LevelHead

Kick him out, deport him, like many other foreigners have been deported before...............

Its not one rule for some and another for others.

Kick him out !!

All in my opinion of course.

... "pressure by anti-government protesters, he said."...

Yup, the protesters are to blame for the lack of money to pay the farmers. Who else?

Including the 130 BILLION that is needed to pay the farmers for the rice they already sold in total the loss after two years of rice scam is 700 BILLION BAHT.

And then all will be alright if Thai voters allow the bad guy in Dubai and his puppet regime to borrow TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED BILLION BAHT extra. Or a lot more as unforseen costs. Becauseeeeeeeeeeee with that high speed train to China heavens will open and all will end well.

So far the loss is 700 -130 billion = 570 billion. Please, please, pleaseeeeeeeeee send people to prison for that scam. Else there will be no end to large scale theft in Thailand. And here's a secret: It really are not Suthep and co that cost the country hundreds of billions.

Oh yes. Don't forget to revoke the passport of the big bad guy. And do ask Interpol to pick him up and send him home. After all, Thailand is where he wants to be. Thailand is what he is messing with. Thailand is whom he'll have to pay. Save Thailand from bankrupcy.

Mr White lies gave us figuers of 50mill tons bought for 701billion baht over the first 3 years of the scam, this did not include the latest batch of 10million tons which is going to cost something like 180billion, of which they have already paid 50billion. Clearly 50mill tons must have cost more than that as they would have been paying an average price of only 14,000 baht per ton, when the white rice is supposed to be 15,00 and Hom Mali at 20,000 at ton. The real figure must be closer to 830billion and that is without the added costs for admin and storage. To make matters worse he stated they only had 10million tons left to sell, having only made 180billion back in sales. If they only have 10mill tons left and that is sold at a similar price, for about 45billion, they will have lost in excess of 600billion baht in just 3 years. If we then assume this latest crop (10mill tons) is paid for and then sold at the same rates, that will add an additional loss of around 140billion. We are talking total loss in 3.5 years of a whopping Baht740billion or USD22billion at current exchange rates (excluding admin and storage cost). What is shocking is that the govt seems to have sold the rice at an average of just 4,500 baht per ton.

22 billion dollars ? Thats nothing much.

Have a look at EU direct farming subsidies paid out, way way higher than a paltry 22 billion dollars.

But of course, in the EU they call it "Direct Agricultural Subsidies" - just the same as the "Rice Scheme" in Thailand, where the government in effect pays more for produce than its worth so as to keep the farmers making profit.

When you stop looking at this as the PROPAGANDA people want you to look at it - as in all the money is lost and gone down the plug hole.

When you start to look at this as what it is, direct subsidies to rice growing - as in people all down the chain to and including the farmers have the money, its not lost, its just a government budget deficit, nothing more or less.

Then its all very clear..............

All the problem is now is the PDRC's backers have pressurized the banks not to fund the third harvest in order to create problems for PTP.

All in my opinion of course.

There is a LOT of folks in this thread whining about how the poor foreigner got screwed by politics - that's simply not true.

He broke the law! We were all warned! WE ALL KNOW WE DO NOT HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS AS THE LOCALS!

Seriously - what if you (whiners) were back in your homeland and a foreigner was told NOT to do something, but they did it anyway - you would all be screaming for their heads!

Common sense people - the law is the law. It's not always fair to us - but as a resident - you learn to accept the shortcomings - or you can GTFO!

Broke the law?? Please show me a link. Just because an agency says something does not make it a LAW! Come on, deportation laws exist and have to be reasonable - if the government came out tomorrow and said "If you're caught with a prostitue you'll be deported" Im sure many on TV would be "outraged" and spouting how ridiculous Thailand is (By the way prostitution is a REAL crime in Thailand).

He was clearly involved with a protest movement after the SOE was in place, which is against the law.

Thats it, no need to elaborate or try to make excuses.

The SOE prohibits all protests and gatherings. So if there is one and you are involved in it, especially when considered a "leader", then unless you are Thai and fall under the protection of Sutheps backers (for now) then you will get deported for breaking the law.

its quite simple.

Break the law - be prosecuted. If you are a foreigner, be deported.

All in my opinion of course.

