scorecard

The red shirt leaders know what the Army is doing. A majority of the enlisted are red shirts

Source beyond your own speculation please?

And back to the drawing board to explain, yet again, that because your anti-red doesn't therefore mean that you support yellow.

With the sheer amount of cc fraud here, I am not surprised about a "no cash back" policy on a cc purchase. I wouldn't refund cash on a cc purchase, ever. The delay would be an issue for you to take up with your bank.

Example ... "Bob" gets his ATM card lifted by Steve. Steve doesn't know the PIN. Steve runs over to Paragon and uses Bob's card to buy something then returns it for cash. Steve now has some cash and bob contests the charge on his card and wins. The bank is now out of the cash and the store has the inconvenience of dealing with a product that Steve was "unhappy" with.

I certainly agree about CC fraud, in fact I've had my card number stolen three times, and every time a nightmare to get it sorted out.

On the other hand I was with a friend a few months back when he went into B Quik to get new tyres fitted to his car. Rightly or wrongly he paid (using his credit card) before the work was even started. Bottom line, they didn't have the tyres he wanted in stock and he refused to take another brand. His CC transaction was reversed instantly, no hassle whatever. He walked away with a credit slip. He has also had his numbers stolen before and he regularly checks the balance / entries on line. The credit was in fact processed instantly to his account.

Thanks everyone for your advise much appreciated. Interestingly lately i send SMS messages to her pre paid phone and her post paid phone (true vision) , and she does not respond for over 24hrs citing that she had no credit , yet where she is the shop is 30 mts away from a booth that sells recharge cards 1 to call and her post paid she is on a plan ?

that is another change in habit !

dont think she hired a investigator for Phuket as i monitor bank accounts like a hawk and i would know if big sums of money had been touched

To correct my first post ,she did NOT approve of me going to phuket with my cop mate and we had a few words, but i explained that Aussie men sometimes go to pubs or on trips togetther and not take their wives, since i had not seen my friend for a while and he did bring his thai wife and children with him.

thanks again.

yeah thought 400,000 baht for half a rai (2 squares she calls it)

Seems to me that your saying 'It's OK for you to play, but NOT OK for her to play'.

Double standards will take you nowhere my friend. Sum num naa.

From the OP:

Red-shirt leader Thida Thawornseth flew off to Malaysia to meet with Thaksin Shinawatra's lawyer Robert Amsterdam to discuss anti-coup strategy, Natthawut said.

The lady wants to be prepared and checks with well-known 'anti-coup strategy' consultant Robert A. Check his website for a full report:

"Puppetmasters: Elections As Instruments of Military Rule

Thailand 2011 General Elections Report Series, No. 1"

http://robertamsterdam.com/thailand/

Does this mean PM Abhisit has no choice but to continue governing?

So perhap amsterdam is the fair and balance human rights man she was looking for earlier!

"A housing project for foreign retirees." And why Rayong?

With all due repect:

- Should a developing country be thinking about such a project?

- Surely Thailand has a million other priorities which come ahead of such matters?

Sounds interesting, exciting even, another traumatic chapter in Thailand's recent tumultuous history is yet to unfold. I would like to ask these Peau Thai MPs just how exactly they plan to bring Thaksin home (on an airplane, in a coffin, by smuggler caravan?), particularly the rule books they intend to just 'tear up'.

Would someone also please remind them that the judiciary has more than enough evidence against Thaksin for breaking his ban on involvement in politics, and that their government will suffer a similar (farcical) fate as Samak's.

I do hope all the 'fence sitters' among the electorate are well aware of the ramifications of a Peua Thai government 'maintaining a firm stance on trying to bring Thaksin home to resolve national problems by any means necessary'.

Agree.

"...bring thaksin home ....... by any means necessary."

Beware of thaksin and his family and cronies, there is a good chance they will just very quickly railroad legislation through the parliament to cancel thaksins conviction and all other cases against him and even possibly against his family.

