Prayut comes under blistering attack as political bans are lifted

[webfact]

Prayut comes under blistering attack as political bans are lifted

By THE NATION

 

 

PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha and his government yesterday came under attack from politicians taking advantage of the junta’s lifting of political restrictions on Tuesday.

 

Key figures of many parties slammed what they said were the many problems this junta-led administration had created over the four years it has been in power. They were in agreement that a change of government was needed.

 

Most of the parties who spoke up yesterday are linked to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been living in self-imposed exile overseas since 2008.

 

On Tuesday, the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) partially repealed nine of its previous orders that restricted political activities since the 2014 military coup. The NCPO effectively lifted the ban on political gatherings of five or more and allowed parties to hold meetings and other activities of a political nature.

 

Veteran politician Chaturon Chaisang said the country had been at a standstill for many years.

 

“The country is ruled by a leader who lacks maturity and cannot be scrutinised. People have no right to air their sufferings. The leader keeps yelling at them,” he said.

 

Chaturon, who heads the election strategy committee of Thai Raksa Chart Party, said Thais should no longer tolerate the sufferings inflicted by the junta, which includes the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Also, he said, Thailand needs a democratically elected government if it is to restore international confidence. 

 

“Dictatorship must be replaced with democracy. We cannot change General Prayut’s thoughts, so the only way out is to change the government,” he said. The politician, who recently left the Thaksin-linked Pheu Thai Party, claimed his new party knows how to solve the country’s problems. 

 

Chaturon also asked Prayut to state clearly that he will not issue any more orders as junta chief in the run-up to the election that will put a pro-NCPO party at an advantage. 

 

Thai Raksa Chart’s meeting for election candidates was held yesterday at Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi province. Present at the event were the party’s executives and key figures, including its young leader Preechapol Pongpanit.

 

Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, who leads Pheu Thai Party’s election strategy committee, said yesterday that it was time for “people who can work” to run the country.

 

“Over the past four to five years, people have been suffering and falling under the burden of debt. It is time to allow political parties that can make money to run the country. We don’t want people who can only spend money,” she said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30360359

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-12-14

 

Sudarat was speaking while meeting constituents in the Northeast province of Si Sa Ket. 

 

Tourism suffering ‘as country is not democratic’

 

Jatuporn Promphan, a senior figure in Puea Chat Party, which is also linked to Thaksin, said many of the country’s problems have remained unsolved under this junta-led government. Also, Thailand’s bargaining power in the international community has diminished because it is under military rule, he said. 

“Tourist arrivals have declined because the country is not democratic,” Jatuporn, who is a red-shirt leader, said.

He also said a free and fair election was necessary to prevent conflict and chaos following the national vote.

“Our country has suffered a lot of damage already. So, all sides should make sacrifices to ensure peace. The election must be held properly so we can get a good and legitimate government,” he said.

Seripisut Temiyavej, leader of Seri Ruam Thai Party, said yesterday that the longer the Prayut government stays in power, the gap between the rich and the poor will become wider.

“This government favours capitalists who get richer and richer, yet ordinary people get poorer,” he said while meeting with voters in Bangkok’s Asok area.

The former national police chief-turned-politician also said it was time for the country to get a democratically elected government. “Whether it is good or bad, at least you can scrutinise it, unlike a dictatorship,” Seripisut said. 

Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that he believed people want to see a better government after the election.

“People also want a better economy and hope honest political parties can implement policy platforms that really benefit the people,” former PM Abhisit said. 

 

[neeray]

Samui has stated the case factually.

Case closed.

Kick the whole lot out in February.

Rewrite the constitution.

Create a true democracy, not just one by 'lip service'.

 

And get rid of that ridiculous 20 year plan !

[chainarong]

It is indeed gratifying to see that not all have fallen asleep, alas,  its all words till election day even though words like this would ruffle thin skinned Prayut's feathers, just be mindful be of section 44, its certainly hard to see where you could actually get ride of Prayut, even if he is in the back ground throwing darts at pictures pinned to a board, as there's 250 Senators elected by their peers to contend with, a mixture of prominent if you like Generals and more Generals, one or two Admirals even one or two Air vice Marshalls and more Generals, you get the picture.

