scorecard

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So I guess martial law wont be lifted for a long time yet. Happiness meter and reconciliation maybe on hold for awhile also.

Well posted -off topic diversion from the actual subject. Why not read the topic and speak the truth about what it's about, and why these things should not happen--------------applies to all corrupt people. but in this instance it is about a PM who has done wrong---get it.

My appologies, it was not my intention to upset or offend anyone and to those who found my post offensive I am extremely sorry.

I was probably one of the biggest critics of the scheme and my posts on those threads will indicate that. My comment on Martial Law was not intended to be off topic. What I was refering was that now that she is to be formally charged there may be a few reds who won't be happy and may be formulating a few plans. My comment about the happiness meter was the same, there will be a few people not happy.

My appologies again if this is off topic or people find it offensive and upsetting

Of course there will be a few people who are not happy because all of this doesn't suit their personal selfish and immoral agendas.

Should the reform to try hard to move Thailand forward be stopped because of this group?

More proof that the good general should keep things under strong controls until the new picture is well locked into place.

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Ok smart guys . In order for a coup to be successful, it must purge the country of the old regime. If not then its not successful. That is all that is happening now. Of course from the beginning this was going to happen. Its not some big victory for the anti-ying haters so quit getting your panties up in a wad and thinking you have won the lottery or something, you havent. Why do you think we are still in military law? Its because the coup isnt complete.

THis isnt about rice, its about the rich and privileged taking back what they feel is theirs he country of Thailand.

In 5 years or less, the country will be right back in this crap....mark my words. We cant live forever.

Wrong on multiple points.

Get some new arguments, the robert song book has been played so many times it's repetitive, it can be anticipated, it contains many untruths and spins and twists, and it's become plain boring.

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I think to receive care and medical the child would have to go to Australia.

Australian citizens are not entitled to Australian Goverment medical assistance while in Thailand.

Opens a can of worms if they give finacial assistance directly.

Not being cold hearted, just realistic.

Perhaps no need to explore the tiny details here on TV.

I am aware that there are systems whereby certain categories of people (not great numbers in total) can get specific types of medical care abroad and get reimbursement, but I have no intention to go into details.

Good luck to the little one.

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I wonder if she will swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth or she will get someone to swear to tell it on her behalf.

Will she even go to court or get 4 ex PTP minsters to youtube the answers? Maybe she could Facebook her statements to the court. Even a controlled narrative with her reading from a prepared statement.

Some have said a few weeks ago she is brave, honorable, courageous and can hold her head high in facing her accusers because she did not run away. She stayed.

Going by that narrative a few weeks ago then if she DID run away logic would then dictate that she would therefor not be brave, not be honorable, not be courageous and cannot hold her head high? Or will the excuses "evolve" to suit the situation……again.

I look forward to something happening in the next few weeks…Not by yingluck, but on her behalf of course.

If (repeat if) she and her cohorts get convicted and go to jail, just wondering what the 'atmosphere' would be like when the party faithful meet the owner of the get rich club in Dubai or wherever.

Would he show remorse?

Or would he just use come clever spin?

Or will he avoid meeting the party faithful?

Or would the party faithful ever want to visit him again?

Or would there be any ongoing large numbers of party faithful?

Further, would the party faithful (those not in jail) ever trust him again?

But I guess greed knows no bounds. And, unfortunately, there is little doubt there will be plenty of low life immoral folks who would still be keen to go for a chance at the trough.

All the more reason to ensure the new constitution etc., pushes very hard to encourage more capable and honest people to take up the role of leading and developing Thailand as a fair and just civil society, and these people do exist.

And at the same time ensures that the electorate are more knowledgeable and reject the low life.

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Cant wait to see how they dress this up as criminal behaviour.

Accessory to defraud the state?

If, as the Democrats charged, the rice pledge program was a predcitable failure that will cost the State billions of baht, where is the fraud? Fraud is a deception. The program clealry, accepting the Democrats prediction of cost, was a subsidy to uplift farmer incomes irrespective of market prices - in essence welfare. The PTP never presented the program as having a different intent.

