Thai Government Hangs By A Thread

[moresomekl]

Personally, I am totally anti the concept of yet another coup. Essentially the army are at the very core of this mess.

Remember when the reds were in charge and a few thousand yellows took over the airport - what were they doing. Now we have the yellows/dems in charge and a couple of thousand storm parliament one day and takeover the satellite uplink the next. Combine that with a judiciary that will ban a political leader for having a cooking class.

The role of the military is to make Thailand's essentially democratic political system seem pusillanimous, ineffective and weak by the military itself being incompetent. As a result they feel they have a right to come in and restore 'law and order'. The problem is not the underlying democratic process but the continual attempts of the military to undermine it. And if you want to see crony capitalism at work look at the military, they make Thaksin seem like an angel.

Yes secunded .

I might be wrong of course but i dont think there will be a military coup.

The main problem for Abhisit is his impopularity in the country side .

Seems nobody really knows him there

But that is Abhisit fault not to visit the country side , talk with farmers

and so on

[WAERTH]

News blackout coming soon I think if the mobile phones are being blocked at Rajaprasong.

There already has been a news blackout all day it seems. All channels even Nation, NBT and Thaipbs only show pre-recorded stuff. No live coverage at all.

W

[RickBradford]

I suppose that in a country where one side sends monks into battle, and the other side counters with female cops, it would make perfect sense for a broken statue to be a key element in deciding who wins....

[bangkokrick]

Here is a weird one. It seems the reds Buddha image has broken in two, Being taken by some as a bad tiding. Wonder how many people believe in that kind of stuff

Far too many. Particularly country Thais.

I just asked the wife what it would mean to Thais and she looked shocked and said 'That is very bad news for the Reds'. She is from the north East by the way.

Cheers, Rick

[jdinasia]

Personally, I am totally anti the concept of yet another coup. Essentially the army are at the very core of this mess.

Remember when the reds were in charge and a few thousand yellows took over the airport - what were they doing. Now we have the yellows/dems in charge and a couple of thousand storm parliament one day and takeover the satellite uplink the next. Combine that with a judiciary that will ban a political leader for having a cooking class.

The role of the military is to make Thailand's essentially democratic political system seem pusillanimous, ineffective and weak by the military itself being incompetent. As a result they feel they have a right to come in and restore 'law and order'. The problem is not the underlying democratic process but the continual attempts of the military to undermine it. And if you want to see crony capitalism at work look at the military, they make Thaksin seem like an angel.

Yes secunded .

I might be wrong of course but i dont think there will be a military coup.

The main problem for Abhisit is his impopularity in the country side .

Seems nobody really knows him there

But that is Abhisit fault not to visit the country side , talk with farmers

and so on

LOL --- Abhisit certainly isn't unpopular in the countryside --- he is unpopular in TRT/PPP/PTP areas and is not able to visit due to violence and threats. The lies that People TV have shown repeatedly (doctored tapes etc) have fed into that. Yet another reason that a dissolution and new elections would not be democratic at this time.

BTW --- I actually go into the "countryside" in both the North and North East. His popularity isn't the issue. A small violent minority of the reds is the issue.

[brahmburgers]

Nope, the last coup was followed by elections. As for 'free and fair.....' ......that type of election doesn't yet exist in Thailand. And the Reds certainly aren't the ones who will usher in 'free and fair' elections. Even if the next elections (however they come about) were somewhat free and fair, the Reds will make a lot of ugly noise if the results aren't to their liking. Admittedly, that's also what the Yellows do from time to time. Essentially, Thai politics is controlled by a minority wearing one color shirt or another. Thailand still has a ways to go to before having free and fair elections. But another coup is not the way to get there, and am surprised that rainman advocates a coup d'etat - since he and other Red supporters have been consistently lambasting the fact that a coup took place a few years ago.

How come the dems are now in power without general election ? Because of an internal vote within a parliament doctored by the court to suit some of the elite ? Sorry that is not valid

That's how things work in a parliamentary process. Similar to democracy in the US, it's not always pretty, but it gets the job done.

