lukamar

Agreed. To get rid of the TRT forever they need to make it illegal for any party to be named as such.

They'd also need to round up all former executives and execute them, in public if necessary to warn sympathisers of their fate.

They should then plant agents in communities especially rural areas to make sure no one is organising any pro-TRT activities.

Educate children on the merits of the present system (songs and storytelling are very effective) and teach them to watch out for any agitators or secret TRT sympathisers in their communities and homes.

Taking care of 14 million past voters is tough, but with a bit of organisation down the grassroots, it should be achievable. Hopefully it won't require any money, just a strong message of hope.

Didn't they try that some years back but Communism didn't take, maybe with umpteen million disillusioned voters a second go around would do better..

officials will be able to obstruct them from entering Bangkok.

The junta is disrupting everything why not a few protesters and democracy.

Gen. Sonthi says the police officials have gathered the information being presented to the people, and will consider whether legal steps will be taken

and in case no law applies we will quickly write one up to apply and make it retroactive. He also said secret tapes could only be used for prosecuting the TRT and they would also pass a law making that retroactive as it is a national security issue.

BTW SJ, you seem to be overridden, as this dead thread has been resurrected by the moderation team.

Once they have a chance to really get to the bottom of their idea, they will learn that it's a real Shitty one.

For the same reason the psychiatric technicians do. In the case of the psychiatric technicians, it's so that that they nor the patient gets inadvertantly injured as well as lessening the chance that their clothing is torn.

You have convinced me John. You definitely have had much more contact with psychiatric technicians than I ever will have. The fact still remains that a decal, from a police helmet, in the wrong hands has never caused an injury greater than a paper cut, which in my medical opinion is easily treated by most laymen.

Police in all jurisdictions, even when confronted with serious threats, dress accordingly including insignia and or a way to designate them. This is a pic from the Texas Tactical Police Officers Association webpage. See the stuff they carry? Including a Police Designation.

I apologize.. I guess I assumed you had more specific medical knowledge regarding that specific practice than that, but I was wrong.

Spin it any way you want, it still does not change the fact the people in question have been sterilized and you cannot tell if they are police, military or unemployed rubber tappers trying to earn 200Bt a day. I realize you don't think heavily about these things often. I just found it interesting they were sanitized in such a way. BTW - Woven insignias would not cause them or anyone else, any type of medical hazard but would offer them some identification which obviously, to some of us, was not wanted for some reason.

Lukamar, you have a medical background.

When a medical team of psychiatric technicians or nurses goes to restrain a patient on the psychiatric ward, do those people remove all their identification, badges, etc. prior to taking action?

Now then, why do they do that, do you think?

No they don't or they wouldn't get out of the lock-down area. To use your analogy, they would have to unstitch their names from the front of their white coats before doing their work. This action is called sterilizing and it's often used by the military, not only in Thailand, so they will not easily be identified. It could easily be to make it hard to identify security personnel in the event they use excessive force. I just find it interesting that in this instance, in front of the Army headquarters, they chose not to wear their normal police uniforms when they did previously when they were worried that the situation may turn violent.

Previous PTV rally.

Policemen guard in front of the army headquarter on Rachadamnoen road on Saturday as pro-Thaksin rally start moving from Sanam Luang. The protesters vowed to enter the headquarter to demand for the military junta to step down.

Source: The Nation - 23 June 2007

How can you tell these are police? There are no badges or insignia on their uniforms. Thought the TV people would pick that one up quickly..

Their pot bellies give them away.

LOL.... That's the first thing i thought of as well. It's just interesting that nothing actually distinguishes them as actual Police on official police business and in all previous photos they are in normal police uniforms. Maybe the Junta hired them from the manager Group at 200 Bt a day..

Policemen guard in front of the army headquarter on Rachadamnoen road on Saturday as pro-Thaksin rally start moving from Sanam Luang. The protesters vowed to enter the headquarter to demand for the military junta to step down.

Source: The Nation - 23 June 2007

How can you tell these are police? There are no badges or insignia on their uniforms. Thought the TV people would pick that one up quickly..

they are just focusing on Thaksin

Thaksin did it

Thank you for confirming that..

take a series of deer breaths and repeat after me ...... "I will not be overcome by paranoia, I will not be overcome by paranoia, I will not be overcome by paranoia, I will not be overcome by paranoia, I will not be overcome by paranoia, I will not be overcome by paranoia, "

This reminds me of a poem by Niemöller about the indolent action of intellectuals following the Nazi rise and the purging of their targets, group by group, individual by individual.

