Samak Will Announce Resignation Thursday Morning?

[Maipenrai007]

Samak will announce that he is stepping down tomorrow morning and Kermit the Frog will be taking his place as the PM of Thailand!

Thailands Muppet show will be run by Kermit the Frog, Fozzy Bear and friends as of 9am tomorrow morning.

Why that's the best and happiest political news I have heard ever!

Yes Kermit the Frog PM, Fozzy Bear will be the new Foriegn Minister, Animal will be minister of Defence but the Muppet Show Party will be forming a Coalition with Fraggle Rock!!

[erobando]

Oh well PPP is out PAD is in!!!

Burma and Laos are run by dictatorships, why not Thailand??? The place is probably getting to progressive for its own good anyway, wind back the clock 30 years, bring on the good old days.

What?!?!?! The PAD is rolling back the clock 30 years? Samak is not pro-democracy.

30 years ago Samak instigated violence against the pro-democracy Thammasat student protesters and branded (and arrested) dissidents as "communists".

He advocated the military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the early 90's, too.

The PAD is not a political party and will not obtain power.

There will be new elections. Not necessarily an open, transparent government but a new one.

IMO the West doesn't understand and tries to over-simplify politics in SE Asia as a whole.

Simply having elections is not the same as a open Democracy.

[RigPig]

Oh I forgot to mention the bleeding hearts that keep raving about the poor uneducated masses. While I do not disagree the fact is if they were as educated as someone in a western country the price of living here would also be the same and that is the reason most of us live here. Anyone paid a Thai worker 1000 Baht for a days labor he could get for 200, come on guys were all milking it thats why we are here, thats why we put up with the things we wouldn't put up with in our own countries. You want to see exploitation, come and work on an oil rig in an "overseas" (under developed) country, and it is encouraged by the respective governments and exploited by the oil companies. Then they come around with their AK's looking for a free chicken and coke!

Want the price of oil to double.......no I didn't think so

[ezside]

People who vote for the likes of Samak and Thaksin are the uneducated masses

But why do they they vote for them? I've heard from many coutry people that 'Thasin want's to help the poor people & farmers' but when pressed they don't actually _know_anyone that has been helped, they just have heard rumors (propaganda?). The New York Times (perhaps unsuprisingly) spouts this line, too:

“The People’s Alliance for Democracy is not a pro-democracy movement,” said Charles Keyes, an expert on Thailand at the University of Washington in Seattle, referring to the group that is leading the protests.

According to Mr. Keyes and other scholars, the movement in Thailand is not a broadly popular uprising like those in the Philippines that ousted governments, but rather the product of a relatively small alliance uniting several agendas. It pits a modern middle class allied with supporters of the monarchy against a business and financial elite that is championing the nation’s rural and unskilled poor."

If that was true, it would be unique in the history of mankind: elites "champion" themselves: that's how they become (and stay) the elite.

[Navalator]

Let's not get all hopeful here until it actually happens! The PM has not had enough time to loot the treasury.

[blaze]

I find the arrogance of the educated and the academics appalling. What makes them think they know better then the poor and uneducated? Just head stuffing? Does that make you a better person? Do these people ever care for the poor or try to help to raise the standard?

What is the difference in giving someone 300 Baht to vote for them or someone else lying through their teeth saying how much things will change if they get elected? I whole heartedly feel for the poor, taxi drivers, workers etc who all testify to the fact that Thaksin caused a change for the better in their lives. Who cares about the motive as long as it was a good thing. Now they can get health care, sell their own products etc.

If you beleive in democracy as an outcrop of 'one voice one vote' surely you must accept the popular votes. Or is it better with a feudal society of ancient Europe?

The PDA to me is an embarrassment to the whole world of how some self-rightous people through a personal vendetta can disrupt a whole country. Terrible!

As far as the students go, in a country like Thailand, the majority of those who can afford a good education come from fairly wealthy- middle class and up- families. They are no longer reading Franz Fanon and the Liberation Theologists- they are studying marketing- of course they will vote along class lines. For the most part, if this is anything like the west, the vast majority have zero exposure to anything more radical than global warming.

Do not expect to hear a whole lot from the more socially aware elements in the faculties either- at least not from the press- remember the press is owned by large corporations which don't want to see the boat rocked too much- (when's the last time you saw a communist or fascist or Evangelical Christian respectuflly quoted as an authority on social and political trends in the major papers in your home country?) At one time the Thai universities, like universities around the world were hot beds of social activism- and now- like universities in the west- are hotbeds of budding capitalists.