Yellows are a small yet very vocal ut the PAD has been banned as a political party if am not mistaken . You see now how unfair this provision of the constitution is to voters . But if the PAD not banned or say reinstated , lets have an election and count the votes that PAD receives

I've never heard of the PAD being banned. You must be thinking of the TRT/PPP/PT or one of its current incarnations. Furthermore, no one is shy about having an election, it's just Abhisit is exercising his legal right to wait until Dec. 2011. If he chooses to enable an election earlier, then that's because he's (too) nice a guy, and is bending to the demands of his adversaries. If he were to ask me, I'd say 'no early elections. Don't bend to the demands of a vocal minority who are tossing grenades and tossing human blood on sidewalks. Hang tough, and bolster your control of security forces. And remember the Red representative who publicly denied your decent offer of having elections a year earlier than you needed to - thereby nixing that offer. Also, it was one man's decision (ok, maybe it was the decision of 2 men; Jakrabob and Thaksin), neither of whom consulted for one moment with the other two Red leaders sitting at the table at that time. If they can't even discuss things among the 3 people present on their team, how can they be expected to consult with the populace about important issues? ......so much for democracy.

[humfurry]

I suppose that in a country where one side sends monks into battle, and the other side counters with female cops, it would make perfect sense for a broken statue to be a key element in deciding who wins....

Kind of like a "My Buddha can beat your Buddha thing?" or just a bad karma thing?

[johncitizen]

The crackdown has begun.

[jdinasia]

The crackdown has begun.

I thought you were participating in the red shirt rallies? Guess not though ....

[WAERTH]

The crackdown has begun.

I thought you were participating in the red shirt rallies? Guess not though ....

How else does he know that the crackdown has begun

W

[jdinasia]

The crackdown has begun.

I thought you were participating in the red shirt rallies? Guess not though ....

How else does he know that the crackdown has begun

W

Perhaps he is saying that because the Army used watercannon at a military base to repel the red mob trying to break in? As announced in the press and here on TVF.

[anotherpeter]

The crackdown has begun.

I thought you were participating in the red shirt rallies? Guess not though ....

How else does he know that the crackdown has begun

W

Perhaps he is saying that because the Army used watercannon at a military base to repel the red mob trying to break in? As announced in the press and here on TVF.

And a good reason why the Peoples TV is shut down, when the reds attack a military base and then claim on stage that the army 'tried to kill them'.

Getting repelled is not "trying to kill". And when you attack a military base, you should be repelled.

[moresomekl]

Its not fair to the voters . Just like when Richard Nixon was impeached (he resigned days before) he was a party executive (republican party) right ? . Did the supreme court dissolve the republican party ? Had they done it , how do you think the republican voters would had reacted ???

Moreover the thai system its hypocrit , the same party can recreate itself the next day minus one or two banned executive under a new acronym , so why dissolve it in the first place .

This isn't about the USA or any other Republic. This is about Thailand. There is no law in the US that sets up a situation that you suggest.

There is nothing "hypocrit" (sic) about allowing a new party to be formed and the only people that are banned are the leadership of the party. Those that are responsible for the way the party acts as a whole.

What isn't right is that banned people like Thaksin (and yes Newin too!) stay involved in politics. The argument is that they are not acting as anything but civilian advisors but that is crap and everyone knows it.

The law of the land is that parties that have executives that are caught cheating are banned. The electorate is protected by the fact that only the executives are banned.

Now -- to the crux of the matter --- PPP could have dissolved Parliament and called new elections but they thought that they owned the loyalty of the people that had helped them in the past. They didn't. They trusted Newin, they shouldn't have. If you want to blame someone for some people being disenfranchised (not exactly true but hey ... some votes were certainly wasted!) then blame the people that cheated! There is no question about a party leader being caught making payoffs on film, so blame the party that cheated!

edit to answer "what has Thaksin to do with this?" LOL

What does Thaksin's win in 2005 have to do with anything since HE dissolved parliament after that win (to try and protect the Temasek deal and to try and protect TRT from being disbanded). Thaksin is all this is about, you know it and so does everyone else.

In a democracy its the party that comes in power that do so thru a general election . What the PPP did does not excuse whatsoever what the dems did or in this case did not . If the dems were so sure about winning general elections why they did not call for it ? If they were not , what are they doing in power ?