"When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out."

Come on Luk we know that Thaksin is no Hitler and we also know the Junta are no nazis. Those historical comparisons dont work.

You guys missed the point of my post. I was referring to the sit back attitude and the statement "I will not be overcome by paranoia" in reference to "When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." There are marked similarities the way the Junta is systematically taking the rights from the Thai people, possibly no one has noticed, or wants to notice and they are just focusing on Thaksin and not the big picture.

luckily for the current PM he as able to present quite conclusive aerial photographs.

The photos were in regard to the accusation that some rail cars were on the property that may have been acquired in a dubious transaction. It had nothing to do with the land purchase other than showing there was a huge house built on land that was set aside for poor farmers in the national forest reserve. The now PM was never poor or a farmer from what I have read.

take a series of deer breaths and repeat after me ...... "I will not be overcome by paranoia, I will not be overcome by paranoia, I will not be overcome by paranoia, I will not be overcome by paranoia, I will not be overcome by paranoia, I will not be overcome by paranoia, "

This reminds me of a poem by Niemöller about the indolent action of intellectuals following the Nazi rise and the purging of their targets, group by group, individual by individual.

"When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out."

NCCC rules against probe into Surayud's land

June 21, 2007 : Last updated 07:25 pm (Thai local time)

The National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) Thursday ruled against investigating a Nakhon Ratchasima plot bought by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont on grounds of statutory limitation.

The Nation

I could not find a picture of a trough to go with your pig..

Mrs T paid 23 million per rai for land in Bangkok, The now PM paid 2275 Bt per rai through a proxy for land in a forrest reserve... The NCCC did not say he was Innocent, they said the statute of limitations was up and the case had expired.

If you have power, influence or money in Thailand you are not immune to power brokering or corruption. Everyone does it, everyone in a position of power, everyone with money. It's the Thai way, and there are many in the Government, Police and the Military. History is not on any of their sides.

i recall the invitation to bid for the site back in 2003. when pojaman won the bid, no one really thought that she cheated. in fact, many potential bidders (myself included) thought she was nuts for offering such a high price. she paid over 23 million per rai for what is essentially low density zoned land. if there was anything unfair about the deal, it was that someone with too much money could make a purchase based on a non-commercially supportable price. but hey, highest bidder wins, it was nothing like how the media is painting it right now. i agree that she is being framed.

even the suggestion that the land is valued at 2 billion is misleading. 2 billion might have been the artificially inflated price during the 97 crisis era because many land owners inflated valuations to monetise the assets via bank loans that they couldn't pay back. that is why so many NPLs occured, and why so many assets were slashed in the post crisis era.

the BOT got a good price for the land IMO, pojaman wasn't looking to do anything commercial with the site, she wanted to build their new bangkok residence there. the feng shui was meant to be good, that's why she was willing to pay more. in the end, an asset's value is best represented by what people are willing to pay real money for, nothing more nothing less. even pridiyathorn, the then BOT chief, and its fair to say that he is not Thaksin's friend, came out to say that the bid was performed outside of the purview of the PM. strangely, his declaration was made in a closed court, where the defendents were strangely not allowed to sit in to collect evidence. there is definitely little due process in this investigation.

Appears few bothered to read your comments as they may not like to think there is another side to things, too bad.

I picture a single tick trying to bleed an elephant dry.

Do you forget the pictures from the defense ministry? Anything is possible in Thailand, just not likely.

Isoc gets its mojo back

By Anucha Charoenpo

The Internal Security Operations Command is likely to regain some of its old influence of the Cold War days after the military-appointed government approved a national security bill giving the agency sweeping powers to handle all forms of terrorist threats.

State agencies had pushed for a similar bill to replace the repealed act but subsequent governments were wary, believing the communist threat had ended.

The idea of restoring Isoc's powers was revived after the Council for Democratic Reform, now known as the Council for National Security (CNS), toppled the government of Thaksin Shinawatra on Sept 19 last year, and replaced him with Gen Surayud Chulanont.

