Thai netizens mostly endorse Thaksin’s vow to return

[Khabib]

Just now, Neeranam said:

Well you don't remember when Taksin had a war on visa runners, making two the maximum. 

390% increase might not be much to you, but think how much more that is for the government. There were many areas where he showed his dislike for foreigners here, like commenting that foreigners should never be able to own land here, when he had just bought property in London. 

I have to agree, with all those aspects. I'm here now on a marriage visa, and costs 1900 baht per year. That's less than 50 pounds. It's not overwhelmingly expensive.

[OneMoreFarang]

15 minutes ago, Phoenix Rising said:

Rubbish. He tried to control the media by intimidating publications and journalists critical of him but at no time did he "control the media". Actually, the freedom of the press was at its highest during his time in office.

Thaksin use a red card at press conferences for questions and journalists he didn't like. Pathetic! 

[Neeranam]

2 minutes ago, Khabib said:

To be honest, I was drunk too often to pay too much attention to it. I just recall the atmosphere then being "the good old days".

I was drunk for the whole period of Big Jew, when Taksin was Deputy Prime Minister in 1997, the Tom Yam Goong fiasco and thought all was good. Who made $Billions when the baht went from 25 to 45 per $?

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Thaksin use a red card at press conferences for questions and journalists he didn't like. Pathetic! 

He's a bit like Sleepy Joe Biden in that respect, but at least Taksin had press conferences.

[Khabib]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I was drunk for the whole period of Big Jew, when Taksin was Deputy Prime Minister in 1997, the Tom Yam Goong fiasco and thought all was good. Who made $Billions when the baht went from 25 to 45 per $?

Who wouldn't make billions if they found themselves in the position to do so. It's quite likely most peoples morality would go out the window with those sort of monies involved.

[Dogmatix]

Thai Enquirer is a good website but you need to take into account that it is inclined to be pro-Thaksin which is no longer a quid pro quo of being anti-junta this days.  No doubt the abysmal performance of the government will have increased support for Thaksin at least temporarily, as people are looking for any port in a storm.  However, I don't think Thaksin has a great deal of support for amongst the younger generation who have been leading the charge for reform.  Thaksin had zero interest in reform of the police or anything else when he was in power.  He was only interested in nobbling the independent institutions so they couldn't go after him for corruption and nobbled the constitution court in order to get to power in the first place. 

[Mr Meeseeks]

1 hour ago, robblok said:

I prefer the report from an independent organization that i quoted. It shows the amount that Thaksin is responsible for dwarves that of the junta. 

 

How many did the junta kill in the protest 200 max ?

 

Anyway I am not arguing the junta is fine they have to leave. Just arguing that Thaksin is as bad as them maybe slightly better. At least we would not have to see poor students going to jail for lawful protests. Point being is why replace something bad with something less bad. Is that really the best Thailand can come up with.

 

Best would be to let future forward run and annul those stupid verdicts against them.

 

https://www.hrw.org/news/2008/03/12/thailands-war-drugs

400 were unrelated to drug dealing or h

1 hour ago, robblok said:

I prefer the report from an independent organization that i quoted. It shows the amount that Thaksin is responsible for dwarves that of the junta. 

 

How many did the junta kill in the protest 200 max ?

 

Anyway I am not arguing the junta is fine they have to leave. Just arguing that Thaksin is as bad as them maybe slightly better. At least we would not have to see poor students going to jail for lawful protests. Point being is why replace something bad with something less bad. Is that really the best Thailand can come up with.

 

Best would be to let future forward run and annul those stupid verdicts against them.

 

https://www.hrw.org/news/2008/03/12/thailands-war-drugs

400 were unrelated to drug dealing or had no apparent reason for their killings. Human Rights Watch, ‘Thailand

ad no apparent reason for their killings. Human Rights Watch, ‘Thailand

That is a quote from an article in the Nation paper, with figures from the junta report from 2007. It's not a HRW report. 

 

Interestingly, it goes on to state "the military-installed government of General Surayud Chalanont appointed a special committee to investigate the extrajudicial killings during the 2003 war on drugs. The committee's report - which has never been made public ..." 

 

If you are going to use statistics, best they are put into context first and the source is fully disclosed. 

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

How about bringing him back and putting him in jail and voting for honest people? Or would that be too radical?

Where are you going to find an honest politician of a main party anywhere?

[Neeranam]

1 minute ago, Dogmatix said:

Thaksin had zero interest in reform of the police or anything else when he was in power.  He was only interested in nobbling the independent institutions so they couldn't go after him for corruption and nobbled the constitution court in order to get to power in the first place. 

It's a continual battle between the police friendly politicians and the army-friendly ones. 

[mancub]

4 hours ago, Orinoco said:

Yes, But I would let the sister off, as i still think she's hot. 

 

 

 

You guys are the reason there are so many "old gals" populating the last-chance saloons !????????

[OneMoreFarang]

5 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Well you don't remember when Taksin had a war on visa runners, making two the maximum. 

