EnhancePlus

Didn't Abhisit say in a campaign speech something like Thaksin is poison for Thailand? I estimate at least 40 percent of Thais would support that feeling, to varying degrees. Some of those 40 percent are more powerful than Thaksin. Now, that is. They don't want to ever to allow Thaksin to get more powerful than them. See the problem?

and the hot potato is tossed back and forth. The thai people being the hot potato

People are missing the larger picture here about what this is all about. It is still mostly about Thaksin and what he does, what he is allowed to do. This will determine whether there will be more coups, more street anarchy, or total civil war. He has already gone well beyond normal actions. His role in Black Songkran, the Burning of Bangkok, and now the most blatant proxy campaign (while being banned, while being a criminal fugitive) any fiction writer could even construct. Very strong forces, not only the demo party, seriously (and rationally from their point of view) don't want him running the country as a puppet master, and even more so don't want him to come back to take power directly.

Didn't he also spout off," We'll bring a Revolution," in one of his video conferences back in 2009? Troublemaker should be forgotten and let the people move on. 'Thaksinitus' is the cancer of Thailand.

Legitimate? If the judiciary were neutral, which they are not (yet), how could they defend dissolving the party with such a mandate from the people? Parliament is the law, and the people have chosen a new parliament haven't they?

Because they broke the law.

If proved so, nothing more need be said.

A large mandate is not a free pass to break election laws.

Parliament is not the law.

Parliament MAKES laws, and STILL must abide by them as much as everyone else must. Also the new parliament, yet to be confirmed and installed, can not necessarily make laws retroactive to absolve from existing charges.

The "LAW" in Thailand is as malleable as a ball of play dough.

The judiciary are bought and sold.

To say one side is on the right side of the law and the other is not is to deny the practical day to day application of the laws here.

Everyone knows that... except some of the commentators here who prefer to support one side and not another.

It's their squabble... there is no sense or justice at work here.

It's a pantomime, being played out by the super wealthy who feign subservience to the law.

EXACTLY!

Democrats and its allies are the problem facing Thailand today.

They always where! They are the furthest thing from Democrats or a democracy. They are the elite, the rich Chinese and sleep with the military and the he_l with the average Thai.

They can have 20 more elections and will never win! They only will get in to power getting appointed by the military just like the last time.

For us that have been living here awhile know the power play of the military and they do not like the outcome from July 3 and their bed fellows been the so called Democrats!

I am just curious of the outcome.

Are you saying that "the elite, rich Chinese" Thaksin, that tried to sleep with the military when he appointed is relatives in top posts, is a Democrat?

His parents where shopkeepers far removed from the old and powerful elite. Look at the colleges they attended very far from the elite. Chinese Elite = born with a silver spoon in their mouth like the last PM. Thasin made the poor feel like real people for the first time in their lives.Like or not they will never forget it.

But you're still poor and I'm not. Without you being poor, I'm nothing.

Welcome to the "Beverly Hillbillies" of the political spectrum. What really needs to change is the same old political parties being overtaken by a new force. No more TRT, PPP, PTP's. Somebody and some faction has to rise within the political realm and create a new set of beliefs that are appealed to the whole of society. No more,"SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT."

Put a lid on the past.

Wishful, thinking, eh?

I would like to see the IQ of foreigners residing and visiting in Thailand measured.

I suspect it would make for an interesting comparison.

Ridicule is usually a sign of low intelligence.

Here is a better picture of the suspect

Maybe he was drugged at the concessions in the local multiplex

" He added that worker skills must be improved, and the production of high-value products must be promoted in order to correspond with higher wages and the economic development plan in 2020."

I fully agree, however it is normal practice to raise productivity and value generated BEFORE the pay rise. This is called incentive, or the carrot method. His way, you use the other method, the stick - earn your wage or get a DCM. (Don't Come Monday)

Yeah, they sure are good at dangling the carrot

You need education and innovation to rise above the developing nation status. Sadly, Thailand has neither of that. It has rice and cheap labor

look, when korea started to devellop their situation in many aspects was worst that Thailand( regarding to human resourses) and don't need to mention china, here the problem is not about resources, i think that here the problem is about the lack of political will for doing so, just that.

It also took them 50 years to do so and a nice little incentive from big money backers knowing that'll be on their side if the north starts any trouble. Do you know how strict and disciplinary a Korean school curriculum is?

