Prosecutors Vow To Arrest Thaksin Upon His Return To Thailand

[Johpa]

"I doubt the elections were real. if there can be fixed elections in USA then there can be in Thailand. The mistake was that the coup did not stay in place longer and ensure a real election. "

The 'elections were real', and the poor uneducated 'were bribed'.

My wife is from a Hilltribe village in the North and she just talked to family up there and was unhappy to hear that everyone in her village accepted 200b per person to vote for PPP. And people they know in the city accepted 500b per person. (Not to mention they also accepted bribes for TRT years ago).

So you married a Thai hillbilly. Welcome to the club.

But most hill people are not particularly literate in Thai. Unlike their rural Thai neighbors, many are not able to read the papers or listen to the TV news. They are also dependent more upon the local bureaucrats such as their local headman and kamnaan. Thai hill folks who are lucky enough to obtain citizenship are often in a more traditional "patron-client" relationship with the local powers than are the neighboring Thais. The political party that is in control of their district will greatly influence the minority votes more than they would influence the votes of ethnic Tai villagers. That being said, the number of minority voters is rather small and will not have much impact upon elections. Since your wife has expressed her dissatisfaction with the village vote buying, she is probably "tok doi", eh?

[Pierrot]

From the Nation today :

"Puea Pandin had deep pockets. It spent heavily in this campaign. But something was wrong. The voters took the loot but they were not enthusiastic about the Puea Pandin candidates. They had already decided to vote for the PPP ... As a result, Puea Pandin was routed, blowing away the chance of the Democrats forming the government."

Now who said that Thaksin was the bad guy ? And that N E people were brainless people who can be cheaply bought ???

[brahmburgers]

Well I find it hard to believe that people won't be shuffled around to ensure that Thaksin remains protected from prosecution. I honestly don't know what power the current administration will have once a new government is formed but I think the courts are under-estimating the PPP and their influence.

I think that he will be arrested on his return. That the PPP will not only permit it but fascilitate his arrest. And that they will call for calm from Thaksin's supporters- The reason being that they MUST show themselves to be men of law- but what happens after he is arrested is a whole nother story- much of it, I suspect, we won't be privy to.

I think Samak will do both: he'll stage an embellished reception, and then allow Thaksin to be arrested. It would be a great publicity stunt - because Samak and his henchmen know that no real harm can befall Thaksin. Thaksin will post bail (pocket change for him), and be under 'house arrest' in a luxurious mansion. Thaksin can then hold court and issue saccharin speeches to Thais - thereby burnishing his image.

Days before Thaksin was tossed out (sept 06) he visited poor farmers somewhere, and joked that he was 'a poor man' because he had few assets (they'd all been put in other peoples' names). At that same moment, Billions of baht were being secretly transferred to his control via nefarious dealings with Temasak and others. Thaksin would relish the role of being portrayed as 'the underdog' (under house arrest) - where he could plead his case to the country - and come out even more popular than before. Most Thai people will be easily fooled by the charade.

[nikster]

I am still stunned that the ordinary and quite poor people of Thailand supported the PPP, it is just beyond belief after Thaksin is almost certainly guilty of robbing these people of Thailand's inheritance of billions of Baht and ensuring their future will take many many more years before they can escape the poverty trap whilst Thaksin and his cronies just get richer and richer

I've never have understood why so many people who have lived in LOS for a couple rounds of government, thai style, cannot seem to grasp Thaksins ADMINISTRATION, was no more nor less corrupt than previous governments.

Is it that difficult? Is there a switch that just won't click? A mental block that stops all thought when this is stated? Unlike those governments he actually gave something to poor people. Yes he is corrupt, yes he is venally corrupt we all know this. I guess the point is if the other non Thaksin administrations would have been something less than as bad as Thaksins we could honestly throw brickbats at the people who voted for the PPP.

Obviously we cannot

Good point.

He's corrupt, he only thinks of himself, he put family members in all the important businesses in Thailand. I do actually think he's much "better" at being corrupt than those before him, milking way more cash out of the country than anyone before. Thaksin also has a complete disregard for human rights. And his party bought votes like nobody's business.

