Ex-PM Thaksin vows to return to Thailand post-election, face jail time

[Eric Loh]

1 hour ago, Bday Prang said:

The last thing anybody anywhere needs is a "Zi like figure to appear"   If you are such a fan of his then you should go and live in China , and see how you like it there

Every time you have a post coup government, it’s a mini Zi. Even if you don’t read the Thailand constitution , no reason to post such asinine nonsense. 

 

[Artisi]

23 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Fly them out to Dubai... Thailand is sinking.

It would be cheaper, and reduce the Thaksin gene pool at the same time. 

 

[Artisi]

17 hours ago, khaowong1 said:

He's thinking his daughter will be the next PM and she will pardon him.  Bingo.  

He can think what he likes but I think it will be the populous that agree or disagree about a pardon - pardoning Thaksin will surely start the red / yellow shirt again to the point the previous protests will appear like a Sunday school picnic. 

 

[billd766]

22 minutes ago, Artisi said:

He can think what he likes but I think it will be the populous that agree or disagree about a pardon - pardoning Thaksin will surely start the red / yellow shirt again to the point the previous protests will appear like a Sunday school picnic. 

 

And if the majority of the Thai people agree that he should get a pardon/ What happens then?

 

If the rabid royalist yellow shirts try to stoke a civil war, who do you think will win this time?

[Bday Prang]

49 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Every time you have a post coup government, it’s a mini Zi. Even if you don’t read the Thailand constitution , no reason to post such asinine nonsense. 

 

another who should consider relocating

[Artisi]

32 minutes ago, billd766 said:

And if the majority of the Thai people agree that he should get a pardon/ What happens then?

 

If the rabid royalist yellow shirts try to stoke a civil war, who do you think will win this time?

Well I did say it's upto the people to agree or disagree, if they agree they agree, for me it makes no difference as the majority of the politicians are useless. 

Further, I don't believe all the "yellow shirts" are /were rabid royalist, many were simply against Thaksin and cohorts. 

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

And the current military government are to be trusted anytime/anywhere?

I didn't say that and you know from past posts I see them as incompetent, untwustworthy, inappropriate for the building and development of democracy or any other development of Thailand  etc., and I have no liking for them at all.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, Artisi said:

Well I did say it's upto the people to agree or disagree, if they agree they agree, for me it makes no difference as the majority of the politicians are useless. 

Further, I don't believe all the "yellow shirts" are /were rabid royalist, many were simply against Thaksin and cohorts. 

 

OK, so how would this vote / refferendum be introduced with credibility that it's structured appropriately and what would the valid reasons be to introduce it into the parliamentary discussions?

 

Or what? 

[scorecard]

6 hours ago, bendejo said:

They love him because he personally went up there and handed out money, 300b per vote was the reported amount.  Not much, but it's more than anyone else had handed out.  And then came the Bkk protests, which gave some of the people the most money they ever had in their pockets.  And a free trip to the Big City. 

Money.  Money changes everything.

 

And nobody would refuse to take his 300Baht and nobody would dare to not vote for him. There were reports that an occasional person tried to refuse his vote buying, the whole family immediately and harrassed by the whole village, nobody in the market would sell food to that family, kids intimidated at school etc.

 

So where did thos policies/attitudes/actions come from? Simple answer the paymasters local henchmen/enforcers.

Edited March 26, 2023 by scorecard

[heybruce]

1 hour ago, Artisi said:

Well I did say it's upto the people to agree or disagree, if they agree they agree, for me it makes no difference as the majority of the politicians are useless. 

Further, I don't believe all the "yellow shirts" are /were rabid royalist, many were simply against Thaksin and cohorts. 

"Further, I don't believe all the "yellow shirts" are /were rabid royalist, many were simply against Thaksin and cohorts."

 

They were also against elections.

[heybruce]

4 hours ago, scorecard said:

But you conveniently ignore/don't mention how openly corrupt he was, he and his cronies, and the vote buying, Essan and other reas villagers very paid and wouldn't dare to mark the ballot paper to vote for any alternative, and the letion where the voting 'cubicles' were turned around, no curtains  so his cronies could watch what voters were doing. And the big rallies in Bkk where attendees were paid to turn up, all on video. 