Edited December 13, 2018 by chainarong

[Thailand]

Junta huggers apart, this is a good start.

Hopefully the opposition will have organized campaigns with emphasis on the social media which will play a huge part in exposing the current ptb for what they are. A united front from ALL the opposition is the way, fragmented they will fail.

[Prissana Pescud]

5 minutes ago, neeray said:

Samui has stated the case factually.

Case closed.

Kick the whole lot out in February.

Rewrite the constitution.

Create a true democracy, not just one by 'lip service'.

 

And get rid of that ridiculous 20 year plan !

Maybe we should replace it with the US constitution. And what a wonderful place it is to live there.

Mass shootings every week, a crook money launderer in power, a crashing stock exchange, alienating your allies.

Thailand deserves better, not your business cronies - the actual people who create long term constant wealth - the poor Thai farmer.

This is the largest population demographic. These are the Constant Productive people.

And they are always screwed no m,atter who is in power. 

[Puchaiyank]

The world is in turmoil... Wars, famine, terrorist attacks on innocent people,  food and water shortages, disease and weather related destruction are common place. 

 

I find Thailand... With all its many glaring faults... A relatively safe, inexpensive, lovely place to live... 

 

I have tasted life in Europe, North  and South America, the Middle East and Asia. 

 

Asia... Thailand in particular... Is still a great place to live. 

 

Do not involve yourself with the politics or religion in a foreign country... Bad for your health and well-being.

[leeneeds]

Baht is still strong, GDP is still moving 3.3 and upwards, 

infrastructure is being built, corruption has been reigned in a little and so very hard to do with generations of support, 

Swapping one brother sister act for the betterment of the country, has been a better result than if those two who  were still raping the assets of the country where ever they could, 

Khun Prayut has done a good job in my opinion, no one else  around that i have seen that has wanted to change the image and entrenched history of doing business here, 

and yes i get it is a junta who took power , stopped the killing and made parties go back to their corners, 

Being the  strategist the general is i doubt very much anything will change come February,

having started the dismantling processes so ingrained, only short sighted people think he is not here for the long term, 

[pookiki]

Clearly, there are some 'new' members here that have no intent to add to a real debate about the conditions in Thailand but only act as trolls and agent provacatuers.  It will be refreshing to see some good actions of the moderators to rid TVF of these people.

[Prissana Pescud]

8 minutes ago, martinhp said:

i dont know how you get that ,but clearly you see stuff that i dont .

examples from phuket beach chair gone ,beach activity gone ,taxi laws changed ,police check points solo target turist, increased tax up to 300% (,not only alcohol .)

mayor ,governor not elect . 

I dont want to mention all but this help with the idea of the current leadership .

non of the examples helped the poor or the country ,it is an absolute certainly fact that profit from this went into pockets of no declaration .

i think the previous government was not prepared sufficiently to the task of aid farmers ,but as example from europe, its not an easy task ,europe aids farmers and the fishing industry all the time ,the result is similar to here .BUT it does help some ,and it did help some here too.

only someone with lack of common sense dont realize that, and in my opinion tax money is for benefit population even if the try is not successful.

and this goverment did not benefit the population even they target a high profit from tax money .

i think tax should be limet ,its a cost like a morgets with no expiry date .so must benefit from it.

and the last 4 years the increased tax did not minimize the gap between rich and poor .

in my world a goverment like this is outlaws.and an elected lawfull. so who you want to make the law

 

 

Mate, I understand that English is not your preferred language, so I did not understand everything.

The Phuket beach chair rort is thankfully gone. Only a government owns the beach, not the standover beachfront thugs that never paid taxes (except bribes)

Tourism is dead everywhere, western (US) conflict is partly to blame, tourists can no longer afford to travel and Thailand is out of the scene now.

It will get worse. Phuket is mostly a dirty place as is Pattaya. No one with half a brain goes there because there are more pristine places to pollute.

 I would love to see a truly democratic government work in Thailand. There has only been total corruption in the past, far more than under this junta.