390% increase might not be much to you, but think how much more that is for the government. There were many areas where he showed his dislike for foreigners here, like commenting that foreigners should never be able to own land here, when he had just bought property in London. 

Personally I like to see Thaksin from the perspective of Thai people first and foreigners second.

I.e. if a Thai politician sets prices and rules for visa, etc. then the Thai people should decide what they want. It's their country!

Obviously I also prefer to pay less for visa and other services. But do I really care about a few thousand THB per year for official business? No. It's peanuts compared to daily living cost.

 

If Thaksin would not have been so greedy then he could have been a good PM. He entered politics as a rich man and he told people at that time that he does not have to make money in politics because he is already super rich. He forget that statement very fast. Or to be precise he never believed it with a big part of his assets in the names of maids and gardeners. He called it an honest mistake. 555 

[Dogmatix]

5 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I was drunk for the whole period of Big Jew, when Taksin was Deputy Prime Minister in 1997, the Tom Yam Goong fiasco and thought all was good. Who made $Billions when the baht went from 25 to 45 per $?

One or two with inside info that the BoT had run out of lies to tell about its defence of the baht shorted it big time when only Tokyo was open for fx trading which made it very obvious. Many people who claim to know of such things have alleged that Tony, Frank or Woody or whatever he is calling himself now was one of them and that the head of a large conglomerate was the other.  

[Khabib]

2 minutes ago, mancub said:

You guys are the reason there are so many "old gals" populating the last-chance saloons !????????

Most normal people, have some type of fetishism 55

[Neeranam]

1 minute ago, Dogmatix said:

One or two with inside info that the BoT had run out of lies to tell about its defence of the baht shorted it big time when only Tokyo was open for fx trading which made it very obvious. Many people who claim to know of such things have alleged that Tony, Frank or Woody or whatever he is calling himself now was one of them and that the head of a large conglomerate was the other.  

 The chicken man is always around. 

[4MyEgo]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

He has been met with overwhelmingly positive responses from many Thai netizens, especially as they grow increasingly frustrated with the current government’s mishandlings and inaction over the pandemic.

As much as I would like to see him come back, the powers that be won't have it, get rid of them first if you can and then, maybe, just maybe.

 

He would be better at running this country than them.

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, robblok said:

As a previous coup supporter I certainly dislike Thaksin and his proxies. However the way the government is handeling the covid situation and other situations is so much alike as when YL did the rice scam and flooding that its uncanny.

 

Both will never admit their fault and even if reporters come up with news and discoveries the both governments never acknowledge it. In YL her rice scam it was in the news for long that the G2G deals were fake. She always denied and in the end the truth emerged the deals were fake. Now we got Prayut who totally messed up covid and is covering it up. All news reports and critique is being attacked.

 

So I doubt there will be much change both are corrupt and power hungry. But maybe Thaksin can do a better job who knows. I still prefer future forward. as one of the few parties that is really honest. The leader put his money in a blind trust something unheard of in Thai politics so he could not benefit from his decisions. (shows a lot of goodwill)

 

But i doubt Thaksin will  come back he has time to serve and his conviction disqualifies him Though with enough support anything can happen how else did we get a convicted drug dealer in government.

 

Thaksin certainly would have to try hard handling covid worse then Prayut. But it wont happen but hopefully it puts some extra stress on this government. I want to see them fall.

You supported a coup Rob?? As a person who agrees with most of your posts, I find that very surprising. Surely no one should ever take over any country without being elected by the people.

[edwinchester]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Perhaps you should properly research your claims above, you're less than correct/accurate on several counts. Perhaps you should also speak with some farang who were living/working in Thailand at the time and watching this matter every day, I have little doubt many would disagree with your words. 

Been living here since before the war on drugs and can say that it was very popular with a huge number of Thais....but....it was definitely a time of extrajudicial killings.

One evening wifey and I were driving back home through the paddies and sugarcane fields after dinner with a friend when we were flagged down by a number of men shining torches into our pickup. There were about five guns pointed at me and to a man they all appeared to have been drinking and reeked of alcohol. To put it mildly I was apprehensive of a good outcome. Wifey, bless her, used to work at the local police station and noticed several police officers and the situation quickly relaxed. She asked them what was going on. "Out shooting drug dealers" and with that we were on our way home.

Next morning the body of a 16 year old was found in the local market. He was a known user of yabaa and had been shot so I guess that got their man.

 

[Eric Loh]

The speculation that Thaksin may return actually started last year when his majesty grant audience to his ex-wife and children. The last time Thaksin talk about his return was probably in 2012 when Yingluck was PM. He will not talk about a return if he don't see the possibility. I do see some posssibility of him either getting a pardon (best opportunity is during this current mess) or getting Pheu Thai join the current coalition government. If he don't get to return, he will be probably toast forever living in Dubai. 

[Dogmatix]

15 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Well you don't remember when Taksin had a war on visa runners, making two the maximum. 

