Civil Servants Told To Sign Government Petition Or Lose Jobs

[Scott]

One post is enough. What exactly is it that you would like us to hear? We do listen. We don't always listen well, but we do listen.

[geriatrickid]

I find it interesting that as soon as those in the "anti thaksin" camp see something that is not favourable to their position they immediately get angry and hurl invective. Unfortunately, the truth hurts. Why is anyone surprised that the government would use strong arm tactics. Mr. Mugabe has done the same thing, as has Chavez. I am sure we will soon see petition participation rates that will rival the election participation rates of North Korea, Cuba and Hussein era Iraq.

Neither side in this dispute smells nice. Both sides are horrible, That's the reality. Welcome to the wonderful world of Thai politics.

And now we should understand why the average Thai disengages from politics and hopes for the best.

[mca]

In my humble opinion what gripes me is how the Democrats seem to act as if they've got the moral high ground in matters. They're all as bad as each other. I remember during the last election my wife's cousin who's an army colonel telling me about trucking the squaddies down en masse to vote and those boys better be putting their "X" next to the Democrat candidate.

[Orac]

Still no 'noise' from the udd/red shirts about the alleged petition to rebutt the red shirt pardon petition.

To me this speaks volumes.

I'm hard pressed to believe that PM Abhisit would have sanctioned such a petition and I can't believe he would have allowed any scenario whereby public servants etc., were forced to sign.

If his collation partners (some of whom are fairly brainless and I wouldn't trust many of them) did start up such a petition, I'm confident Abhisit would have squashed it immediately.

I repeat, where the 'noise' from the udd/red shirts?

So what do you make of the statement made by the Interior Minister about having six million signatures already - or is this in question too.

I am no udd/red shirt supporter and do hope that Abhisit is given the space to sort things out as he appears to be the best, if not only, good thing going for Thailand politically at the moment, however, given your valid points above, how much control does he have over his own government. It is my belief that it will not be the likes of Thaksin or the Red Shirts that will stop Abhisit from doing what is needed but problems caused from within his own government.

[Mario2008]

1 post deleted as being off topic.

I think that Mig was clear about what can be discussed and what not.

[Lite Beer]

Post discussing Moderation has been deleted as per forum rules.

[Sao Jiang Mai]

Bickering and snide comments aside, has this news been corroborated at all? I really am interested to know.

[Mario2008]

1 comment deleted as off-topic.

[Orac]

I am not slinging mud - -read my post 151 again, And maybe read some of Plus's and others posts.

SR has again in post 129 commented on no corroboration. A point he made in the early days of the thread.

Sorry caf but I am not getting dragged back into this arguement again, especially as the mods have clearly requested that we stick to the topic AND that you already answered this post in your post number 167.

What comments do you have on my latest post:

"So what do you make of the statement made by the Interior Minister about having six million signatures already - or is this in question too.

I am no udd/red shirt supporter and do hope that Abhisit is given the space to sort things out as he appears to be the best, if not only, good thing going for Thailand politically at the moment, however, given your valid points above, how much control does he have over his own government. It is my belief that it will not be the likes of Thaksin or the Red Shirts that will stop Abhisit from doing what is needed but problems caused from within his own government. "

[caf]

Bickering and snide comments aside, has this news been corroborated at all? I really am interested to know.

I think not. See SR posts 14 and 129.

Perhaps Photojourn could provide an update. The more credibilty a journalist has the more people will read his or her posts believing them to be accurate and unbiased.

[caf]

I am not slinging mud - -read my post 151 again, And maybe read some of Plus's and others posts.

SR has again in post 129 commented on no corroboration. A point he made in the early days of the thread.

Sorry caf but I am not getting dragged back into this arguement again, especially as the mods have clearly requested that we stick to the topic AND that you already answered this post in your post number 167.

What comments do you have on my latest post:

"So what do you make of the statement made by the Interior Minister about having six million signatures already - or is this in question too.

I am no udd/red shirt supporter and do hope that Abhisit is given the space to sort things out as he appears to be the best, if not only, good thing going for Thailand politically at the moment, however, given your valid points above, how much control does he have over his own government. It is my belief that it will not be the likes of Thaksin or the Red Shirts that will stop Abhisit from doing what is needed but problems caused from within his own government. "

No. I have not questioned that.