This would be absolutely the worst possible precedent that could happen in terms of respect for the law and respect for the processes of the law.

Additionally, such an action would create a legal precedent which could be used again in the future. Legal precedents cannot be ignored, and in fact carry large weight in terms of ultimate case decisions.

But worst of all, this is the sort of action which takes countries one step closer to being lawless.

It's the ultimate double standard; thaksin and his red shirt goons screaming continuously about democracy and justice, then they have clear intention to destroy both.

I'm curious as to how amsterdam would twist and spin all of this.

Corruption is a way of life here, a good luck attitude if you can get away with it, from top to bottom and it is expected and tolerated.

The other one is the expectation of 'commissions'.

I'm aware of a farang recently selling a house inside a village in Pattaya. Professional agent took prospective client to the house and the

house was sold.

On settlement day the following locals turned up requesting a 'commission':

- Security guard at front gate of the village. Request for 500Baht.

- The lady down the street who had answered the question where house no XXX was located. Three second answer, in fact the house was about 4 or 5 houses down the same soi. Request for 5,000Baht

- Maid who happened to be at the house when the agent arrived with the prospective client. Maid did nothing, agent had a key. Request for 5,000Baht.

All were given 500Baht.

When it comes to cheating tourists, Cambodia, Lao and Malaysia are a lot worse.

MALAYSIA?

Have you actually been there? Not once have I ever been a victim, so to speak. Sure some have 'tried it on' but it is nowhere near as endemic as it is in THailand.

I use to live and work in Malaysia and I still go back rather frequently. Taxis are a serious rip off in the big cities such as KL and Butterworth/Penang. And they are not friendly either! You'll pay ten times the going rate of the biggest scam you'll likely experience in Thailand!

Agree, I used to work twice a month for 3 or 4 days each stint in KL. On numerous occasions had hassles with cheating and thuggish taxi drivers.

Also aware of a taxi driver taking a seriously ill hotel guest to hospital, taxi organized by the hotel bell captain. Taxi driver stopped the taxi in a remote area and demanded to check the visitors wallet then demanded a fee about 10 times the going rate. Stopped the taxi at the hospital gates, demanded the ill passenbger get out and sped away. The guests employer had a corporate contract with the hotel and the guest had stayed in the hotel on many occasions, guest and employer made a serious complaint direct to the hotel and to the hotel management company, all refused to listen, all refused to acknowledge that there was any problem. Additionally the guests employer asked 'the guest was seriously ill and in great pain, why didn't someone from the hotel go with the guest to the hospital? Hotel just laughed and said, 'It's normal, forget about it'. Police also refused to listen and just laughed.

Needless to say the hotel lost the corporate contract immediately, then they called to ask why the client cancelled the contract.

On that, we agree. What those surprises might be, we probably don't lol. Hopefully I will be surprised if the Reds decide not to burn down any more buildings!

I don't really care about burning shopping malls. Insurance paid out and the mall is being rebuilt.

In contrast, hundreds of thousands of people were affected by the airport takeovers, including myself. It made Thailand a laughing stock in the international community and cost untold billions in economic damages.

The big surprise will be when the PT get a majority but fail to form a government, then there will be remonstrations against another Democrat coalition and the country will plunge irreparably into further chaos.

Well, it's no surprise really to those paying attention.

So a group of thugs come along and burn down your personal business premises and/or your house, putting large numbers of people in serious danger, then you would just brush it off and say 'never mind, don't worry, it's all ok, my insurance will pay'?

I could be wrong, but I get the definite impression that the majority of the posts on this subject are from the Thailand branch of the British Conservative Party?

Your conservatism and ignorance of the facts regarding the coup of a democratically elected government are a couple of reasons why I say this.

The yellow shirts putsch which began all this trouble was clearly the work of the conservative elements in Thai politics and still they remain illegally in power.