390% increase might not be much to you, but think how much more that is for the government. There were many areas where he showed his dislike for foreigners here, like commenting that foreigners should never be able to own land here, when he had just bought property in London. 

He had a look East (i.e. to China) policy, similar to Mahathir in Malaysia, that was anti farang and told the UN it wasn't his father when complalined about his murders. His first interior minister, Purachai, was definitely anti-foreigner and rejected all the PR and citizenship applications after he had bought a house in NZ where his children went to school. After Thaksin got rid of him he moved there for a while and got PR.  A total hypcrite.

 

But I am not sure the thing about land is fair, although I am not a Thaksin fan.  The Dems had amended the Land Code to allow foreigners to buy a rai of land the year before he came to power, although the provision was never allowed to work.  It was somewhat unpopular, even in the Dem party, and Thaksin obviously say no ppolitical mileage in going further.  but he did actually try to fudge things to set a sort of government nominee service to allow Elite card holders to own land. But even that created too much backlash and he dropped it after issuing the first Elite cards on the basis that holders could buy land. 

 

Re visa prices.  I think the problem is that visa fees tend to be increased only every 10-20 years and when they do they do it in big chunks.  Probably another one is due now.  What bigger way to welcome foreigners to the reopening of the country! 

 

 

[jacko45k]

15 minutes ago, mancub said:

You guys are the reason there are so many "old gals" populating the last-chance saloons !????????

That and beer.....

[Neeranam]

6 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

Been living here since before the war on drugs and can say that it was very popular with a huge number of Thais....but....it was definitely a time of extrajudicial killings.

One evening wifey and I were driving back home through the paddies and sugarcane fields after dinner with a friend when we were flagged down by a number of men shining torches into our pickup. There were about five guns pointed at me and to a man they all appeared to have been drinking and reeked of alcohol. To put it mildly I was apprehensive of a good outcome. Wifey, bless her, used to work at the local police station and noticed several police officers and the situation quickly relaxed. She asked them what was going on. "Out shooting drug dealers" and with that we were on our way home.

Next morning the body of a 16 year old was found in the local market. He was a known user of yabaa and had been shot so I guess that got their man.

 

I have heard many similar stories of drug users being killed. Anyone who is OK with Taksin or his policies is either ignorant of the facts or has very weird ethics. 

[ChipButty]

35 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

What do you mean by 'us people'?

 

Do you know who increased the price of a yearly extension by 390%?

Was it him that increased tax on wine, I'll never forgive him for thet

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

He had a look East (i.e. to China) policy, similar to Mahathir in Malaysia, that was anti farang and told the UN it wasn't his father when complalined about his murders. His first interior minister, Purachai, was definitely anti-foreigner and rejected all the PR and citizenship applications after he had bought a house in NZ where his children went to school. After Thaksin got rid of him he moved there for a while and got PR.  A total hypcrite.

Which is why when foreigners say they are Pro-Taksin, it is just totally screwed up. 

[Khabib]

7 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

The speculation that Thaksin may return actually started last year when his majesty grant audience to his ex-wife and children. The last time Thaksin talk about his return was probably in 2012 when Yingluck was PM. He will not talk about a return if he don't see the possibility. I do see some posssibility of him either getting a pardon (best opportunity is during this current mess) or getting Pheu Thai join the current coalition government. If he don't get to return, he will be probably toast forever living in Dubai. 

He will be eating the finest toast, while he toasts his good luck in life, while getting toasted.

[Neeranam]

5 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

The Dems had amended the Land Code to allow foreigners to buy a rai of land the year before he came to power, although the provision was never allowed to work

I remember that -  could own up to one rai of land if you had minimum 50 million baht. It was in the end at up to the Minister of Interior, a position Taksin held!

[Khabib]

5 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I have heard many similar stories of drug users being killed. Anyone who is OK with Taksin or his policies is either ignorant of the facts or has very weird ethics. 

Trouble with that philosophy, is ignoring the concept, that people who live by the gun, likely can die by the gun. 

[jacko45k]

6 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Was it him that increased tax on wine, I'll never forgive him for thet

I believe that postdates him.

[hotandsticky]

1 minute ago, Khabib said:

Trouble with that philosophy, is ignoring the concept, that people who live by the gun, likely can die by the gun. 

 

 

It was drugs - not arms dealing.

 

 

Scum they might have been, but they were murdered - and on Thaksin's orders.

[Phoenix Rising]

35 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Thaksin use a red card at press conferences for questions and journalists he didn't like. Pathetic! 

Did he send them to attitude adjustment camps as well?

Edited July 15, 2021 by Phoenix Rising

[Neeranam]

1 minute ago, hotandsticky said:

 

 

It was drugs - not arms dealing.

 

 

Scum they might have been, but they were murdered - and on Thaksin's orders.

Drug addiction, which often leads to dealing, is not a moral failing and calling them scum is narrow-minded. Drug addiction is a disease(like cancer) and all who suffer from it should get the same compassion, not get shot, with no trial, because of it.