Pm Nomination Postponed After House Fails To Make Quorum Again

[sabaijai]

PM nomination postponed after House fails to make quorum again

The nomination of candidates for the post of prime minister was postponed to next Wednesday after the House failed to make a quorum at 9:52 am Friday.

After the Democrat nominated party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to the post, the People Power Party called for a quorum checking.

The checking found that the House failed to make quorum as coalition MPs would not identify their presence.

House speaker Chai Chidchob then ordered the meeting to be postponed to Wednesday.

He closed the meeting at 9:56 am.

The Nation

September 12, 2008 : Last updated 10:00 am

[stumonster]

9:52 am Friday.

to early for dear leader to be on the phone in london ?

[Journalist]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

[Artisi]

On with the circus - and it's free.

[Scott]

So, we shall see if no head (for the gov't) is better than a bad head!

[wayfarer108]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

Better than Samak's 30 years of experience in corruption, lying and extrajudicial execution.

[Artisi]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

-

Although I tend to disagree with some of your previous comments, and probably vis versa, in this instance I fully agree he doesn't deserve it, although he is probably a far better selection than many of the others in the short term.

I see the democrats, unfortunatley as a lazy party who at the moment could be making so much milage for themselves if they only got of their collectives a@rse and showed some leadership and offered some constructive comment in this debacle currently being played out.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter a rats a@rse what you, I or all the other non-Thais think - it's not our business and I guess we shouldn't even bother in commenting. I know -I know - we might like to think that we will influence someones thinking - but who - the people who really need influencing won't be in thaivisa.com reading our heartfelt words of wisdom anyway.

Fills our day in I guess.

[midas]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

Hold on a minute ! Maybe no one has given him a proper hearing

to enable him to do this ! And anyway nothing can be worse than the

bunch of clowns that represent the current post of PM and cabinet !!

[Journalist]

Abhisit has had a proper hearing to lay out his plans. He has had years of being a senior politician in the spotlight, and leader of his party.

Apart from looking.....well great, .....he's the ideal matinee idol politico,.... he has never taken much trouble to show his ideology, (and he's had the chances)

When asked recently about his views - as a democrat- on appointed political roles, instead of explaining his position clearly, he waffled on evasively about constitutional law, and how an appointed PM and parliament would require constitutional amendments.

[grantbkk]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

Better than Samak's 30 years of experience in corruption, lying and extrajudicial execution.

I have to agree with Journalist. Abhisit has done absolutely nothing to improve the quality of life for anyone here in Bangkok. Four years the firefighting equipment is still on the docks. Bicycle lanes in the sidewalks of main throughfares. Taxi call buttons installed somewhere. Wanted to take time off from doing nothing earlier this year and couldn't even do that. Traffic was reduced in Bangkok late on September 19th and on the 20th in 2006 because of the coup. He has done nothing to fulfill his promise to reduce traffic in the capital. Everything, I mean everything he says is just rhetoric to smooth his path for a few hours. He is almost as worthless as Samak as Bangkok Governor. He and his minor little "democratic party" will not get things done on a national scale if he is appointed PM.

Oh yeah, I forgot, IMHO.

[Journalist]

Thats Apirak Kosayothin you're referring to there - Governor of Bangkok.

Another handsome democrat fellow. They look like twins don't they.

I don't know about him nowadays in public office, but in the past, when he ran Grammy. Apirak was definitely an honest man, a straight shooter. He wouldn't even give sweetheart deals to his family members in the media business.

[ThNiner]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

One of his main policies during his party's campaign in the last election was he wanted to make the reform of our education system the main priority. He emphasized that we needed to do something with our education if we wanna see the better future of the country. He was campaigning for this while other parties were talking about how many mega-projects they'd have or how much money they would hand out to the villagers.

[Smithson]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

Most Thais think he is good looking, especially when compared to Samak. This carries a lot of weight over here and was a big factor when Apirak got elected by the educated Bangkok voters.