No matter what... these are the facts.

The unswerving support for this "old money" status quo shown here in these posts pretty much sums it up.

I bet you wish Maggie had a Thai passport?

"...... a democratically elected government......" Not true!

Wow - who saw this coming? I did, and have said so repeatedly. The fracturing of PTP has begun. Bad for Thaksin, but -

GREAT FOR THAILAND

Chawalit is just one man, but the people who support PTP is still here. Democrats party is also being ignored by the yellow now, do u say they would win this time? How about the damages that they made fro Thailand, oil, cooking oil, egg, unemployment, drugs, corruption etc.

- Cooking oil. What did the democarts actually do in terms of damage to Thailand? The electorate need to decide: do they want total price control - communism, or do they want open opportunity to make money with limited price control - capitalism? You can't have it both ways.

- Eggs, sure their idea about selling eggs didn't get much response. Is there any evidence of corruption or major damage? The electorate need to decide: do they want total price control - communism, or do they want open opportunity to make money with limited price control - capitalism? You can't have it both ways.

- Unemployment? Yes after the last major global economic crisis there was a lift in unemployment. Is it logical to blame the Democrats for this? Did Thailand in fact do quite well in terms of limiting the negative effects of the global economic crisis? Yes!

- Drugs. Did the Democrats invent yaa baa etc? No. Is there evidence (for many decades) that ruthless and powerful mafia figures (including some scaly politicians) have control of manufacturing, importing, selling drugs, people with no morals at all? Yes. On the other hand, do you want a PM who ignores the law, and encourages the police to operate outside of the law / assassinating people with no judicial process, and at the same time broadly encouraging vigilanty law and more and more lack of respect for the judicial process, in fact helping to build a lawless society? I hope not.

- Corruption. Is there some element of corruption within the Democrats? I'm sure there must be. Are Abhisit (or Korn) corrupt? I very much doubt it.

Is there a strong history of open and massive corruption within the past TRT and their rebirth parties? Yes.

If they paid a decent salary, they'd surely get the recruits they need.

I recently lost a really good assistant chef who drew out the wrong ball in a supplemementary lottery in September, because they didn't have enough recruits from the first trawl.

On the other hand there are many kids for whom a spell in the Army is either a welcome diversion from a monotonous life or welcome for their paretns if they are tearaways.

The other question that could be asked is why do they need so many conscripts? - could some of them be doing work serving high powered generals in their private capacity rather than defending Thailand. One wonders!

Expect its the very low pay, hard work, and barracks life. I read on various posts a conscript gets around 2000 baht/month, which is goes to around 4000 baht/month upon completing graduation. Now if an officer in the Thai military that comes with a "lot of prestige" and much better pay/benefits. I have an in-law who is Navy Commander and he says officers do just fine and me knowing him for many years I can see from his lifestyle and his support of the his family that he does indeed do just fine. But if enlisted, pay is a lot less with a much lower variety of "good jobs." Many of the technical type jobs which results in a lot of training and civilian life job opportunities are done by officers, where as, in western military it usually the enlisted doing the technical jobs and the officers in leadership roles.

We have a number of family friends who won the lottery. Their reactions / comments during and at the end of the subsrcription period are very mixed:

- "I learned some skills which will help me to get a better job in civilian life, and If I didn't go into the military I would still be a labourer."

- "It was a total waste of two years of my life".

- "I had to stop my education and now it's very difficult to restart".

- "Everything is totaly disorganized, nobody ever knows what we should be doing, etc".

- Numerous comments about corruption.

and more

I hate to think what levels they would be at if Korn hadn't put the brakes on the freefall PPP had left the economy in when they left office. So their plan with PTP is to vote back in the 2nd string team of the one that dropped the ball with PPP.... and let them not notice what's happening in the world yet again. "Brilliant!" As 'The Kids In The Hall' might say with full sarcasm.

Why not actually think instead of hating to think about it?