And the same old red shirt/yellow shirt hand in the till people are running to be elected again. 

[PatOngo]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Prayut comes under blistering attack as political bans are lifted

That will do little for his over inflated ego...……………"Why don't they respect me?" 

[Jai Dee]

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[ramrod711]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

“Over the past four to five years, people have been suffering and falling under the burden of debt. It is time to allow political parties that can make money to run the country. We don’t want people who can only spend money,” she said.

Regardless of how they "make" money no doubt.

[Eric Loh]

10 minutes ago, ramrod711 said:

Regardless of how they "make" money no doubt.

Lots more check and balance and the whole lots more transparency too. Those robbers can be kicked out by the people no doubt. 

[yellowboat]

This day was a long time coming.  IT is not easy to find a Thai person today, who is not rich or a "civil servant", who likes the current, rudderless, government.  The general will need armor as his skin is not nearly tough enough. 

[Cadbury]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Veteran politician Chaturon Chaisang said the country had been at a standstill for many years.

Pretty much an accurate statement. Sure there have been a few underpasses and overpasses and tunnels built but that's about it apart from plenty of dreams which haven't been converted into reality. The people of Thailand have had to suffer an overkill of unintelligible earbashing by incompetent politicians while they themselves have been to told to shut up and be quiet .   

Lack of achievement and developmental fantasies have been the most notable features of this government's term of office. 

The last 4+ years could be summarised as a masterpiece of failure for 99% of the people while for the other remaining 1% filthy rich, which includes themselves, it has been a huge success.

Chaturon Chaisang made a lot of good points but the one I found to most accurate was:

“The country is ruled by a leader who lacks maturity and cannot be scrutinised".

[hansnl]

2 hours ago, Thailand said:

Junta huggers apart, this is a good start.

Hopefully the opposition will have organized campaigns with emphasis on the social media which will play a huge part in exposing the current ptb for what they are. A united front from ALL the opposition is the way, fragmented they will fail.

The opposition?

You mean the Thaksin led groups that want to use "democracy" for their own means and solely for the benefit of those groups?

Their aims are a complete clamp on the country to milk it empty, a change of constitution like they tried before, and ultimately a sole dictatorship.

That opposition?

 

[newcomer71]

5 minutes ago, hansnl said:

The opposition?

You mean the Thaksin led groups that want to use "democracy" for their own means and solely for the benefit of those groups?

Their aims are a complete clamp on the country to milk it empty, a change of constitution like they tried before, and ultimately a sole dictatorship.

That opposition?

 

Excuse me? Are you referring to the current government, right? Because that's what happened with the lot in power now, and hear hear, they were successfully to change the constitution too. Oopsy.

[heybuz]

I think instead of criticising the junta it's time to put forward an alternate plan for the country.It seems that the opposition parties will only rely on critisisms and not have any alternative. I do not support the junta.

[Jai Dee]

A post containing thinly veiled references to lese majeste has been removed from this topic in accordance with Forum Rules.

 

Any more posts of this nature will result in a posting suspension and/or a ban from the Forum.

[Cadbury]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Prayut comes under blistering attack as political bans are lifted

This will get interesting and surely get the PM fired up upon hearing all this condemnation of him and his junta government by opposition parties.

The big question is will he be able to control himself and not fly into one of his customary hissy fits and hit the media waves to try and defend himself. I can't see PM Prayut just being a punching bag for political candidates.

If he does respond then surely that would be construed as political campaigning, something his deputy Wissanu has told him he can't do. Absorbing times ahead.

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1073090-pm-prayut-warned-to-not-engage-in-political-campaigning/

 

[TKDfella]

3 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

The world is in turmoil... Wars, famine, terrorist attacks on innocent people,  food and water shortages, disease and weather related destruction are common place. 

 

I find Thailand... With all its many glaring faults... A relatively safe, inexpensive, lovely place to live... 

 

I have tasted life in Europe, North  and South America, the Middle East and Asia. 

 

Asia... Thailand in particular... Is still a great place to live. 

