cannon and rubber bullets to clear Rajaprasong and why didnt the military take orders from the government to help in the running the 2014 election but instead stage a coup. My crap no bigger than yours.

At least he is improving on shortening the days to break a promise. Took him a week from supporting an election in 2011 to boycott.

Did he boycott the election in 2011?

BB, you got me on this one. Typo mistake. Should be 2014. Cheers.

People still refuse to see the big gorilla in the room. No coincidence that there are 18 coups all for the reasons that the establishment want to spin and setting the scene. Thailand will be a much peaceful and progressive country if the big gorilla stick to their job of defending the country and not turning their guns inward.

Just how does a "convicted criminal" get to be invited and appear openly on various stages around Asia without a care in the world ??

Also how does he manage to hold on to his passport (which was renewed & handed to him overseas) whilst being in self-exile, surely his new passport should have been revoked !!

After screwing up his sisters life he is now lining up his son for a fall.... strange family indeed where ultimate sacrifices must be made to get him back in favour.

Really easy answers.

The world don't see him as a convicted criminal but rather a political persecution.

His ordinary passport was revoked by the AV government citing security risk. The next PT government said he was not and passport was returned.

Normal political family not strange at all. Example Bush, LKY, Aguino, Najip etc etc

Next question.

At least he is improving on shortening the days to break a promise. Took him a week from supporting an election in 2011 to boycott.

Waited for Prayuth usual explosive blow out like he did with Chavalit and others after Thaksin poured scorn on his performance. Didn't happen; he just avoid Thaksin's remark. 2 coups to eradicate Thaksin power and influence seem not working to plan and the reconciliation attempts are falling to the wayside. Prayuth power is waning perhaps not entirely his own doing. Another wasteful coup and 2 years lost opportunities.

if you call stopping protesters being killed and charlem allowing it too happen then yes it was a wasteful 1 year....

Let's agree to 3 wasted years with 1 year PDRC Bangkok shutdown.

Waited for Prayuth usual explosive blow out like he did with Chavalit and others after Thaksin poured scorn on his performance. Didn't happen; he just avoid Thaksin's remark. 2 coups to eradicate Thaksin power and influence seem not working to plan and the reconciliation attempts are falling to the wayside. Prayuth power is waning perhaps not entirely his own doing. Another wasteful coup and 2 years lost opportunities.

Democracy is the same all over the world. The people get to vote to choose who will exploit and enslave them.

That's the most accurate summation of "democracy" I've read so far ...

It's sure better than coup government when nobody gets to vote and the government is free to exploit with a handy 44. Actually with no freedom of expression and to criticize we are properly enslaved.

Nattawut is one of those guys the PTP is better without including Chalerm as thry are both a big liability.

The PTP needs to reinvent themselves with the man in Dubai.

No, the UDD needs to get its own party that's not connected to Thaksin's money. You know, grass roots people who want democracy and not dictatorship.

Agree with you that a Thaksin connected party will only meant another coup. The Shin must never ever be allowed to be in any future government. Only problem is that what you and me wished but can't said for the populace. The trials, perceived unfair dispensation of justice and the continous blame game played by the government will only gain the Shins sympathy and portrayed as victims and close their ranks of the Reds.

By the way, forget about dictorship. It can never happen in Thailand with 2 revered institutions to account for. In fact, if dictorship ever happened, it will be from the military and not from the civilian side.

Trial looms for Thailand's deposed PM Yingluck

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the start of a negligence trial which could see her jailed for a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Yingluck -- sister of fugitive billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago.

A guilty conviction could deliver a hammer blow to the political dominance of her family, but it also risks stirring up the powerful grassroots "Red Shirt" movement that supports her family but has remained largely inactive since the the military took over.

Yingluck is accused of criminal negligence over a populist but economically disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

She is not accused of corruption but of failing to prevent alleged graft within the programme, which cost billions of dollars and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme, a move which banned her from politics for five years.

"I believe a hawkish faction in the old powers... wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can," Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.

"But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more," she added.

Yingluck is expected to appear in person at the trial, which is being heard by the Supreme Court on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.

On Monday Thailand's Attorney General warned an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to appear without good reason.

Yingluck herself has defended the controversial rice scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers" in the poor northeast of a country where subsidies to farmers have long been a cornerstone of Thai politics.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies.

As a result, the Shinawatra family have faced two coups and the removal of three of their premiers by the Thai courts, while several deadly rounds of protest have rocked Bangkok and dragged on the Thai economy.

Former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law to Yingluck and Thaksin, is also facing criminal charges over a crackdown against anti-Shinawatra protesters in 2008.

Analysts say Yingluck trial is likely to drag on in order to keep her bogged down in ongoing legal challenges.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

Again AFP usual craps

Can not even get their facts right

How do you detect crabs. You like to define your method? Between the 3 rd largest global news agency and personal skewed opinions, I tend to lean to AFP.

.....especially if it goes your way....

How do I detect crabs? Under some rocks at the sea shore, in restaurants or at the fish market. Some shops offer good selection too, but at higher price though....

But maybe were you referring to craps? In that case and in this article, it is easy to compare what AFP is describing as facts with actual facts. Being the 3rd largest global news agency is not a guarantee of impartiality...

Read the article again and judge by yourself.

Read it once and the news no different from other international news agencies that analyzed the political environment and came up with the same conclusion. You don't share the view, that's your prerogative. You probably also believe that the coup like the past 17 coups were necessary and that this is different to safe the country, carry out reforms and bring about reconciliation. You see any of those cornerstone pledges materialized? Corruption, cronyism, nepotism are still there with a crooked constitution in the horizon.

