PM Abhisit Questions Thaksin's Role As Leader Of 'Class War'

[traderjm]

Watching the parade in Bangkok now, one get's the idea that the vast part of the Bangkokians support the movement. They seem to be very supportive of the demonstrators. They are waving the hands and cheering the demonstrators on.

Very interesting we were told the Bangkokians would be angry and even in the face of support shown by the Bangkokians for the demonstrators the news media would still have us believe that Bangkokians are against the demonstrators.

Resist believing the media spin. Make up your own mind. It appears that the majority of the Bangkokians are giving their support.

You obviously do not live in the Bangkapi area as nowhere near the majority forget a vast one supported the thugs as they clogged the streets and made traffic even worse than it normally is. Just on our street alone there were many instances of the red shirts stopping their trucks in front of mini marts and food vendors and asking for free food and water to help support their cause it was not met kindly from the vendors that told us they saw a greater than 70% drop in business today over a normal Saturday.

So your view might be your personal experiences but they differ greatly than my wife and I's personal experiences today.

[jayboy]

After all the rest pointed out so much that would explain WHY people would expect violence out of the reds and your little quip making seem like I would be disappointed by trouble not occuring changed the whole meaning of what was written.

I'm so sorry.I misunderstood your meaning.If you are in fact not disappointed that the demonstrations passed off peacefully that does represent progress of a kind.I suppose I was thrown off by your statement that you still expected trouble.

[RandyWhite]

Dr. Taksin is quoted in The Nation today, "I apologise to the people of Bangkok for the traffic congestion but it would never ease until the red shirts win and I will return to solve the problem with sufficient subways and trains,"

Clearly this demonstration is not about democracy, rights for the poor, or anythin but returning Taksin to power. There are lots of poor (most working two jobs) in Bankok who are being hurt, needlessly, because of curtailled retail. If it slows down enough, many may be made redundant. They are not getting money handouts to participate in this charade. If the cause truely were democracy and/or rights of the poor, it would be acceptable but it's not.

Thaksin's record on mass transit: zero new km. of mass transit

Abhisit: Three so far and breaking ground on at least one new major extension from Bang Sue to Bang Yai (approx. 25 km.)

[Oldvisitor]

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday questioned fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra's self-proclaimed role as leader of the "lowly peasants" in the red shirts' class war.

The yellows should have been making this point from the very beginning.

Thaksin is a billionaire. With a "b".

Scratch that. That's billionaire with a capital "B".

It's ridiculous that he is trying to come off as the defender of the poor and downtrodden. If he cared so much about the poor in Thailand, why didn't he donate a significant portion of his vast fortune when he first entered office?

Have you seen how much money has been pumped into 3rd world countries for decades? There are still the same....

Where did the money go? To the corrupt leaders...

As long as Thailand has no real democratic system WITHOUT ANY corrupt official, it will not move forward, only for those who have money to do so.

Democracy in an Asian country is hard to do anyway, because Asian mentality is totally different, than that from a Westerner.

[wayfarer108]

Resist believing the media spin. Make up your own mind. It appears that the majority of the Bangkokians are giving their support.

And resist your spin. I've seen nothing of the kind here in Bangkok where I make my home. The vast majority of Bangkokians are ignoring the parade.

[wayfarer108]

Watching the parade in Bangkok now, one get's the idea that the vast part of the Bangkokians support the movement. They seem to be very supportive of the demonstrators. They are waving the hands and cheering the demonstrators on.

Very interesting we were told the Bangkokians would be angry and even in the face of support shown by the Bangkokians for the demonstrators the news media would still have us believe that Bangkokians are against the demonstrators.

Resist believing the media spin. Make up your own mind. It appears that the majority of the Bangkokians are giving their support.

You obviously do not live in the Bangkapi area as nowhere near the majority forget a vast one supported the thugs as they clogged the streets and made traffic even worse than it normally is. Just on our street alone there were many instances of the red shirts stopping their trucks in front of mini marts and food vendors and asking for free food and water to help support their cause it was not met kindly from the vendors that told us they saw a greater than 70% drop in business today over a normal Saturday.