[Shah Jahan]

but who would replace him?

does that mean the PPPeed get to appoint another $@#$

or does everything get dissolved and we start over?

Or does Tej get to be PM and mediates both sides for the good of the Kingdom? That would be the best solution imho.

[ThaiPauly]

We'll see however I suspect there will be no resignation.

Concur Brit...I will beleive it when I see it..

[trigger571]

if this is true, I feel sorry for Samak as he didn't have enough time to make himself rich on the back of Thai people. On the other hand, I rejoice for the new PM (be it someone from PAD or another PPP or whoever, as they will most likely work very hard to "earn" a handsome sideline from the lovely Thai Tax Payer

[h90]

Samak will announce that he is stepping down tomorrow morning and Kermit the Frog will be taking his place as the PM of Thailand!

Thailands Muppet show will be run by Kermit the Frog, Fozzy Bear and friends as of 9am tomorrow morning.

Why that's the best and happiest political news I have heard ever!

Yes Kermit the Frog PM, Fozzy Bear will be the new Foriegn Minister, Animal will be minister of Defence but the Muppet Show Party will be forming a Coalition with Fraggle Rock!!

It comes worse.....I got a rumor that it will be Barnharn the eel and not Kermit the Frog

[Chang_paarp]

My source confirms that Samak will announce his resignation in the morning.

If he doesn't, I will run naked through the PAD crowd.

That could be considered trying to incite an unfavorable image of the government or something like that. In other words scary.

That's a load of rubbish, just seen samak on BBC World News, saying he will never stand off or resign, watch the video here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7595473.stm

That BBC article was posted at 08:45 GMT, Wednesday, 3 September 2008 09:45 UK. (3:45PM Thai Time)

Things have changed since then. I strongly believe he will quit tomorrow morning.

Given some of George's sources,I would not take too many bets on Samak still being there this timetomorrow.

I don't want him to resign.

Unfortunately for you, I suspect he got "The Phone call".

[Moonrakers]

Is anybody else getting bored of this "Democratically elected government" crap that some posters are saying?

Is it possible for a mod to make a sticky thread of all of the proven/pending cases against the government. Along with the FACT that Samak/PPP DID NOT win the majority vote.

I am all for opposing opinions but when people type without having a clue it gets rather tiresome.

[niller74]

And then what. Do people honestly believe the next person in line will be any better?

As much as many people hate Samak, he was still democratically elected by a majority of the people and this should be respected.

I think this is a huge blow for democracy in Thailand.

[zl1vette]

My source confirms that Samak will announce his resignation in the morning.

If he doesn't, I will run naked through the PAD crowd.

Khun Sunderland, would that be short time or long time?

[h90]

from the nation

DAAD leader threatens to raid Democrat head office

Chuchart na Bangprai, a leader of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, threatened Wednesday night to lead protesters from Samut Prakan to raid the Democrat Party's head office.

Addressing the DAAD-led government supporters at the Samut Prakan provincial hall at 8:30 pm, Chuchart said the DAAD would lead demonstrators to raid the Democrat head office soon to retaliate against the seizure of the Government House by People's Alliance for Democracy.

The Nation

end quote

how does this fit into the story?

[Tony Clifton]

Samak will announce that he is stepping down tomorrow morning and Kermit the Frog will be taking his place as the PM of Thailand!

Thailands Muppet show will be run by Kermit the Frog, Fozzy Bear and friends as of 9am tomorrow morning.

Why that's the best and happiest political news I have heard ever!

Yes Kermit the Frog PM, Fozzy Bear will be the new Foriegn Minister, Animal will be minister of Defence but the Muppet Show Party will be forming a Coalition with Fraggle Rock!!

It comes worse.....I got a rumor that it will be Barnharn the eel and not Kermit the Frog

On top of being stuck with the PAD, you would see the instant birth of PAB, People Against Barnharn.

If they even consider appointing that pr!ck, pro-gov who remain pro-gov. will have a problem explaining that one.

[Thai at Heart]

but who would replace him?

does that mean the PPPeed get to appoint another $@#$

or does everything get dissolved and we start over?

Or does Tej get to be PM and mediates both sides for the good of the Kingdom? That would be the best solution imho.

In the light of the under the table rumours, that would actually make a lot of sense and be an excellent decision.

