2 hours ago, John Drake said:

That's the way it is. That's the way it'll stay. Forever. MFP did not have the talent maneuver politically. They put themselves in a trap. Election Commission will follow up and ban the party and Pita. 

Sadly you are correct.

As I said before, just like all foreigners , I have no skin in the game, but it strikes me that these wannabe newcomers to the game of Thai politics really should have enlisted the help of an experienced adult if they really wanted to play at the top table. It may have prevented them making such basic elementary  mistakes, twice regarding the issue of share ownership.  They have as much chance of survival as Bambi in the jungle or an unaccompanied newbie venturing into soi 6 alone. 

7 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

I think there's an age aspect to that too: People under about 50 or maybe 60 and not much education use the word 'peasant' as a term of abuse ...

I don't really believe the member who used the term in his comment was doing so with any abusive intent to be honest .  This modern trend of taking offence whenever possible, is an annoying habit which I associate with the younger generation,  a bit like wearing a baseball cap back to front.  And just like that pathetic fashion  statement, it is a pathetic look for those of advancing years

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

I am sure Thailand will pay a price for this verdict No TAT can prevent that 

Assuming by "TAT" you are referring to the Tourist Authority of Thailand I think you are way off the mark,   I don't think many prospective holiday makers give a second thought to the political wranglings here. I know didn't and I doubt you did either before you ventured here for the first time. I would venture to say that the overwhelming majority of expats don't care much either except for any possible knock on  effects regarding visa regulations or more recently income tax implications.

                  The outrage and pearl clutching are the exclusive preserve of a hand full  of bored leftist geriatrics on this forum,  self appointed political commentators  with just too much time on their hands.  And , to a man , all averse to any criticism or opposing views.    

44 minutes ago, Elkski said:

Another dad day for Thailand.  They just trickle out the bad things in small bites like a python in its final act. 

Nah just another day,   neither good nor bad.  business as usual for those involved

2 hours ago, retarius said:

Looks to me like last week's acquittal of Pita was only to avoid being accused of double standards.

 Indeed. It's unfortunately unfolding as I prediced last week:

 

"Cleared of this, which shows the court to be neutral . This sets it up nicely for a party dissolution next week which then surely wouldn't be political because the court is "neutral". "

 

Wish I had been wrong. 

I believe that the court's decision can be read several different ways. There could be many situations, outside a proposed change to a law, could be decided as unconstitutional. Given the fact that Thailand has had more constitutions than nearly every existing 'democracy' is somewhat humorous in and of itself. In any other situation, a proposed amendment or even an enacted amendment ruled unconstitutional would render the proposal or the newly enacted law null and void. However, in the current situation, there was no overt attempt to void Article 112. There was just an attempt to amend it to make it more humane it its application. How this becomes an act to 'attempt' to overthrow the monarchy remains a mystery to me. However, the court, in its wisdom and findings, should not have left the issue of dissolution to be decided at a later date. If the only finding is to 'cease and desist', then it should be left at that.

Edited January 31, 20242 yr by pookiki
grammar

Reading the verdict, it was mainly conjecture with no actual facts but that's good enough for a panel made up entirely of elderly men, no doubt all strongly monarchist, pro-military and supported by the elites.

 

They knew this was coming and that's probably the only reason Pita got off the other charge.

 

 

51 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

I don't really believe the member who used the term in his comment was doing so with any abusive intent to be honest .

 

I was using it to reference how the "Elite" and "Junta" treat anyone below them, to-wit, "peasants". Though I thought that was obvious 🤔

1 hour ago, Bday Prang said:

Assuming by "TAT" you are referring to the Tourist Authority of Thailand I think you are way off the mark,   I don't think many prospective holiday makers give a second thought to the political wranglings here. I know didn't and I doubt you did either before you ventured here for the first time. I would venture to say that the overwhelming majority of expats don't care much either except for any possible knock on  effects regarding visa regulations or more recently income tax implications.

                  The outrage and pearl clutching are the exclusive preserve of a hand full  of bored leftist geriatrics on this forum,  self appointed political commentators  with just too much time on their hands.  And , to a man , all averse to any criticism or opposing views.    

I think if it there are people on the street and protests  or even tanks re appear tourists will not come... But maybe I am the ignorant stupid man.. Future will point out what will happen and to call section 112 a pearl is a sign that you are very outdated

Edited January 31, 20242 yr by ikke1959

 

The party can and most probably will reincarnate, the banning of party execs however may be more problematic for them.

Edited January 31, 20242 yr by fondue zoo

26 minutes ago, fondue zoo said:

 

The party can and most probably will reincarnate, the banning of party execs however may be more problematic for them.

I think that jail time is on the cards for Pita and others. The "establishment" which now includes PT as well as the military, will want to send a warning to any future challengers.

Any popular protests will be easily squashed as the military are now working with most of the other parties to keep MFP out of power, at all costs.

 

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

I think if it there are people on the street and protests  or even tanks re appear tourists will not come... But maybe I am the ignorant stupid man.. Future will point out what will happen and to call section 112 a pearl is a sign that you are very outdated

Well obviously if there is civil unrest and street riots people will indeed be less inclined to holiday here. in the short term . as once the army have again taken control things will continue as normal   during the "junta years" tourism thrived,  other than for covid but that's a different issue

                     I didn't think that was what you meant .  I may be mistaken and if so I apologise,  but when you said 

                                                 "  Thailand will pay a price for this verdict No TAT can prevent that! 