It won't hurt to coax out some rational reasoning.

The seeds of economic problems were sown long before Thaksin was in office. When PM Banharn Silpa – Archa, of the Chart Thai was in power, the finances of Thailand were ok. he left Thailand in decent shape.

Then came along the military with General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh in 1997 and the economy went south fast. It was still quite poor when he was replaced by the Democrat Chuan Leekpai. However, Leekpai managed to stabilize things. However, both the military dictatorship and Abhisit's Democratic party that followed the junta left the economy in a mess. This cannot be disputed. Look at the economic indices of the time.

Thaksin took over and kept the economy stable. he also took measures that laid the foundation for today's improvements. Korn has inerited the payoffs of the investment policies and fiscal decisions taken during the Thaksin era. That's how it works. Every government inherits a legacy from the previous government(s). You make Korn out to be some sort of fiscal genius. He isn't. He is no worse and no better than the finance minister that preceded him.

When you write, you have a tendancy to block out past events that interfere with your chronic villification of Thaksin. Conveniently ignoring the economic catastrophes that distinguished the military rule and Abhisit's Democrat party prior to Thaksin does not make your statement reliable. Go and read the economic indices and see for yourself.

Seems that you interpret things in the picture that you want to believe. Several respected economists have commented that thaksin's economic policies were unsustainable and would cause serious long-term economic problems. I've never seen their comments disputed.

Further, Khun Korn won two prestigious international awards for the policies he developed which in fact limited the impact of the last global economic downturn, and especially limited the possible negative effects on low income earners.

You stated:

"A civilian elected government should always be in control of the military, otherwise we see coups and interference as has been the case since 2006".

two comments:

1. Military coups and military 'interfenerce' as you put it, go back a lot lot further than 2006, and it's interesting that just one coup earlier, in 1992, the paymaster was given a gift of a 'telecom licence' (with no biding, and at that time Thailand was well and truly locked into policy that telecoms must be totally state operated) by one of the main and very ruthless leaders of that coup (sinbce deceased). So my question is why do you 'start' your comment about coups at 2006? Plus, would you please share your comments on the 'telecom licence' gift from a ruthless general.

2. Who seem to be saying that it's a global law that "A civilian elected government should always be in control of the military.......". The fact is that every country has it's own unique history of how democracy has developed, and every country has it's own right to have it's own history. Your demand that Thailand must follow your 'law' on this point is out of line.

We should welcome him back if it is the will of the Thai people. Some people seem to forget he is still extremely popular.

Let's hope he can change the decades of military interference in Thailand's political system and lessen their influence once and for all.

I suspect it is a pipedream however and further interference will be inevitable taking us closer to Burma politically than ever before.

1. But you don't mention why he's extremely popular, e.g. handouts, etc

2. You seem to forget that the paymaster readily accepted a 'gift' of a telecoms licence from a ruthless general who was a main player in the coup in 1992.

If Thaksin was totally genuine about reversing time to restart where he was the dictator, then he should go all the way and insist that Thailand revert to a time zone and a goverment (with people still alive of course) before the first ever coup.

You say "Let's hope he can change the decades of military interference in Thailand's political system and lessen their influence once and for all". Surely your not serious, he installed at least four family people into very high positions in the military. One of them jumped 5 ranks in one promotion (and he did the same in the police). Do you have confidence that he would suddenly stop his antics which are aimed at nothing more than total control?

3. Like it to not the military playing 'watchdog' has been part of the development of 'democracy' in Thailand, and this has obviously been a mixed act: some military guys/groups were little more than ruthless thugs, some have been very genuine to remove unsavoury / immoral people.

You say closer to Burma ...... Please share your evidence for this statement.

Pheu Thai Party would seek royal amnesty for Thaksin if it won the upcoming general elections.

They have made that obvious, their main, if not only, platform for the elections.

He will only return home if he does not have to serve the jail sentence.