As for Abhisit, he leads a coalition government which never makes government easy. Pressure from opposition parties whether resident here or not, given his majority, makes it difficult too. Difficult too to make decisions which he might favour given the culture here ( if i can put that rather loosely)

What spoils this thread - as Saojiangmai has alluded to - is the propensity to be vindictive sometimes rather than responding to a valid point.

If I disagree with a point I say so and am happy to be corrected or listen to further argument. More usually, the flaming starts. Not just me of course this is a general comment and just my 5 baht worth. Laopo has made some good points but then starts getting childish, for example, which alienates his cause. Two posters at least have commented directly on that, many more indirectly.

[Orac]

Caf,

Sorry but I did not copy the post I was responding to above which was from Scorecard who questioned the very existence if the second petition.

Still no 'noise' from the udd/red shirts about the alleged petition to rebutt the red shirt pardon petition.

To me this speaks volumes.

I'm hard pressed to believe that PM Abhisit would have sanctioned such a petition and I can't believe he would have allowed any scenario whereby public servants etc., were forced to sign.

If his collation partners (some of whom are fairly brainless and I wouldn't trust many of them) did start up such a petition, I'm confident Abhisit would have squashed it immediately.

I repeat, where the 'noise' from the udd/red shirts?

With regards to flaming and childish behaviour of some on this thread, of which I have been equally responsible for, can we move on and discuss the topic as requested by the mods. I understand your request for more corrobaration but this has already been commented on by MIG.

Your suggestion that the reporter should be unbiased in his reporting is odd in that a great deal of reporting is biased (some who have done 'media studies' would argue all) as they are made from a personal viewpoint of the reporter and, sometimes though I don't beleive it in this case, the editorial policy of the news provider. Photojourns political views are a known quantity and therefore political bias should be assumed. Personally I am a right wing capitalist but some of my favourite correspondents/political pundits - John Pillger and George Galloway to name a couple, have very stong left wing biases - but what happens here is they tell me things that I should hear rather than the things I want to hear. It is up to me to make up my mind but by hearing only one side of a story my opinion is automatically going to be questionable.

Cheers

Orac

[teetersb]

I have asked my wife to talk to her neighbor, a woman that works at the local Amphur office in Surin Province, whether there has been a command to sign this anti-petition. The woman said there has been nothing at the Amphur and she, as many others in the area, had signed the original petition to exonerate Taksin. Most of the people in the area are rabid Taksin fans. So, this begs the question of validity for Mr. LeFevre's article about a " forced signature campaign being conducted throughout the country".

[clausewitz]

Still no 'noise' from the udd/red shirts about the alleged petition to rebutt the red shirt pardon petition.

To me this speaks volumes.

I'm hard pressed to believe that PM Abhisit would have sanctioned such a petition

From todays nation

By The Nation

Published on August 20, 2009

The government naively responded by summoning local leaders to gather a bigger number of people to oppose the peti-tion. It was an embarrassing political blunder. The govern-ment realised later that mobilis-ing the masses to crush the dream of Thaksin's supporters would only aggravate the situa-tion. In other words, it has fallen into Thaksin's trap. That is why the anti-petition move was quickly shelved

[Mario2008]

Several off topic posts have been deleted. It seems some people still not get the message.

[TAWP]

Still no 'noise' from the udd/red shirts about the alleged petition to rebutt the red shirt pardon petition.

To me this speaks volumes.

I'm hard pressed to believe that PM Abhisit would have sanctioned such a petition

From todays nation

By The Nation

Published on August 20, 2009

The government naively responded by summoning local leaders to gather a bigger number of people to oppose the peti-tion. It was an embarrassing political blunder. The govern-ment realised later that mobilis-ing the masses to crush the dream of Thaksin's supporters would only aggravate the situa-tion. In other words, it has fallen into Thaksin's trap. That is why the anti-petition move was quickly shelved

I.e. to use their own political machine, i.e. copy Thaksins/UDDs strategy, to create a petition was seen as a stupid thing. Which it was.

Nothing about forcing civil servants to sign someone or be fired.

That is a misrepresentation of the news-articles meaning.