Thaksin's Five Demands In Exchange For Peace

[Dah fahrang]

Alistair Campbell (former UK PM Tony Blair's press secretary) is currently facing another parliamentary enquiry on charges he 'sexed up' a dossier which led Britain into the mire in Iraq.

Perhaps the Nation journalist who contrived this incomplete, inconclusive, provocative drivel should face a similar inquiry?

This is a non-article in terms of news content, but it certainly is 'sexed-up' in a biased way.

Consequence: a lot of TV members on their 'armchair' high horses.

Five demands?

Where are they?

When will they be made public?

This journalism is not unlike Campbell stating Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction deployable within 45 minutes.

Consequence? War.

Unprejudiced reporting? Even-handed article based on factual content? I regularly read more responsible writing in the Beano.

(Beano: long running, popular over generations UK kid's comic, featuring, in particular, Dennis the menace)

[Old Man River]

I sense people are starting to understand that Thaksin is a very clever man!

Starting to? There are a number of us here that actually know the man/done business with him etc. Stupid has never been the word any of us have used to describe him.

If stupid doesn't work for you, how about "megalomaniacal"????

A lot closer (for me), but he did have wealth and power. They weren't fantasies and a lot of people in this country still would vote for him. For me, words closer would be cunning and greedy.

[monkfish]

I wonder why they didn't print the alleged 5 demands.

Don't think it would take a genius to work that one out.

Funny how many people believe the Democrat party won the last election.

[Richard W]

Funny how many people believe the Democrat party won the last election.

Funny how many people believe the PPP won a majority in the last election.

[Publicus]

He gets 97 constitution back

He gets money back

He re-installed as premier

He gets pardon

He gets immunity from all further legal prosecution

Thaksin wants - nay, demands - a clean sweep. Thaksin requires it all, the full 100% and nothing less. 

There just isn't anything presented that is negotiable. There's nothing to sit to discuss to compromise over. 

Would Thaksin accept a pardon but a lifetime prohibition of ever again becoming PM? Or a pardon but his reciprocal guarantee not to become involved in politics again? And who would believe him anyway??

Would he accept all the loot back but no pardon? Some or most of the loot but no pardon? 

Et cetera.

Regardless of how right or wrong the coup may have been, or of how legally or illegally his extreme wealth was gained, or of the judgment of the court to convict him, could Thaksin or anyone expect all of the parties involved in the coup, his trial and conviction, the courts and Samak/Somchai etc etc to accept as wrong everything that's happened since 2006, to cleanse Thaksin of any and all wrongdoing or possible/probable wrongdoing, to include the 2009 events of Pattaya and Black Songkran? These are not negotiable conditions, positions - they are the political equivalent of the nuclear bomb. 

Thaksin absolutely demands a complete loss of face by everyone involved. He wants to nuke 'em all.

If Thaksin got all five demands in return for "peace in our time," he'd make the Thai elites look like a collection of Neville Chamberlains and would have more power and control over Thailand than Hitler had over Germany in 1933, and the same as Castro had over Cuba by 1965.

Mugabe should hire Thaksin as 'successor-designate' where Thaksin could have a free hand at demolishing a country other than Thailand.   

[BittersweetFarang]

One thing to be said about Thaksin is that he figured out that by creating programs that helped the poor and alleviate poverty, he would secure his power base with the poor majority. People in Isaan still talk about his 30 baht healthcare program, the money that came in for various agriculture projects, and that they were making more money then than now.

He was also clever enough to figure out that cellphone technology goes a LONG way to alleviating poverty. It's hard to fully understand this coming from the West, because the cellphone for us was an incremental improvement, a mere convenience. We had land lines for a century, payphones everywhere. But out here, the cellphone was a revolution. A fisherman could call ahead and find out which market was paying the most for his catch. A farmer could find out where the best prices for crops are. Truck drivers could communicate and share traffic patterns and so on. It created enormous levels of efficiency for millions of people for the very first time, and the introduction of the cellphone alone actually lifted millions of people out of poverty. So...create a telecom monopoly, provide the poor with cash, they buy your cell phone credit and it's a massive transfer of wealth into your pocket and the poor benefit along the way and worship you (i.e. will always elect you) in the process. Win win right? Oh. And don't pay taxes on the telecom company when you sell it to Singapore. That was slick. Perhaps too slick. Jury is still out on that one.

[Publicus]

<<snip>>

I don't hold a candle for any party in Thailand. I just think that the situation with Thaksin stinks to high heaven. 

<<snip>>

Get real. The whole system is in need of a complete overhaul, from the top down. Thaksin is not the problem, he's a symptom.

Thaksin bought absolute power and took corruption to new and repugnant dimensions, thereby establishing a radically new sh*t standard for the already endemically corrupt society and government. He took run of the mill corruption and transformed it to a previously unheard of skill and neauseating art form. That's a hel_l of a use of someone's strong abilities and talents. 

And yes, the whole of the society and culture is in need of a complete overhaul, from the top down - I and some others have made this statement more than once. However, a complete overhaul is what Thaksin and his TRT group originally set out to accomplish so look at where we are now. The issue is who does the overhauling and towards which goals and purposes. As a republican and a democrat, I don't wave the flag for any party or institution, but I cannot defend or sympathize with Thaksin or tyranny. 

We're presently looking at five demands being appeased completely and in their entirety or else.