However, he introduced both the 1M baht village credits and the 30 baht health scheme. Was there public health care before Taksin? No. That's why the poor love him. Recently spoke to a member of a rural family - whole family voted for Thaksin and they even refused bribes to vote for him. They wanted to vote for him clean. Think about that. Thaksin's support in this country is real. In a democracy, that means he gets to be prime minister.

[Tony Clifton]

I think it's pretty clear why *some* vocal 'Farangs' never liked Thaksin: The bar closing & social order campaign from one of the factions in TRT.

That's it, and only it.

Personally I agree with a lot of those measures, and by God you need only look around in certain areas to realize that a tightening of visa rules was VERY NECESSARY. First of all a lot of them were primarily aimed at curbing the influx of illegal Burmese and Laotians; any Westerner with a legitimate reason to stay in Thailand was completely unaffected.

In fact, ALL the rules that actually hurt legitimate visitors and tourists came about under the Military junta, along with everything else they messed up. For example the need to show a return AIR ticket upon entry to Thailand; that screws tourism as people typically spend time in Thailand, then Laos, Cambodia, etc and finally leave again from Thailand, but more than 30 days after their initial entry.

Again, I think all visa / immigration laws enacted under TRT made total sense.

... Oh wait, yes... ... bar closing.

(BTW, excellent posts by Rainman!!! Happy to see you join the discussion)

Bar closing my ass!

[jumnien]

The Thai economy performed far better under the rural people's chosen party TRT than it did under the coup or the pro-coup Democrat Party. The supposedly educated Bankokians don't seem to make the best choices when it comes to economics and development.

[thai_narak]

without going through all the posts on this thread, shouldn't someone let these people know that Toxin robbed the thai people, don't they realise he has billions and yes he gave a few handouts of a few 100baht,what a crazy situation, can you imagine the UK with poverty throughout and Tony Blare heading off with Billions of pounds and able to take it out of the country, they may have got rid of toxin but his fllowers equally corrupt are back, why don't the powers that be let the people here know what is going on - in plain understanable lingo, they are being Fleeced

Not every billionaire is a robber. Not saying Thaksin hasn't taken some money here and there, but if someone has a billion dollars, my hat off to him, he worked hard for his money (unless she/he inherited like Paris Hilton). We may as well attack Bill Gates or the Sultan of Brunei for not giving away all their billions to poor people.

rainman, i know that deep inside of you you know dam_n well what we are talking about thaksin and his TRT and now PPP as you've been in this forum for quite a while now.

yes, not every billionaire is a robber but not all of them politicians too. thaksin could have done better being a normal citizen/businessman but being a billionaire is not enough for people like him, thaksin wants POWER - money and power. by being in power he can influence anything for his own interests. the land deal by his wife, the shincorp deal, the dummy companies, tax evasion, to name a few clearly shows this intent. one word for him, GREED.

thaksin has no respect for human life. the extra-judicial killings on war on drugs, do you really think that all that have been killed were druglords? maybe most, and maybe some were falsely accused but they were shoot to kill. more than 3,000 people end up dead, innocent or not nobody knows. the tak bai incident of which more that 85 people end up dead, the answer from thaksin after the incident was to send more troops in the south. the military acted as such because it was tolerated.

you might not be aware as i am until he was ousted that thaksin was also accused of insulting the monarchy ie. getting rid of some signs symbolising the monarchy like the garuda that you see in banks and government establishments and offices, there was also one instance that the garuda seal in some of the thai ID cards that were issued when he was in power was missing but thaksin have denied any knowledge of this. there are many more incidents that most thai people believed that thaksin was trying to do something that cannot be mentioned here. although his spokesman clearly said that he has SOME loyalty to the King. what do they mean by the word some?

what's next? thaksin will be on the sidelines, he will be the master of a puppet government and will continue to influence anything he wants and protect his own personal interests. what about the poor? the poor will remain poor, their debts will pile up while thaksin and his cronies will remain rich. they will, however, continue to show the poor that they care because these people are their capital to stay in power. business is business for Dr. Pol. Lt. Col. Thaksin Shinawatra as we watch Thailand and its people to self destruct. is this what we really want?