[ThNiner]

I have to agree with Journalist. Abhisit has done absolutely nothing to improve the quality of life for anyone here in Bangkok. Four years the firefighting equipment is still on the docks. Bicycle lanes in the sidewalks of main throughfares. Taxi call buttons installed somewhere. Wanted to take time off from doing nothing earlier this year and couldn't even do that. Traffic was reduced in Bangkok late on September 19th and on the 20th in 2006 because of the coup. He has done nothing to fulfill his promise to reduce traffic in the capital. Everything, I mean everything he says is just rhetoric to smooth his path for a few hours. He is almost as worthless as Samak as Bangkok Governor. He and his minor little "democratic party" will not get things done on a national scale if he is appointed PM.

Oh yeah, I forgot, IMHO.

Seeing how you mixed up khun Abhisit with khun Apirak, I sincerely hope that you can now tell whether you are actually in Thailand or Taiwan. Anyway, I'm really impressed with you ability to assess Thai politics without actually knowing who's who though.

[h90]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

One of his main policies during his party's campaign in the last election was he wanted to make the reform of our education system the main priority. He emphasized that we needed to do something with our education if we wanna see the better future of the country. He was campaigning for this while other parties were talking about how many mega-projects they'd have or how much money they would hand out to the villagers.

Education is not so the main interest of most of the pro-Samak farang poster here.

Also I don't want to know what I would hear in some villages if I let them choose:

a) 500 Baht now

b ) improved educational system in 10 years (it does not work over night)

no no I really don't want to know what many people in some areas would choose....

(call my cynic if you want)

[h90]

I have to agree with Journalist. Abhisit has done absolutely nothing to improve the quality of life for anyone here in Bangkok. Four years the firefighting equipment is still on the docks. Bicycle lanes in the sidewalks of main throughfares. Taxi call buttons installed somewhere. Wanted to take time off from doing nothing earlier this year and couldn't even do that. Traffic was reduced in Bangkok late on September 19th and on the 20th in 2006 because of the coup. He has done nothing to fulfill his promise to reduce traffic in the capital. Everything, I mean everything he says is just rhetoric to smooth his path for a few hours. He is almost as worthless as Samak as Bangkok Governor. He and his minor little "democratic party" will not get things done on a national scale if he is appointed PM.

Oh yeah, I forgot, IMHO.

Seeing how you mixed up khun Abhisit with khun Apirak, I sincerely hope that you can now tell whether you are actually in Thailand or Taiwan. Anyway, I'm really impressed with you ability to assess Thai politics without actually knowing who's who though.

:D

[Journalist]

"Education":

Thats his policy is it? Hope it was more than just that solitary buzzword.

Well we're all for that. education beats dimwitz anyday.

"health, prosperity, fairness"

Would they'd be the other three magic words? (That makes up the usual quartet of the modern political sound-bite).

I don't think the one and only reason that the Democrats don't win is because they don't offer voters a THB 500 banknote. I think there's more to it than that.

[hammered]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

One of his main policies during his party's campaign in the last election was he wanted to make the reform of our education system the main priority. He emphasized that we needed to do something with our education if we wanna see the better future of the country. He was campaigning for this while other parties were talking about how many mega-projects they'd have or how much money they would hand out to the villagers.

The education thing is interesting. Most upcountry Northern farmers I talk to stress that they want their kids to have a better life than them and see education as the answer. What they are not aware of is that Thaksin reinterpreted 12 years free education into KG1 to M3 (M3 is a useless level of education for any betterment job) while the Demorcats wanted at the last election to extend it to end of first degree. Most farmers would tend to agree with the Dem position if they knew it.

The reality of how things work though is that come election time farmers seek advice from the village headman and in most northern areas they will not mention the Dem education plan as they are part of the PPP/TRT network and their job is to deliver votes. The Dems also have trouble getting their word out as it is dangerous to campaign in many rural TRT/PPP areas.