So Thaksin for sure will not obey the law of this country.

That one I believe.

He will not seek his confiscated money back.

Dont believe that one.

He has already said he would 'change tax law' if he gets back. The meaning of that would in view of his me,me attitude seen clear.

Peace will return to the country if Thaksin comes home.

Dont believe that either.

There will be a lot, probably majority, of the people who will not be happy, possibly even including the army.

He reckoned that Thaksin's sister Yingluck was "qualified and ready" to become the candidate.

A done deal then.

Agree.

Plus:

- Yingluck 'qualified and ready' . No experience in public service, no real political experience, in fact, she's been pushed before to become involved and rejected the whole idea.

- Still no economic platform.

- From other threads; thaksin will be the economics minister from outside of Thailand. So I guess that means:

That a gaggle of the senior officials from the ministry will travel backwards and forward to dubai or wherever for weekly meetings etc. Massive expense for an entirely unacceptable process. But perhaps the duty free shopping is the drawcard.

- Can a convicted criminal hold a ministerial post? Can the ministerial documents be signed outside of Thailand?

- Sound smore and more like thaksin thinks he can totally rewrite the process of government at his whim.

Beware!

Hey Scorecard. O partly agree withbthis

"- Yingluck 'qualified and ready' .

No experience in public service, no real political experience,

in fact, she's been pushed before to become involved and rejected the whole idea."

True no elected government experience,

but she certainly has been a ball room and back room player

in the Thaksin political games department for some time.

She knows all the major players via multiple face time,

and she has obviously been a central message conduit for brother

and under the wing of Somchais boss big sister Yaowopa.

She also has executive experience in several companies, ignoring nepotism issues.

Graduating from the #17th world ranked school Oxford

vs

graduating from the #3,480th world ranked Kentucky State U. is not a fair comparison for her. But she does have a decade of executive expeirence that don't teach in Unis and also in running a team.

So I don't think she is a total write off for the job, but being big bros puppet proxy

rules out her possible effectiveness as an individual.

Just trying to be fair.

But not "fair and balance"... I'll leave that to 'Truth Today'.

Sure, nothing wrong with being fair, but I don't see that being a graduate from Harvard is necessarily connected either to on-the-job performance or to sincerity, or to morals. Volumes of global research proves that high GPA does not equate to high performance or value added application of knowledge gained.

Possible she has spent a lot of time in the party back room. Well to be fair, does that mean that she's contibuted insighful comment and dialogue in terms of developing long-term policy which would lift large numbers of the current poor into a scenario where they have the capability and the opportunity to gain a much better quality of life through their own productivity? Somehow I doubt it, and somehow I remain fixed in my assumption (repeat assumption) that she is not much more than a mouthpiece for the paymaster.

Then again will big sister Yaowapa let Yingluck really takes the reins and be her own person. Somehow I doubt this also, Yaowapa is well known to be tyrant.

'A decade of experience running a team'. Is there any evidence that she allows the team to be a value added 'team' or is she the director of a group of people who quickly do as they are told. I have no idea of the answer to this question, but it would be interesting to know what her style of management and leadership is.

Pheu Thai Party would seek royal amnesty for Thaksin if it won the upcoming general elections.

They have made that obvious, their main, if not only, platform for the elections.

He will only return home if he does not have to serve the jail sentence.

So Thaksin for sure will not obey the law of this country.

That one I believe.

He will not seek his confiscated money back.

Dont believe that one.

He has already said he would 'change tax law' if he gets back. The meaning of that would in view of his me,me attitude seen clear.

Peace will return to the country if Thaksin comes home.

Dont believe that either.

There will be a lot, probably majority, of the people who will not be happy, possibly even including the army.

He reckoned that Thaksin's sister Yingluck was "qualified and ready" to become the candidate.

A done deal then.

Agree.

Plus:

- Yingluck 'qualified and ready' . No experience in public service, no real political experience, in fact, she's been pushed before to become involved and rejected the whole idea.