Edited December 28, 2007 by thai_narak

[jumnien]

The PPP has defeated the military coup-backed Democratic Party. Yes, you are correct, that is the same military responsible for the deaths at Tak Bai. How could someone genuinely care about Tak Bai and support the military's and military patsies continued involvement with Thai politics?

[thai_narak]

The Thai economy performed far better under the rural people's chosen party TRT than it did under the coup or the pro-coup Democrat Party. The supposedly educated Bankokians don't seem to make the best choices when it comes to economics and development.

thaksin was just in the right time when he was installed. the thai economy was booming after the '97 asian crisis and any government would have done the same.

[thai_narak]

The PPP has defeated the military coup-backed Democratic Party. Yes, you are correct, that is the same military responsible for the deaths at Tak Bai. How could someone genuinely care about Tak Bai and support the military's and military patsies continued involvement with Thai politics?

would you really expect that thaksin and company will go to the south to deal with the tak bai incident? of course not, the military are the operating arm and they will just obey orders from the top.

the military coup? of course, they have enough of thaksin.

[jumnien]

The Thai economy performed far better under the rural people's chosen party TRT than it did under the coup or the pro-coup Democrat Party. The supposedly educated Bankokians don't seem to make the best choices when it comes to economics and development.

thaksin was just in the right time when he was installed. the thai economy was booming after the '97 asian crisis and any government would have done the same.

Of course, that is a valid point to some degree. A major difference is that TRT was able to sustain the economic boom longer than the 12-32 month average length of time of other Thai governments.

[thai_narak]

The Thai economy performed far better under the rural people's chosen party TRT than it did under the coup or the pro-coup Democrat Party. The supposedly educated Bankokians don't seem to make the best choices when it comes to economics and development.

thaksin was just in the right time when he was installed. the thai economy was booming after the '97 asian crisis and any government would have done the same.

Of course, that is a valid point to some degree. A major difference is that TRT was able to sustain the economic boom longer than the 12-32 month average length of time of other Thai governments.

good for him. and actually he is trying to stay longer than that. if you remember, he was plotting his own coup while he was in the US for the UN meeting. a week before the coup 2 boeing left don mueang airport as reported that TG full of thaksin's luggages that only him knows what is inside. his families left for singapore days before the coup. he knows about the coup, his own coup, but what he didn't knew was the military were also planning a coup against his coup and they did a day earlier of thaksin's coup.

[jumnien]

The PPP has defeated the military coup-backed Democratic Party. Yes, you are correct, that is the same military responsible for the deaths at Tak Bai. How could someone genuinely care about Tak Bai and support the military's and military patsies continued involvement with Thai politics?

would you really expect that thaksin and company will go to the south to deal with the tak bai incident? of course not, the military are the operating arm and they will just obey orders from the top.

the military coup? of course, they have enough of thaksin.

I think it is rather naive to think that the military was obeying orders from the top of anything but the military command. They didn't exactly follow Thaksin's orders now did they? Remember, the military consider themselves to be in command of the country while these PM's come and go.

[thai_narak]

The PPP has defeated the military coup-backed Democratic Party. Yes, you are correct, that is the same military responsible for the deaths at Tak Bai. How could someone genuinely care about Tak Bai and support the military's and military patsies continued involvement with Thai politics?

would you really expect that thaksin and company will go to the south to deal with the tak bai incident? of course not, the military are the operating arm and they will just obey orders from the top.

the military coup? of course, they have enough of thaksin.

I think it is rather naive to think that the military was obeying orders from the top of anything but the military command. They didn't exactly follow Thaksin's orders now did they? Remember, the military consider themselves to be in command of the country while these PM's come and go.

read

http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile....6statements/801

[jumnien]

AHRCHK - as I said, rather naive. Believe me, the military didn't just sit around wondering what father Thaksin wanted them to do next.

