13 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

While I would prefer Thaksin to the current administration you have to ask the question.

Can Thailand really not find better leaders than this?

So a long time ago, I was given a lesson in management.  Asked if you had to choose between a liar or a thief, which one to choose…. A thief the better choice, as you know what he is doing.

9 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Up to a point. But it was his government who introduced restricted alcohol selling times, and tried to close down nightclubs at midnight and bars at 10pm. Not much fun there.

If 24 hours nightlife and drunkmanship is the barometer for the benefit of a country and his population only......

 

well than i rest my case ????......16 hours from 24 would be a sufficient time i would think????

13 hours ago, david555 said:

That is also true, but are they the majority ...? it s a young movement born out of pure justified  frustration 

I believe they hope for the ideal Thailand in such , but that shall take many years to come ,first have to be dealt with the old hiso group 

To get the majority only one thing will help you "vote buying" Something Mr. T is specialized in. Keep him as far away from Thailand as possible. Replacing a big problem with another big problem is not a solution. 

Just now, SomchaiCNX said:

To get the majority only one thing will help you "vote buying" Something Mr. T is specialized in. Keep him as far away from Thailand as possible. Replacing a big problem with another big problem is not a solution. 

No...and keeping the status quo neither ....

14 hours ago, david555 said:

No problem for me when he "could " come back , as i remember in his era Thailand was fun , as the Thais smiled more than now the grim smile under P. already so many years 

Your right he’s just as bad as the rest but in those days it was fun here.

1 minute ago, david555 said:

No...and keeping the status quo neither ....

There is a solution for those who want to see it and have the guts to react.  You nor I are going to change anything it is up to the people to react.

 

9 minutes ago, david555 said:

If 24 hours nightlife and drunkmanship is the barometer for the benefit of a country and his population only......

 

well than i rest my case ????......16 hours from 24 would be a sufficient time i would think????

I agree up to a point. But if you are intending to attract tourists from Europe, as Thailand was doing back then, closing bars and nightclubs at or before midnight isn't the way to do it. Many countries in Europe allow such places to stay open until dawn.

 

But I see that you're among those who believe that having a beer=drunkeness, and that people are drunk only after midnight. And it isn't "only", as you put it. I gave an example that it wasn't all freedom and fun under Thaksin, but you twisted what I wrote to suit your own agenda.

Every leaders have their dark side is unavoidable, but if they can balance their dirty agendas with taking care of their citizens needs and they could make happy lifestyle.For sure many people don’t give a damn about the politicians' sh*t.
The politicians should understand that if there are no people, there wouldn't be any government or leaders either. They need to build the trust among their citizens.

Edited August 12, 20214 yr by raccos21

The One-Eyed among the Blind preparing for an imminent come-back with some goodies in his luggage like millions of jabs? 

If there would be elections with Dr Thaksin and his cronies in the race today, I would bet my entire money on him and a landslide victory. Possibly that's the real script behind the whole "amnesty bill" for the outstanding handling of Covid-19; possibly cover the entire seven years of governmental term ..... we will see! 

Just now, Bangkok Barry said:

I agree up to a point. But if you are intending to attract tourists from Europe, as Thailand was doing back then, closing bars and nightclubs at or before midnight isn't the way to do it. Many countries in Europe allow such places to stay open until dawn.

 

But I see that you're among those who believe that having a beer=drunkeness, and that people are drunk only after midnight. And it isn't "only", as you put it. I gave an example that it wasn't all freedom and fun under Thaksin, but you twisted what I wrote to suit your own agenda.

what i meant was that is not the only benefit to a country , this could be easily regulated / limited to a certain area ...., and midnight 00 hours is short but 16 hours opening to " beer belly up"  and have fun i guess would be controllable ...., ( some "recovery"time needed also... )

 

Of course the Farang bar & nightlife entertainment managers will disagree ..... and then we call the Thais GREEDY ....

 

(so far my "agenda " ,....what about yours....? ) 

5 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

I  think the current govt is  excellent

there is  no  corruption and Mr Prayut  is doing an excellent  job,

I dont want to be overly  positive though *** **** **** I think he might need a  little  less  hair  dye. 