When people say farmers vote because of polices it is better to say farmers vote because of polices they are advised on. The Dems have a hurdle to cross here but as with the idea of rice cooperatives with education the Dems actually have two polices that favour farmers more than PPP polices and they are two polices the PPP cannot match because they are polices that dyammetrically oppose what the local PPP power people want.

Personally I am not a Dem supporter but the irony of the above has always stood out when analysis of PPP/TRT by western and western educated analysts tends to be people vote for PPP/TRT because of the policies. The question is to these people why if they vote according to policies that advantage them and we have a democratic decisions made on informed decison (cough cough laugh laugh) why do the rural poor reject the party that offers them a poliy that most of them that had kids would have as number one - education?

As to whether Abhisit is suited to be PM, why not? Surely any MP couldnt be worse than Samak who seemed to revel in creating more and more national division. Who cares if they are good looking or not and it seems a few posters here seem to think good looks is a negative thing!

[Journalist]

Rural Thais want instant gratification. They'd rather have jam today than a feast tomorrow. (or a gold chain today rather than a diamond ring next year)

Education is of course a keystone policy, but not a vote-winner.

[ubonjoe]

Thailand's Samak isolated as friends desert him

By SUTIN WANNABOVORN, Associated Press Writer

26 minutes ago

BANGKOK, Thailand - Political allies of Thailand's ousted prime minister deserted him Friday in his bid to return to power in a parliamentary vote, leaving him isolated following his removal by a court for violating conflict-of-interest rules.

Full Story http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_...lpVh_v6Y2gBxg8F

[Smithson]

Lots of politicians have talked about reforming the education system, but nothing much has happened. It takes a lot more than free education to create the change necessary for ppl to think for themselves.

Remember the 'educated' Bkk voters gave both Thaksin and Samak (as governor) landslide victories. So blaming the uneducated villages isn't quite right.

Whatever government comes to power will be a coalition and vote buying is likely to play a large role. Whoever is PM doesn't really matter. Thailand has been without an effective govt. for more the 2 yrs, how much difference has it really made? Tourists might be easily scared, but the business world know the politicians aren't doing much anyway.

Abhisit has a posh voice, is good looking and would give more intelligent interviews than Samak, so he may as well be PM, because it would give Thailand a lot of face, which is important you know!

[ThNiner]

Dems also have trouble getting their word out as it is dangerous to campaign in many rural TRT/PPP areas.

This is so true. I watched a House debate the other day and saw Khun Chuan Leekpai (former PM from Dems) tell a story about how TRT/PPP abused their executive power to undermine the real democracy by forcing the Thai equivalent of IRS to threaten and unfairly investigate a businessman in a Northern provice (whose name escapes me right now.) The reason? It was because that businessman was seen with Khun Chuan campaigning for the Dems in that province. Khun Chuan took this story to the head of Thai IRS and asked why the Thai IRS officials did so. The head of the Thai IRS just said he didn't know anything about it.

Now these same TRT/PPP politicians are saying that they are the face of Thai "democracy" that all Thais have to protect. They are the "democratically elected" majority.... :puke:

[hammered]

Interesting Story:

From the Australian: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...46-2703,00.html

The political chaos that has enveloped Mr Samak’s Government for the past three weeks has now spread through its own ranks, raising the risk of a military intervention if an emergency solution does not appear soon.

The parliament, which was supposed to endorse the People’s Power Party’s choice of Mr Samak this morning, was adjourned for lack of a quorum after a large number of coalition MPs, and even some of his own party, refused to attend

and

The Democrats, the only party on the opposition benches, is pushing for its leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to be appointed as prime minister leading a “government of national unity”.

Increased pressure is likely to come onto the coalition partners, from the army and from Bangkok establishment circles, to agree.

The Abhisit option might now be the most realistic chance of avoiding a repetition of the September 2006 military coup.

