Billionaire-turned-politician Thanathorn to put assets into blind trust

[webfact]

Billionaire-turned-politician Thanathorn to put assets into blind trust

 

 

Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit announced today that he would place all his personal assets into a “blind trust” to set an ethical standard for political office holders in Thailand.

 

Speaking at a press conference today, the young firebrand politician said that blind trusts for businessmen entering politics is commonplace, or even a legal requirement, in western democracies to avoid accusations of conflicts of interest.

 

Although the current Constitution mandates that political office holders must not have interests in any company which operates a state concession, Thanathorn said it does not mandate the use of blind trusts.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/billionaire-turned-politician-thanathorn-to-put-assets-into-blind-trust/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2019-03-19

[nev]

Good on him!, Looks like he wants to enter politics to do good and help the people and not to get rich.

[perthuniversity]

5 minutes ago, nev said:

Good on him!, Looks like he wants to enter politics to do good and help the people and not to get rich.

totally agree

 

[leeneeds]

 

20 minutes ago, perthuniversity said:

totally agree

 

 

26 minutes ago, nev said:

Good on him!, Looks like he wants to enter politics to do good and help the people and not to get rich.

  A billionaire is not rich?

 

[Fex Bluse]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit announced today that he would place all his personal assets into a “blind trust” to set an ethical standard for political office holders in Thailand.

If the trust is administered by Thais, this is a meaningless gesture. Good try, though. As always, Thais are always on stage, acting. 

 

He is either doing this for the optics or as a way to say "I'm following the laws, so let me run for office."

 

It is VERY unlikely he is doing it for the ethics. 

[robblok]

1 hour ago, Fex Bluse said:

If the trust is administered by Thais, this is a meaningless gesture. Good try, though. As always, Thais are always on stage, acting. 

 

He is either doing this for the optics or as a way to say "I'm following the laws, so let me run for office."

 

It is VERY unlikely he is doing it for the ethics. 

That is what you think, but he does not have to do this. He is the only one and all you can do is moan.

 

There is a good chance that this guy is better as the current crop of politicians. Lets hope for the best and may his party decimate the PTP and Democrats. That way Thailand might actually move forward.

 

So far this guy is the most promising of them all. Perfect.. i doubt it but i doubt you are and I doubt I am. Better then the rest... it certainly appears this way.

[robblok]

2 hours ago, leeneeds said:

 

 

  A billionaire is not rich?

 

What the guy meant is getting richer like what Thaksin did during his reign. Thaksin was a good example of a rich man wanting to get richer at the cost of the Thai treasury. This guy is trying to distance himself from that despicable example as he has looks against him for being rich.

 

I must say this is the FIRST time that i have seen a politician chain himself down to regulation that are not mandatory and doing more than the rest. I applaud him, hopefully he can keep corruption out of any coalition he gets into. I am doubtful about that but I wonder if he is strong enough to blow a coalition up if the other parties are too corrupt.

[jumbo]

I remember the same praises when Thaksin entered and we know how that story continues to roll out...

[Fex Bluse]

23 minutes ago, robblok said:

That is what you think, but he does not have to do this. He is the only one and all you can do is moan.

 

There is a good chance that this guy is better as the current crop of politicians. Lets hope for the best and may his party decimate the PTP and Democrats. That way Thailand might actually move forward.

 

So far this guy is the most promising of them all. Perfect.. i doubt it but i doubt you are and I doubt I am. Better then the rest... it certainly appears this way.

Wow. A catchy party name and a guy who says all the right buzzwords and so many of us are convinced. Even against one hundred years of history of every single Thai leader being as corrupt as they could get away with and being of questionable use to the country... 

 

If it is so easy to convince us educated farang with words alone, imagine how easy it is for these Thai-Chinese to trick Thais of limited education. 

 

If he's the real deal, I want to see him disclose verifiable sources of his families wealth... I'm certain it's all corruption-free. I'll be waiting. 

[Fex Bluse]

22 minutes ago, robblok said:

I must say this is the FIRST time that i have seen a politician chain himself down to regulation that are not mandatory and doing more than the rest. I applaud him,

You are convinced he is of good intent simply on account of his announcement and a couple photos in the media? 

[robblok]

1 minute ago, Fex Bluse said:

Wow. A catchy party name and a guy who says all the right buzzwords and so many of us are convinced. Even against one hundred years of history of every single Thai leader being as corrupt as they could get away with and being of questionable use to the country... 

 

If it is so easy to convince us educated farang with words alone, imagine how easy it is for these Thai-Chinese to trick Thais of limited education. 

 

If he's the real deal, I want to see him disclose verifiable sources of his families wealth... I'll be waiting. 

I certainly agree with a large part of what you say but this guy is doing the right thing, upholding himself to higher standards then the others. I see that as a step in the right direction.

 

You can break him down all you want (and will I) if you can prove he is corrupt. 

 

So far he is the candidate that looks the most against corruption and is willing to change things NOT favoring politicians. Just imagine if he were to really put in place checks that work.

 

So far it were all words, now its more then words actions and without any proof or indication of fraud he is standing tall above all the other politicians.

 

But don't worry as I absolutely hate corruption ill tear him down too if there is corruption but so far he is doing it all right much better then the other ones.

[robblok]

20 minutes ago, jumbo said:

I remember the same praises when Thaksin entered and we know how that story continues to roll out...

Thaksin never did something like this in reality he actively used his power to promote his business interests and get richer. Thaksin is the prime example of a corrupt billionaire for who more is never enough. That is why he and his party should be avoided at all cost.