The military must be held reponsible for the military's behaviour and coup's just don't achieve this. Thaksin was clearly not the commander in chief of the Thai military.

Edited December 28, 2007 by sunrise07

[thai_narak]

AHRCHK - as I said, rather naive. Believe me, the military didn't just sit around wondering what father Thaksin wanted them to do next.

the point is, he was the PM and could have done better dealing with the situation. he could punish the military for such incident but he didn't. his response was to send more troops. don't you think that as PM he should be responsible for all activities carried our by his government? hitler wouldn't say "my military did it, not me" or?

[jumnien]

AHRCHK - as I said, rather naive. Believe me, the military didn't just sit around wondering what father Thaksin wanted them to do next.

the point is, he was the PM and could have done better dealing with the situation. he could punish the military for such incident but he didn't. his response was to send more troops. don't you think that as PM he should be responsible for all activities carried our by his government? hitler wouldn't say "my military did it, not me" or?

Hitler was clearly in control of his troops, as apparently is George Bush. Thaksin clearly was not in control of the military and in no position to punish them. The Tak Bai situation was carried out by the Thai military. No, I don't think that Thaksin or Bhutto or Ang Sang Su Khi (sp) should be responsible for what the military juntas do to their countries.

[CWMcMurray]

AHRCHK - as I said, rather naive. Believe me, the military didn't just sit around wondering what father Thaksin wanted them to do next.

Hitler was clearly in control of his troops, as apparently is George Bush. Thaksin clearly was not in control of the military and in no position to punish them. The Tak Bai situation was carried out by the Thai military. No, I don't think that Thaksin or Bhutto or Ang Sang Su Khi (sp) should be responsible for what the military juntas do to their countries.

I have to agree, if Taksin was able to command or control the military then there never would have been a military coup.

The very act of that the coup happened shows that those in charge of the Army held no allegience to Thaksin and only followed his order only if they wanted to.

Which stands to reason if they could stage a coup and take over the government, what would have stopped them from acting in a responsible matter even if Thaksin ordered them to do otherwise.

Edited December 28, 2007 by CWMcMurray

[thai_narak]

AHRCHK - as I said, rather naive. Believe me, the military didn't just sit around wondering what father Thaksin wanted them to do next.

the point is, he was the PM and could have done better dealing with the situation. he could punish the military for such incident but he didn't. his response was to send more troops. don't you think that as PM he should be responsible for all activities carried our by his government? hitler wouldn't say "my military did it, not me" or?

Hitler was clearly in control of his troops, as apparently is George Bush. Thaksin clearly was not in control of the military and in no position to punish them. The Tak Bai situation was carried out by the Thai military. No, I don't think that Thaksin or Bhutto or Ang Sang Su Khi (sp) should be responsible for what the military juntas do to their countries.

i'm sorry, but what is your point? do you really think that thaksin has nothing to do with all the killings and human rights abuses in thailand during his tenure? sorry man, i cannot stomach this discussion so let's go back to the main topic.

happy new year to you...

[thai_narak]

AHRCHK - as I said, rather naive. Believe me, the military didn't just sit around wondering what father Thaksin wanted them to do next.

Hitler was clearly in control of his troops, as apparently is George Bush. Thaksin clearly was not in control of the military and in no position to punish them. The Tak Bai situation was carried out by the Thai military. No, I don't think that Thaksin or Bhutto or Ang Sang Su Khi (sp) should be responsible for what the military juntas do to their countries.

I have to agree, if Taksin was able to command or control the military then there never would have been a military coup.

as i said, and many thai people are aware of, that thaksin was planning his own coup but the military went against him first. the military was divided into 2, loyal to thaksin and other that went against him. there's no point discussing this topic here but if you ask some of your thai colleagues and friends on what happened the day before the coup i think you will have a really good idea what went by.

[Jai Dee]

Police Chief ensures security for former premier

Commander of the Royal Thai Police Pol.Gen.Seripisut Temiyavet (เสรีพิศุทธ์ เตมียาเวส) ensures maximum security for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra if he returns to the country.

