mumbu

I'd agree that tagging Thaksin's government as `generally considered the most corrupt ever in the entire Thai history' is fair comment. The financial stakes were much higher during Thaksin's period in office than they have ever been before. Poor corporate governance and weak financial system regulation had much more to do with the financial collapse post June 7, 1997. Corruption was a minor component, although it's hard to separate the two completely. Bangkok Bank of Corruption, oops, I mean Commerce, contributed to events a year later with its 1996 collapse with $3 bln in debt, much of it allegedly embezzled even tho Bank of Thailand officials appointed Krirkkiat Jalichandra from their ranks to help sort out liquidity problems in 1986. Krirkkiat, of coursse, has been convicted to serve 50 years in jail, not that he's ever likely to see the inside of one....Now that's another chapter in the story that will keep Thailand ranking high in the corruption stakes, regardless of who's in power, and continue to hinder it's economic development for years to come, regardless of what the next constitution says or even the ones after that....

I am not a Toxinophile by any means, but what did the Thaksin government have to do with the 1997 collapse, the BkkBk swindle, or indeed any other high end scandal that occured several years before it even took office? Despise the chap if you wish, but there are enough legitimate examples of Toxinilogy to choose from without bandying the absurd.

Snarl away, but note also that Thaksin was the first Prime Minister in the history of Thailand, to lead an elected government through a full term of office.

I agree. Moreover, there were no substantial banking scandals in Thailand during Thaksin administration. Once again,

there is no proven case so far of direct Thaksin's involvement in a substantial corruption scheme. The process of creation of a new constitution is corrupt itself with junta totally controlling who is in charge of the process. Moreover, junta is not going to "return the power to the people" after one year as promised. The current government which continue to assure that this is the case will be gone. I honestly even do not follow the details of drafting, since nothing good can possibly emerge from the current process the way it organized. I can imagine that some of the Thais were deceived by a massive anti_Thaksin propaganda before the coup but how foreigners fell in this not very sofisticated trap is beyond me.

I'd agree that tagging Thaksin's government as `generally considered the most corrupt ever in the entire Thai history' is fair comment. The financial stakes were much higher during Thaksin's period in office than they have ever been before. Poor corporate governance and weak financial system regulation had much more to do with the financial collapse post June 7, 1997. Corruption was a minor component, although it's hard to separate the two completely. Bangkok Bank of Corruption, oops, I mean Commerce, contributed to events a year later with its 1996 collapse with $3 bln in debt, much of it allegedly embezzled even tho Bank of Thailand officials appointed Krirkkiat Jalichandra from their ranks to help sort out liquidity problems in 1986. Krirkkiat, of coursse, has been convicted to serve 50 years in jail, not that he's ever likely to see the inside of one....Now that's another chapter in the story that will keep Thailand ranking high in the corruption stakes, regardless of who's in power, and continue to hinder it's economic development for years to come, regardless of what the next constitution says or even the ones after that....

I am not a Toxinophile by any means, but what did the Thaksin government have to do with the 1997 collapse, the BkkBk swindle, or indeed any other high end scandal that occured several years before it even took office? Despise the chap if you wish, but there are enough legitimate examples of Toxinilogy to choose from without bandying the absurd.

Snarl away, but note also that Thaksin was the first Prime Minister in the history of Thailand, to lead an elected government through a full term of office.

I do believe that anyone who dares to make comment on this topic should know at least a basic economic knowledge and not to express their opinions solely based on a superficial perception.

I completely agree with the two last posters. Indeed, the market will take care of exchange rates and, if not the measure of BOT which created an artificial shortage of Bahts on international markets, Baht would have been already lower. Another interesting question: guess who is paying the difference between off-shore and onshore exchange rates.

Here is a simple receipt how to produce dollars from "thin air". One wires US dollars to her Thai baht nonresidential account

(in chunks less than 20000 US). Dollars are exchanged upon arrival into Thai bahts with onshore rate. Then she wires Thai bahts to an appropriate dollar account to an offshore bank. Bahts are exchanged into dollars in offshore rates. (Do not try it at home but it gives you the idea. I want to emphasize that all operations described above are perfectly legal). Thus, she ends up with extra dollars. Well, somebody had lost it. Guess who?

It is very difficult to explain a short-term movements of any given currency , Thai baht including. However, the discussion in this thread and elsewhere is based on the premise that the baht is overvalued. I do not believe there is any evidence of that.

True, the former finance minister believed in that. He generally belongs to a paranoidal and xenofobic group of Thai aristocrates who think that foreigners are here to get them. As a result, we saw an idiotic recent measure of BOT with the idea to hurt this "nasty foreigners". Did he care about consequences for Thailand? Obviously not. Good riddance!

Even current governer of BOT has said recently that she does not believe that baht is overvalued.

On the other hand, some of the long-term trends regarding relative behavior of a number of major currencies are pretty clear. In the long run currencies like US dollar and UK pound are going to depreciate quite drastically versus many Asian currencies. There are objective reasons for that. Sorry for those who retired on fixed income in these currencies in places like Thailand. Either you have plan B or you are going to suffer. And, please, do not blame speculators or Thais who should , in your opinion, do their best to devaluate baht versus dollar. This should not be any of Thais concern nor it is, in fact, possible.