Once the new security bill becomes law, the prime minister will become chairman of the National Committee on Internal Security, monitoring Isoc's work. But that is not enough to quell fears that Isoc will be given excessive powers which could deprive people of their rights.

Isoc was created in 1966 with the assistance of the US government to handle anti-communist operations in the country. It enforced the Anti-Communism Act, which was repealed by the first administration of prime minister Chuan Leekpai a decade ago.

Critics ask how Isoc's activities will benefit the public under a military-backed government. They want to know whether members of the public can sit on the national committee and whether the bill will increase the powers of the army chief, who will also head the restructured agency.

Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, the CNS chairman, is also the army chief.

Under the bill, Isoc's chief, as a member of the national committee, would have the right to direct state-run security agencies if the country comes under threat from terrorism, an act of sabotage or other forms of violence.

In addition, he would be empowered to ban people from leaving their homes, from using vehicles and roads, and from assembling in public places. He could also appoint security agents and assign them to bring suspects into custody, conduct searches and seize assets and documents believed to be linked to offences against national security.

However, they must seek court approval prior to arresting and detaining suspects. The bill allows them to detain suspects for seven days at a time, but the total detention period must not exceed 30 days.

The bill requires the Isoc chief to report to the national security committee, but it does not specifically say for which functions he needs the chairman's approval. That might create ambiguity and confusion among the public.

The bill should be reviewed to clarify the various functions of the prime minister and the Isoc chief.

National Security Council secretary-general Prakij Prachonpachanuk has assured that their powers will be limited, but public confusion remains.

BKKPost

While the clique here gangs up on those that don't agree with it, it's good to know that there are powers that have colluded to gang up on the whole country them included. While baning people from leaving their homes, from using vehicles and roads, and from assembling in public places may not seem to affect you or your rights, it easily could.

The short term loser in all this is the rural poor who once again have their chair pulled out on them as the Bangkok minority stands there and laughs at them. The big loser is Thailand and the democracy movement it's been set back at least a decade.

wade through enough <deleted> and you'll always find some gems .

very well said .

Posting the same thing in the news clipping section will get you instantly swarmed by the Farang Junta there...LOL Seems there is a difference in the thought process between those living under martial Law and those that are not.

Yeah, I believe that the military did what they did for the best interest of the country as well. They didn't stage the coup for

I guess doubling the military budget was just a perk of the new Democracy. They did it for themselves, never think otherwise, Thaksin and his government cut their budget and they were PO'd. Don't fall for all the smoke and mirrors, they have given themselves Billions in the last year, new boats, new helicopters and a doubled budget. That's self interest not even seen under the TRT.

People actually do have more rights to protest and speak out against the gov't than they (we) did under Thaksin. He blocked Demo's attempts to stage a political rally in Chiang Mai and did many things to sabotage Khun Suriyasai's group. The current gov't is actually very lenient to protestors compared to Thaksin. Some Thais and media were even calling the current gov't "Nhom Nham" to protestors.

You must be in an area that is NOT under Martial law. Just yesterday the Military blocked people from signing a birthday wishes for HM - in Chiang Mai.

Lt.Gen.Jiradet adds that protestors against the government and the Council for National Security (CNS) in some areas have encouraged people to bring their identification card to sign a book to celebrate His Majesty the King’s 80th birthday anniversary. He says such action is deemed illegal.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 19 June 2007

Not enough detail in the story. I don't think what you quoted clearly said what's deemed illegal.

3rd Army Commander warns Northern residents against political propagandas

The Third Army Area Commander warns residents in the North against misleading propagandas.

Third Army Area Commander Lt.Gen.Jiradet Khotcharat (จิรเดช คชรัตน์) says he is not concerned on the overall political situation in the Northern region, especially in Chiang Rai and Phayao provinces. He affirms that any chaotic incident will obstruct the general election scheduled to take place at the end of this year.

Lt.Gen.Jiradet adds that protestors against the government and the Council for National Security (CNS) in some areas have encouraged people to bring their identification card to sign a book to celebrate His Majesty the King’s 80th birthday anniversary. He says such action is deemed illegal. Lt.Gen.Jiradet said acts of signing in the name of HM the King can only be organized by government units.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 19 June 2007

Originally posted by Jai Dee, not me

And if you think Thaksin was not a dictator in disguise, you are clearly very delusional and really clueless.