The police chief says there will be no need to detain the ex-premier and he will try best to prevent violence and chaos after Mr Thaksin enters the country.

Pol.Gen.Seripisut also says he is not concerned to be transferred to an inactive post if the People Power party forms a government.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 28 December 2007

[CWMcMurray]

quote name='thai_narak'

i'm sorry, but what is your point? do you really think that thaksin has nothing to do with all the killings and human rights abuses in thailand during his tenure? sorry man, i cannot stomach this discussion so let's go back to the main topic.

happy new year to you...

I agree there are plenty of people in the wrong on this issue, Thaksin included. I was just showing that he is not alone but simply a member of a much larger group.

Happy New Year to you as well...

[CWMcMurray]

AHRCHK - as I said, rather naive. Believe me, the military didn't just sit around wondering what father Thaksin wanted them to do next.

Hitler was clearly in control of his troops, as apparently is George Bush. Thaksin clearly was not in control of the military and in no position to punish them. The Tak Bai situation was carried out by the Thai military. No, I don't think that Thaksin or Bhutto or Ang Sang Su Khi (sp) should be responsible for what the military juntas do to their countries.

I have to agree, if Taksin was able to command or control the military then there never would have been a military coup.

as i said, and many thai people are aware of, that thaksin was planning his own coup but the military went against him first. the military was divided into 2, loyal to thaksin and other that went against him. there's no point discussing this topic here but if you ask some of your thai colleagues and friends on what happened the day before the coup i think you will have a really good idea what went by.

I was here at that time as well and I remember all of the rumors that were swirling around the weeks leading up to the coup and the weeks after the coup. I was not a fan of Thaksin at the time and believed him very capable of doing exactly as you mentioned above.

But then the coup happened and I never saw any proof or arests or anything that backed up those rumors. So as time continues to pass and nothing happens, as per human nature we tend to believe less and less the rumors of the past.

That is not to say that everything you said isn't true, it just hasn't been proved. Which just makes things a bit more complicated...

You are correct though. we have gotten quite a bit off topic and I apologize for that.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Maybe the game plan is:

Try to arrest him upon his return. Hope he tries to escape so he can be shot. All nice neat, tidy and legal

How so very true.

[wintermute]

But then the coup happened and I never saw any proof or arests or anything that backed up those rumors. So as time continues to pass and nothing happens, as per human nature we tend to believe less and less the rumors of the past.

That is not to say that everything you said isn't true, it just hasn't been proved. Which just makes things a bit more complicated...

You are correct though. we have gotten quite a bit off topic and I apologize for that.

The main reason why nothing was investigated more thoroughly is because a lot of powerful individuals in the military were part of the "action" in Tak Bai and Krue Se. They would be implicating themselves as well. It's more convenient to sweep everything under the rug or make a blanket statement condemning Thaksin than it is to closely examine the details of the matter.

[gharknes]

without going through all the posts on this thread, shouldn't someone let these people know that Toxin robbed the thai people, don't they realise he has billions and yes he gave a few handouts of a few 100baht,what a crazy situation, can you imagine the UK with poverty throughout and Tony Blare heading off with Billions of pounds and able to take it out of the country, they may have got rid of toxin but his fllowers equally corrupt are back, why don't the powers that be let the people here know what is going on - in plain understanable lingo, they are being Fleeced

Not every billionaire is a robber. Not saying Thaksin hasn't taken some money here and there, but if someone has a billion dollars, my hat off to him, he worked hard for his money (unless she/he inherited like Paris Hilton). We may as well attack Bill Gates or the Sultan of Brunei for not giving away all their billions to poor people.

There are rules to follow, it seems he broke them, bit like insider dealing or corrupt CEO'S we've all read about (enron, worldcom, nortel)past few years, they all end up in prison and stripped of their ill gotten gains, so I wouldn't be so quick to pat any backs, Bill Gates didn't break the rules.

[wintermute]

There are rules to follow, it seems he broke them, bit like insider dealing or corrupt CEO'S we've all read about (enron, worldcom, nortel)past few years, they all end up in prison and stripped of their ill gotten gains, so I wouldn't be so quick to pat any backs, Bill Gates didn't break the rules.

