way2muchcoffee

Oh well, it wont be too long before this pathetic excuse for a government crumbles.

Anything more substantive to add?

Do you not remember that the 'horse trading' involved all sides. It ran right up until the wire, neck and neck. If it had gone the other way, would you still be demanding immediate elections? If not, why not?

Also, is not horse trading a necessary aspect of a coalition government. Remember, the PPP only garnered 36% of the constituency votes compared with 30% for the Dems. And the Dems beat the PPP in proportional voting. That is certainly no clear mandate for any party.

Horse trading with banned politicians is never necessary, unless there's no other possible way to win, and it is never ethical.

Actually, in this case it was entirely necessary. That banned politician commanded the voting block of MP's who determined the makeup of the coalition government. It could have gone either way. Such is the case when there is a plurality of the vote and coalition governments are necessary.

I agree that the publications mentioned are indeed biased. But who specifically is controlling them? Where are the lawsuits so prevalent against journalists in the Thaksin era? Where are the political firings of editorial staff? Where are the pulled advertisements? If you make a claim please support it with evidence.

The evidence is in, amongst other things, many of the non-factual and flimsy stories the Nation in particular releases on a regular basis to smear Thaksin and his supporters. Pure propaganda pieces.

I give you the Takki Shinegra nonsense, still being spouted on this thread as a clear example.

What lack of freedom of the press in Thailand?

Thailand's Press Freedom Index continues to plummet.

Press Freedom: Thailand drops to 130th in the World

But you failed to answer even one of my questions.

1) Who specifically is controlling the media?

2) Where are the lawsuits against journalists, as were so prevalent in the Thaksin era?

3) Where are the political firings of editorial staff?

4) Where are the pulled advertisements?

I already agreed to the fact the The Nation is biased, perhaps outrageously so. So it ASTV. So is Truth Today. So is DTV. And yet all of these organizations and publications continue to operate every day. Their offices haven't been stormed. They haven't been sued out of business. They haven't lost their media licenses.

So if you are complaining about media bias, then I most certainly agree. But if you are complaining about media freedom then I must ask what exactly you mean. It is widely accepted that the drop in media freedom rankings was due to two things: internet freedom and lese majeste. Neither of these was mentioned by Thaksin in his media condemnation.

You neglect to mention that the "legal horse trading" was done with a banned politician in order to get the necessary majority in order for him to become PM and get the Dems in office.

Unethical? Barely legal? Questionable? You betcha.

The earlier point does stand though, this government doesn't have a mandate from the people. It will have to win a general election to achieve that.

Do you not remember that the 'horse trading' involved all sides. It ran right up until the wire, neck and neck. If it had gone the other way, would you still be demanding immediate elections? If not, why not?

Also, is not horse trading a necessary aspect of a coalition government. Remember, the PPP only garnered 36% of the constituency votes compared with 30% for the Dems. And the Dems beat the PPP in proportional voting. That is certainly no clear mandate for any party.

Thaksin is has a point though, the publications he mentions, one of which sponsors this forum (and not surprisingly the majority of responses here parrot the anti-Thaksin agenda of said publication), are all heavily controlled, influenced and bias against him.

I agree that the publications mentioned are indeed biased. But who specifically is controlling them? Where are the lawsuits so prevalent against journalists in the Thaksin era? Where are the political firings of editorial staff? Where are the pulled advertisements? If you make a claim please support it with evidence.

we should concentrate on the real issue at hand, and that is lack of freedom of the press in Thailand, and their political bias, which is influenced by the same groups bent on denying democratic process and due process in their country.

What lack of freedom of the press in Thailand? Last I heard DTV and ASTV are fully functioning. Community radio has not been shut down. Truth today is still published. Where exactly are the press restrictions that you claim exist? By whom? Against whom? How exactly? I will agree that the Lese Majeste stuff is problematic, for every party, but even there we haven't seen any new cases of LM in the last couple of months.

Thaksin is has a point though, the publications he mentions, one of which sponsors this forum (and not surprisingly the majority of responses

Thaksin also points out the hypocrisy of this government when it comes to justice, something clearly evident in the case of the alleged murdering Police officer he mentions.

As I recall the current administration has asked several cabinet members to resign at only the suspicion of corruption or malfeasance. This never happened under Thaksin. Indeed, Thaksin is a fugitive, fomenting rebellion, along with a fair number of the redshirt leaders. Regarding the specific Northern policeman, the indictment is only a few days old. In due time the man will be moved to an inactive position to await trial.

There is a date, of course. The election cycle is four years. The next general election is scheduled for late 2011.