 

And his big guys given very high level 'appointments' and power (nobody would challenge them) in key ministries. Follow the rice sagas.  

 

He ordered gov't banks to give loans to selected people / other governments all on the basis the funds would be used to buy his products.

 

Even tried to intimidate folks with royal titles (MR/ML) to vote his way at committee meetings. 

 

Plus his refusal to answer questions at press conferences. Any reported who tried to push him got punished. One foreign journalist r tried to push him on a very awkward revealing subject. The response from the paymaster (in English) 'Idiot Scum'. The foreign journalist was detorted the next day. 

 

 

You have no proof to support any of your claims above. However I concede that Thaksin was corrupt.

 

Now try to convince me and others that a corrupt military leader who seized power in a coup is better than a corrupt elected leader who can be ousted in the next election.

[Artisi]

24 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

OK, so how would this vote / refferendum be introduced with credibility that it's structured appropriately and what would the valid reasons be to introduce it into the parliamentary discussions?

 

Or what? 

Or what? Likely an on the street vote like all the previous peoples protest votes. 

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, Artisi said:

It would be cheaper, and reduce the Thaksin gene pool at the same time. 

 

We need new blood, not the military or Thaksin

[scorecard]

29 minutes ago, heybruce said:

You have no proof to support any of your claims above. However I concede that Thaksin was corrupt.

 

Now try to convince me and others that a corrupt military leader who seized power in a coup is better than a corrupt elected leader who can be ousted in the next election.

I don't disagree and it doesn't change that the pymaster was very corrupt and the corruption getting worse. Plus over the last perhaps 5 years of his reign he had gained strong control of the police. 

 

I don't disagree that the corruption levels re military and police are getting worse, it's a very serious problem with no fix in sight.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, Artisi said:

Well I did say it's up to the people to agree or disagree, if they agree they agree, for me it makes no difference as the majority of the politicians are useless. 

Further, I don't believe all the "yellow shirts" are /were rabid royalist, many were simply against Thaksin and cohorts. 

I agree with you that it is the Thai peoples choice, however there will be many Thais who will disagree with that choice, as happened at the last election. The ministry of dirty tricks and the yellow shirts will be up to their usual works, though whether they will succeed this time I don't know.

 

IMO if the winners are tricked as they were last time, perhaps they will not accept it and that is where the problem will come. If they refuse to accept a rigged result, will there be another coup and will it be successful this time?

 

 

[billd766]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

I didn't say that and you know from past posts I see them as incompetent, untwustworthy, inappropriate for the building and development of democracy or any other development of Thailand  etc., and I have no liking for them at all.

It was a rhetorical question in reply to another poster.

[AgMech Cowboy]

On 3/25/2023 at 2:04 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

...

I think the biggest difference between Thaksin and the others is that Thaksin made it so obvious in your face. He didn't even try to hide his crimes. He did them in broad daylight and thought he would get away with them. And in a way he did get away. He wasn't prosecuted or convicted at that time because nobody dared to do it. That's one reason why the coups happened. If the police and prosecutors and judges don't do anything, what other option is there?

...

Well, stated. And they can claim political crime all they want, but some were blatant money or land grabs.

[kwilco]

some perspective...Thaksin is certainly no more or less  corrupt than any other politician regardless of political persuasion - the only difference with him is he was democratically elected.

Edited March 26, 2023 by kwilco

[bendejo]

This jail time would be negotiated down to house arrest, maybe involving an ankle gadget.  And of course those monitoring him would be underpaid civil servants (*wink*).  In the US one of a corrupt former president's henchman was given house arrest and it didn't stop him from calling up and intimidating potential witnesses (I don't think he was taken to task for it either).

I recall when he was trying to negotiate a return one of his terms was "a little ground to stand on" (newspaper translation from Thai).  In other words he would be allowed to return with dignity, as opposed to half of the RTPF showing up at the airport to escort him jail.  I don't think he'll get that, so I don't think he'll return. 

Has he been sitting in the Beijing Olympic stadium since 2008?  ????

Perhaps he should also be thinking about the fate of Benigno Aquino II when he returned to the Philippines.