Yes it's about 76bn, and it's also about demands and absolutes - power, control, authority among them. What would Thaksin do if he got all five demands so he could return? Imagine that. 

[rixalex]

Wouldn't you, if a bunch of military types had usurped your elected office while you were out of the country, and confiscated all you had worked for?

Self-installed caretaker PM Thaksin, as he was at the time, had led the country down a highly divisive path and things were on the brink of getting very ugly. His plan was to really stoke things up so he would be justified in getting heavy-handed with dealing with the protests against him. The military intervened to stop what was looking highly likely to be blood-shed on the streets. Sad that they used a coup to do it, but even sadder that Thaksin was happy to take the country down the path he did just so as to get a grip back on power.

Well that was my take on how the coup transpired. Others, Thaksin apologists in particular, may have a very different view.

As for confiscating all he had worked for - isn't the point that he hadn't been working for much of his wealth that he accumulated since becoming PM. Rather he had been changing laws, dodging taxes and hidding assets, so as to benefit himself and his businesses. I guess if you want to call that working...

I'm not the least bit surprised he's making it difficult for the non-elected crew thar purport to be the government now.

By making it difficult do you mean parking gas trucks in built up areas and threatening to blow them up? You think that's a reasonable reaction to what has happened to him?

OK. I don't.

No matter what unfairness you want to believe Thaksin has had put upon him, putting other people's lives on the line is not a justified way to react.

Non-elected? Every MP in government now was elected.

It makes me laugh when I read some of the anti-Thaksin diatribes here on TV. Like the rest of the politicians are pure as the driven snow! Ha!

Don't make the mistake of reading criticism of Thaksin as being support or praise for anyone else. It's not like the fact that the vast majority of Thai politicians being corrupt in some way is some sort of a secret that only you are privy too. We all know it. The reason why Thaksin is singled out so much isn't because he is the only one, but because for many he is considered to be one of the worst culprits of recent times. If it bothers you that too much attention is focused on this one man (as it seems to bother a number of members to this forum), why not simply start topics on those culprits that you feel are worthy of more attention?

[animatic]

If Thaksin had opted to just withdraw from politics and go quiet,

he likely would be living a good life with most of his money.

Still doing business quietly and making money hand over fist.

He chose the fight it out option, contrary to ALL deposed PMs before him,

and he will lose all he covets most because of that ego driven decision.

His wife left because she saw the writing on the wall, Newin left about the same time,

for the same reasons, the man was not acting like a rational HiSo Thai would.

Why is a question for the ages,

and biographers writing myths from both sides of the divide..

[cyberskin]

He acts like he is negotiating from a position of strength.

That's often the way with megalomaniacs. The more tenuous their position, the more wide-ranging demands they make.

Well, I really detest the man as he has been holding Thailand hostage for years now in the manner of a terrorist, but you've got to give him some credit for having mucho grande cajones!

He IS negotiating from a position of strength. He's the democratically elected leader of Thailand who has millions of supporters. Has everyone forgotten that he was ousted by a militairy coup that installed the current government? What we're seeing now is the powers that be making a grab for his money. Thier greed will probably lead to political upheavel that will end up costing Thailand as a whole more more money then they are trying to line thier pockets with.

[animatic]

He was nothing more than Acting Interim Prime Minister when he was deposed.

And that fake assisignation bombing, likely a Gen. P. charade,

was intended as step one to create a need for martial law,

and absolute Thaksin control.

And then clean out the last dissenting voices and thus ability to

investigate Thaksin's malfeasances in office. He won't come back,

because there is so much he CAN be prosecuted for,

not just 2 years, out in 9 months on good behavior....

This is the threat to Thailand that the coup removed,

not a fully elected Prime Minister, nor a sitting Parliament,

nor a completely functioning government.

But an attempt to grab most all power.

Even his closest associates, like Somkid, were jumping ship faster each day.

Edited January 14, 2010 by animatic

[TAWP]

He IS negotiating from a position of strength. He's the democratically elected leader of Thailand who has millions of supporters.

No, he is not and was not when he was disposed either. Use facts, not hyperbole.

Has everyone forgotten that he was ousted by a militairy coup that installed the current government?

Have you forgot that there was an election and that no government was installed by any military?

What we're seeing now is the powers that be making a grab for his money. Thier greed will probably lead to political upheavel that will end up costing Thailand as a whole more more money then they are trying to line thier pockets with.

As oppose to Thaksin's greed that cost the country even more than he even got to line his pockets with?

[NearestTheTee]

A fugitive making demands in exchange for peace

[Publicus]

He was nothing more than Acting Interim Prime Minister when he was deposed.

And that fake assisignation bombing, likely a Gen. P. charade,

was intended as step one to create a need for martial law,

and absolute Thaksin control.

And then clean out the last dissenting voices and thus ability to

investigate Thaksin's malfeasances in office. He won't come back,

because there is so much he CAN be prosecuted for,

not just 2 years, out in 9 months on good behavior....

This is the threat to Thailand that the coup removed,

not a fully elected Prime Minister, nor a sitting Parliament,

nor a completely functioning government.

But an attempt to grab most all power.

Even his closest associates, like Somkid, were jumping ship faster each day.

And so now with the present development, the matters discussed in this thread, we can add to the already long list of pending charges 5 more counts of blackmail, 5 more of attempted extortion - and add hostage taking one more time, times 65 million souls. Yeah, this Thaksin guy is awesomely impressive!