My position is clear... I believe, that for the sake of peace in Thailand, that an election to 'show' the people that they do have a voice is the way forward - not because I want Thaksin back nor as an affront to Abhsit (who I have consistently said I quiet liked) but because many believe (me too, me too!) that although the government is technically ’legal’ it does not have widespread support – and if it does PROVE it. Let us not forget the government in Germany in 1940s was legal as is Mugabe's.

And the democrats have stated that they are fully willing to call elections as soon as there is the ability to campaign freely in all areas without threat of violence, and there are no terrorist/revolutionary actions on the part of the opposition. So the onus is really on the PPP to reign in their supporters and to drop the divisive criminal Thaksin from their platform. But they have shown little interest in either, and in fact seem to be going in the opposite direction.

Why should there be premature elections when they can neither be free nor fair?

It makes no sense.

However, nuclear power is a suitable renewable power if the government wants to solve the problem of power shortage in the future, he said.

Since when has nuclear power been considered a renewable energy?

and this was said by Piromsakdi Laparojkit, economics and finance adviser of NPPDO who should know better...

I have thought about this before as well. The British IGCSE science curriculum does in fact specify Nuclear Energy as Renewable, as does the IB Program Physics course. I have no idea why this should be the case, but there it is.

never mind - what I was going to say could get me banned. lol

I have no problem with business owners recouping their investments. I have no problem with professionals recouping the investment in the education that enabled them to be professionals. I have no problem with CEOs who command reasonable salaries. I have no problem with reasonable wealth.

I simply believe that the wealth and greed we see today and throughout history is not at all reasonable, far from it. I believe that the natural consequence of the ideology you espouse will lead to the kind of inequity we see here in lovely little Thailand. Two hundred baht a day for 12 hours honest work while the business owner is pulling tens of thousands for that same day? Really?

And having person A do a job and then taking some of that persons money and giving it to person B that did none of that work...if this is done by anyone else than the Government it is called theft.

Not really. Throughout most of the world it's called capitalism. The corporate execs, land owners, and business owners do this to their employees every single day. Workers will always be exploited, often severely so. This is an inevitable consequence of capitalism because the workers are not the ones making the decisions or holding the purse strings.

From how I read this, the coup Thaksin refers to here is the one that can occur if the following happens: Coalition government splits over charter amendment (as in news today that is looking more likely then ever). Coalition parties then join ranks with PT to ammend constitution - or worse (from a Democrat viewpoint) rollback to 97. Abhsit minority government have to chose to accept changes or step down. This is where the shadows loose the power they gained in 2006 and the stage is prepared for another coup.

That's probably bang on xminator.

Let's say I don't give a rats @ss who wins an election, but I want to know who is going to lead the group in power- for example I look at the Dems and I see Abhisit and Korn. So....?

But take away the two quite untypical ex English public schoolboys with their Oxford degrees , and who do you have on the Dems side? The usual uninspiring dross.

But of course you are right on the dearth of compelling Red leadership.Lucky for the old elite really because a dynamic and honest Red leader would turn the country upside down, perhaps even winning urban middle class support and making inroads in the South.Interesting to speculate.

Agree with every word you just said Jayboy. If the reds could rid themselves of Thaksin and find a leader with the apparent honesty, courage, and integrity as an Abhisit or Korn, and with a strong educational background, then I would most likely find myself gravitating toward their camp. It is not their ideology that I disagree with. It is their leadership, their hypocrisy, their methods, and their worship of Thaksin and his money that prevent me from supporting them.

The Labor Department of Thailand is the one department that actually does seem to do its job. Unless they are employing illegals, no one is getting paid less then minimum wage, in my experience. Now, minimum wage is very very low, but its more than 5 baht an hour.

That's not my experience at all. Itinerant construction workers quite often get paid below minimum wage, as do agricultural laborers during harvest season. That is a huge number of people being paid below minimum wage with little recourse.

In my wife’s family are two rape victims of incidents happening within one month in a small village in Isan.

A retarded 11 year old girl was lured to the house of a 70 year old man and brutally raped. She was bleeding like a pig in a slaughterhouse. The family took the girl to the nearest hospital, insisting that the practicing doctor secure DNA samples. The girl identified the rapist on several occasions with the police. She also identified the house where the crime took place. She is definitely not capable to construct a story like this. This was certified by the family’s doctor.

The sad outcome:

The doctor at the hospital did not take DNA samples, even though this is mandatory in a rape case with a minor involved! She insisted she was not asked for that...