So your view might be your personal experiences but they differ greatly than my wife and I's personal experiences today.

Could be khunjamespittman lives in an area populated by Isan folk Many of the neighbourhoods on the route were chosen because they passed through areas believed to be sympathetic to the reds because of high Isan presence. The area they passed where native Bangkokians live and work, including Chinatown and Asoke, elicited no applause. On my block I heard a man walking down the street with another man refer to the passing rednecks as khwia (water buffalo crossed with water monitor). Most people simply went about their business paying scant attention to the red hordes.

Edited March 20, 2010 by wayfarer108

[asiawatcher]

Abhisit's doing great. Hard to do good in this environment, politically or economically. Thaksin saying "you" robbed me of 40M Baht. Ha! More like he robbed it from the citizens of Thailand...he did earn money because he has a brain. He is dang smart. Too bad he opted to use corruption to enhance his wealth instead of good ol' business logic...not so smart after all I guess? Can't wait until he fades away...

And losing 76BN here and 136BN in UK, makes me think the guys not that smart at all... But fading he is .. and soon.

[Old Man River]

Abhisit's doing great. Hard to do good in this environment, politically or economically. Thaksin saying "you" robbed me of 40M Baht. Ha! More like he robbed it from the citizens of Thailand...he did earn money because he has a brain. He is dang smart. Too bad he opted to use corruption to enhance his wealth instead of good ol' business logic...not so smart after all I guess? Can't wait until he fades away...

And losing 76BN here and 136BN in UK, makes me think the guys not that smart at all... But fading he is .. and soon.

For the record, there is absolutely no proof that Thaksin had any assets seized in the UK. None, whatsoever.

Whether he is smart or not is purely subjective, but few would disagree that he is greedy. I would also think he is fading, but we have counted him out so many times and here we are still talking about him. He has more lives than the proverbial cat.

[Thanh-BKK]

Thaksin's record on mass transit: zero new km. of mass transit

Abhisit: Three so far and breaking ground on at least one new major extension from Bang Sue to Bang Yai (approx. 25 km.)

Hi

The BTS extension On Nut - Samrong appears to be almost finished, too. However, to be fair, construction on that started before Abhisit.....

Regards.....

Thanh

[gemini81]

Abhisit's doing great. Hard to do good in this environment, politically or economically. Thaksin saying "you" robbed me of 40M Baht. Ha! More like he robbed it from the citizens of Thailand...he did earn money because he has a brain. He is dang smart. Too bad he opted to use corruption to enhance his wealth instead of good ol' business logic...not so smart after all I guess? Can't wait until he fades away...

And losing 76BN here and 136BN in UK, makes me think the guys not that smart at all... But fading he is .. and soon.

For the record, there is absolutely no proof that Thaksin had any assets seized in the UK. None, whatsoever.

Whether he is smart or not is purely subjective, but few would disagree that he is greedy. I would also think he is fading, but we have counted him out so many times and here we are still talking about him. He has more lives than the proverbial cat.

They froze $4.2 billion of his assets. what do you mean no proof?

[Americanperspective]

Abhisit's doing great. Hard to do good in this environment, politically or economically. Thaksin saying "you" robbed me of 40M Baht. Ha! More like he robbed it from the citizens of Thailand...he did earn money because he has a brain. He is dang smart. Too bad he opted to use corruption to enhance his wealth instead of good ol' business logic...not so smart after all I guess? Can't wait until he fades away...

Tak Sin is like a sponge. One can only sqeeze from him what he has already sucked away from you.

[rametindallas]

Abhisit's doing great. Hard to do good in this environment, politically or economically. Thaksin saying "you" robbed me of 40M Baht. Ha! More like he robbed it from the citizens of Thailand...he did earn money because he has a brain. He is dang smart. Too bad he opted to use corruption to enhance his wealth instead of good ol' business logic...not so smart after all I guess? Can't wait until he fades away...