I agree with the statement about political agenda. It's all about elementary school yard bullying tactics and less about the benefit of the people.

i really don't know , but many koreans studied with me when i was at beijing's tzinhua university(清华大学), and the most of them are very similiar to the thais students, and are extreamly good at cheating , but thats not the point my point is that Thailnd needs the rights policies and time and the rest will come, just like in china, if they opend their market to foreign investment that is gonne bring a lot of competition and the only option for thai workers will be to become more competitive or....... i particulary think that this law of rising the minimum salary whithout changing the policy of Thailand towar foreign investment is not a good idea, but this is up to the Thais , they are the one who most to chose what they consider the best for them.

Well maybe things have changed in the Korean education system since. My experience stems from those I went to college with 20+ years ago.

Foreign investment will be shunned here for a long time to come.

I read an interview in the Bangkok Post with the ecomonic advisor from Pueh Thai a couple of days before the election. The tablet PC was his idea and he spoke of costs of 2000Baht per piece. Now basically, a "Tablet PC" for 2000Baht will more or less be a gaming device without any real functionality. But this is what the kids want. Gaming obsession is an immense and absolutely untackled problem in Thai society (similar in European ones, I admit).

The result will just be that you will see half of the Thai children in the streets gazing and diddling on tablet PCs in busses, malls and the streets. A device for that price cannot have enough functionality AND quality for an educational instrument.

Everyone gets what he asks for...

not really if you just want to improve 5-6 year olds reading and arithmetic skills. This is easily achievable on very limited power computers or gaming devises such as leap frog as long aqs you have imaginative software geared towards children of that age. However simply putting on good sesimy street and like DVD's would have same effect. A friend bought some educational games from Singapore which could probably run on almost anything. The animation and general quality and fun young kids had with this while learning a lot was quite amazing. It would only let kids progress through games by imaginative education based games for arithmetic reading and many other logical and motor skills. They had to earn tokens or money before being able to do things like enter next land groom their virtual pets grow plants earn badges and the rest.

But chance of this new government ever having sense or ability to put that sort of thing into play are zero so it will be useless and if they are ever given which is doubtful they will be left in corner after about 1 hour or fall apart. But what an opportunity for one of Taksins clan or friends to cream a nice little bit or rather a very large amount from treasury. You have to sort of admire Taksins constant ability to scan and rob country blind. If only all that energy went into really trying to improve poors lot Thailand would be envy of Asia instead of being a trough for Taksin and the others to fill themselves up on.

How about if the government promoted designing these programs through their higher learning facilities. Having students make a contest out of it.

i think that Thailand should make some kind of aperture to attractmore foreign invesment and devellop their economy, china and vietnam have gave the perect axample o what to do....Thai people don't have the capital necessary to make Thailand become the next japan or south korea so they to get that money from foreigner......i think that with the right policies this country could become so devellop as South Korea or Japan in two decades more or less ,but unfortunatelly...............

You need education and innovation to rise above the developing nation status. Sadly, Thailand has neither of that. It has rice and cheap labor

look, when korea started to devellop their situation in many aspects was worst that Thailand( regarding to human resourses) and don't need to mention china, here the problem is not about resources, i think that here the problem is about the lack of political will for doing so, just that.

It also took them 50 years to do so and a nice little incentive from big money backers knowing that'll be on their side if the north starts any trouble. Do you know how strict and disciplinary a Korean school curriculum is?

I agree with the statement about political agenda. It's all about elementary school yard bullying tactics and less about the benefit of the people.

i think that Thailand should make some kind of aperture to attractmore foreign invesment and devellop their economy, china and vietnam have gave the perect axample o what to do....Thai people don't have the capital necessary to make Thailand become the next japan or south korea so they to get that money from foreigner......i think that with the right policies this country could become so devellop as South Korea or Japan in two decades more or less ,but unfortunatelly...............

You need education and innovation to rise above the developing nation status. Sadly, Thailand has neither of that. It has rice and cheap labor

If they do raise the minimum wage I'm sure you're going to see a lot of places sans the 25 do nothings standing around looking bored and checking for their latest SMS in one minute intervals.

Imagine this:

A country effectively remote-controlled by a convicted criminal on the run, in bright day light...

No, of course this would never, never happen but it's fun to try to imagine this.