I never said anything about Thaksin not being a dictator or being a dictator for that matter but I would like you to think about this quote by a respected poster to this thread...

The current gov't and the junta are certainly not dictators. If you wanna know what's living under real dictatorship is like, try moving to Burma and North Korea.

And neither was Thaksin according to your own criteria.

People actually do have more rights to protest and speak out against the gov't than they (we) did under Thaksin. He blocked Demo's attempts to stage a political rally in Chiang Mai and did many things to sabotage Khun Suriyasai's group. The current gov't is actually very lenient to protestors compared to Thaksin. Some Thais and media were even calling the current gov't "Nhom Nham" to protestors.

You must be in an area that is NOT under Martial law. Just yesterday the Military blocked people from signing a birthday wishes for HM - in Chiang Mai.

Lt.Gen.Jiradet adds that protestors against the government and the Council for National Security (CNS) in some areas have encouraged people to bring their identification card to sign a book to celebrate His Majesty the King’s 80th birthday anniversary. He says such action is deemed illegal.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 19 June 2007

except .. you will note .. that most of the above has NOT happened under the Junta

Ya right, 1/2 the country is still under martial law, didn't happen under Thaksin and read up on the ISOC changes your Junta buddies have made recently if you want to learn about the rights every Thai has lost.

In a dictatorship, which Thailand is at the moment, the Dictator is above all including the Constitutional Tribunal as we all found out ...LOL and they gave them selves IMUNITY. there does not appear to be much on your list that they both did not do...

a. Subversion of parliamentary democracy - Democracy scrapped under Junta

b. Supremacy of the military - cemented under Junta with doubled budget

c. Restriction on freedom of movement and the lack of guarantees against forced relocations of civilians See ISOC

d. Restriction on the freedom of assembly and expression See ISOC

e. Legalising arbitrary arrest and detention See ISOC

g. No right to privacy See ISOC

j. Legalising incommunicado detention See ISOC

k. Prime Minister is above the Constitutional Court! Taken over under Junta

l. Legalising Impunity Legalized IMUNITY for themselves

and bans them from verbally attacking the government and CNS via loudspeakers during their rally today. He says further that the police strictly prohibit illegal actions, including road blocking and ruining of public assets. Those who intend to stir up the situation or create violence will be taken out of Sanam Laung immediately.

So what actually happened? The demonstrators have been attacking the government and CNS for some time now and of course have the right to do so unless they instigate violence or break some bunch of laws. What was different last night?

In a dictatorship you only have the rights the Dictator allows you to have and often the Dictator changes his mind. It appears that you are not allowed to speak against the Junta or government with loudspeakers as of today. Just more fear tactics aimed against the demonstrators, same as blocking and turning back people coming into Bangkok to protest.

9.00 am.-11.00 pm.

Only Bangkok is allowed to have an opinion. If the peasants outside the capital start forming opinions or worse, voting, then one of them may actually gain power. We all saw how long they put up with that.

No, No, No, Vic... You are wrong. As there are only uneducated, misinformed and stupid rural peasant farmers living outside a radius of 25 KM of Bangkok's city center, thought of by Bangkokian as the exact center of the Universe. The non Bangkokian opinion is thus useless, stupid and irrelevant even if they all agree on their uninformed decision to vote for one of their own as they were just paid off and told by the village headmen, as none can think for themselves. After all how many farmers have those Bangkokians ever met while vacationing at Dusit Island taking in the culture of the North, absolutely none, so they must all be poor and stupid living in a hut on paddy land.

To appease the Bangkok people the CNS quickly lifted Martial Law something the rural poor did not have the opportunity to experience. The short term loser in all this is the rural poor who once again have their chair pulled out on them as the Bangkok minority stands there and laughs at them. The big loser is Thailand and the democracy movement it's been set back at least a decade.

signing in the name of HM the King can only be organized by government units.

We learn something every day. I always thought the King had to sign for the King... I must have missed one of those hundreds of NSC Announcements because the old constitution said that the King had to sign for the King.

This may be a bit of a trick question but does the king have to bring his identification card when he signs for himself or does it have to be organized by government units beforehand?

It must be the NNB using illiterate rural TRT peasants from the North to translate because I've talked to hilltribe kids with better English skills than this article.