Quote: "The PTP never presented the program as having a different intent."

Well they are not likely to advertise the scam.

I could buy a nice car and advertise that I will take you from A to B in comfort.

I'm not going to advertise that my real intent is to rip you off with exhorbabant fares.

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Tricky situation for the junta as she could be a martyr to the cause for many Thais and this could get nasty with protests and unrest if jail sentences are handed out. A ban from politics is certainly on the cards but anything more than that is risky. Also being a women, the first women PM for Thailand also brings her international recognition to full view as the world watches.

Naah.

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Why is all of Thailand pretending that the rice scheme was anything but a blatant theft of billions from the Thai people. Aren't the Thais ashamed that they constantly let a few people get away with this crap??? They whine about being poor then vote for simians that rob them blind, and turn up at events waving flags and holding up pictures of their 'heroes'. I can imagine the conversations going on in private about how stupid people will continue to vote for them despite their blatant corruption.

Les, please show me who got hold of these billions and where it went? If it is so blatently obvious, then surely even a Thai prosecutor can find it....

No need to provide evidence.

There has been way more than enough reporting over quite a few years to support the OPs statement above, many times over.

And you conveniently ignore that for a number of years units such as the DSI were under the direction of the get rich club and many serious

transgressions were ignored.

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So, the State loses 700 billion Baht on a 'self-financing' scheme, the PM stated in parliament that she and only she was in charge and some here still sprout nonsense?

The very fact of 700 billion Baht loss on a self-financing scheme with various persons involved having gone on record that there wasn't a problem and still these questions? It would seem the people involved have done their best to pin it on themselves.

It still doesn't confer criminal liability.

Just liability as result of negligence not enough for you?

I don't think she should be held liable by a court. In fact, her liability should have been judged by the electorate. Being useless isn't a crime. Having policies that cost the country money isnt a crime, least of all to be judged by a blatently partisan group put in power by a coup. This just doesn't pass scrutiny in my eyes.

Your struggling now, just keeping your posting count up?

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Cant wait to see how they dress this up as criminal behaviour.

Accessory to defraud the state?

Well, first shouldn't they try to uncover that there was a systematic fraud and convict a boat load of people for all these accumulated monies supposedly nicked. Who have they convicted for defrauding the state? There has to be a fraud for someone to be an accessory.

The system lost money, but with little unprosecuted thievery so far. Its all accounted for, through the system. She didn't obtain any of it herself. The system was mandated by a legally elected government so cant have been illegal by definition.

Criminal financial negligence? That is more normally associated with damage in individuals rather than the state.

Causing financial damage to the state? Sounds all very nice. It has lots of google entries where it is enacted in Ghana and is now regularly used, for, guess what? Chasing political opponents.

http://www.modernghana.com/news/229976/1/law-on-wilfully-causing-financial-loss-to-the-stat.html

So, they will tie themselves in knots trying to pin this on her.

"The system lost money, but with little unprosecuted thievery so far. Its all accounted for, through the system. She didn't obtain any of it herself. The system was mandated by a legally elected government so cant have been illegal by definition. "

How many people do you think will believe your spin.

'She didn't obtain any of it herself." You have any evidence on this categorical statement?

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can a replay of that interview be heard, possibly via internet stream?

The radio station told me that this is not available. I didn't record it myself because my 55 year-old brain couldn't remember the date of airing...

Hans - thanks for the compliment, which confirms that at least 1 person listens to that radio station.

Getting a job at 50 is not easy in any country. Apparently, this vacancy specifies no applicant to be over 50 years old. I'll consider it their loss and go back to relaxing in my hammock.

Not really the point but from my exposure at many Thai unis the majority of western / foreign lecturers here are 50 and quite a few a lot older (incl. me).