 

Do not involve yourself with the politics or religion in a foreign country... Bad for your health and well-being.

Well for a start as expats we can't get involved in politics so that ends that. Thailand may nice to live in, but what you advocate is expats to stop thinking and to have an opinion...no thanks, I don't want to become a 'paradise zombie'. Just what the Junta would like. As for being bad for one's health, that would only happen if feelings get stifled. Human beings have emotions and venting is a good release of stress; the way to prevent stress is to be objective, logical and consistent so as to not generate contradictions. What you advocate is the Mai Pen Rai attitude, again just what the Junta would like.

[Eric Loh]

1 hour ago, Prissana Pescud said:

Really. What checks and balances of failed democracy are you referring to. 

The checks on the people that were throwing grenades, blowing up buildings, stealing the money of the govt.

People like you will never understand the failed rice scheme, the empty rice storage places and the sub standard wet rice where it was held.

 <snip> You cannot comprehend why the former

govt fugitives still a life of glamour and wealth.

 What former so called democracy is totally transparent if you care to look and not get blinded by capitalism.

Since 1949, China has risen from basket case to almost total supremacy. And not a hint of democracy.

You need to understand what it takes to rule an uneducated economy.

Not too late for you to understand what are checks and balances in an elected government as compare to a non elected military government. A legislative wing that represent and acting on behalf of the citizens and scrutinizing the government; previous parliament exposed the rice scheme mismanagement. The executive branch decide on bill; that stop the amnesty bill. The judiciary branch dispense fair judgement rather than compromised verdict for the sake of political expediency. 

 

Don't forget transparency. Openness, accountability and or basically how citizens hold the government accountable with free speech and opinion.

 

Tell how all the above fair in this military government. No parliament but a rubber stamping NLA. Judiciary system fraught with crony investigating agencies which spare corruption of the military. Oh, by the way you so wrong to say that corruption better in junta time. The global corruption Index say you bluffing.       

 

Rather naive to not know that Thaksin was already wealthy before he joined politics. That was a totally irrelevant point.

 

As for China, you are just being simplistic to use China as an example of prosperity without democracy.  You don't know what happening inside China on civil society, political freedom and dissent. China regime is a major source of potential instability. 

Edited December 14, 2018 by Jai Dee
Edited quote to remove lese majeste content

[Burma Bill]

You watch, he will invoke Article 44 "to save face"

[Puchaiyank]

15 minutes ago, TKDfella said:

Well for a start as expats we can't get involved in politics so that ends that. Thailand may nice to live in, but what you advocate is expats to stop thinking and to have an opinion...no thanks, I don't want to become a 'paradise zombie'. Just what the Junta would like. As for being bad for one's health, that would only happen if feelings get stifled. Human beings have emotions and venting is a good release of stress; the way to prevent stress is to be objective, logical and consistent so as to not generate contradictions. What you advocate is the Mai Pen Rai attitude, again just what the Junta would like.

I should fair well if the junta retains power... No? 

[Eric Loh]

19 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

I should fair well if the junta retains power... No? 

You will be ok as you just a statistic. I am too a statistic but with an opinion, engaging active mind and liberal views. 

[hotchilli]

The real problem is.... is there an actual opposition party that has the ability to lead a fully transparent democratic government for the benefit of the people?

Or is it just vying for the next turn at the trough !

[MaxLee]

Just wannabe critics stating the obvious YAAAAAWN 

[Eric Loh]

Lots of motherhood comments that Thailand need a truly democractic government that is corruption free. Yes we all know that. Stop preaching to the choir. Every countries say the same thing. Even Churchill admitted that democracy is the worst form of government except for others. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise but coups and military regimes are worst. If they are good for Thailand, the country will be perfect and all-wise after 12 coups.    

[Thailand]

2 hours ago, newcomer71 said:

Excuse me? Are you referring to the current government, right? Because that's what happened with the lot in power now, and hear hear, they were successfully to change the constitution too. Oopsy.

As I said, junta huggers apart. ????

[ChipButty]

Im wondering if they have a question time with all the party leaders facing each other?