[robblok]

2 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

You are convinced he is of good intent simply on account of his announcement and a couple photos in the media? 

I find putting your money in a blind trust a huge step. Unless you can prove this is a sham then he has already shown far more then all the others. For that he deserves praise. I praise those who deserve praise and pull down that need to be pulled down. So far this guy done it all right. So he looks best. We will see later but I am just not like you pulling a man down without proof especially if he is already doing more than the rest.

[Fex Bluse]

5 minutes ago, robblok said:

I find putting your money in a blind trust a huge step. Unless you can prove this is a sham then he has already shown far more then all the others. For that he deserves praise. I praise those who deserve praise and pull down that need to be pulled down. So far this guy done it all right. So he looks best. We will see later but I am just not like you pulling a man down without proof especially if he is already doing more than the rest.

I cannot agree. It is not for me (or anyone else) to prove it is a sham. It is his duty to prove it is not, especially when considering how thoroughly corrupt this country is. 

 

Now, he doesn't have to prove it to me, of course, as I am (so very luckily) not Thai. But, I think it's wiser for us educated foreigners to NOT give any Thais the benefit of the doubt until they have sufficiently proved themselves worthy. 

 

And, saying the right things is NOT worthy, especially as Thais excel at saying things and then doing entirely different things. 

[SOTIRIOS]

...oh wake up.....!!!

[CGW]

5 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

saying the right things is NOT worthy, especially as Thais excel at saying things and then doing entirely different things. 

Is this not a description of modern day politics? replace "Thai's" with politicians and thats how it now works, tell people what they want to hear then do what you want regardless, remember Mr change, remember draining the swamp ...............????

[robblok]

57 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

I cannot agree. It is not for me (or anyone else) to prove it is a sham. It is his duty to prove it is not, especially when considering how thoroughly corrupt this country is. 

 

Now, he doesn't have to prove it to me, of course, as I am (so very luckily) not Thai. But, I think it's wiser for us educated foreigners to NOT give any Thais the benefit of the doubt until they have sufficiently proved themselves worthy. 

 

And, saying the right things is NOT worthy, especially as Thais excel at saying things and then doing entirely different things. 

Yes because us farangs are so perfect and trustworthy... meanwhile the us is led by Thrump. 

[Cereal]

Does anyone really believe this guy is going to leave his billions aside with no knowledge of what is happening to it? Really?

[sammieuk1]

Hope he wins by a landslide and avoids getting run over by a tank???? 

[Snow Leopard]

Who does he think he is? Donald Trump? 

[justin case]

people on TV still have trust in words out of a politician's mouth ?

 

believe me, extreme rich people want to become even more rich

 

and keep the poor, stupid and uneducated

 

the bag of the devil is never full

 

 

[lannarebirth]

12 minutes ago, justin case said:

people on TV still have trust in words out of a politician's mouth ?

 

believe me, extreme rich people want to become even more rich

 

and keep the poor, stupid and uneducated

 

the bag of the devil is never full

 

 

 

If I made a fortune selling car parts to the car industry I'd want the poor driving cars.

[Eric Loh]

He is standing for election and not rigging the outcome. Good enough for me. 

[lipflipper]

Why?? It's not as if he has a snowballs chance in hell of ever becoming the P.M.

Sent from my CMR-AL19 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[jonclark]

2 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

You are convinced he is of good intent simply on account of his announcement and a couple photos in the media? 

I think people are convinced he is of better intent than many of the past or present politicians. Now better may not equal good, but it is a step in the right direction. 

 

If you could point me to politicians who have good intent then I would be interested in knowing their names (and history) 

 

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

If the trust is administered by Thais, this is a meaningless gesture. Good try, though. As always, Thais are always on stage, acting. 

 

He is either doing this for the optics or as a way to say "I'm following the laws, so let me run for office."

 

It is VERY unlikely he is doing it for the ethics. 

The problem is you have to vote or trust someone to do the job with honesty & sincerity, so far he's the only one who's stepped up & done this to show his intentions, which might just swing the minds of the young voters who are sick & tired of the "old school/faces"!

He might just be the change that Thailand really needs.

 

[GarryP]

1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

The problem is you have to vote or trust someone to do the job with honesty & sincerity, so far he's the only one who's stepped up & done this to show his intentions, which might just swing the minds of the young voters who are sick & tired of the "old school/faces"!

He might just be the change that Thailand really needs.

 

Apparently he is not the first to have done this and is now being sued for issuing false information about himself. The complainant is that bloke (Srisuan Janya sp?) who owns a coffee shop, loves to see his name in the media and has filed so many complaints he has lost count.   

[Fex Bluse]

1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

The problem is you have to vote or trust someone to do the job with honesty & sincerity, so far he's the only one who's stepped up & done this to show his intentions, which might just swing the minds of the young voters who are sick & tired of the "old school/faces"!

He might just be the change that Thailand really needs.

 

I understand. 

 

What I am saying is that there is no Thai precedent for someone simply saying all the right things and following through on promises. 

 

In contrary, Thais almost uniformly say a bunch of nice things and then do all the wrong things. They, as a national characteristic, have a 'flexible' relationship with the truth. Truth/morality/law abiding are entirely unimportant to 99% of Thais (educated and not). 

 

So, simply saying some nice things may or may not indicate his actual intentions.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

He is standing for election and not rigging the outcome. Good enough for me. 

And me.

[DrTuner]

I could care less if he's using his $ to buy half of the senate, just get elected and get rid of the junta, a few years of pillaging rights as a reward is fine.