 

 

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, bendejo said:

This jail time would be negotiated down to house arrest, maybe involving an ankle gadget.  And of course those monitoring him would be underpaid civil servants (*wink*).  In the US one of a corrupt former president's henchman was given house arrest and it didn't stop him from calling up and intimidating potential witnesses (I don't think he was taken to task for it either).

I recall when he was trying to negotiate a return one of his terms was "a little ground to stand on" (newspaper translation from Thai).  In other words he would be allowed to return with dignity, as opposed to half of the RTPF showing up at the airport to escort him jail.  I don't think he'll get that, so I don't think he'll return. 

Has he been sitting in the Beijing Olympic stadium since 2008?  ????

Perhaps he should also be thinking about the fate of Benigno Aquino II when he returned to the Philippines.

 

 

That could well be a long shot ????

[Bim Smith]

When I met my Thai wife back in the UK some 16 years ago she told me that she would always want to die in Thailand. Meaning at some point she wanted to live here permanently. I thought there is no way I am living in the place like that and this relationship won't be going anywhere. How wrong I was. It seems the wanting to return home is strong in many. 

[scorecard]

12 hours ago, heybruce said:

"Further, I don't believe all the "yellow shirts" are /were rabid royalist, many were simply against Thaksin and cohorts."

 

They were also against elections.

The yellow shirts were against election.  How's that?

[heybruce]

4 minutes ago, scorecard said:

The yellow shirts were against election.  How's that?

Who do you think obstructed the elections in 2014?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Thai_general_election

[scorecard]

2 minutes ago, heybruce said:

Who do you think obstructed the elections in 2014?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Thai_general_election

They boycotted the election for a reason, they never said they were against elections.

[SunnyinBangrak]

Hope so. It would be perfect timing after almost 20 yrs of his replacements having improved next to nothing and wasted their golden opportunity to convince the Thais that populism and democracy is bad.

[heybruce]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

They boycotted the election for a reason, they never said they were against elections.

I see.  From the source provided:

 

"A crowd of "several thousand"^[12] protesters from a group called Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand attempted to disrupt the registration process by forcing their way into the stadium. A truck was driven at the gates in an attempt to break them down. Police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon. The violence escalated with firearms being used on both sides."

 

You don't think obstructing candidates from registering is election obstruction.  Can you explain how there can be elections without candidates?

[Artisi]

13 hours ago, scorecard said:

I don't disagree and it doesn't change that the pymaster was very corrupt and the corruption getting worse. Plus over the last perhaps 5 years of his reign he had gained strong control of the police. 

 

I don't disagree that the corruption levels re military and police are getting worse, it's a very serious problem with no fix in sight.

The fix will come as it has in many other countries around the world in the past 50 or so years, just because Thailand considers itself to be the world hub and they are insulated from such things, the day will come. The youth of today are far better educated, aware of what's what and will demand and get by whatever means will work to rid the country of corruption in politics, police, military and public service etc..  It would be this week of the next - but it will happen, and the increasing corruption level will cause it to happen sooner.

[kingstonkid]

On 3/25/2023 at 1:27 PM, Kaopad999 said:

Please come back Sir, Thailand misses you 

Correct me if my memory is off but was his return part of what cost little sister the premier ship.

[Eric Loh]

22 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

Correct me if my memory is off but was his return part of what cost little sister the premier ship.

Not exactly. Most of the protesters left the demonstration after Yingluck withdrew the amnesty. The paid protesters mainly from the South continued with the demonstration and intensified the protests. They have an agenda that is what cost Yingkuck her premiership.  

[daveAustin]

On 3/25/2023 at 1:17 PM, glegolo18 said:

You learn all this sentences in the PC-school I guess... I was here and saw the "so close civilwar" it was 2014 before the military intervene and stopped all that <deleted> between the yellow and the red....

Thailand have had a serious social development since 2014 if you compare, if you CAN compare?? The people have not at all been suffering that is pure <deleted> talk... 

 

I withhold keep Thaksin outside Thailand, and do NOT let this <deleted> in here... It will be spilled blood... If you cant see that...#"#¤%¤#¤

What a load of old twaddle. Are you Thai? If not, suggest button it and let them decide. Good or bad, ANYTHING is better than a military government.