- Still no economic platform.

- From other threads; thaksin will be the economics minister from outside of Thailand. So I guess that means:

That a gaggle of the senior officials from the ministry will travel backwards and forward to dubai or wherever for weekly meetings etc. Massive expense for an entirely unacceptable process. But perhaps the duty free shopping is the drawcard.

- Can a convicted criminal hold a ministerial post? Can the ministerial documents be signed outside of Thailand?

- Sound smore and more like thaksin thinks he can totally rewrite the process of government at his whim.

Beware!

O the Nation editorial,such hope without any hope if it coming true. In the west we voted and no matter what the result we accept it, complain , moan do whatever but dont resort to murdering , arson bringing the country to its knees and other violent actions.

Fact is "Thailand Democracy" is something which needs to have its own definition in the dictionary.

Headline: "The election is a chance to let go of the hatred">

Does anybody really believe that the red shirts / PT will accept the result if they lose?

If they lose, you can bet your life that they will continue with their thug tactics, no policies, divide and disrupt society etc etc., because the paymaster will ensure that they do so. Guaranteed!

sad news. the guy went beserk. so much harm, very bad.

Couldn't he have been held and checked at the police station for the week earlier offence ????? possible this could have been avoided, I maybe wrong.

Known ya-ba user ???? no one could have stopped this ???? prevention better than cure !! ---- Money family eh!!

Maybe bringing back Thaksin is the answer. Thai's aren't scared of anyone anymore while criminals and law-abiding citizens alike seem to have even less respect than ever before for government or law enforcement. Our thoughts should be with the victims and the police who are ill-equipt and funded for their difficult task and without the psychological help they need.

So, are you suggesting that the PM should ingnore the law and order cops to kill on sight, whever, whenever, no investigations...

Is that in fact what you would call building respect for the law?

This scheme has all the wrong priorities.

Such vast amounts of money should be spent public transport systems (mostly underground and a lmited amount on overhead public transport systems (and by the way, the simple overhead system in Kuala Lumpur works well and cost a mere fraction o fht BTS capital costs.

And in na dveloping country the better public transport systems should be subsidised so that very large numbers of people can afford to use them.

As already said, there should be action (perhaps over several years) to get vendors off the footpaths, so that there is no need for overhead walkways.

Another part of the vendor puzzle is to make them establish proper busines registration etc., and make them pay taxes.

Her son died, God bless his soul. But was he going to give her every single baht he would be making? Would he be working forever in that same career through the 28 years? That amount may be too farfetched. I think the court would tell his mother to settle for abit more than 30K and go get a job or go give birth to another cow to milk.

Probably many factors involved in the calculation that you and everybody here are unaware of, so I don't understand why anybody wants to comment as per your first sentence.

Some words of compassion for the old lady who has lost her son might be more appropriate.

The message here is that there will not be any policies issued prior to the election.

The campaign will therefore be comprised of the usual drivel about 'the rich' and 'the poor' which should chime in well with our friendly pro-red Che T-shirt wearing fraternity on the forum.

Surely actual policies would just get in the way of Thai politics.....

Or, in other words, lets get back to creating pools of funds for the leeches. Screw the populace, it's not their business anyway!!!

They have policies? That's pretty funny.

Policies?

My question to PT and taksin is: "Where's the big picture visionary policies for the future to take Thailand forward by ensuring that all Thais have good education and by ensuring that opportunities are ceated through insightful policies and opportunities are more open to all, and are geographically spread across Thailand, so that all Thais have the capability and the opportunity to gain and sustain a good quality of life through their own productivity".

What has been said so far by PT and taxsin is not even band-aids let alone visionary future policy.

Plus taxsin makes statements like "I will make everybody rich within six months". This statement is ridiculous and again shows shows lack of integrity and shows that he is still just focused on unsustainable manipulation.