And losing 76BN here and 136BN in UK, makes me think the guys not that smart at all... But fading he is .. and soon.

For the record, there is absolutely no proof that Thaksin had any assets seized in the UK. None, whatsoever.

Whether he is smart or not is purely subjective, but few would disagree that he is greedy. I would also think he is fading, but we have counted him out so many times and here we are still talking about him. He has more lives than the proverbial cat.

http://www.plushasia.com/article/1353

Thaksin down to his last US$500 million?

by The Nation, Asia News Network|15 March 2010

Ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was believed to have US$5 billion (S$7.2 billion) of overseas assets in nominal value as stock markets were peaking, oil was trading at US$140 a barrel and Middle East real estate was going up every day. But, with the collapse of the global financial markets and the commodity prices, Thaksin's core money is now believed to be worth not more than US$500 million.

"By my calculations, the core money is not worth much more than US$500 million at today's liquidation value, and Thaksin's capacity to hold on to the debt is diminishing fast, by the day. So, in brief, his net worth has declined from a notional figure of US$5 billion to the present value of US$500 million," said the international financier, who asked not to be named.

Much worse, the UK government has frozen about US$4.2 billion in assets believed to belong to ex-prime minister Thaksin shortly after it revoked his and Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra's visas in November, according to local and international money managers.

The UK authorities normally give the "beneficiary owners" of the frozen assets six months to step forward to declare ownership. If the authorities are satisfied with the evidence, they release the assets back to the beneficiary owners.

Earlier, Arabian-business.com reported that the UK has frozen US$4 billion of Thaksin's assets. "The UK froze his reputed US$4 billion of assets, forcing him to sell Manchester City to Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour. To add to his troubles, his UK visa was revoked - oh, and his wife divorced him last week," the Arabianbusiness report said.

Yet so far nobody has come out to confirm or deny this report.

Of the US$4.2 billion being frozen by the UK authorities, US$1.4 billion represents Thaksin's core money, plus US$40 million in futures trading margin, US$300 million in Swiss bank core money excluding margin money and US$300 million core money in Dubai. The rest is debt.

The total contracts of his oil, rice and gold future...exceeded US$450 million.They are now at risk of being liquidated because of the adverse market conditions.

In relation to the downsizing of Mr.Thaksin's assets.Thaksin's real problem, however, is to prove that the source of money in the UK and Switzerland is credible, without which a big chunk of his assets will be frozen for quite a while. Having too many offshore companies with bearer shares is not helping matters in an environment where he has been convicted and jumped bail.

[connel707]

Abhisit's doing great. Hard to do good in this environment, politically or economically. Thaksin saying "you" robbed me of 40M Baht. Ha! More like he robbed it from the citizens of Thailand...he did earn money because he has a brain. He is dang smart. Too bad he opted to use corruption to enhance his wealth instead of good ol' business logic...not so smart after all I guess? Can't wait until he fades away...

My Thai wife tells me and so does what I have read, that Thaskin made his money BEFORE entering parliament fom companies he owned. I believe he sold a brewery to Singapore (Tiger Lager ??? ) and also a telecommunications company.

Don't know if what i have read is fact or fiction tho

Your Thai wife is very wrong...is she from Issan..?

[connel707]

"He said he had seen contrasting photos in a newspaper of protesters sleeping on the road and of Thaksin and his children in a foreign country."

isn't that your typical dumbnut class warrior rhetoric?

and it seems to be the quintessence and sole argument here.

Truth hurts...right..!!

[whiterussian]

Thaksin was wealthy before entering parliament for sure. But he made his really big bucks after entering...I believe his wealth doubled after he became PM. This link is an excellent source of info. Worth a read for sure. Not sure if it is biased or not...anybody else have a better source of his history?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaksin_Shinawatra

Here is one also:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1108114.stm

Wasn't difficult! the markets went crazy, he sold his company just at the right time... maybe a tad too early..

How can anyone trump the dude who brought mobiles to Thailand, it was all jungle drums before.

anyway.. no doubt he caught the recent bottom of the market also. Probably shorted it down as well.