So all bar patrons during the SOE should also be arrested since gatherings of more than 5 are illegal as well??? Can't have it both ways

I do not see bar patrons getting up on a stage and slagging off the government of Thailand.

I do not see bar patrons getting up on a stage and stating North/NorthEastern Thais are ignorant and the need to go around and re-educate them all.

I do not see bar patrons getting up on a PDRC stage.

This man has SERIOUSLY broken the SOE law it seems and in order of priority his offense needs to be treated as case 1, with more to follow, yes.

And you are quite at liberty to go to a police station and make a written formal complaint against any gathering of more than 5 people under the SOE effected area. However, if you do not make a police report and make the complaint official the police will take no action. So I guess that no formal complaints have been made about any bars, and so, no action is necessary.

This Indian man has had complaints against him lodged and action is ongoing

So if you want your bars to be shut, make a formal complaint, and if not, then do not.

All in my opinion of course.

Interesting the Thai politics have finally come to a point in time where they realise the most important Vote to then is a NO VOTE

If you are from the North and always vote PTP your vote is locked in and has very little Value

If you come from the South and always vote Democrats your vote is locked in and has very little Value

But if there is a high number of No. Votes in your area, all politicians see you as a swinging vote

They will throw every gift then can at your area to get you on side

The true power of democracy is to be a swinging voter

Which is why in the UK the TV stations tend to watch the swing seats, to get an idea which way the country is voting.

Which is why in the UK the Labour Party promises more benefits, more free money, have more child allowance, more cash for unmarried mums, more cash to the largest section of the voting public............

But of course, in the UK they do not go around calling this "Vote Buying" Only in Thailand....................

You did the right thing. Yes, you who went out and cast your "No" votes on Sunday.

Does this mean "The Nation" is saying the right thing was to cast a "No" vote?

What happened to newspapers being politically neutral?

You must have just arrived in Thailand from Mars! The Nation (and the Post), are hopelessly biased toward the Ruling Elite. Slavish support for the RE has long since replaced any attempt at serious journalism. This is to be expected as the university educated journalists live within a 25 baht Skytrain ride of Siam Square and have no idea what life is like for ordinary Thais.

Well said that man !

Thailand desperately needs a new English language paper owned by FARANGS, so they can report the real news without being subjected to the arm twisting of the Thai Elite and being only able to report how bad Thaksin, PTP etc.. are in general.

I stopped buying the Bangkok Post in 2008 (after buying it 7 days a week for many many years) and have not purchased a single edition of the Bangkok Post or The Nation since then. I will not use a single cent of my money to support such totally unbiased rubbish.

With regards to the paradox of this opinion piece it is clear to all and sundry that Abhisit and the Democrat Party and Suthep all in effect whether stated overtly or covertly wanted there to be No Votes at all - as opposed to people voting no.

If you take off the number of people who were unable to vote due to blockages by PDRC trouble making ( sadly the EC keeps including the people who were stopped from voting - in their voter turnout figures - cannot for the life of me think why they want to weight the figures lower ), and then use the total number of people who voted in any way against those who had the chance to vote and were not blocked and its a big vote against Abhisit, Suthep, PDRC and the Democrat Party.

A lot of "elite" were waiting to see the results of voting to gauge public sentiment, that people voted and voted overwhelmingly for PTP when they were not blocked - will also act as a "check and balance" to military and judicial intervention.

All in my opinion of course.

There is a LOT of folks in this thread whining about how the poor foreigner got screwed by politics - that's simply not true.

He broke the law! We were all warned! WE ALL KNOW WE DO NOT HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS AS THE LOCALS!

Seriously - what if you (whiners) were back in your homeland and a foreigner was told NOT to do something, but they did it anyway - you would all be screaming for their heads!

Common sense people - the law is the law. It's not always fair to us - but as a resident - you learn to accept the shortcomings - or you can GTFO!

Broke the law?? Please show me a link. Just because an agency says something does not make it a LAW! Come on, deportation laws exist and have to be reasonable - if the government came out tomorrow and said "If you're caught with a prostitue you'll be deported" Im sure many on TV would be "outraged" and spouting how ridiculous Thailand is (By the way prostitution is a REAL crime in Thailand).

