Pi Sek

Whilst we all know that the Royal Thai Police are useless and corrupt, let's keep this discussion closer to the fact that they rudely and completely ignored a report of a missing child.

Objectively, I can say that they are nowhere close to a public service. Subjectively I can say they are a <deleted> disgrace.

Obviously signifying the death of Yinglucks the puppet's political career and with it the demise of the convicted criminals unconstitutional control over Thailand.

reports of her political death are greatly exaggerated as she has the vast majority of Thais with her and will win a landslide with, or without, the 'sour grapes' Dems participating

Yup they will win, then they will steal most of the 2.2 trillion and bring a fugitive home a free man ... is this really what you want?

By fugitive, you must mean Suthep who's failed to report to the police for 80+ murders charges and has an arrest warrant out that he's failing to comply with, right?

You should get your priorities straightened out. Being a fugitive from murder is worse than being a fugitive from corruption.

All this tit-for-tat bickering is rather sad and has led to a massive reduction in my posting on this forum... but you really don't want to go down that road if you're trying to belittle Thaksin's crimes with Suthep's.

How many TV posters feel deference towards the military of their home countries? An unusual but illuminating turn of phrase to use.

Ver good point. In most western countries the miitary only act internally when called to help the civil authorities and that means it's serious.

In Asia the military have a very different role as governments rely on their support and that can be taken in many ways. Defer to the military, give them the toys they want and they might not overthrow you !

Kind of reminds me of what I saw the last time I crossed the border at Hat Yai. The Malaysian army post at the border, where you're not allowed to photograph, has "the army - the cornerstone of a nation's sovereignty" (or words to that effect) printed at the front in big golden letters. So it's not just Thailand.

This a "Pee-Nong" society. Tharit's "Pee" is Somchai Wongsawat, former PPP Prime Minister, husband of PTP heavyweight and Thaksin's sister Yaowapa. Make of that what you will.

That photo is a classic.

Not all protesters are Democrats. Many are tired of the massive corruption and lies by politicians. Especially the current ones. And especially the PM. They want a change, but aren't necessarily fond of Suthep.

Yeah, I'll go with that.

Suthep has played his hand quite well I think, even if I don't agree with him and much of what he has to say... he has awakened Thailand's largest voting block, the politically apathetic. I mean, most pro-PTP types like to say the entire of Isaan and Pak Neua all vote for Thaksin, but a few chats in the provinces will reveal that the public generally don't trust any politicians - even if they acknowledge they're basically celebrities and therefore deserve a few cheers.

It seems to me given recent occurrences that Suthep is as much a puppet as Yinglak.

I would buy him a beer any day if he can shake up the police force even if it's not in a democratic way of getting things done. The Thai police force is the biggest state sponsored crime syndicate in the world.

Thanks, but no thanks.

It's not the way to get rid of problems. Making worse problems, tensions, and disavow Royal Thai Police.

For the other sentence, it speak itself. He sees himself and his claque already Master of Thailand.

The police is but one ingredient of the overall problem. That said, they are rotten to the core.

I am not denying the problem, but Suthep calls is not the solution to that!

Imagine in your country. A speaker from an opposition party rallying for more than one month, be given (partially) what he asked for, then call in his thugs for substitute police... What do you think will happen?

Whilst I don't believe you're as neutral as you would have us believe (as is the case with us all), I have to applaud your logic here. Suthep's calls for a vigilante police service to replace the official one is moronic. And he's no moron.

Truth is a very wide topic. There is:

- Truth

- Actual Truth

- The Truth

- Suthep Truth

- Thaksin Truth

- Farang Truth

"The Real Truth" please stand up?

The reality is that "The Real Truth" has left Thailand a long time ago.

In Truth, the Actual Truth sometimes doesn't convey the message of The Truth (maybe that's why The Truth hurts). Neither does the Suthep Truth or the Thaksin Truth. The Farang Truth can be generally disregarded (as with the Thai Truth) as it's highly opinionated - what's more, unlike the Thai Truth, it has no teeth.

Yes, Suthep is a nasty piece of work. Yes, he is angelic compared with Thaksin. Yes, Yinglak's government is irresponsible and its incompetence is breathtaking. And yes, Yinglak should step down and new elections held, which PTP (or its rebirth under a new name) will most likely win, even if their parliamentary mandate might not be so strong.

But what I've really noticed through these recent protests is that the Thai people only seem to sit up and take notice of what's being said when it's done from a rally stage. Newspapers and TV news don't seem to convey any message of untowards-ness in parliamentary affairs (or, if they do, the audience is apathetic). The country is becoming more divided, the economy is as bad as I've seen it since 2001 (OK, world factors have had a big impact), the government has absolutely failed on doing what it said it would do, and both the government and its opposition are leaning towards fascist traits - yet Thais still only come out to voice their objections when there's a protest on. So it makes sense that politics is successfully conducted on a stage rather than in parliament.

