‘Hire my party for Bt100 to fight for democracy’: Thanathorn

By The Nation

 

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, co-founder of the Future Forward Party, on Saturday called on Thais to hire his party to fight for the return of full democracy to the country by paying a Bt100membership fee to the party.

 

Thanathorn, who is expected to be elected as the party leader once an assembly is held, posted a two-minute video clip on his Facebook wall, urging people to apply in join his party, with each member paying a Bt100 membership fee.

 

“Thais are now reaching a crucial crossroad,” he said.

 

“Will they choose to stay with fear and dictatorship power, allowing them to draw a line for us to walk for at least 20 more years to the direction unilaterally set by them?,” he asked.

 

“Or will Thais choose to have the people, who own the ruling mandate, to determine our own fate?”

 

He continued: “This is a new political culture that will wipe out the patronage system in Thai society. The membership fee of B100 is the fee for hiring me and the Future Forward team to take back democracy.

 

“The country needs us and Future Forward wants you," Thanathorn said in the clip, which generated over 51,000 views by Saturday afternoon.

 

Thanathorn and Future Forward are seen as attracting the younger generations, who are well versed in using media to win support.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30354551

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-16

14 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

The membership fee of B100 is the fee for hiring me and the Future Forward team to take back democracy.

I believe paying the electorate to vote for you, rather than charging them a fee, has been proved to be the better policy in previous elections.

Edited September 15, 20187 yr by Thaiwrath

“Thais are now reaching a crucial crossroad,” he said.

“Will they choose to stay with fear and dictatorship power, allowing them to draw a line for us to walk for at least 20 more years to the direction unilaterally set by them?,” he asked.

“Or will Thais choose to have the people, who own the ruling mandate, to determine our own fate?”

 

I love the words and the sentiment, I just doubt the ability to deliver at the moment. But, I would be very, very pleased to be wrong about that.

 

Good luck, young man.

 

 

Edited September 15, 20187 yr by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

At least a growing thorn in the side of the unelected.

A 'dangerous' man, which of course puts him in danger. Real opposition?

Thailand has waited nearly a century for a man with this commitment towards his fellows. Let's hope that enough Thais see him for what he is and for what he could bring to their lives . . . and let's hope they can stump-up the B100, too.

This will be interesting, Thai's traditionally put their hands out to receive at election time, not dig deep to give. Maybe they can get 500 baht from Pheu Thai and give 100 baht of that to Thanathorn. 

He obviously missed the rule about no online campaigning ?

Good for him... Stick it to them

1 hour ago, Samui Bodoh said:

“Thais are now reaching a crucial crossroad,” he said.

“Will they choose to stay with fear and dictatorship power, allowing them to draw a line for us to walk for at least 20 more years to the direction unilaterally set by them?,” he asked.

“Or will Thais choose to have the people, who own the ruling mandate, to determine our own fate?”

 

I love the words and the sentiment, I just doubt the ability to deliver at the moment. But, I would be very, very pleased to be wrong about that.

 

Good luck, young man.

 

 

 

Agree, and my Thai son, who follows Thai politics closely is hoping this guy is a new style politician with the country and all Thais being his main concern, however my son has negative concerns that this guy has connections to pt and to thaksin. 

 

I hope this concern is wrong, we wait and see.

 

Another billionaire that desires the head-of-state....

With deeper connections than what he leads on to. 

 

The new changes.

The new future. 

All about the people.

 

 

Indeed.

We'll see.

 

 

Edited September 16, 20187 yr by zzaa09

1 hour ago, cornishcarlos said:

He obviously missed the rule about no online campaigning ?

Good for him... Stick it to them

Yep....

He's bee at it for months - drawing more and more popularity from all corners of the country. 

Using social quite smartly and actually is out-n-about, in person, everywhere.

Thanathorn is the only ray of hope that I see amongst Thailand's 'politicians' at the current time. To change my metaphor, he and his party are like a fresh and envigorating breath of pure air after all the political pollution of the junta. My dream would be for him and his Future Forward Party to lead Thailand into a fair, just and democratic future.