He was clearly involved with a protest movement after the SOE was in place, which is against the law.

Thats it, no need to elaborate or try to make excuses.

The SOE prohibits all protests and gatherings. So if there is one and you are involved in it, especially when considered a "leader", then unless you are Thai and fall under the protection of Sutheps backers (for now) then you will get deported for breaking the law.

its quite simple.

Break the law - be prosecuted. If you are a foreigner, be deported.

All in my opinion of course.

Excellent news.

He broke the law, and he will get deported.

This is what makes me laugh about the PDRC, they say Thaksin can never have an amnesty, and yet some of their people break the laws over and over again and yet they expect not to be prosecuted for it, as if they win they will all get an amnesty, a de-facto amnesty by no prosecution.

They are one big bunch of hypocrites.

Anyway, glad this Indian guy is being deported for breaking the law - add him to the immigration black list as well. And why does the PDRC have foreigners in their midst ? Or are they so desperate to get people they will take anyone in ?

All in my opinion of course.

He said the farmers would like the gov to confirm clearly the exact time of payment.

So all the gov has to do is give them a date again to make them happy. I guess they still have not learned that the gov doesnt have their money and it will be a long time before a real gov can come up with more money to pay them

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The rice farmers know that in order to get payment they have to create a fuss so every person in Thailand can hear them. Once their voice is heard then all heads will be banged together and told to complete payment as a priority, regardless of the politics.

The PDRC wants to turn them against PTP.

However, as the election showed, they pretty much all support PTP and elections were held without issue in the major rice growing areas. Once the PDRC realise that they cannot turn them, and once pressure from above is applied to tell the PDRC to stop interfering in the payment to poor Thai farmers by lobbying banks to not support fund raising, then they will be paid.

This is why the farmers are clearly saying that they only want their money, they are not anti-government. once this message sinks into the PDRC backers then the problem of payments will be able to be eliminated.

As an aside, I see the rice farmers are going to ask the Royal Household Bureau to help them, which is of course a very good way for them to get heard and get these problems sorted out asap.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/webmobile/national/Desperate-farmers-seek-help-from-King-to-get-rice--30225969.html

.

All in my opinion of course.

Its quite easy to see that the threats of the global community against coups of any type is working, else there would have been a coup already.

The PDRC wanted a coup, its not happened.

The PDRC wanted to stop the election to make PTP breach the constitution, its not happened.

The final game plan of the PDRC is to try to stop the payments to rice farmers until they turn against the PTP party, but its not happening, they are just saying they want their money, thats all. Their political affiliation is not changing, as seen by the election where the majority had its voice heard.

The NACC can do nothing, they can find certain people guilty, even YL if they want to, but there are replacements lined up to take over - so it will have no effect on PTP.

So the government is busy selling rice now (as has been seen with warehoused rice getting sent off to be sold) and that money will gradually come to be distributed to farmers, eventually enough rice sold to pay them all.

Provided the USA and other large countries continue to in effect threaten serious consequences for any coup by way of warnings to not have them, the stalemate carries on, but it swings into PTP's favour.

Less protestors, less and less.

Rice farmers slowly getting paid.

Some PDRC protestors breaking law after law for which there can be "no amnesty"

The majority of the Thai population support elections and want their say and their choice, rather than turn on the government more and more will turn on the PDRC and Democrat Party for creating this stalemate by blocking and stalling the election process.

The end game has always been a coup for the PDRC, thats the only way they can get what they want - but the consequences of it could be very very disastrous. Its now 2014, its not 2006 or 2008 anymore. People are far better informed and better connected to each other.

All in my opinion of course.

Its good to see the USA and many other countries picking up the stick and raising it above their head with a threat that a coup of any type will not be tolerated.

The Elite in Thailand have lots of their money outside Thailand, in Singapore, in Europe, in the USA, in banks and investments in property and business.

Now, sanctions would hurt them badly and they know it. It will help to avoid all types of coup if they know their overseas assets are at risk of being seized for going against democracy and elections.

Suthep is just a front man for the sections of the Elite which want their way, or nothing at all, to hell with the people and elections, mostly appointed Senate, mostly appointed parliament and no chance to ever vote them out of control. This time in 2013/14 is the first time ever most of the world has actually stood up and told them in no uncertain terms that if they do 2006 or 2008 again, there will be consequences on the world stage. No more free ride.