Confusious say best way to earn large fortune is start with small fortune!

Edited March 20, 2010 by whiterussian

[yoshiwara]

Pass the bag Alice.

You are just looking for cute ways to back up your hero Thaksin.

Looking for the high ground when you are an ideological bagman for Thaksin can't be easy.

Another example of the irritated apologists for authoritarianism, disappointed there was a non violent and peaceful assembly.

And when in doubt drag in Thaksin (the normal substitute for hard thinking about a complex subject), accuse your critics of being in his pay or in this case an "ideological bagman."

Elsewhere on this forum I have pointed out that the red violence last Songkran prevented Thaksin's forces from doing the same this time round as their reputation preceded them.

Thaksin's apologists might like to be congratulated for not doing the same this time, but their constraint was enforced by prior events, not by their own good will.

The Thaksin apologists have a difficult task in convincing anybody that they are inherently peaceful.

Though they might convince their own dwindling band.

One point to add.

Forum readers may have noticed that Thaksin apologists always totally ignore accusations of violence in Bangkok and Pattaya/Jomtien by the reds last Songkran.

Now why is that?

They will normally defend their side.

So what is different about last Songkran?

The difference is that Thaksin has now denied/lied that it was the reds who did it.

Only 'pretend' reds.

Even the Thaksin apologists are too ashamed to peddle this nonsense.

So they look away.

They have 2 persona: parrots and silent parrots.

When it comes to the Songkran violence they are silent parrots.

[shawndoc]

Well Thaksin was educated in Texas. You can't really expect much from him.

Where you were educated has nothing to do with personal or political agenda's. Be kind with your words for you may offend someone.

Texas Grad.

Apparently everything is bigger in Texas except for one's sense of humor.

[mazeltov]

"He said he had seen contrasting photos in a newspaper of protesters sleeping on the road and of Thaksin and his children in a foreign country."

isn't that your typical dumbnut class warrior rhetoric?

and it seems to be the quintessence and sole argument here.

Truth hurts...right..!!

everybody knows that Thaksin has some money. so what is the point?

[Pakboong]

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday questioned fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra's self-proclaimed role as leader of the "lowly peasants" in the red shirts' class war.

The yellows should have been making this point from the very beginning.

Thaksin is a billionaire. With a "b".

Scratch that. That's billionaire with a capital "B".

It's ridiculous that he is trying to come off as the defender of the poor and downtrodden. If he cared so much about the poor in Thailand, why didn't he donate a significant portion of his vast fortune when he first entered office?

Have you seen how much money has been pumped into 3rd world countries for decades? There are still the same....

Where did the money go? To the corrupt leaders...

As long as Thailand has no real democratic system WITHOUT ANY corrupt official, it will not move forward, only for those who have money to do so.

Democracy in an Asian country is hard to do anyway, because Asian mentality is totally different, than that from a Westerner.

Is it fortunate or unfortunate that one's place on the economic food chain is self determined?

[CLOD]

Pass the bag Alice.

You are just looking for cute ways to back up your hero Thaksin.

Looking for the high ground when you are an ideological bagman for Thaksin can't be easy.

Another example of the irritated apologists for authoritarianism, disappointed there was a non violent and peaceful assembly.

And when in doubt drag in Thaksin (the normal substitute for hard thinking about a complex subject), accuse your critics of being in his pay or in this case an "ideological bagman."

Elsewhere on this forum I have pointed out that the red violence last Songkran prevented Thaksin's forces from doing the same this time round as their reputation preceded them.

Thaksin's apologists might like to be congratulated for not doing the same this time, but their constraint was enforced by prior events, not by their own good will.

The Thaksin apologists have a difficult task in convincing anybody that they are inherently peaceful.

Though they might convince their own dwindling band.

One point to add.

Forum readers may have noticed that Thaksin apologists always totally ignore accusations of violence in Bangkok and Pattaya/Jomtien by the reds last Songkran.

Now why is that?

They will normally defend their side.