The problem is the working definition of "rules" in this part of the world varies a lot with the environment that Bill Gates operates in where business law is clearly defined and there are legal boundaries. Thailand and corruption go hand in hand. Tea money is just the normal practice in business and politics here. With that in mind I don't believe Thaksin was doing anything different he just pissed off the wrong powerful people.

[gharknes]

without going through all the posts on this thread, shouldn't someone let these people know that Toxin robbed the thai people, don't they realise he has billions and yes he gave a few handouts of a few 100baht,what a crazy situation, can you imagine the UK with poverty throughout and Tony Blare heading off with Billions of pounds and able to take it out of the country, they may have got rid of toxin but his fllowers equally corrupt are back, why don't the powers that be let the people here know what is going on - in plain understanable lingo, they are being Fleeced

Not every billionaire is a robber. Not saying Thaksin hasn't taken some money here and there, but if someone has a billion dollars, my hat off to him, he worked hard for his money (unless she/he inherited like Paris Hilton). We may as well attack Bill Gates or the Sultan of Brunei for not giving away all their billions to poor people.

rainman, i know that deep inside of you you know dam_n well what we are talking about thaksin and his TRT and now PPP as you've been in this forum for quite a while now.

yes, not every billionaire is a robber but not all of them politicians too. thaksin could have done better being a normal citizen/businessman but being a billionaire is not enough for people like him, thaksin wants POWER - money and power. by being in power he can influence anything for his own interests. the land deal by his wife, the shincorp deal, the dummy companies, tax evasion, to name a few clearly shows this intent. one word for him, GREED.

thaksin has no respect for human life. the extra-judicial killings on war on drugs, do you really think that all that have been killed were druglords? maybe most, and maybe some were falsely accused but they were shoot to kill. more than 3,000 people end up dead, innocent or not nobody knows. the tak bai incident of which more that 85 people end up dead, the answer from thaksin after the incident was to send more troops in the south. the military acted as such because it was tolerated.

you might not be aware as i am until he was ousted that thaksin was also accused of insulting the monarchy ie. getting rid of some signs symbolising the monarchy like the garuda that you see in banks and government establishments and offices, there was also one instance that the garuda seal in some of the thai ID cards that were issued when he was in power was missing but thaksin have denied any knowledge of this. there are many more incidents that most thai people believed that thaksin was trying to do something that cannot be mentioned here. although his spokesman clearly said that he has SOME loyalty to the King. what do they mean by the word some?

what's next? thaksin will be on the sidelines, he will be the master of a puppet government and will continue to influence anything he wants and protect his own personal interests. what about the poor? the poor will remain poor, their debts will pile up while thaksin and his cronies will remain rich. they will, however, continue to show the poor that they care because these people are their capital to stay in power. business is business for Dr. Pol. Lt. Col. Thaksin Shinawatra as we watch Thailand and its people to self destruct. is this what we really want?

Great post only for one thing..................in Thailand "money is power"

[blaze]

AHRCHK - as I said, rather naive. Believe me, the military didn't just sit around wondering what father Thaksin wanted them to do next.

the point is, he was the PM and could have done better dealing with the situation. he could punish the military for such incident but he didn't. his response was to send more troops. don't you think that as PM he should be responsible for all activities carried our by his government? hitler wouldn't say "my military did it, not me" or?

Refresh my memory - who launced proceedings against the perps at Abu Gahraib- the President- or the army?

[wintermute]

AHRCHK - as I said, rather naive. Believe me, the military didn't just sit around wondering what father Thaksin wanted them to do next.

the point is, he was the PM and could have done better dealing with the situation. he could punish the military for such incident but he didn't. his response was to send more troops. don't you think that as PM he should be responsible for all activities carried our by his government? hitler wouldn't say "my military did it, not me" or?

Refresh my memory - who launced proceedings against the perps at Abu Gahraib- the President- or the army?

Actually it was the military that initiated the investigation before congress took over.