All in my opinion of course.

What will the PTP do when the thousands of farmers and red shirts march into Bangkok? These people voted for and supported the Shin Dynasty, than they were lied to and cheated. Will will have P1 students and parents marching because of the " One Student One Tablet Program " which has not worked, but was used to buy votes. The cost of living has increased, but the Taxi Drivers have not been allowed to increase the Taxi fare.

The trouble is of course.........

The farmers are not anti-government or anti-PTP. They just want their money.

How many of these farmers are also a way of getting lots of pro-government supporters into Bangkok under the guise of "farmers".

Logistical nightmare ? If these farmers put on a whistle they can go around and get free food and drink from the PDRC sites, everything free, and then can easily move over to pro-government or anti-coup rallies at a later stage. In effect the PDRC will be paying (via free food and drink) to keep them in Bangkok until any such pro-government rally is called later on, should a coup or something happen.

You appear to be getting lulled into believing that the farmers are turning against PTP, when in fact the elections were held without problem all over the Central/North/North East area.

They just want their money - and their protests apply pressure not only to the caretaker government but also to the whole system.

Anyway, the issue of this thread is that some PDRC supporters broke the election laws, and therefore they must be punished according to the law. Remember "NO AMNESTY"

All in my opinion of course.

So Abhisit says an election is against the process of an election...................

Did he really go to school ?

He appears to support an appointed committee of the PDRC (which is against article 68) and takes PTP to court for holding an election (which is in line with article 68).

Whoops...................

All in my opinion of course.

Suthep and all the protesters in Bangkok could go home today. The farmers and the Anti-Corruption Commission will accomplish the "de-thaksinization" process that the protesters started with the Amnesty Bill.

Google "A rotten harvest" on Bangkok Post for the latest analysis of the situation.

(If I understand it correctly, it's not allowed to post links to BP)

From the above, they have spend $22 billion on rice. That could be the worlds most expensive experiment, moving the Large Hadron Collider to second place.

With a budget of 7.5 billion euros (approx. $9bn or £6.19bn as of Jun 2010), the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of the most expensive scientific instruments[90] ever built.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider)

It's not that exceptional; In 2010, the EU spent €57 billion on agricultural development, of which €39 billion was spent on direct subsidies.

A lot of that is also frauded away ending up in the wrong pockets same as in Thailand.

Yes, around the world direct subsidies to farming run into the many billions of dollars, its all very normal.

I think the whistle blowers want a direct subsidy for all Bangkokians to cosmetic surgery, skin whitening lotions and spa's - perhaps this will be the PDRC main platform for an election win ?

In my opinion only.

I am sure the longer the protests go on the bigger the rice $ figure will be from the Bangkok Post totally biased writers................

It started at 200 billion baht, now the protests are going wrong, everyone is leaving and the election is proceeding its now 800 billion baht.

If the Constitution Court does not annul the elections I am sure it will move to be 8 Trillion Baht, and if YL is still PM in 6 weeks then probably headlines of 8000 Trillion Baht will not be far away.

LOL

All in my opinion of course.

Don't the farmers realise that the govt cannot pay them now, in part because of the protests going on in Bkk, in part because they do not have the authority as they are only a caretaker govt inter alia? Protesting or not, they are not going to get their money any sooner. The best is for them to hope that the current political situation is resolved quickly, a legal govt installed so that the country can resume normal workings.

Khun S, you do realise that the longer this standoff occurs, the longer it will take for your supporters to be paid? Or are you willing to sacrifice them as well?

You actually think they are real rice farmers ??

Rice farmers know full well, the quicker the new government is sorted out the quicker they get paid. Which is why in all the major "RICE GROWING" areas of Thailand the election went well.

Now, in the Palm Oil and Rubber farmer area's of Thailand the election was held up.

Kind of suggest they are farmers blocking roads, but not rice farmers.......................

All in my opinion of course................

