rubl

Heavy rain now, here in the Dusit area in Bangkok which is not too far from Democracy monument. Spoils the UDD gathering a bit, but a good rehearsal for Songkhran

Vote buying has started . Note no mention of this over the last 2yrs. So it is the Junta way of buying votes without using their own money

"Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva first floated the idea of a 250-baht minimum wage in June (i.e. 2010, rubl). In an address to Board of Trade members, he urged business leaders to think “out of the box” about ways to improve income distribution to promote social reconciliation."

http://thailand-business-news.com/news/top-stories/26301-thailand-to-raise-minimum-wage

From December, 2010:

"THAILAND: To raise daily minimum wage from January"

http://www.just-style.com/news/to-raise-daily-minimum-wage-from-january_id109876.aspx

Plus one from December, 2009:

"Cabinet approves new minimum wage raise"

http://thailand-business-news.com/national/7337-cabinet-approves-new-minimum-wage-raise

Even older, but probably under the late k. Samak, from May 2008:

"Thailand raises minimum wage by 4.6 percent"

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/05/02/afx4962258.html

And just for the fun of it a PTP campaign promise, from the 22nd of December, 2010:

"If it wins the mandate to form the next coalition government, Pheu Thai will strive to hike the minimum wage to Bt300 a day and guarantee a starting salary of Bt15,000 a month for university graduates."

Will this be peaceful or will some people be carried out on stretchers.

Provided the Army keep their noses out everything will be ok !

Yeah, especially the watermelons!

Actually the PTP spokesman has asked the government to sent the Forces in !

"Mr. Prompong further said that he did not want any third party to be interfering with the Red Shirt gathering today, citing that they could be blamed for any violence or chaos that they did not cause. He said this was why he needed the government to send forces to maintain law and order."

I seem to read about UDD only. What about the other five or six red-shirt factions, will they join the fun today?

Furthermore if this rally indicates a preference for PTP and k. Thaksin in the coming elections, can we already bar a few people for violation the election laws?

Anyway rain expected for late afternoon

Will this be peaceful or will some people be carried out on stretchers.

Provided the Army keep their noses out everything will be ok !

Providing none of the speakers rouses the rabble 'peaceful protesters, no terrorists' and their military branch (aka MiB) stay home and no-one fires a celebratory grenade, everything will be OK!

(BTW celebrate aniversary of crackdown, or remember the 25 people killed? (protesters, army personel, Jap. reporter))

But then to follow your logic....as the government has not been brought to task about events surrounding the protest in Bangkok........there is no case to answer regarding the drugs clean up.................or is that not the message you try to convey?

Your reply may refer to some posts, but not to the ones you quote. That way it's really difficult to follow your logic

The usual difficulty with following logic is because a person wishes it to lead to particular preferred conclusion..........perhaps because I have no such aims.......yes, there will be many on Tvisa who will struggle to accept my logic......

Just what I thought. May I be so bold as to offer you this particular piece of wisdom?

"We needed to have the press be our friend ... We wanted them to ask the questions we want to answer so that they report the news the way we want it to be reported."

--Sharron Angle, during an interview with Fox News Channel's Carl Cameron, Aug. 2, 2010

Just had a heavy downpour for 1 - 1-1/2 hour here in Bangkok, still raining a bit actually. Makes you wonder what the forecast for next week will be. dam_n rain can really spoil the water-throwing fun

In an apprehended insurrection when organized crime syndicates wage war on the state, innocent people die. Western nations have a term for it: Collateral damage.

<snip>

Well said. Red shirt supporters should take note.

But then to follow your logic....as the government has not been brought to task about events surrounding the protest in Bangkok........there is no case to answer regarding the drugs clean up.................or is that not the message you try to convey?

Your reply may refer to some posts, but not to the ones you quote. That way it's really difficult to follow your logic

From the WSJ article:

Mr. Thaksin said Thailand's economy risks falling behind some of its competitors if the country fails to recalibrate its political system and scale back what he says is a creeping culture of censorship in some parts of the Thai media.

"We can't simply assemble things for others anymore, we need a lot more creativity," Mr. Thaksin said. "But if freedom of speech is not there, and there is no freedom for people in getting access to knowledge and capital, how can you be creative? That's what I really worry about."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704630004576248622097483998.html

Maybe k. Thaksin should start to clean up his own house/party/supporters. Maybe tell Dr. weng that opposing opinions are part of the game, and to be tolerated rather than oppressed, like the social studies text book for Mattayom 3 (Grade 9) students contained information which could lead students to believe that the red-shirts were the cause of all the places being burnt down across the country.

Access to knowledge and capital have no relation to censureship. Democracy may start with an open-minded educational system. Then you can start to be creative.