[ThNiner]

Interesting Story:

From the Australian: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...46-2703,00.html

The political chaos that has enveloped Mr Samak's Government for the past three weeks has now spread through its own ranks, raising the risk of a military intervention if an emergency solution does not appear soon.

The parliament, which was supposed to endorse the People's Power Party's choice of Mr Samak this morning, was adjourned for lack of a quorum after a large number of coalition MPs, and even some of his own party, refused to attend

and

The Democrats, the only party on the opposition benches, is pushing for its leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to be appointed as prime minister leading a "government of national unity".

Increased pressure is likely to come onto the coalition partners, from the army and from Bangkok establishment circles, to agree.

The Abhisit option might now be the most realistic chance of avoiding a repetition of the September 2006 military coup.

This would be the best solution to the current crisis right now. Many of my friends and I would be ecstatic if this comes true. But Chart Thai party, a major coalition of PPP, has just came out and said that they will stand firmly behind PPP eventhough they didn't attend this morning's session. We will see how it goes. :fingerscrossed:

[jbowman1993]

Interesting Story:

From the Australian: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...46-2703,00.html

The political chaos that has enveloped Mr Samak's Government for the past three weeks has now spread through its own ranks, raising the risk of a military intervention if an emergency solution does not appear soon.

The parliament, which was supposed to endorse the People's Power Party's choice of Mr Samak this morning, was adjourned for lack of a quorum after a large number of coalition MPs, and even some of his own party, refused to attend

and

The Democrats, the only party on the opposition benches, is pushing for its leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to be appointed as prime minister leading a "government of national unity".

Increased pressure is likely to come onto the coalition partners, from the army and from Bangkok establishment circles, to agree.

The Abhisit option might now be the most realistic chance of avoiding a repetition of the September 2006 military coup.

This would be the best solution to the current crisis right now. Many of my friends and I would be ecstatic if this comes true. But Chart Thai party, a major coalition of PPP, has just came out and said that they will stand firmly behind PPP eventhough they didn't attend this morning's session. We will see how it goes. :fingerscrossed:

Chart Thai and Barnham don't stand "firmly" on any issue. They like power, and know which way the wind is blowing. If the wind changes direction, they'll be lined up with the Dems faster than you can blink.

[Journalist]

PPP will dissolve the House and call new elections rather than stand aside for the Democrats.

There's no way they'll allow Abhisit in via the back door.

All the coalition parties and PPP factions are raising their menu prices for the re-election of Samak. Hence the delay. They're gambling that they can wangle a better deal, but that doesn't mean they want to end up on the Opposition benches.

[ThNiner]

Chart Thai and Barnham don't stand "firmly" on any issue. They like power, and know which way the wind is blowing. If the wind changes direction, they'll be lined up with the Dems faster than you can blink.

You could be right.

[Old Man River]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

One of his main policies during his party's campaign in the last election was he wanted to make the reform of our education system the main priority. He emphasized that we needed to do something with our education if we wanna see the better future of the country. He was campaigning for this while other parties were talking about how many mega-projects they'd have or how much money they would hand out to the villagers.

The education thing is interesting. Most upcountry Northern farmers I talk to stress that they want their kids to have a better life than them and see education as the answer. What they are not aware of is that Thaksin reinterpreted 12 years free education into KG1 to M3 (M3 is a useless level of education for any betterment job) while the Demorcats wanted at the last election to extend it to end of first degree. Most farmers would tend to agree with the Dem position if they knew it.

The reality of how things work though is that come election time farmers seek advice from the village headman and in most northern areas they will not mention the Dem education plan as they are part of the PPP/TRT network and their job is to deliver votes. The Dems also have trouble getting their word out as it is dangerous to campaign in many rural TRT/PPP areas.