Unfortunately for us over in the Silom Rd. area it will mean even more disruption. Silom Rd. looks like a Bangladeshi slum. There are more vendors amd shoppers than protesters. You gotta love the Thais - they never miss a retail opportunity Patriotic songs being played over and over again - with about about 3 geriatric grannies sitting listening. The rest of the crowd consisting of the PRDC security mafia - insisting on checking people's bags as they enter the area. F@#k O@# I say. What right have these guys got to appoint themselves as security personnel. Just when are the police/army/BMA or somebody going to come in and clear these people away? (Chalerm, hey Big Fella, come over and flex your muscle please). Guess what PRDC. The war is over and you guys lost! Suck it up and move on and do what political partys do the world over - win at the ballot box.

Its a clever strategy by the PDRC.

By having street vendors and shoppers, celebrities and their fans flocking to see them they can actually show a lot of people in their photos to the media, claiming lots of protestors.

In fact probably now only 10% are protestors and 90% are there for selfies, shopping or to try to get a photo of a celebrity.

Clever way of boosting the numbers of people in photos.

Similar to not having a "colour" shirt. It makes it impossible on a photo to determine who is a protestor and who is just standing around, shopping, watching, picture taking if there is no colour to define who is who.

Give the PDRC some credit, they know how to manipulate the media..............

All in my opinion.

If you did not vote in an election you cannot therefore take part as a potential politician in the next election.

All people who do not vote lose their rights to enter into an election.

The Democrat Party members who did not vote now could lose their chance to be a candidate in any future election, this is what is at stake and why they are desperate now to annul it.

Of course, you notice that Abhisit's poll station was closed and he could not vote. Provided he has written a letter to say he could not vote due to the poll station closed, he will not lose his right to be a candidate in future elections.

A lot of the poll stations that did not open appear to be directly linked to protecting Democrat ex-MP's who did not vote, by shutting them down those polling stations all those ex-Dem MP's can now write letters within 7 days explaining they did not vote due to polling station shut - and protect their future runs to run as a potential MP.

Someone needs to a write up of all polling stations in Bangkok which did not open or shut early - and note which ex-MP's should have voted at them - it might tell a very interesting story.

All in my opinion of course.

There are now sufficient EC personnel and police officers available to ensure that elections can be carried out at the polls that were disrupted.

One of the advantages of the election going off without a hitch at a majority of polling stations is that it means that the focus can be placed on those polls where voters' right to vote was blocked. If the EC still feels it has inadequate numbers of officials to run the vote then they can do it over 7 days @ 10 polls per day. With a few hundred police officers and the EC officials deployed at the 10 stations, they can get the job done. All they have to do is to carry out their duties. The EC has come up with excuse after excuse this election, showing itself to be inept and derelict.

The sooner the voting is undertaken, the faster this will be dealt with. It seems the EC wants to drag this out as long as possible.

I believe the royal decree for the election does not permit multiple days.

I also believe that caretaker government spokesman, Chalerm, has fallen foul of the law by announcing the result.

Election binned

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Try again.

He did not announce any result, only the EC can announce a result.

He merely said in HIS OPINION PTP will win over 250 seats.

Anti Election Committee threatens to never hold elections as they do not want their friends to lose.............and want to break the rules so the courts have to get involved to seize power and appoint a PM and appoint a cabinet................

The EC are scraping the bottom of the barrel now.

They need to kick out the PDRC sympathizers and get only true non-biased people on board.

In my opinion of course.

Why is it that there are so many images / videos from the PDRC side but so few from the pro-govt / pro-election side?

There was only about 80 pro-election people left when the shooting happened.

When the army guy drove his car at the red shirts/pro-election people and some IED's were thrown most of the red shirts left and retreated.

The remaining 80 or so pro-election people were then subject to gun attacks from PDRC gunmen.

Handguns, M16 and other assault weapons were used.

This is why you see lots of photos of PDRC with guns, you see pics of shot pro-election people and thats about it.

PDRC appear to have tried to start a war and failed, the 80 or so pro-election people were simply there to call for elections, not for a war which the PDRC wanted in order to stop the elections perhaps.

The police and army (official on duty army in army uniform and not masked) have been told to not carry weapons when dealing with PDRC, so if you ask why they did not intervene, its human nature not to try to intervene with bare hands against people firing assault rifles and handguns.......................nobody wants to die.

All in my opinion of course, based on what I have seen, heard and been told.