It is quite amazing to read most of the comments here. Many people obviously do not understand the extent of the threat produced by muslim terrorists in Thailand and elsewhere. This is, in my opinion, motivated by several factors: hate towards America, anti-semitism and hate towards Thaksin. These people have absolutely no clue regarding what is happening in deep South, how much money had been pumped into the area by Wahabi extremestits, how strategically important this area for organizations like JI. Unlike those people Thaksin at some point had very clear understanding of the situation in the South and his hard line approach was the only possible. In fact, he should have done much more: crack down on religious schools and Universities in the South which function due to wahabi funds and actually should have shut down all sources of funding coming from Wahabis. Current government has no clue of what is going in the South. You may recall that they started negotiations recently with traditional (quite moderate) separatist leaders just to realize that these leadres (of local origins) have no influence whatsoever on islamic terrorists in the South. Those terrorists get orders from outside of the Thailand.

It is very sad to see many comments over here. Whom, you guys, support? What Jews, Americans have done to you? Shame!

Before blaming speculators on baht appreciation, one should take into account a number of objective factors: booming economy, relatively high interest rates, budget and current account surpluses , attractive stock market valuations( I am talking about last couple of years under Thaksin), general rise of Asian economies and revaluation of Chinese renbini. This is an incredible combination. The well-known measure introduced by bank of Thailand was plain stupid. If one combines factors mentioned above with growing tourism, hot real estate market (again under Thaksin), Thailand really had a chance to enter elite club (Japan, South Korea, Singapore, HK, Taiwan). I am afraid under this moronic, ksenofobic government it is over.

It is amazing to see how quickly things falling apart under this incompetent, illegal and mediocre government. This is precisely the background which allows one to see (by contrast)a lot of positive changes which happened in Thailand under Thaksin's leadership. I wonder how much anymosity expressed towards this outstanding politician on this website is motivated by

early closing of entertainment venues which has also been introduced by Thaksin. Setting aside ethical aspects of his policies (which cannot be judged by Western standards, anyway), all aquisations against him remain unproven. They are just that:

unproven allegations. Thaksin had a lot of respect in foreign business circles and it speaks volume about his economic policies.

He had aspiration of moving Thailand along Singapore path, he worked very dilligently in promoting free trade agreements, he was extremely efficient in fighting bird flu, he introduced drastic improvement in treating Aids patients (without infringing upon

pharma patents), he start changing educational system (e.g. by promoting University researchers to publish in internationally recognized journals), he was the first one to tackle poverty problem, he introduced the universal health care and as a by product a lot of affordable , more comprehensive health insurance schemes became available to Thais with modest income.

I firmly believe that his hard line approach in the South is the only viable. Alternative is a creation of defacto independent

anclave under total control of Wahabi brainwashed muslim terrorists from which they will be able to launch their vicious attacks in various directions (Malaysia including). Of course, time will tell but if he returns to Thailand as a prime minister

(however remote this possibility may be), it will be to the great benefit of this country.

I saw a comment regarding this incident on Russian television channel NTV which is available here in US. The commentator has a reputation of being a serious one commenting on various global issues. He said that " Russians are known to be unafraid of anything when it comes to nonexpensive travel destionations" but it is time to reconsider Thailand as the one. He mentioned growing violence in the South, bombings in BKK and recent other murders of Westerners including Brittish girl in Samui. Based on his comments and reputation (he is known to have closed ties with government and most probably FSB

-current analogue of KGB), I have very serious doubts that this case has anything to do with Russian mafia or other illegal activity involving Russians in Pattaya.

I would point out the relevance of Surayud's Tak Bai apology occurring within a couple of months as a more positive step toward addressing the Southern situation than Thaksin accomplished in nearly six years of tyrannical rule, but I won't as I think one topic per post is a good way of staying as focused as one can in such a diverse topic as Thaksin's misdoings.

I would disagree with that. I spent some time trying to understand what is going on in the South. What we see on the ground is a rapid deterioration of the situation over there. Obviously, neither apology

nor some other very timid steps by the government changed anything to the better. And I pretty much doubt that Badawi (though I personally like him) will be able to mediate in the conflict efficiently.

Of course, Thaksin's tactic in the South (after he finally got proper intelligence and removed demagogue Purachai from interior minister position) was highly unpopular but I think it is one good example when we will be able to see (based on real facts not debates) that he was right with his hard line approach.

I am new to this forum and I am very impressed by the depth of knowledge and the analysis shown by many members. One immediate impression though is that initial eiphoria regarding the coup has gone (at least among the sizable group of the members of this forum). Indeed, the list of "achievments" of the junta and the government includes but not limited to a rapid deterioration of the situation in the South, bombings in Bangkok and "rapid response" by Banya of blaming opposition and ignoring the facts, bizzare measures of Bank of Thailand,

"new ideas" about foreign ownership of the companies etc.

In my view, it is a beginning of a long and sad period in Thai history of political instability, mediocraty and possibly even chaos related to imminent generational changes at the very top of Thai elite.

The coup is, of course, among other things is a personal tragedy for Thaksin who is, no matter what one thinks about him, is an extraordinary personality as is evidenced by the level and the intensity

of discussions on this thread.

But from the historical perspective the coup may be a blessing for him.

Because on the background of impotency clearly shown by current ruling clique, many of his actions which looked conroversial

may prove to be necessary or at least best possible at the time.

The starting point of this thread was a "laundry list" of the ruling clique.

Those who think that the current rulers should not prove their acquisations are absolutely wrong. Because down the road the similar list can be presented to them and if it happens that their greatest defender had gone, I am afraid no tanks will protect them.