Just a few remarks on the OP:

Pheu Thai will unveIl its polIcIes on April 24

Well, what can I say, finally

Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will preside long-distance over the unveiling of the Pheu Thai Party's election platform on April 24.

Again well, Thaksin = PTP, as most wll know by now.

The platform will tackle the country's problems at the structural level, he said.

K. Thaksin has gone on record a few weeks ago 'I have the solution to all problem, but that can wait till I'm back'

Some examples of policies are issuing credit cards to farmers, allocating Bt1 billion in funding to each university and allowing tax deductions for people buying their first house or car.

Nice policies, but I assume we'll also see some safeguards, regulations regarding spending, penalties for mis-spending, indication where the money comes from ?

Farmers can use their credit card interest-free for equipment and supplies according to the size of their farms. Then they can pay off their debt when they turn over their crops to the government's pledging programme. This would eliminate middlemen and loan sharks, he said.

Still need rules, rules applied as well. How come lots of farmers have been granted a stop on repayment of previous loans a few times, had loans dropped/forgiven and still manage to be in need of new loans?

Voters should cast their ballots either for Pheu Thai or the Democrat Party, according to their preferred platform, so that one of them gets over 300 MP seats and then the country can move on, he said.

This needs explanation. In a democracy even parties opposing each other still work together and keep each other in check to avoid excesses.

Meanwhile, Thaksin phoned in on Tuesday during a meeting of Pheu Thai MPs and said the party's leader would not be changed while the PM candidate would be revealed after House dissolution.

Who cares about the party leader, the current one is a very reluctant one, having stepped down and come back a few times. The PM candidate is the intriguing part, has name may start with the letter ...

"Mingkwan proposed himself as the PM candidate last time. But the first movie is over. The second film has not yet started. Don't be in too much of a rush to show support for anyone just for the money," a source quoted Thaksin as saying.

I couldn't agree more, bravo k. Thaksin.

"Don't I have money? Don't just think that you will get a ministerial post because of that. I'm not blaming anyone in particular. But the real supporters of the party will definitely become ministers," the source quoted Thaksin as saying.

May I retract my 'couldn't agree more' at this stage?

MP Sakda Kongpetch from Roi Et said Thaksin did not identify who he was blaming.

REAL supporters are not blamed, only the not real ones. Those with their own opinion for instance ?

Supporters of party-list MP Mingkwan Sangsuwan said they still back him as the party's prime ministerial candidate.

That's a democratic element you should find in any political party, even when they may lose out.

Mingkwan, Thaksin's sister Yingluck and others still have a chance to be nominated as PM candidate, Sakda said.

Of course, even if some have a .00001% chance.

Now back to the serious part. Our main policy is to make everybody rich within six months. Don't ask us to promise to keep you being rich, someone needs to pay the bill you know

Part quote:

"..... Some examples of policies are issuing credit cards to farmers, ...."

So who funds this scheme? And why isn't a similar facility available to all Thais?

Special credit & loan arrangements for: farmers, taxi drivers, school teachers, etc etc., is not fair or balanced.

Plus taxsin says it will cut out middlemen! Who in their right mind will believe that. Middlemen and loan sharks are cunning and ruthless, they (along with their scaly local politican friends) can easily ensure and will ensure they don't get cut out of the pie. And who will monitor their activities? Nobody, and in fact if PT did win the election and control the government then we will see open house , uncontrolled, for all the scaly leeches.

Part quote:

"........ He has already ordered an investigation into the matter. If the school found to have taught against the Red Shirt, a warning would be issued accordingly."

The bottom line on this point is that Thai teachesr, including university lecturers do push there own political opinions quite strongly onto students.

My adult son, and his university colleagues, were threatened quite stongly that if their lecturer discovered they ever went to a PAD rally (several years back) then they would automatically fail any courses taught by that lecturer.

The class complained and the response was mind your own business and be quiet.