I think reasonable people can agree that elections is not the same as democracy anywhere in the world. In addition to "Free and Fair" elections democracy requires informed, participating citizenry, a real set of options to vote for, and most importantly respect for the democaratic process.

None of these prerequisites exist in Thailand. Come to think of it they don't exist in the US either, but that's besides the point.

To claim that somehow the reds are the champions of democracy while the bad yellows or whatever their color is seek to destroy it is preposterous. The reds similar to US Republicans have spend a lot of time stacking the system in their favor by often questionable means. Patronage, pooyai bribery, and vote buying have been used to subvert the weak democratic process in order to deliver winning results. The current system is not a democracy and must be rooted out and changed in order for Thailand to move ahead.

Unfortunately the people who are championing this position have not been blessed with the sharpest minds and have committed blunder after blunder, which essentially discredited them and precluded any chance of reasonable negotiations.

Both camps have employed mass street rallies, indimidation, and violence to subvert the proper democratic process and have demonstrated complete disregard for democracy as a concept. At least the yellows are honest about it and they have a point.

If the Thai masses behave this way they might not be ready for democracy and should leave the true governing to people who are qualified to make complex and important decisions for the country. The last few years of the red government have demonstrated that the people in charge now have no clue or business of running the country. The experience has been shokingly similar to whatching children playing house.

One might have reasonable debate about the degrees on either side but to come out and say that being against reds is like being against democracy is rather childish. You might want to go and play house too.

I really wonder how the hard core reds can convince their rice farming neighbours to continue voting for the incompetent PT after the whole rice pledging debacle. At least rice farm subsidies under Democrats were paid on time.

Many seem to be shouting war and trying to ignite one. All caused by one single person for greed and desire of greatness. 64 years old and gathered billions. Still it's not enough. How does he think he can return to Thailand and live? Become president of the north? It will not happen.

One really has to be a blind fool to write such rubbish. So you are against democracy?! Go back to your home country, Thailand does not need your kinds of expats!

The point you miss is :

The red shirt protests in 2010 were calling for new elections. They felt the judicial system had been perverted, they were disgusted by the Abhisit/Newin handshake and agreement to form a new parliament after the courts had stripped PPP of power.

All Yellow/PAD/PDRC protests, in 2006, 2008 and 2013/14 have been asking for coups, no elections, removal of democracy.

In my opinion of course.

Corruption was at its very worst long before Thaksin. Massive massive corruption.

The reason the whole country in effect voted in TRT and Thaksin was to reduce corruption. They thought he was already massively rich and he would therefore distribute money to all the people, not just keep filling the pockets of the Bangkok elite.

He did that, people all over the country benefited. The health care scheme, money being spent on new roads and airports all over the country. Bangkok finally after about 40 years of corruption got its new airport built.

Corruption fell under TRT and things actually started to get done, Thailand boomed............

But this made him a very popular man in Thailand. TOO POPULAR.

And what happens to popular people who threaten "old money" is they get taken out, they get disgraced with fake charges, they have massive propaganda against them and get killed or exiled. Its happened in many countries all over the world throughout time.

If you had been in Thailand in the 1970's and 1980's you would know the real meaning of corruption on a massive scale.

....finally someone who does have a clue.

Haley, and most people in the North and North East are fully aware......... which is why their votes are not bought with money, its respect of Thaksin and what he has done for them that keeps people voting PTP today.

One of the standing jokes in Thailand in the 80's was if you want to measure corruption then look at the old (before extension) Don Muang airport expressway, measure how many kilometers its stopped short of the airport and that was the level of corruption at the time. Remember getting the expressway and having to go down on to the jams of Vibhavdi Rangsit road long before you reached the airport.

Thanks to Thaksins parties new expressways got built and finally the "corruption shortened" Don Muang tollway reached the airport, as it is today.

But I guess many people have not been in Thailand long enough to know the real corruption of the 1970's and 1980's before the whole country voted in TRT and Thaksin to stop the massive corruption, which it certainly did.

So getting back to red shirts, yes, they know full well all the story and they are prepared, it seems, this time to finally fight for it, if needed. It is that threat which is stopping a bunch of would be traitors from launching a coup against the Constitution of Thailand.

All in my opinion of course.