The old man denied the crime. Hence, the police don’t bother anymore.

The son of the rapist threatened the family to sue them for defamation unless an exorbitant sum is paid…

Horrible stuff. Similar thing happened to my wife's aunt, 40 years old, and developmentally disabled. No help from hospital. Police wanted 20k up front before they'd act. Nothing happened. Village justice was meted out several months later. Along with a severe beating the guilty man was ostracized completely from the village in which he was born and raised. He killed himself a month after his beatdown.

I can't say I approve of the violent and brutal way this was handled by the young men of the village, but I can certainly understand how and why it happened.

He'd most probably have got into power by playing it straight.

Perhaps. But he didn't play it straight. And he did do quite a number of other highly questionable things. And that is precisely the problem.

We used an agent. Given the two trips they had to make to Chaeng Wattana, the translations, the stamps, the rushed approval at Bang Rak and zero hassle it was 12k well spent. One small hitch. They buggered the name on the official translation, but when we approached them 6 months later they re-issued a new one with all requisite stamps at no cost.

It is illegal to buy these substances in Thailand without a prescription from a physician. They are scheduled drugs and nowhere in the UK or US where the same system exists, can these be bought over the counter.

The fact that some pharmacies sell these does not make it a legal transaction in any way and, if you are caught with it, however unjustified this seems, it remains illegal.

I don't think anybody can dispute that what you say is true. However, I think it is rather far from the point here. The fact that authorities allow and approve the sale of these mild drugs without prescription in registered, legal pharmacies, suggests that purchasing and/or possessing them in small quantities would be similarly allowed and approved.

Actually the overthrow of the violent and corrupt dictator Thaksin was welcomed, judging by the immediate reaction of the population.

There is no treason in a non-violent coup which overthrows a corrupt dictatorship, unless of course the corrupt dictator wins.

Yes I understand the issue. I am no fan of Seh Daeng. For the record I think he was behind the grenade launchings during the PAD protests, and is probably behind this latest grenade launching at Army HQ. Nevertheless, according to later reports there were no heavy weapons found in Seh Daeng's residence, only personal weapons. The heavy weapons were found in the quarters of another individual.

hgvneil

Someone will be along after a while with more information and recommendations regarding a lawyer.

Try to provide a little more information so people can help, specifically, what province/ampur the boy is in.

Breathe deep. Life seems to go like this. Unpredictable. Unfortunate. Good luck.

I take your point completely, and I probably shouldn't have personalised Abhisit in the way I did.Nevertheless as far as his government is concerned I think my point still stands.There will be some like way2muchcoffee who keep on repeating the government has a legal mandate (how many times does one have to say that one agrees?).But as far as the need to obtain the approval of the Thai people, particularly given the subterfuge and murky goings on that brought this government to power, even high ranking Democrats agree on the necessity if not the timing.To deny there is a problem here is simply wilful.

I think you misunderstand what I'm saying. I agree an election should be called as soon as possible. I simply believe that the timing of the election needs to be carefully thought through in order to help move the country forward. The wrong timing for an election could be disastrous. I have stated what I believe are the conditions that are necessary before elections are held. So maybe it's not that we disagree about the need for elections, but that we disagree on the timing and preconditions.

If this is true it makes your sister-in-law's son a murderer. Bad decisions and huge consequences. One can only hope for a bit of leniency from the court at sentencing given that he is young, has been in no trouble, etc. Tough situation really. A good lawyer will be very expensive. I feel for you and your position. It is difficult. It's family. You have money. You'll at least be expected to contribute, unless your wife's family is wealthy. And in fact you do have some responsibility to do what you can to help, within reason. But the boy did wrong, very wrong. In any Western court he'd face a pretty stiff sentence regardless of any mitigating circumstances. Good luck. Be supportive as much as you can.

Some contributors here beggar belief.

At least we agree on something.

Do the regression analysis and get back to us before you start hurling insults.

Now you are talking rubbish! And it is you that seems to be trying to insult intelligence. 7 thousandths of a degree! And you change the dates to give you a better result. The trend from 1910 to 1940 and 1980 to 2009 are identical. Go on admit it!

Number one. I made an honest mistake in my first calculation. I attributed the increase to 20 years when it was in fact 30. I admitted my mistake and performed the calculation again. Note that the numbers became closer by making this change. I have no agenda.

Number two. The trendlines are not the same. Any middle school student could tell you this at a glance.

Number three. I find you rude and borderline abusive. So feel free to insult me some more if that is how you take pleasure in life.

Shocking. A career military man with firearms in his home.