How can you possibly doubt the words of Abhisit our great leader, why it was just weeks ago when he reported the huge drop of crime under his tenure. Then again he could have been lying, I mean it wouldn't be the first time that a prime minister lied would it?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but PM Abhisit was only talking Bangkok I think. No mention of other parts of the country. Surely the red-shirt / UDD controlled part of the country is really democratic and sees no crime or violence ? The local elite takes care of their people? Etc., etc., etc.

Prasert Viseskit, in charge of supplementary studying material for the Education Department of Bangkok Archdiocese, added that a chapter related to the yellow shirts' seizure of the airports might also be cut.

Would only be fair to remove that also, now wouldn't it.

Imagine the PAD claimed a social studies text book for Mattayom 3 (Grade 9) students contained false information which could lead students to believe that they were the cause of all ....

amnesty for all politicians who have been banned from politics is hardly an ecomonic policy is it...hang on I get it....amnesty so he can all his money back he swindled Thailand out of....

The man is an absolute fruit loop...

Correct:

But the worrying part of it is,what does that say about his many followers?

Or the current government if they are unable to secure the votes against such opposition!!!

Actually it would say a lot about the Thai voters

Have you any proof that Abhisits government has had to deal with hundreds or more websites calling for the violent overthrow of the government and the revered institution? I mean do you know what websites promoting such things have been removed? Not just you, does anybody? All the public is told (apart from the usual propoganda) is that 65000 websites have been banned as of last year, this from a spokeman of CRES when it was still in existence. They admitted that they were banning websites if they were apparently being run by any of the various groups that make up the Red Shirts. This was legal under CRES - it certainly isn't legal now under the Constitution, which, last time anyone looked, still allowed for criticism of the ruling government (even if it was written by the army). Have we heard of hundreds of websites having the ban removed - I certainly haven't, anybody else?

Is it any wonder that Thailand had plummeted to Position 153 on the World Press Freedom Index in 2010?

Some red-shirt, anti-government sites are still available even from Thailand. Some forums are extreme, some youtube users equally extreme. Makes you wonder what we can't access from Thailand? Mind you as someone indicated the hate-by-web aggression has proliferated tremendously over the last few years. Many governments are either blocking sites or have them put out of their misery legally.

PS no need to ask me to provide links to banned sites, that's illegal

This link though gives general info and some country specifics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship

Most of my wife's family is living here in the Dusit area in Bangkok. If I tell them about 'booze-free' zones they'll probably throw water at me and apologize by offering a beer

I may go to Soi Cowboy Wednesday afternoon to experience the yearly 'wet T-shirt' festival in the right environment

You keep on being amazed Rubi, why, wasn't 78 enough for you?

One was too many already as I've said before.

I'm just complaining about '100,000 rounds fired' with the only known info being '117,000 rounds not returned'. It's like the Robert A. report with 'thousands of rounds fired INTO the protesters'. Unfortunately we have some very recent examples on what 'fired INTO protesters' really causes in death toll.

PS could you please use my correct member name 'rubl' which is not the same as 'rubi'. Mind you I must admit with some font settings it's not easy to see the difference. I'm in good mind to blame either PM Abhisit, the Army or k. Thaksin for that

Here's another peace of information relating to the deaths.

The army fired about 100,000 live bullets including

2500 7.62mm SG-3000 sniper rounds.

The source is the newspaper we are not allowed to mention on TV.

Minor correction: about 117,000 cartridges were not returned after activities concluded May, 2010. Who knows how many were actually fired and how many kept, sold, etc., etc. I'm still amazed about the shooting skills of the Thai Army. Thousands of rounds fired INTO protesters and about 78 killed in a bit more than a month. Sent some to the unrest areas in northern Africa, Arabia. Soldiers there know how to shoot and kill if they really want.

Still, nice suggestion, army fired 100,000 'live' rounds.

PS JFYI: a bullet is part of a cartridge or round.

Not according to the story I'm reading it's 117,000 bullets and not cartridges.

2800 Injured that's 100,000 / 2800 = 35.7 bullets per person. Yep I have to say that is a bad average.

You fire a round which causes a contained explosion which will propel the bullet in the direction you aim at. From wiki: "A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm.

...

In popular use, the term "bullet" is often misused to refer to complete cartridges. This is incorrect; "bullet" refers specifically to the projectile itself, not the entire cartridge." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartridge_(firearms) )

There is no information (as far as I'm aware of) on how many of those 2800 wounded were wounded by being hit by bullets. Most (all?) of the civilians killed were hit by bullets, probably mostly by Army personel.

Any discussion on how many rounds fired (or not returned )tends to distract from why rounds were fired, why the Army had been given permission to use 'live rounds' as last defense to disperse 'unruly' protesters. It tends to ignore the lead up to April 10th and the violent actions by 'peaceful protesters' and of course those grenades flying around hitting only non-red-shirts.