You don't suppose the command and control centre is hidden inside an extinct volcano with an automatic sliding metal roof,

,still better off talking directly to the organ grinder I suppose.

One of my favorite Bond movies. Thaksin is really Blofeld

Think an Austin Powers power movie would be more approriate.... after all by Thaksin's own admission he already has a "Minime".....

touche'

Poor girl, she really got the chitty end of the stick, eh?

That may be a partial reason, but it has been that way for years. I use to be lucky enough to shop at B&H Photo in NYC. Incredibly smart staff. Many are professional photographers.

I have shopped at Frys for many years. Their staff are usually pretty darn smart. And if you are walking around in kind of a daze due to all the "stuff", they will walk by and politely ask if you need help. This happened even during the boom times.

Huge difference compared to here.

Back to the OP...we shopped there last week and won't be going back. Prices are stupidly high on some items and the selection is not that good. Foodland for us, or Tesco as it's easier to get to for us.

Frys?!?!?! They're the worst. Helpful service?!?!? All they want to do is con you into buying an extended warranty. I've had numerous problems with their products. Ever buy an open box item there? Well, don't. What's going to happen in LOS when they raise the minimum wage? You probably won't see as many places way over staffed with zombies checking for the next SMS

Hmmm...OK. I've been shopping there for many, many, many years. I would never buy an open box item (not worth the 10% discount) and never buy extended warranties. I have returned many items and never had a problem...other than you only get a store credit. Not bad, can buy more good stuff!

Just my experience.

I think no matter where you are, sales staff are hit and miss. This coming from an ex-salesman!

Agreed.

Imagine this:

A country effectively remote-controlled by a convicted criminal on the run, in bright day light...

No, of course this would never, never happen but it's fun to try to imagine this.

You don't suppose the command and control centre is hidden inside an extinct volcano with an automatic sliding metal roof,

,still better off talking directly to the organ grinder I suppose.

One of my favorite Bond movies. Thaksin is really Blofeld

I had a funny experience the other day there. It was magnified because I recently returned from the US.

I was looking at a computer electronics item and they were locked in a case so I needed service. They were indeed very surly from the start. Now I don't expect everyone to speak English in Thailand, but there was someone there who spoke English well enough. I really wasn't expecting anything, but there were four brand choices for the item I wanted. So I asked him for info, such as why is this one priced double this one, when it looks the same function. He just laughed incredulously and said SAME SAME. The point is this guy presumably works in this store most everyday and no motivation at all to learn the tiniest thing about the products he should be pushing. I guess there's no incentive, bad management, etc.

Anyway here's the contrast. I went to a bunch of electronic stores back in the US and every clerk I met sounded brilliant, and massively overqualified. The most amazing, I met a Singaporean-American working there who had an advanced engineering degree and I asked him for help with selecting the right cable for my needs. Let me tell you, I learned more about cables from this guy than I would ever need to know! BTW, these stores had incentive programs for staff, so a dumbo wouldn't even be hired in the first place.

I think it's called a recession, where you have over qualified college graduates working at Best Buy and serving you your fries at Micky D's. Contrast that with Thailand, where there is basically full employment so it is hard to find good employees for many service jobs. No necessarily a good comparison by the way.

That may be a partial reason, but it has been that way for years. I use to be lucky enough to shop at B&H Photo in NYC. Incredibly smart staff. Many are professional photographers.

I have shopped at Frys for many years. Their staff are usually pretty darn smart. And if you are walking around in kind of a daze due to all the "stuff", they will walk by and politely ask if you need help. This happened even during the boom times.

Huge difference compared to here.

Back to the OP...we shopped there last week and won't be going back. Prices are stupidly high on some items and the selection is not that good. Foodland for us, or Tesco as it's easier to get to for us.

Frys?!?!?! They're the worst. Helpful service?!?!? All they want to do is con you into buying an extended warranty. I've had numerous problems with their products. Ever buy an open box item there? Well, don't. What's going to happen in LOS when they raise the minimum wage? You probably won't see as many places way over staffed with zombies checking for the next SMS

Because of living/working in Thailand I am always in shock the first couple days when I am back in the USA and I am experiencing friendly, concerned, efficient clerks and waiters in the stores and restaurants..."Hi, may I help you?" " Is everything fine with the food you ordered?" "Let me check the back of the stock room to see if we have the pair of shoes you want..." I don't see sales clerks standing around in front of the mirror combing their hair or taking care of their zit...or some cashier squatting behind the counter sipping on their soup. The problem with the employees and many of the stores in Thailand is that there is no encouragement to be a good worker, very little training, and no commission on items you sell. Many work long hours for little pay. --But I have noticed that the Western chain stores and restaurants the workers are more customer oriented, must be the training.