So what is different about last Songkran?

The difference is that Thaksin has now denied/lied that it was the reds who did it.

Only 'pretend' reds.

Even the Thaksin apologists are too ashamed to peddle this nonsense.

So they look away.

They have 2 persona: parrots and silent parrots.

When it comes to the Songkran violence they are silent parrots.

The difference is the REDS ( thats the Rural Electoral democracy Supporters ) were innocent, it was appointed abisits blue shirts wot caused all the trouble.

[ThaksinKharma]

Pass the bag Alice.

You are just looking for cute ways to back up your hero Thaksin.

Looking for the high ground when you are an ideological bagman for Thaksin can't be easy.

Another example of the irritated apologists for authoritarianism, disappointed there was a non violent and peaceful assembly.

And when in doubt drag in Thaksin (the normal substitute for hard thinking about a complex subject), accuse your critics of being in his pay or in this case an "ideological bagman."

Elsewhere on this forum I have pointed out that the red violence last Songkran prevented Thaksin's forces from doing the same this time round as their reputation preceded them.

Thaksin's apologists might like to be congratulated for not doing the same this time, but their constraint was enforced by prior events, not by their own good will.

The Thaksin apologists have a difficult task in convincing anybody that they are inherently peaceful.

Though they might convince their own dwindling band.

One point to add.

Forum readers may have noticed that Thaksin apologists always totally ignore accusations of violence in Bangkok and Pattaya/Jomtien by the reds last Songkran.

Now why is that?

They will normally defend their side.

So what is different about last Songkran?

The difference is that Thaksin has now denied/lied that it was the reds who did it.

Only 'pretend' reds.

Even the Thaksin apologists are too ashamed to peddle this nonsense.

So they look away.

They have 2 persona: parrots and silent parrots.

When it comes to the Songkran violence they are silent parrots.

The difference is the REDS ( thats the Rural Electoral democracy Supporters ) were innocent, it was appointed abisits blue shirts wot caused all the trouble.

There's some solid confirmation that your assertions are correct, yoshiwara.

Never seems to be a shortage of them wanting to desperately change history.

[CLOD]

There's some solid confirmation that your assertions are correct, yoshiwara.

Never seems to be a shortage of them wanting to desperately change history.

You must mean the junta appointed government and the junta appointed judiciary frantically trying to whitewash thai democracy history

[ThaksinKharma]

Many people thought there would be violence. Why? Do the names Arisman and Sae Daeng ring a bell with you? Do you remember Songkran last year? Chiang Mai? The published threats?

I STILL expect trouble before this is said and done. The government did a good job of suggesting people stay off the streets AND the reds backed off their plan to mess with the skytrain and subway. If they tie things up on Monday I think i will very likely get uglier.

As for "hoping for trouble", there are certainly unstable people all over. Most of them seem to be Reds though.

Speaking of Arisman, if, as reported, his bail is revoked tomorrow for his Pattaya ASEAN invasion, it could well lead to violence again as he has threatened to have 2,000 red shirts descend on the Pattaya police station if he is apprehended.

[animatic]

"He said he had seen contrasting photos in a newspaper of protesters sleeping on the road and of Thaksin and his children in a foreign country."

isn't that your typical dumbnut class warrior rhetoric?

and it seems to be the quintessence and sole argument here.

Truth hurts...right..!!

So you are parroting the Red Line word for word now.

OR are you writing the Red lines yourself...

Clod are you Jaturporn himself?

Assistant #1 maybe...

you seem awfully insync with everything they do.

And flaming seems your S.O.P. 'Dumbnut' eh, very nice and classy too... NOT.

Flaming and distraction too. Seems you are a 2 note symphony to your own ideas

and nothing else.

[moresomekl]

Abhisit's doing great. Hard to do good in this environment, politically or economically. Thaksin saying "you" robbed me of 40M Baht. Ha! More like he robbed it from the citizens of Thailand...he did earn money because he has a brain. He is dang smart. Too bad he opted to use corruption to enhance his wealth instead of good ol' business logic...not so smart after all I guess? Can't wait until he fades away...