Thaksin accused of being alien in Thai politics

By The Nation

The Election Commission should open an inquiry into the involvement of fugitive Montenegrin Thaksin Shinawatra with the Pheu Thai Party, Democrat MP Boonyod Suktinthai said on Friday.

"Thaksin's involvement might have violated Article 21 of the Political Parties Act banning an alien from intefering with Thai politics," he said.

Boonyod said Thaksin was a fugitive fled from his conviction for abuse of power and that he had subsequently adopted the citizenship of Montenegro.

He said the EC should clear up pertinent legal issues on the Thaksin-Pheu Thai linkage before the poll in order to dispel lingering doubts.

[thenation][/thenation]

What goes round comes round

So what should replace red shirts in the textbooks? Perhaps fake reds, Cambodians or aliens? If Phua Thai are so confident of winning the election they won't have to wait long to re-write history, so why the hurry?

Perhaps they could learn about the Thammasat University massacre and its impact on Society or any other of the airbrushed events in Thai history?

Good of you to remind me. The last 'airbrush' was in 2008 by the late k. Samak as PM with PPP. He mentioned in an interview that 'only one had died', really angering people who had been there in 1976 and hadn't forgotten what happened and k. Samak's role in it.

"THAILAND: Oct 6 people angry at PM's CNN interview

Prime Minister Samak's comments about the 1976 massacre has many speaking out against his diminishment of the event's brutality"

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=87178

Here's another peace of information relating to the deaths.

The army fired about 100,000 live bullets including

2500 7.62mm SG-3000 sniper rounds.

The source is the newspaper we are not allowed to mention on TV.

Minor correction: about 117,000 cartridges were not returned after activities concluded May, 2010. Who knows how many were actually fired and how many kept, sold, etc., etc. I'm still amazed about the shooting skills of the Thai Army. Thousands of rounds fired INTO protesters and about 78 killed in a bit more than a month. Sent some to the unrest areas in northern Africa, Arabia. Soldiers there know how to shoot and kill if they really want.

Still, nice suggestion, army fired 100,000 'live' rounds.

PS JFYI: a bullet is part of a cartridge or round.

Well done Khun Thaksin. You ran the country's economy far better than this mob who are just throwing money to the military and ignoring the country and its poorer people.

Good luck, there is hope for Thailand to become a great country once again, it was going ahead under your govt. So hang in there. The majority of the population want you.

K. Thaksin run the country in a period of worldwide economical boom. Thaksinomics had it's own problems in the long run. These started to become visible in 2005/2006. With the global economical crisis from 2008 till (in a way) now, Thailand would not have escaped major problems. Finance Minister Korn is doing a reasonable job under circumstances. so hang in there PM Abhisit c.s., a larger part of the population wants you

Does he mean like

How good a watch PPP had on the international money scene, that when the USA housing markets and banks crashed, PPP rushed to implement such awesome financial packages that they saved the day for Thailand???

Oh no wait that was Korn.

Ah, he must mean:

Elect his proxies and Thaksin will return and make everyone in Issan rich in 6 months, ' like he fixed Bangkok trafic in 2001.

Minor correction it was 1996 or 1997 when k. Thaksin promised to solve Bangkok's traffic problem in six months. He stepped down before. Pity, had he stayed longer he'd seen this dream come through after the June 1997 crash

Elections must be coming soon. Any means to discredit the political parties in the current government seems allowed. It's almost like campaigning on negatives. No need to offer clear positives, apart from 'we'll have k. Thaksin back' of course

A group of Pheu Thai Party's key members are visiting self-exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in Dubai, to discuss policies and issues on the upcoming election, including the selection of party-list candidates.

As Dubai has asked k. Thaksin before to tone down his political actions I expect a modification 'visit for Songkhran greetings'

From 2010-12-26:

"In a separate development, at least a dozen Pheu Thai Party MPs are heading to Dubai to meet Thaksin.

Pheu Thai secretary-general Suphon Fongngam said yesterday a group of 10 MPs would leave Thailand this evening while other MPs representing each part of the country would go to see Thaksin later.

Suphon denied that the MPs would be discussing with Thaksin on who the new party leader should be. He said it was their tradition to visit Thaksin for the New Year season's greetings."

Meanwhile, the UDD core leader pointed out that during 9-10 April the group would open a workshop, similar to what it did last year before the mass rally, but the contents would be even more concentrated to correspond to the current political situation and would revolve around the group’s strategies and operations as well as direction before and after the next general election.

History (re-)written as you watch it? Too early to say, but the UDD has a bit of a tainted image. I may be wrong, maybe just material from k. Thida's schools on democracy and how we see it

Over and above the deaths, 2,800 people were injured and seven had gone missing during or since the crackdown.

Just curious if there's info on the type of injuries and spread over those 2800.

The seven missing sounds alright for Thai circumstances. Like those drivers fleeing the scene. Mind you, it's nice to see the number has been brought down from an original guestimate of hundreds