[trigger571]

Wife said News 1 station just confirmed Samak is to resign, but she is not sure who is speaking (she is short sighted and watching through the web)

For those who can understand Thai, here is the channel http://www.maxnettv.tv/module_tvonlines/in...n=play&id=3

Edited September 3, 2008 by trigger571

[blaze]

People who vote for the likes of Samak and Thaksin are the uneducated masses and as long as Thailand does nothing to improve the educational system in this country (standards and access to a full 12 years of school), nothing will change. The elite like to keep the upcountry folks dumb to keep them down, but what the elite get in return is the likes of Samak and Thaksin running the country.

The Thai populace is fairly well educated. Both the folks in the rural villages and the folks in the urban slums tend to be literate and follow the news both in the newspapers and other media. Now I am not one to argue that the Thai education system is not in need of improvement. But just because the rural folks and the urban poor have different priorities than do those higher up the economic scale, including yourself, they are not dumb. And one must ask why those who you incorrectly infer to be superior to the "uneducated masses" (a most slippery slope indeed) would want to support Sondhi, who is no different than Thaksin, and by my perspective, being socially much closer to the rural poor than to the Bangkok middle class, far more frightening than Thaksin in the long run.

YOu are correct in your assessment, but even though the masses are literate, that does not mean they have much common sense and intelligence to avoid being bamboozled by the likes of Thaksin. The schemes that Thaksin introduced did not benefit them much and most of the poor who were given handouts are now in worse shape and in more debt because the policies did not help build up their communities. They were only built on handing out freebies to the people. That's not sustainable. But they only remember that they were given cheap money.

That's true- they had no more idea of how to effectively parlay their 'handouts' into something sustainable than the people in the west who receive similar handouts- in the form of UI, welfare, big student loans etc. But there is something else you are forgetting- even if they do come to understand that in the long run the handouts did them more harm than good, they remember that Thaksin 'cared for' them. And in Thailand- where 'caring for' and 'being cared for' are ingrained into the very deepest structural dynamics of this very paternalistic society, they won't forget.

[bergen]

No smoke without fire.....................

I think Samak will step down, and he might have got some advice from the Royal Palace

[h90]

And then what. Do people honestly believe the next person in line will be any better?

As much as many people hate Samak, he was still democratically elected by a majority of the people and this should be respected.

I think this is a huge blow for democracy in Thailand.

Samak was not democratically elected.......

[Tony Clifton]

from the nation

DAAD leader threatens to raid Democrat head office

Chuchart na Bangprai, a leader of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, threatened Wednesday night to lead protesters from Samut Prakan to raid the Democrat Party's head office.

Addressing the DAAD-led government supporters at the Samut Prakan provincial hall at 8:30 pm, Chuchart said the DAAD would lead demonstrators to raid the Democrat head office soon to retaliate against the seizure of the Government House by People's Alliance for Democracy.

The Nation

end quote

how does this fit into the story?

I m making a timeline like I did the other night, 50% complete now, mainly what`s left is the govt`s next move in concert with police and DAAD, all hand in hand. Give it time, it will fit.

Edited September 3, 2008 by Tony Clifton

[Thai at Heart]

from the nation

DAAD leader threatens to raid Democrat head office

Chuchart na Bangprai, a leader of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, threatened Wednesday night to lead protesters from Samut Prakan to raid the Democrat Party's head office.

Addressing the DAAD-led government supporters at the Samut Prakan provincial hall at 8:30 pm, Chuchart said the DAAD would lead demonstrators to raid the Democrat head office soon to retaliate against the seizure of the Government House by People's Alliance for Democracy.

The Nation

end quote

how does this fit into the story?

Shame on the media for letting tittle tattle get in the way of keeping the peace.

[RadioCityMike]

The question is, if Samak does resign, has his successor been pre approved by Sondhi? If he hasn't, presuamably PAD continue until a PM is appointed of whom they do approve? It's pointless Samak resigning if PAD supporters don't go back to their normal lives, and for that to happen, Fuhrur Sondhi needs to be satisfied with whomever is PM.

My prediction is that Samak will resign but will do it pending PAD going home and disbanding. A new PM will be elected by the PMs and the SOE will still be in place to prevent PAD from reforming. By the time the SOE ends, things will be settled enough that anti-government groups will not be able to put a demonstration togther.

[blaze]

Democrat chief advisor, Chuan Leekpai explained that the Army's seizure of the hospital was carried out under full deliberation.

