Has Thailand Made Progress? Thaksin Taunts

[animatic]

We hope.

[Rumfoord]

Steve missed a few, but caught most the low points well. Might also include how immgiration got tougher during the Thaksin period, ie, not a single permanent residence application signed during his first two years in office and his puritanical campaign to close nightclubs early (after his son was caught using coke in a disco restroom), which led to the estimated loss of 10,000 jobs, and shutting down alcohol sales between the hours of 2 and 5pm and after midnight.

One of T's right hand men (was it Purachai?) was designated hit man on the 'cleaning up the sex business' campaign. It worked in northern Thailand and other outlying areas, and axed well over 10,000 Thai jobs, most of those in supporting businesses. However, their 'holier than thou' campaign by the two couldn't put a dent in the sex industry centers such as Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. Ironically, after the point man did his clean up mess, he went to reside in New Zealand.

yep, bars got closed earlier. that made a couple of farang to antithaksin activists.

are there any statistics on impact of the 'social order' campaign? like the loss of 'well over 10,000 Thai jobs' and other figures?

on the other hand, is that a typical negative point of the Thaksin era? the ban on alcohol sale, ban on advertising and further restriction of the 'easy nightlife' however, we also saw during the junta or coming from the abhisit cabinet, as well this are demands by the PAD.

[animatic]

All the bans just upped the tea money his police cronies got

for letting the well heeled slide past the laws.

Same same.

[Publicus]

So Steve,

Not wanting to quote your entire message which is a pretty good precis of what happened; the question is "has Thailand made any progress from the first day of the coup too today?"

I think largely no. The losses in political stability and global perception because of the coup, followed by the continuing protests of yellows and reds probably mean Thailand is a "net" loser over this period since the coup.

It is interesting to consider that if Thaksin was in power during this global recession (right now), people might be starting to see through his veneer and his popularity might be plummeting.

Well the reorganization of Year One was a waiting period.

Year two was Samak and then Somchai, and laid the groundwork for

a MUCH worse position for Thailand vis a vis the coming world recession.

They completely missed, or mis-read it and dropped the ball with a fecal splat.

I saw it as they were so obsessed with getting their short term gains done,

that the future of the world around their little political cocoon was rarely on discussion

Year 3 is done, but 2/3 by and Abhisit, who has been making progress. In spite of huge obstacles.

He inherited a complete cock-up because the predecessors were blinkered like a draft horse.

Add the hyena's snapping around his haunches, many by grace of Thaksin, have slowed progress.

There is a concerted effort to stymy all progress of the Dems,to make Thaksin's years 'appear better',

even as the situation was totally different, and what is currently faced is the inverse on a world level.

So I must lay most blame for lack of progress on :

a#1 ) world economic collapse, causing a sales/investment vacuum

b ) politically based partisan hassling, causing distraction and lost time,

as well as stifling what positive investment climate that remained.

c ) Medical issues world wide.

d ) PPP did NOT do any advance planning for what was clearly coming

and so the country was woefully unprepared to deal with the perfect economic storm when it arrived.

e ) Nationalistic impulses getting world wide attention and making Thailand less attractive to many.

Hassling foreigners publicly as public policy is NOT the way to encourage a country to prosper.

b + c and e contributing

causing a tourism and commerce tanking of grand proportions

Much of these factors are beyond any governments control,

they can only mitigate the circumstances. But Thaksin has

made it worse than it EVER needed to be for his own particular reasons.

That not as much progress has been made FORWARD, is not the point I think,

it is;

How well and how fast has the bacon been pulled out of the fire

when someone came in to the top willing and capable to even LOOK at the problem?

Breaking even in the current confluence of bad things should be considered a great achievement.

When the shit hits the fan, you expect to get messy,

but do you just soap it off, or do you grow something with the fertilizer provided?

I see Abhisit planting seeds for the future, since that is the best forward looking option,

besides preventing further externally caused drops.

Thaksin keeps stirring the pot but what else is new?

While the Reds were conceiving of their Red October and laying plans Thaksin has been issuing a new round of bombast against present conditions in Thailand and now directly against Abhisit himself. Surely the two are unrelated

Clearly Abhisit's dashing appearances in the US, first before the UNGA then impressing leaders of the G-20 and other globalists have stuck in Thaksin's proverbial craw. Now that Abhisit is more secure than he had been, Thaksin is trying to turn up the heat.

So we'll see how things in Thailand stand come November. While there surely will be a November, I wish I could be even somewhat sure about a Thailand.