Haven't Ahbisit resigned after the shameful electoral defeat 2011 election only to change his mind. He also said election was the correct move to resolve the Bangkok shutdown impasse. A week later, he boycotted the election. Can we trust politicians making promises? Just waiting for Sutherp to announce his come back to politics.

What's shameful about losing an election ?. It's called democracy.

He did as a matter of honour to allow the party to decide if he should stay or allow another to take over.

A concept you clearly cannot comprehend. You would do your cause a much greater service if you didn't keep posting retarded rhetoric like this.

Shameful because he and his party were the incumbents and they lost massively or as Reuters called it "a landslide defeat". A matter of honor is when you meant what you said. He didn't, he stayed although he boast of resigning if he lost in the election. A matter of honor is suggesting an election and not taking part.

You clearly don't understand the gist of my post. No wonder you get hot under the collar and the gall to ask me not to post. Who the hell you are, Mr. John?

Trial looms for Thailand's deposed PM Yingluck

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the start of a negligence trial which could see her jailed for a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Yingluck -- sister of fugitive billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago.

A guilty conviction could deliver a hammer blow to the political dominance of her family, but it also risks stirring up the powerful grassroots "Red Shirt" movement that supports her family but has remained largely inactive since the the military took over.

Yingluck is accused of criminal negligence over a populist but economically disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

She is not accused of corruption but of failing to prevent alleged graft within the programme, which cost billions of dollars and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme, a move which banned her from politics for five years.

"I believe a hawkish faction in the old powers... wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can," Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.

"But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more," she added.

Yingluck is expected to appear in person at the trial, which is being heard by the Supreme Court on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.

On Monday Thailand's Attorney General warned an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to appear without good reason.

Yingluck herself has defended the controversial rice scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers" in the poor northeast of a country where subsidies to farmers have long been a cornerstone of Thai politics.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies.

As a result, the Shinawatra family have faced two coups and the removal of three of their premiers by the Thai courts, while several deadly rounds of protest have rocked Bangkok and dragged on the Thai economy.

Former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law to Yingluck and Thaksin, is also facing criminal charges over a crackdown against anti-Shinawatra protesters in 2008.

Analysts say Yingluck trial is likely to drag on in order to keep her bogged down in ongoing legal challenges.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

Again AFP usual craps

Can not even get their facts right

How do you detect crabs. You like to define your method? Between the 3 rd largest global news agency and personal skewed opinions, I tend to lean to AFP.

Haven't Ahbisit resigned after the shameful electoral defeat 2011 election only to change his mind. He also said election was the correct move to resolve the Bangkok shutdown impasse. A week later, he boycotted the election. Can we trust politicians making promises? Just waiting for Sutherp to announce his come back to politics.

You will hear when he leaves. There will be a might crack of thunder and the skies will be rent as the heavens protest at this m

an's hypocrisy posing as a monk using a holy place as a hide out.

The devil take him.

Well he didn't run off to Dubai like a cur with his tail between his legs.

Why you think he need to run when he is part of the ensemble that want to take out Thaksin. He need not have to worry when your mates are the good people and the people in power.

Understandable that the reds doing a full scale democracy whining now......Prayut is really doing something

Goodness, this investigation of this revenue tax case started long before Prayuth came around. In fact, the DG of the Revenue Dept was sacked during the previous government. You really think an intricate case could be sorted out during the short Prayuth tenure. Get real.

I think the US would give him a passport simply for being a fugitive from an M word D word. A lot of countries don't take an M word D word seriously at all.

Especially when the M word D word and Democrat sponsored judiciary forced him to become a fugitive by fleeing for his life.

Here we go again.

The paymaster was convicted for abuse of authority, a serious charge, the evidence was obvious and well publicized, there is no way anybody could say it was politically motivated, the case was heard and decided and the sentence of 2 years jail handed down whilst the paymaster's party was in government.

Next.

Serious charge really warrant an extradiction since South Korea has an extradiction treaty with Thailand. Looks like the government has given up asking for extradiction as most time the rest of the world just ignore. Wonder why?

Me think Watchara is unhappy because Ahbisit was not invited.

Remember that Prayut was part of the military crackdown on the 2010 PTP protests that resulted in 90 people killed.

No doubt he realized the inappropriateness of his presence at this memorium.

Shouldn't you tell Adul Kiewboriboon, chairperson of the Relatives of 1992 May Martyrs who submitted the invitation ?

Rubi, that invitation was done intentionally to ambarass Prayuth and he did brilliantly. Prayuth played right into his hands by rejecting. He should just ignore and keep silence which is beyond him.

Will need to re-boot our brain to think again after the junta government gives democracy back to the people sometime in the future.

Wouldn't be long before another statement from the Police to state that the transfers were normal operating procedure and not directly connected with human trafficking. Everyone is protecting their own kind. Probably end with the capture of few scrapegoats and made to confess.

Army is not involved for sure, but Thai Navy is the one removing the Refugee boat engines, and drifting on the ocean and abandoning them..

You mean like this ABC news, extract below.

"A man in hiding, who agreed to speak to the ABC, maintains that the Thai navy intercepted the boat he was on and then facilitated a handover to a broker.

They said why don't you give us money, we bought you, why did you try to escape?

Rohingya refugee

"The navy asked if we had food to eat and where we were from," he said. "They said don't tell anyone the Thai navy has seen you."

He says the navy directed the boat to land at Ranong on the Thai coast where it was met by a human trafficker who 'bought' the human cargo".