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"But if all of my family, including me die and if Gammy is left behind alone, at least the Australian government will help him."

If I am reading this correctly, the Australian government is on the hook for the costs, not the parents. Good for the baby, not so good for the taxpayers.

IMHO, given the overall specifics of this case a little compassion towards the baby is a good and correct decision.

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Pheu Thai are really just a bunch of squirming maggots, how did such a repulsive group of humans ever get to be in charge of the whole country?

Add: immoral, incapable, thieves without conscience, puppet leader no hesitation, no conscience to play act the role of Thai PM - all aimed at deceiving the good Thai people.

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At Checkpoints Fine them on the spot for non use of meters...

Good idea, at the random police check points police could check if the meter is running and ask where the vehicle departed from.

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Really want to see all of these guys go down for a long stretch...but I'm not holding my breath. I'm mind boggling how much money is 'lost' in this country. Corruption really is hindering development here.

And it's mind boggling how long this investigation is taking.

And it's mind boggling how long it took to discover money was missing,about one month ago, and it continues to be mind boggling it's taken one month to discover there is another 100M Baht missing.

How come the NACC or the DSI not already involved?

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So did I read that right, the cab fare problem has been fixed ? Maybe they need to check the dates on the complaint forms.

1. It's been reported that the driver concerned has been banned from all airports. I guess that's what she mean it's been fixed.

2. This problem has been solved since then, with authorities setting up automatic queue-card taxi kiosks.

Seems to be a lack of thinking more broadly / thinking into the future. Par for the course.

Bottom line - until there is some serious and biting punishment taxi problems will continue unabated.

A few days ago I got into a taxi in Bkk, the cab was in fact quite old, half of the meters and gauges on the dashboard have gone just empty holes, speedometer not working, seat upholstery worn out and the floor is bare metal.

I quickly realized the meter was ticking over more quickly than before.

I asked the driver why this was so. He replied proudly his taxi is passed for the new charges and pointed to his new sticker.

Another fake sticker opportunity?

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As we are discussing elsewhere, her team have now answered the questions so therefor the argument that they never had a chance to answer is obsolete.

And as I stated, the NACC now have these answers so now have the chance to refute them in their closing statement.

Her clever defense team in their haste to jump in and answer the questions instead of leaving the answers for her to read out as her closing statement have given the advantage to the NACC and they must now prepare another closing statement for her to read.

If they do not and should that closing statement consist of the answers given, then the NACC is in a position to refute them as they now know what she will say.

It is her defense team that are attempting to play tricks by not letting her answer in the first place and saying they don't know where she is and cant contact her, and now answering for her

Could it be that they are not quite as smart as they think they are?

But at least she has avoided to be publicly grilled. They can still argue that as they have not been allowed to answer, and they had to answer using Youtube. Additionally, I find interesting to have the NLA and the NACC answer comments made on Youtube outside the procedure.

Anyway I don't feel anything surprising will come out of it. Basically we'll hear the same arguments as before from previous government's opponents, and the same arguments from Yingluck's side.

But I find it interesting to analyse the communication tactics applied by each camp. It compensates for the absence of any suspence on the decision that will be made.

You make some assumptions which are incorrect.

Ms. Yingluck was not to be publicly grilled as the meeting would not be broadcast even though Ms. Yingluck's representatives wanted that.

Furthermore there is no indication that the NLA accepts the youtube clip unless it's handed to them by either Ms. Yingluck or by her legal team. Following Ms. Yingluck or her legal team would need to declare that the information provided is accepted by Ms. Yingluck as if it was given verbally by her to the NLA.

So, till now no information on the 700 billion Baht loss by a 'self-financing' scheme.

Rubi said:

"Furthermore there is no indication that the NLA accepts the youtube clip unless it's handed to them by either Ms. Yingluck or by her legal team."

With all respect to Rubi I add:

... and there is no guarantee that they believe anything that was said on the youtube clip.