 

BUT I cannot see how the generals will allow this to happen. Thanathorn may talk about putting the military back into their barracks (and he is very brave to do so) - but if he and his party were the Government, the military would simply overthrow him through yet another coup. Thanathorn by himself could not stop that. That is why he needs MASS support - millions of Thais behind him.

 

But he won't get it. The Thais simply don't see what a massive sea-change for the better in Thai politics Thanathorn represents. They don't bat an eyelid when this guy nearly gets indicted and shut down. They don't really care much if he IS shut down. 'Mai ben rai'  or 'they have got guns - nothing we can do!'

 

It breaks my heart to see the real potential for a decent, fair future for Thailand standing right there before us in the person of Thanathorn and to see at the same time that millions and millions of Thais are not excited about him and determined to support him. And without mass support, he can do nothing. With it - he has a chance.

 

Edited September 16, 20187 yr by Eligius

2 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

I believe paying the electorate to vote for you, rather than charging them a fee, has been proved to be the better policy in previous elections.

 How true, but also took Thailand nowwhere.

 

IMHO it would be more productive to drop all references to being paid (either direction) and try to move to gaining votes because of balanced policies benefiting all Thais and taking Thailand forward and solid real reforms especially 1) Education and 2). the RTP; and showing that the party has highly capable people who can focus on development and reform with valuable noticeable results. 

 

 

100Bt

Taksin paied 500 + t-shirt for protesting in BKK

2 hours ago, Ossy said:

Thailand has waited nearly a century for a man with this commitment towards his fellows. Let's hope that enough Thais see him for what he is and for what he could bring to their lives . . . and let's hope they can stump-up the B100, too.

"Idealists", voted in for their political program, nearly always have a tendency to be encapsulated into the existing political culture.

Nearly all politicians go into politics for the power, the money or a combination of the two.

7 minutes ago, BEngBKK said:

100Bt

Taksin paied 500 + t-shirt for protesting in BKK

It's a legal requirement that political parties must have 5,000 paid members nationwide in order to qualify for the election. The fee was set at 200 Baht so it seems Thanathorn will be subsidising 100.

He's a billionaire. Why would he need 100 baht from me?

4 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

He's a billionaire. Why would he need 100 baht from me?

I thought the same thing. But then I saw SABloke's comment above about the 'law' here requiring that parties have paid-up members - and that explains it.

 

When I hear Thanathorn speak, he comes across to me as very sincerely wishing for fairness and democracy; I do not think (although of course I cannot be sure) that he is duplicitous. When I hear Abhisit or his young mini-me clone (forget the guy's name, a relative of Abhisit) speak  - I immediately see that they are bastions of the Establishment.

We can only hope other Thais drink his Koolaide . 

1 hour ago, hansnl said:

Nearly all politicians go into politics for the power, the money or a combination of the two.

Money, nearly all, but not all then?

 

Power, well he wants to change things. To change things he must gain power, therefore of course he is going into politics for power!

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

Agree, and my Thai son, who follows Thai politics closely is hoping this guy is a new style politician with the country and all Thais being his main concern, however my son has negative concerns that this guy has connections to pt and to thaksin. 

 

I hope this concern is wrong, we wait and see.

 

How old is your kid? My 3 think he is interesting, 15,17,24. 

26 minutes ago, JAG said:

Money, nearly all, but not all then?

 

Power, well he wants to change things. To change things he must gain power, therefore of course he is going into politics for power!

There are those who genuinely want to be in power to help, unfortunately they are a minority. Those who are in it for themselves should be avoided at all cost. I like this guy but I have been wrong before but I like to keep hope for something better. Something better is not the old dinosaurs that ruled before.. PTP, Junta, Democrats.. they all failed.

1 hour ago, Eligius said:

I thought the same thing. But then I saw SABloke's comment above about the 'law' here requiring that parties have paid-up members - and that explains it.

 

When I hear Thanathorn speak, he comes across to me as very sincerely wishing for fairness and democracy; I do not think (although of course I cannot be sure) that he is duplicitous. When I hear Abhisit or his young mini-me clone (forget the guy's name, a relative of Abhisit) speak  - I immediately see that they are bastions of the Establishment.