My Thai wife tells me and so does what I have read, that Thaskin made his money BEFORE entering parliament fom companies he owned. I believe he sold a brewery to Singapore (Tiger Lager ??? ) and also a telecommunications company.

Don't know if what i have read is fact or fiction tho

Your Thai wife is very wrong...is she from Issan..?

Thaksin was very rich already BEFORE becoming thai PM . Even the thai supreme court agree on that . He became even richer after becoming PM .

[ThaksinKharma]

He went from a baht billionaire to a British sterling billionaire... during a time the pound was 72 baht.

[moresomekl]

He went from a baht billionaire to a British sterling billionaire... during a time the pound was 72 baht.

Well beeing the CEO of a big multinational and beeing PM of Thailand does not

obey to the same rules as Thaksin found out a bit too late

[craigt3365]

Abhisit's doing great. Hard to do good in this environment, politically or economically. Thaksin saying "you" robbed me of 40M Baht. Ha! More like he robbed it from the citizens of Thailand...he did earn money because he has a brain. He is dang smart. Too bad he opted to use corruption to enhance his wealth instead of good ol' business logic...not so smart after all I guess? Can't wait until he fades away...

My Thai wife tells me and so does what I have read, that Thaskin made his money BEFORE entering parliament fom companies he owned. I believe he sold a brewery to Singapore (Tiger Lager ??? ) and also a telecommunications company.

Don't know if what i have read is fact or fiction tho

Your Thai wife is very wrong...is she from Issan..?

Obviously she is right...and what are you inferring anyway? What does Issan have to do with this? We just moved here from the US.

[mca]

As a slight aside my wife's friend visited us last night for a chat.

Some of her staff had taken leave to attend the rally in Bangkok and prior to their departure attended a meeting of about 200 protesters. She went along to see what makes them tick.

Apparently Thaksin was hardly mentioned but there was some extremely derogatory language being thrown around (which I can't repeat but I can assure you in Thai it was very rude) regarding somebody to the vast approval of the crowd by her account.

[craigt3365]

Abhisit's doing great. Hard to do good in this environment, politically or economically. Thaksin saying "you" robbed me of 40M Baht. Ha! More like he robbed it from the citizens of Thailand...he did earn money because he has a brain. He is dang smart. Too bad he opted to use corruption to enhance his wealth instead of good ol' business logic...not so smart after all I guess? Can't wait until he fades away...

And losing 76BN here and 136BN in UK, makes me think the guys not that smart at all... But fading he is .. and soon.

For the record, there is absolutely no proof that Thaksin had any assets seized in the UK. None, whatsoever.

Whether he is smart or not is purely subjective, but few would disagree that he is greedy. I would also think he is fading, but we have counted him out so many times and here we are still talking about him. He has more lives than the proverbial cat.

http://www.plushasia.com/article/1353

Wow...that's an interesting article. Especially this part:

Much worse, over the past two years, Thaksin has been actively making business deals that have turned sour to the extent that he is now desperate to reclaim his frozen assets in Thailand.

"Before Thaksin had more money in the overseas than his Bt76 billion frozen in Thailand. He could just easily walk away from his Thai assets. But now most of his overseas investment has been blown away. He has lost his money badly in the futures trading.

"Thaksin is bound to lose money in his investment because he only looks at the upside gains and never knows when to stop."

A local money manager with experience in international finance discussing Thaksin's investment style.

My good guess is that he has only in the Bt10-billion range left. So he is rather desperate to try to get hold of his frozen assets in Thailand. But that will not be easy now," said a local money manager who has extensive experience in international finance.

"Thaksin is bound to lose money in his investment because he only looks at the upside gains and never knows when to stop," he added.

On Wednesday, Thai Rath, a local mass daily, hinted that Thaksin might decide to fly into Thailand soon in order to salvage his sagging political base, with the defection of Newin Chidchob, the political kingmaker, and the possibility of the breaking apart of the Pheu Thai Party.