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Why would she answer questions put forth? If I were her I would consider the NLA an illegally appointed body by an illegally installed Prime Minister.

Be fair, complete your statement:

... following the example of her brother who took upon himself, illegally, to return to the pm position.

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What is the question?

Obviously many Americans have married Thai in Thailand.

If you need a play by play check the US Embassy ASC website for details - simple matter of filling out a paper at Embassy and having it notarized and then translated/recorded with Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then you both present yourselves and ID at a local District Office to register the marriage. Anything else is up to you (cermoney/church/monks/party/and such). You can use paperwork filled out during registration for specific details if desired - but for property in US after death that would be where a will would be useful. You can ask for details in the marriage section.

http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/service/marriage.html

"What is the question?

Obviously many Americans have married Thai in Thailand."

Agree ... and obviously there's far more to the equation than the fact that she's Thai and you're an American and assuming your situation will exactly mirror that of every other American married to a Thai.

If you want her to inherit your property in the US you'll need a US will recognized by whatever probate court has jurisdiction, preferably drawn up by a lawyer in the state where you have the property, but there will clearly be logistics issues for her, particularly in turning real property into cash and getting it all transferred to her and possibly other family members contesting/obstructing the arrangement.

You should also have a Thai will. Even though she would probably inherit property & money you have in Thailand without the will, it helps if you make specific your intentions and include a statement that she be allowed to go ahead with funeral arrangements etc. without the US Embassy butting in (and I got that advice from the consular service at the US Embassy).

My following comment not intended to be negative in any way, just sharing from experience.

If you go to the local amphur office to make a Thai will (they have the appropriate documents on hand and it's very cheap) then you may encounter amphur staff who will try to tell who what you have to do (in terms of declaring who benefits etc).

The reality is that 99% of these amphur office staff are not lawyers and have close to zero / zero knowledge of law.

However if it's very straight forward - she get's everything then there is nothing to be discussed or commented on by the amphur staff.

Good luck, hope you have many many happy years ahead.

Phuket 'getting tough' on people trafficking and illegal labour issues

Phuket has set up a committee to work on illegal foreign labour suppression and management.

This matter has had a lot of press for a long time and especially just recently.

So how come they are just now forming a committee?

And how come the recent reports in the last few months that they have made progress on this and the reports that Europe and US are pleased with the progress?.

You say: "But at least she has avoided to be publicly grilled."

You, she, her scaly gang might think this is clever and a victory.

No doubt many others see it as unscrupulous and immoral and in fact not surprised that this gang if liars and people under serious charges take this approach, the result being that they just look more tricky, more untrustworthy, and more scaly, all of them.

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When i see the level of exasperation of yellow supporters, i conclude that it was quite a good communication trick.

How's that?

She did not give her political opponents the opportunity to grill her publicly and so to fully achieve their communications objectives. Answering on Youtube is also a good idea because you can answer what you want without someone in front of you objecting anything to your answers.

It can be objected that she will not increase her chance of escaping impeachment by doing so. But my reasoning is based on the assumption that both parties, Yingluck and her political opponents, know the decision that has been already made. And that the questions and answers will not have any impact on the final decision. Both parties know it and try to have the best political communication impact about it.

Some of us have better values.

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When i see the level of exasperation of yellow supporters, i conclude that it was quite a good communication trick.

How's that?

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If Suthep had not gone on the streets, this rice scam would stioll be running, stockpiles would be approaching 30 million tonnes and a few more years of the scheme hand in hand with the serious drop in tourism, this country would be on the verge of economic collapse by 2017.

Even PTs most ardent supporters know this scam was a complete disaster. If anything, this defence will lose these idiots a hell of a lot of future votes.

There's more, they would have by now invented:

- Another immoral way to try to get an amnesty through parliament white washing / cancelling past convictions and current investigations

- Another immoral way to entrench the party so that it becomes more and more difficult / impossible to unseat the

- More reasons to start and have actually started many large budgets with very little to zero transperancey