You've never been to Radio shack?

It seems that all of his statements about coming back was to woo those who want him back, whereas his statements about no plan about coming back is to satisfy those who don't want him back. He is saying different things to different groups of people, trying to satisfy each. I think that has been one of Pheu Thai's strategies to get votes - just tell each group what they want to hear.

That's the strategy of every politician. Tell it with a chit eating grin, mind you.

The last 2 Thaksin puppets didn't last too long. I wonder how this will play out?

Will be very entertaining, as we will see the first PM in the world whom can not enter any discussions or debates, since she is not allowed to do so.

A shining star for global feminism!

Actually, her campaign will be studied by political strategists all over the world. How the pretty "product" with basically NO SUBSTANCE (and no experience, poor education, etc.) could be marketed to produce a historic landslide victory. Like marketing a new flavor of salad cream. That is remarkable. A bigger challenge, take an even prettier pet hospital receptionist with similarly absurd lack of any qualifications, with no FAMILY NAME advantage and deliver a similar result. BTW, I don't "hate" Yingluck, there is really no "there there" to hate, and who doesn't like a pretty face?

Judging by some of the posts/posters on TV I think its fair to assume she is better educated than many of the so called experts posting here.

As for hoodwinking the gullible public, well Tony Blair for one springs to mind.

My American friends are now saying pretty much the same as you have just posted, except their anger is directed at themselves for being taken in by The Emperors New Clothes that is Obama.

Well, we're not running for public office either. Most of the remarks here are just opinions. Everybody has a right to one. Or do you deny that? Yeah, I feel totally hoodwinked by Obama the shill.

I believe it's only 30 days here.

I doubt very much there will be any problems with the turn around - make Siam look mai dee mak mak

PTP are going to do the same thing they did last time they were in power. (Pedants - bore off. We know PTP had a different name(s) back then)

They are going to dedicate their time and resources into getting Thaksin off the hook, that's what Thaksin means by 'reconciliation'. Thaksin's idea of reconciliation is an amnesty, for himself.

The yellows will come back out. They don't need seats in government to cause trouble, they were not even a political party the last time they caused trouble. If they achieve only a fraction of the mayhem they did last time, the money would flow out of Thailand quickly.

There is no way the army are going to be happy. Even of they have no intention of staging a coup, when PT start making noises about bringing Thaksin back the economy will wobble due to speculation alone. It'll probably (maybe) run smoothly for a while until Thaksin starts getting impatient and his arrogance means he can no longer wait. His party will try to force through an amnesty regardless of the objections they will face.

If the reds actually make a genuine effort to do their job and try to look after their country, as opposed to looking after their dear leader, then I will be wrong. However I very very much doubt that will be the case.

I make USD and GBP, I'm looking forward to getting more baht to my money by the end of the year.

As naam has already posted above, you are already getting less thai bahy for your USd/GBP since the results yesterday- and i think the scale of the win will make it v hard for the yellow shirts to stage mass protests--- the resulting stability will only strengthen the baht..

Every Asian market is up and the USD index is plummeting. I don't think this has anything to do with the elections. I'm more concerned with commodities than any fiat currency. Worldwide markets have been on the rise the last week - as they usually are during early summer. You won't be able to judge the baht's rise or fall for at least a month.

Ckog dee

Oh, I remember the celebrations when Obama won. Look at the good ol' USA now - a spiraling out of control country with massive debt, loser wars, abhorrent laws turning into a police state, falling home prices and deep unemployment. Hope became hopeless. Change was a make over. Jeez... and I'm an American that voted for that clown. Let's hope that LOS doesn't descend any further down the trail to oblivion.

I would say that it was Bush that caused all that but don't let the facts get in the way of a bias rant. I would say that Obama should not be President because he has commited war crimes & ordered the murder of Bin Ladin & others

Who's bias now? Bush was a douche too. Part of another conglomerate family of criminals.