 

  I thought you were implying that you thought the "image" of Thailand had been damaged to such a degree by these events that even the TAT would not be able to cover it up, resulting in people not holidaying here for "ethical " reasons That would not be the case at all,  people coming here for holidays neither know or care about the everyday political scandals that seem to upset a few on here.      Sorry if i misunderstood you

 

                                                      "to call section 112 a pearl is a sign that you are very outdated"

 

I'm guessing you are not a native speaker but you can read well enough to see that I didn't even mention section 112,,at all

 

However I did mention "pearl clutching"   so I'd like to explain to you what it means,      It is actually a slang  term used to describe  people who are or claim to be shocked or outraged at something  considered relatively  unremarkable by the person using the term            Is based on a common reaction to shock or outrage which is generally displayed by delicate, elderly ladies. who have lead very sheltered lives, and as a result are easily shaken by just about anything,  when startled they instinctively reach  with quivering hands  for their pearl necklaces around their necks  for comfort   nobody actually knows why they do this or if in fact they actually do , 

              I wasn't targeting the phrase at you personally

1 hour ago, lordgrinz said:

 

I was using it to reference how the "Elite" and "Junta" treat anyone below them, to-wit, "peasants". Though I thought that was obvious 🤔

It was obvious, to all but one

13 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

It was obvious, to all but one

 

Oh good, I thought I was losing my touch 😉 

 

Ok, back to getting my decrepit 54 year old body to finish over 300 push-ups before bedtime .....Every bone and joint in my body aches, I hate getting old! 

So why has every other government in the world been reformed, and Thailand's has been left in the dust? 

3 hours ago, fondue zoo said:

 

The party can and most probably will reincarnate, the banning of party execs however may be more problematic for them.

More problematic is that they have not been allowed to win.  They have won already and ridiculous claims that necessary reform is labelled as insurrection and overthrowing a government is the current state of play.

Court’s ruling will impact on democracy, rights and liberties of Thais

 

Move Forward party said it has no intention whatsoever to undermine the monarchy and the Constitutional Court’s ruling, today, will not only impact the party, but also democracy in Thailand as well as the rights and liberties of the people.

 

Party leader Chaithawat Tulathon and former party leader Pita Limjaroenrat jointly made the above statement in response to the Constitutional Court ruling that the party’s campaign to amend the lese majeste law or Article 112 of the Criminal Code constitutes an attempt to topple Constitutional Monarchy and ordered the party to cease all activities related to lese majeste law.

 

Chaithawat said that the court’s ruling may impact on the relationship between the parliament and the Constitutional Court in the future and cause widespread confusion about the democratic system with the King as the head of state.

 

He added that the court’s ruling will also deprive the Thai society of the opportunity to the parliamentary system to resolve political conflict in the future, particularly regarding the Monarchy issue and may bring about negative impacts on the revered institution.

 

Full story: Thai PBS 2024-02-01

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

So why has every other government in the world been reformed, and Thailand's has been left in the dust? 

Ask Myanmar 

According to Wikipeda, of the 9 members of the Constitutional Court, one was appointed in 2013, three in 2015, and five in 2020.  Only one predates the military coup in 2014.  Make of that what you will.

 

 

democracy my a**

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

While the court did not decide whether the reformist party should be disbanded, the ruling is likely to pave the way for subsequent legal efforts to have the party dissolved.

Here we go again, one failed attempt to silence Pita was thrown out, now they want to continue and throw out the whole party.

12 hours ago, keith101 said:

What's next on the agenda a pardon for Thaksin and bring him back as leader of the party to take over as PM

That's Thailand in a nut-shell... backwards

The innocent are found guilty and charged, the guilty are given pardons and allowed to continue in politics.

 

I don’t get why MF went there in the first place as this scenario was always likely to happen. It just chucks the ball in the army’s court (excuse pun). The only way the dinosaur army/elitist political nonsense in this country will change is if Thais en masse get on the streets and boot out this illegal government!

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

So why has every other government in the world been reformed

 

When did that happen?

13 hours ago, lordgrinz said:

Democracy in Thailand is nothing more than a myth, the sooner the peasants realize this the better. The Elite and Junta are in full control of the Thaitanic, at least until Emperor Xi takes over.

By using the demeaning term “peasants” you automatically put yourself in the Elite category. 

The reason they went after Taksin was not because he slipped a few dollars in his pocket, they all do that, it was because he awakened the masses letting them know they could have a say in ruling the country. They need to get control of the "privy council" that is the key to any move forward.

14 hours ago, keith101 said:

What's next on the agenda a pardon for Thaksin and bring him back as leader of the party to take over as PM

Was that sarcasm, if it was......Good One!

Quite rightly this absurd ruling has reached the International Press, but I don't think it will make any difference!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68151262

 

The Thai pro-democracy party which won the most votes at last year's election could now be forced to dissolve after a court ruled its key policy illegal.

Move Forward is not in government but its promises to campaign on changing royal defamation laws violated the constitution, a Thai court has found.

Such lese majeste laws have increasingly been used to stifle political criticism, activists say.

It is possible Move Forward's leader could now be banned from politics.

Pita Limjaroenrat, a young, Harvard-educated politician, had been viewed as a significant threat to Thailand's monarchy and military-aligned elite, winning over a majority of voters in 2023 with his party's promises to rein in their influence.

His attempts to be nominated prime minister, however, were then blocked by the unelected Senate.

So the Constitutional Court ruled that Move Forward attempted to overthrow the Monarchy and ordered a cease and desist.

While the military actually did overthrow Democracy numerous times and never ever even saw a court room for that, despite being repeat offenders.

The CC, a farce to be reckoned with.