 

Nice points. In regard to abhisit is that he can't easily communicate with other classes, because he can't escape his very long term etitist schooling in the UK, which surely has influenced the way he frames his discussion, somewhat verbose, and how he delivers it.

 

On the other hand, by accident I've heard him speak in smaller informal lengthy discussions about inequity in Thailand, both times korn was also present. Abhisits' word structure s and delivery were as my paragraph just above, however he seemed to be very genuine about his concerns re inequity and his plans to get things into a much better balance. Korn the same.  

 

 

Edited September 16, 20187 yr by scorecard

19 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

Nice points. In regard to abhisit is that he can't easily communicate with other classes, because he can't escape his very long term etitist schooling in the UK, which surely has influenced the way he frames his discussion, somewhat verbose, and how he delivers it.

 

On the other hand, by accident I've heard him speak in smaller informal lengthy discussions about inequity in Thailand, both times korn was also present. Abhisits' word structure s and delivery were as my paragraph just above, however he seemed to be very genuine about his concerns re inequity and his plans to get things into a much better balance. Korn the same.  

 

 

I hear what you say about Abhisit - but I'm afraid that he had the chance to make a difference (more than once) - and he blew it.

20 minutes ago, Eligius said:

I hear what you say about Abhisit - but I'm afraid that he had the chance to make a difference (more than once) - and he blew it.

Agree, and hopefully his party have learned some lessons but I'm definitely not holding my breath.

1 hour ago, holy cow cm said:

How old is your kid? My 3 think he is interesting, 15,17,24. 

My Thai son is 36 YO, married to a Thai lady, with kids including one teenager.

6 minutes ago, scorecard said:

My Thai son is 36 YO, married to a Thai lady, with kids including one teenager.

Well he has certainly formed more of a full opinion than mine. But mine do have their dislikes for the junta, just not enough to march as they are still kids living their kid life. 

1 hour ago, JAG said:

Money, nearly all, but not all then?

 

Power, well he wants to change things. To change things he must gain power, therefore of course he is going into politics for power!

I'm sorry, JAG, but I disagree with you for once. Politicians don't need power … they need control, via an election victory and by which they can influence thinking and bring about change; just like you need control when driving your car … the power should be under the bonnet … somewhere.

2 hours ago, Eligius said:

I thought the same thing. But then I saw SABloke's comment above about the 'law' here requiring that parties have paid-up members - and that explains it.

 

When I hear Thanathorn speak, he comes across to me as very sincerely wishing for fairness and democracy; I do not think (although of course I cannot be sure) that he is duplicitous. When I hear Abhisit or his young mini-me clone (forget the guy's name, a relative of Abhisit) speak  - I immediately see that they are bastions of the Establishment.

 

Agree. In regard to Thanathorn:

 

- I understand he speaks good English.

 

- I understand he has a couple of masters degrees.

 

- Is his education outside of Thailand? IMHO this point could 'make the difference'. I doubt that even well educated Thais, who have never studies / lived 'outside' for at least a few years really understand what 'democracy' means in western terms. (But I'm not suggesting that 'western democracy' is perfect).

 

Some years back I often had lunch with a Thai professor who taught political science (he spoke perfect English but had never been outside of Thailand for more than short holidays and he had no education abroad).

 

He liked to talk about Thai politics, his understanding  of democracy was completely different than my understanding of democracy. His version is 'PM should be a rich man to give everybody cash etc.., and the voters should listen and do as they are told.' 

 

He just didn't listen to any discussion points about the electorate having rights, and responsibilities. His response; 'a waste of time and not needed'.

 

He brushed aside my summation of what democracy means (to me) and the pillars of building and maintaining democracy. Other western professors who shared the lunch room tried to share their thoughts with him, he didn't listen, at all.

 

This is why I wonder if Khun Thanathorn has had longer-term immersion in western democracy? Or is his version of democracy the same as we have already seen?

 

 

Edited September 16, 20187 yr by scorecard

1 minute ago, Ossy said:

I'm sorry, JAG, but I disagree with you for once. Politicians don't need power … they need control, via an election victory and by which they can influence thinking and bring about change; just like you need control when driving your car … the power should be under the bonnet … somewhere.

Perhaps credibility, past proven performance, open transparent good leadership and active listening need to also be mentioned.