Agree with all, especially the overuse of soot, used engine oil and "discreet" fade to black.

 

2 minutes ago, raccos21 said:

Every leaders have their dark side is unavoidable, but if they can balance their dirty agendas with taking care of their citizens needs and they could make happy lifestyle.For sure many people don’t give a damn about the politicians' sh*t.
The politicians should understand that if there are no people, there wouldn't be any government or leaders either. They need to build the trust among their citizens.

"The politicians should understand that if there are no people, there wouldn't be any government or leaders either. They need to build the trust among their citizens. "

 

 

The so controlled DDR (east Germany) (1 on 4 police, gov. agent or others...????) ...realized that at some point as the people just marched to the Berlin Wall and demanded to open , chanting (we are the people ...) 

They realized they could not shoot them all.....as then no subjects anymore and need to work themselves ....

And .... they give in and united a 2 German people divided because an ending WW2 

 

But Thailand population & politics is far of that point ....

i support anybody that are friendly and lack of restriction on foreigner 

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Seems to be a global problem.

I just recollect the Thaksin times seemed more positive, his picture was everywhere you went and the locals were optimistic, feeling they were on the up and up.

His picture was everywhere because he ordered it to be everywhere which annoyed somebody else whose picture was already there for a long time before Thaksin, if you get my drift!

 

3 hours ago, crazykopite said:

I was living Living here when he was PM in those days the Thai people seemed to be very happy I cannot say the same today maybe he wasn’t the rogue he was made out to be and maybe a lot of Thais wish he was back in charge of running the country I’m sure he wouldn’t be wasting money on submarines or other defence equipment but spending the money on those in need of it 

He wouldn't be wasting money on submarines, he was too busy stealing it.

 

He wasn't a particularly good Prime minister, he created an illusion, and many of his policies unraveled and would have unraveled even if he had remained in power.

 

His war on drugs was a PR exercise and many innocent people lost their lives, his rice pledging could not go on, it was built on pillars of sand, and cost the country billions, the health scheme could have worked with further funds diverted to it.

 

He was greedy, he was and remains a personable narcissist.

 

I was here throughout his reign and the coup right up to the tanks steaming through Bangkok with yellow ribbons on their sleeves, I was there taking photos.

 

And that was his biggest error, he alienated he who could not be alienated

15 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

While I would prefer Thaksin to the current administration you have to ask the question.

Can Thailand really not find better leaders than this?

Nope.

15 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

While I would prefer Thaksin to the current administration you have to ask the question.

Can Thailand really not find better leaders than this?

It's a mystery - same as with other countries one could mention. Maybe it's just a general incompatibility between good governance and brains

If you guys want to talk about the good old days, I would say more like 1990-2000.

 

Bars could do what they wanted, opening times were free, everybody was laid back and not much taken seriously. The Go go bars were fun, raucous, and cheap for Westerners.

 

Farmers used to wave as out airplanes came in to land at Don Muang. Bangkok was buzzing. Pattaya took about 4 to 4.5 hours to get to because no motorways. No flyovers, No BTS.

 

There were 'No elephants '  signs up in Pattaya within city limits. The hordes of Russians and Chinese and idiotic lager lout Brits had not arrived. There were plenty of people with money coming to Thailand then.

 

Beaches and roads less crowded, nowhere near the amount of crime there is now.

 

Smiling faces were everywhere.

 

And this was all before Thaksin and his silly dreams of making Thailand like Singapore with him as Captain of the ship.

 

All he did, was replace one set of corrupt politicians with his own set of corrupt politicians.

11 minutes ago, david555 said:

But Thailand population & politics is far of that point ...

That maybe because the level of critical thinking and politics system in third world countries are different from western countries. 
As we can noticed that there isn’t any freedom of speech here.

 

Come back, all is forgiven. Will no one rid us of these turbulent generals?

15 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

While I would prefer Thaksin to the current administration you have to ask the question.

Can Thailand really not find better leaders than this?

I think the sitting government have bucked them all in jail or made sure people cannot support .. That’s why there is no alternative .. Thailand does need to smile again but won’t under current conditions .. It’s being destroyed slowly

14 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

How romantic.