Sorry to deviate- but I can't let this go- reporters at the scene as anybody here at the time will recall, noted that the corpes of the Army of God - all had their hands tied behind their backs.

[RigPig]

<br />Is anybody else getting bored of this "Democratically elected government" crap that some posters are saying?<br /><br />Is it possible for a mod to make a sticky thread of all of the proven/pending cases against the government. Along with the FACT that Samak/PPP DID NOT win the majority vote.<br /><br />I am all for opposing opinions but when people type without having a clue it gets rather tiresome.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Yeah I am tired, Not many governments are elected with an out and out majority, electoral boundaries fixed that one. Just because you get over 50% of the vote doesn't mean you get into power and their are all sorts of reasons for and against that one but I am sure you know that.

[Tony Clifton]

Clash night #1

-New chief of police installed

*-Bomb explodes next to police booth neard PAD, same pattern as before with unsolved bombings pointing to Thaksinistas.

-Chief Immediately declares no batons, shields only

-DAAD gathers dunken yobs

-Drunken yobs are allowed to hop onto m'cycles and walk the street with weapons clearly showing in hand.

-Police line has resistance of paper wall on many occasions during march, seems highly intentional

-One killed, over 40 injured.

-Decision already scheduled for Sep 2 regarding PPP party disolution.

-Everyone waiting for Samak's next move.

-Samak declares STATE OF EMERGENCY,

Today :

-State of Emergency still on

-PAD leaders warn of police movement today at Govt House.

-Rumour of Foreign Minister Tej resigning.

-Tej announces sudden resignation

-Rumour of Samak radio announcement tomorrow 7:30 am

-DAAD threaten to march and raid Samut Prakan Democrat party headquarters.

Edited September 3, 2008 by Tony Clifton

[Moonrakers]

And then what. Do people honestly believe the next person in line will be any better?

As much as many people hate Samak, he was still democratically elected by a majority of the people and this should be respected.

I think this is a huge blow for democracy in Thailand.

Arrrrrggghhhh.

This is beginning to bug me so much that i am starting to bite.

1) Samak WAS NOT elected, he was appointed by his party.

2) The PPP DID NOT get the majority vote (37% I believe), 37% IS NOT a majority.

3) The Dems as an individual party got the most votes, but not by a large enough margin to take government.

4) The PPP took government only by way of forming a coallition with other parties, meaning that they had the majority of seats in the house. But still, they DID NOT have the majorty vote from the electorate.

I would recommend/like that some people pay due and proper attention as to what has been happening before posting their opinions.

I am wasting my time with this post aren't I?

[h90]

Clash night #1

-New chief of police installed

*-Bomb explodes next to police booth neard PAD, same pattern as before with unsolved bombings pointing to Thaksinistas.

-Chief Immediately declares no batons, shields only

-DAAD gathers dunken yobs

-Drunken yobs are allowed to hop onto m'cycles and walk the street with weapons clearly showing in hand.

-Police line has resistance of paper wall on many occasions during march, seems highly intentional

-One killed, over 40 injured.

-Decision already scheduled for Sep 2 regarding PPP party disolution.

-Everyone waiting for Samak's next move.

-Samak declares STATE OF EMERGENCY,

Today :

-State of Emergency still on

-PAD leaders warn of police movement today at Govt House.

-Rumour of Foreign Minister Tej resigning.

-Tej announces sudden resignation

-Rumour of Samak radio announcement tomorrow 7:30 am

-DAAD threaten to march and raid Samut Prakan Democrat party headquarters.

Just it does not make sense for me yet?

Replace Anupong because he couldn't prevent that?

Or why doing that?

[h90]

And then what. Do people honestly believe the next person in line will be any better?

As much as many people hate Samak, he was still democratically elected by a majority of the people and this should be respected.

I think this is a huge blow for democracy in Thailand.

Arrrrrggghhhh.

This is beginning to bug me so much that i am starting to bite.

1) Samak WAS NOT elected, he was appointed by his party.

2) The PPP DID NOT get the majority vote (37% I believe), 37% IS NOT a majority.

3) The Dems as an individual party got the most votes, but not by a large enough margin to take government.

4) The PPP took government only by way of forming a coallition with other parties, meaning that they had the majority of seats in the house. But still, they DID NOT have the majorty vote from the electorate.

I would recommend/like that some people pay due and proper attention as to what has been happening before posting their opinions.

I am wasting my time with this post aren't I?

Yes you are wasting your time....I posted similar at least 733 times.....did not help so far....