When people say farmers vote because of polices it is better to say farmers vote because of polices they are advised on. The Dems have a hurdle to cross here but as with the idea of rice cooperatives with education the Dems actually have two polices that favour farmers more than PPP polices and they are two polices the PPP cannot match because they are polices that dyammetrically oppose what the local PPP power people want.

Personally I am not a Dem supporter but the irony of the above has always stood out when analysis of PPP/TRT by western and western educated analysts tends to be people vote for PPP/TRT because of the policies. The question is to these people why if they vote according to policies that advantage them and we have a democratic decisions made on informed decison (cough cough laugh laugh) why do the rural poor reject the party that offers them a poliy that most of them that had kids would have as number one - education?

Hammered, as usual, I fully agree with your analysis. Given the above, it is easy to see why people are talking seriously about alternatives. Assuredly, the goal of "new politics" will be to break the stranglehold the TRT/PPP has on the northeast voting block which currently decides elections and will be driven by numerous different agendas, none of which will be to better living conditions in the northeast.

What remains to be seen, should this all occur, is whether party platforms going forward remain like what the Democrats offered in December 2007, which as you point out were much more favorable to the people in the northeast than the PPP which they voted for. Personally, I think Thaksin's legacy is that he has up tiered their importance and they will gain by it.

[sabaijai]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

One of his main policies during his party's campaign in the last election was he wanted to make the reform of our education system the main priority. He emphasized that we needed to do something with our education if we wanna see the better future of the country. He was campaigning for this while other parties were talking about how many mega-projects they'd have or how much money they would hand out to the villagers.

The education thing is interesting. Most upcountry Northern farmers I talk to stress that they want their kids to have a better life than them and see education as the answer. What they are not aware of is that Thaksin reinterpreted 12 years free education into KG1 to M3 (M3 is a useless level of education for any betterment job) while the Demorcats wanted at the last election to extend it to end of first degree. Most farmers would tend to agree with the Dem position if they knew it.

The reality of how things work though is that come election time farmers seek advice from the village headman and in most northern areas they will not mention the Dem education plan as they are part of the PPP/TRT network and their job is to deliver votes. The Dems also have trouble getting their word out as it is dangerous to campaign in many rural TRT/PPP areas.

When people say farmers vote because of polices it is better to say farmers vote because of polices they are advised on. The Dems have a hurdle to cross here but as with the idea of rice cooperatives with education the Dems actually have two polices that favour farmers more than PPP polices and they are two polices the PPP cannot match because they are polices that dyammetrically oppose what the local PPP power people want.

Personally I am not a Dem supporter but the irony of the above has always stood out when analysis of PPP/TRT by western and western educated analysts tends to be people vote for PPP/TRT because of the policies. The question is to these people why if they vote according to policies that advantage them and we have a democratic decisions made on informed decison (cough cough laugh laugh) why do the rural poor reject the party that offers them a poliy that most of them that had kids would have as number one - education?

Hammered, as usual, I fully agree with your analysis. Given the above, it is easy to see why people are talking seriously about alternatives. Assuredly, the goal of "new politics" will be to break the stranglehold the TRT/PPP has on the northeast voting block which currently decides elections and will be driven by numerous different agendas, none of which will be to better living conditions in the northeast.

What remains to be seen, should this all occur, is whether party platforms going forward remain like what the Democrats offered in December 2007, which as you point out were much more favorable to the people in the northeast than the PPP which they voted for. Personally, I think Thaksin's legacy is that he has up tiered their importance and they will gain by it.

Agree on both counts.

[PhilHarries]

The checking found that the House failed to make quorum as coalition MPs would not identify their presence.

<deleted>? I don't know the layout of Thailand's parliament but doesn't the government sit one side of the chamber and the opposition the other?

Sounds like the coalition members haven't got the balls to either stand up and support the guy or come out and publicly oppose him. The reason for this of course is self interest, they want to sit on the fence as long as possible so they can be sure which side has the greener grass.

Politicians : as slippery as eels in a bucket of grease.