Students that protest but don't know why they protests all the while missing the bigger picture of why they might be protesting. 

Taking to the streets does little - as it's been obvious for months, even years. 

 

Speaking of FFP or Progressive Thailand or whatever they're calling themselves today - do they really feel a kinship with the rotating gangs of fashionable protesters? In their own secret corners, I don't believe they do. 

Your dismissive and condescending attitude towards student protestors s ays more about you than them.

This is the first enlightened generation in Thailand. Overseas educations and social media has brought about that change.

The scales are off their eyes and will never return. I have listened to people from this movement speak and they know what they want. It's just that what they want is incomprehensible to the Junta  and the Thai "elite". 

The whole Thaksin regime was a lot more corrupt than what we have now, along with many

actions taken by them that never saw the light of day. He wanted to be "President of Thailand"

The rice pledging scheme & the selling of "Thai owned" satelites to Temask Holdings in Singapore to name just a few of the biggees none of which helped the "Thai people " one little bit.

Ask any toiler of the land (not the lazy ones who never did a day's work in their lives) & the answer will be very clear.

I for one, as an old hand of 29 years living & working here have stated many times on this subject

"let sleeping dogs lie" His return would certainly bring bloodshed with it

1 hour ago, david555 said:

(so far my "agenda " ,....what about yours....? ) 

I don't have one, except to point out that there were negatives as well as positives to the Thaksin era. And that their policy of trying to close down nightlife at midnight was lunacy. No holiday venue does that.

15 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

While I would prefer Thaksin to the current administration you have to ask the question.

Can Thailand really not find better leaders than this?

The very same could be said of the UK, USA, France, Australia etc. All these countries need leaders who are for the people....not for their pockets.

16 hours ago, david555 said:

No problem for me when he "could " come back , as i remember in his era Thailand was fun , as the Thais smiled more than now the grim smile under P. already so many years 

Yes, completely agree, though Thaksin's "war on drugs" did kill over 5,000 people in less than 3 months and his escalation of the military suppression in the southern provinces along with the abduction of some hundreds, never to be seen again, remains a resented, recalcitrant, festering issue to this day.

54 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

His picture was everywhere because he ordered it to be everywhere which annoyed somebody else whose picture was already there for a long time before Thaksin, if you get my drift!

Of course I do... I actually used to refer to him a xxxx Thaksin, which achieved a dirty look off my Mrs.

16 hours ago, david555 said:

Oh .... but that opens a big list for so many before  him ...... "a sheep " don't survive in  this dirty politic world ????

Exactly , You don't reach the top of the politics game without becoming a Snake in the proccess.

15 hours ago, lolalol said:

Serious question. 

 

When I first came to Thailand around 2017~2018, Thais smiled a lot. Very natural and beautiful smiles. 

When I came back around 2019~2020, I sensed that Thais smiled a lot less. Very fed up looking smiles. 

 

Q1. Did Thais smile more before 2017?

 

Q2. What happened between 2018 & 2019 to make Thai smiles fade away?

 

Reality of a corrupt and inept government set in, a government taking the country in one direction, down????

Thaksin would be warmly welcomed back in Isaan , Changmai and other northern and rural regions .

My recollection is that Thailand thrived economically under Thaksin governance , with good international connections .

A man with a flair for business is likely to enrich himself , and Thailand prospered too .

Under Thaksin , better education , improved living standards and jobs were extended to poorer rural communities .

The elite in Thailand who enjoy most of the wealth and big business , rely on northern and Issan people as cheap labour to insure bigger profits . Better educated people demanding a better income is not considered in the best interest of Thailand's economy .

Since the deposing of Thaksin the heart has gone out of Thailand , people have turned introspective and have lost all interest in the government and how the country is governed .

16 hours ago, lolalol said:

Serious question. 

 

When I first came to Thailand around 2017~2018, Thais smiled a lot. Very natural and beautiful smiles. 

When I came back around 2019~2020, I sensed that Thais smiled a lot less. Very fed up looking smiles. 

 

Q1. Did Thais smile more before 2017?

 

Q2. What happened between 2018 & 2019 to make Thai smiles fade away?

 

I've always though that the 1980s was the happiest of times for the Thais and myself.