Sad really.

In the paper that can not be named, they report that demonstrators are spraying the police with feces.

That would seem to be untoward, yet somehow appropriate.

Are they still using those fans?

What the hell is going on? Nothing on regular news channels, but I'm hearing about grenades going off? Students getting shot, possibly even by police? On the Democracy Monument stage they were saying that Ramkamhaeng students have "caught" 3 Red Shirts in the university?

Anyone have any clue of anything apart since the shooting at around 10.30?

I am waiting for the usual suspects, to defend this!

Suthep does have a point - legally - that, if the government doesn't accept final Court decisions, then there's not much incentive for anyone else to either.

Morally, however, possibly not. I was taught when I was pretty young that two wrongs don't make a right. It's hard to believe that someone trained and very experienced in political horsetrading and the like has overlooked this moral viewpoint preached by every religion ever to exist.

What is more democratic than an elected government?

This government may have been democratically elected, but it's one of the least democratic governments I have seen in my lifetime.

Anyone remember the western media in the red shirt BK burn down, happily positioned them selves in front of the stage at the public request from the read leaders for protection.

There is no problem with media organizations being biased.

Fox is Republician

BBC is Red in Thailand

Everyone knows it, so there is no problem.

The BBC is the finest media institution in the world and is there to report the news.

I think that Jonathon Head has let himself down in not having done his journalistic homework. Maybe he should do a few google searches to find out the truth about Thaksinism and the damage it has done to the people and the country. He should read up about Thaksin's fraudulent past and how he has duped and raped the common man and women with his greed and yearning for power.

Also. that he is a serial murderer and deviser of unworkable policies that benefit absolutely no one other than himself, that is.

The last straw was his illegal shennanigans in attempting to ram through laws that enable him to have a dictatorship. He is nothing but a parasitic leech who has been found out for what he is, a liar, trickster and poor imitation of a human being.

Jonathan Head used to be the BBC's SE Asia correspondent before he was reassigned to the Middle East. He doesn't need to do his homework, he knows full well what's going on (but, like us all, tends to favour one side more than the other). During the end of TRT's time in government and shortly afterwards, he was (rightly, in my opinion) demonised for being pro-Thaksin, highlighting his good points and neglecting his bad ones, and is even accused by some quarters of being directly on Thaksin's payroll along with others like The Economist's Sam Moon.

However - sorry, SichonSteve - the BBC has evolved into little more than a tabloid news source for a very long time, far before Jonathan Head's ridiculous Sukhumvit balcony interviews with Thaksin. I actually rate CNN a little better these days and that's not "real" news either.

The propaganda war, and by extension the media, is in part responsible for all of the troubles we see in Thailand. It's why facts don't matter a lot of the time - because people believe in what they've heard.

However, under no circumstance is it acceptable to beat up a member of the press. Arrest him for defamation, lese majeste, incitement, whatever else if there's good cause, but you don't "exact the Law" through physical violence. Nick, you may be wrong, you may fight for the side of evil (in a contest between 2 evils!) and whatever else... but get well soon.

In which country do they need a Department of “Special Investigation” over a subject like people blowing whistles? Hope a simple question is not misunderstood as Thai bashing again…

Such a role is important in any undemocratic country which upholds a democracy.

People who are in a public office appointment that is not a political office must be neutral of all political bias.

<snip>

What, like the House speaker?

Remember, this is the guy that was so anti-Red Shirt during Abhisit's tenure as PM that he got some pretty harsh threats from Jatuporn at the time (I think Jatuporn said Tharit would have to go into exile if PT got into power).

This thread makes interesting reading in retrospect... nobody believed him then either!

Personally I think that, if anyone in government circles (and especially "national security" circles), here or abroad, feels the need to come out and give interviews to deny criticism over perceived bias rather than just dismissing it, it usually means the criticism is warranted.

At best, Tharit is overstepping the mark because he's scared of losing his job. At worst, he's a self-obsessed bully who has no respect for the Law and order he is supposed to uphold. In both cases, he's the perfect man for the job of head of the DSI... one of whose roles is to police people who haven't broken Laws.

Noone in their right minds wants the armed forces to deal with this mess, including the armed forces.

My girlfriend, from Chiang Rai and a Red Shirt-sympathiser who left Bon Kai 30 minutes before the trouble kicked off on 10 April 2010, just said "good" when I told her the army just made this statement. She says that Surayudh was a good Prime Minister, even if she acknowledges he was an incompetent one (!).