Nobody care about Thaksin anymore but you and a few yellows . Even the reds are not asking for his return . Its only the bread and butter of those trying to justify dictatorship .

But if you want to know about what happened after 2005 here some facts bout your heroes of the dems and their cross polination with putchists

A fact-finding panel at the Attorney-General's Office found that the Democrat Party bribed other parties to boycott the 2006 elections to force a constitutional crisis, and voted to dissolve the party. A junta tribunal acquitted Abhisit and the Democrats of the vote fraud charges, while banning Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party for similar charges. Abhisit supported the junta's 2007 Constitution, calling it an improvement on the 1997 Constitution.^[18]

Why was the dem party not dissolved then hey ?

[scorecard]

What does he expect the Soldiers to do? Shoot there own people?

Sorry Soldiers really are not trained for this kind of work and he knows it.

At the most they should back up the police force.

Nobody has or is suggesting that the soldiers shoot their own fellow Thais.

What PM Abhisit is asking them to do is to protect without undue violence. They may not be trained deeply on this subject but they can ptotect and stop the red shirt taking over a site or whatever.

I strongly admire and support PM Abhisit for many reasons and I even more strongly admire him for speaking his mind and telling the generala their work is not satisfactory. A first for a Thai PM, please give PM Abhsiist some credit for this.

[Throatwobbler]

Moresomekl.

You've been carrying on this argument about parties being dissolved, and how governments can change without elections for other three weeks now. Lots of people have answered your questions and have sent you links to other examples.

However you still don't get it. I have more joy explaining things to my cat. I for one can no longer be bothered responding to you never listen to anything. I suggest others do the same.

Well then lets just say that your arguments are not very convincing .

Neither to me nor it would seem to the majority of the thai ppl altough

that remain to be seen thru a general election. Even one poster said that

Abhisit would agree with what i said .

Hey , got an idea : Why not try to convince your cat ?

He's convinced already

[jdinasia]

Moresomekl.

You've been carrying on this argument about parties being dissolved, and how governments can change without elections for other three weeks now. Lots of people have answered your questions and have sent you links to other examples.

However you still don't get it. I have more joy explaining things to my cat. I for one can no longer be bothered responding to you never listen to anything. I suggest others do the same.

Well then lets just say that your arguments are not very convincing .

Neither to me nor it would seem to the majority of the thai ppl altough

that remain to be seen thru a general election. Even one poster said that

Abhisit would agree with what i said .

Hey , got an idea : Why not try to convince your cat ?

NOTHING suggests that "the majority of the thai ppl" think like you do. A minority seems to think whatever Thaksin tells them though.

[neverdie]

Moresomekl.

You've been carrying on this argument about parties being dissolved, and how governments can change without elections for other three weeks now. Lots of people have answered your questions and have sent you links to other examples.

However you still don't get it. I have more joy explaining things to my cat. I for one can no longer be bothered responding to you never listen to anything. I suggest others do the same.

Well then lets just say that your arguments are not very convincing .

Neither to me nor it would seem to the majority of the thai ppl altough

that remain to be seen thru a general election. Even one poster said that

Abhisit would agree with what i said .

Hey , got an idea : Why not try to convince your cat ?

He's convinced already

At least your efforts have bared some fruits

[ovaltina]

I'm joining a new group called the NightShirts, for people who are tired after a long days hard work & just want peace & quiet and a good nights sleep !

[nadavbkk]

yes its start now, near my shop in khaosan all the street salers rush and close canot know what hapand ? big panik,,,,

[moresomekl]

Moresomekl.

You've been carrying on this argument about parties being dissolved, and how governments can change without elections for other three weeks now. Lots of people have answered your questions and have sent you links to other examples.

However you still don't get it. I have more joy explaining things to my cat. I for one can no longer be bothered responding to you never listen to anything. I suggest others do the same.

[humfurry]

yes its start now, near my shop in khaosan all the street salers rush and close canot know what hapand ? big panik,,,,

I was just talking to a friend in Chidlom who had to leave her office post haste. She said it was because of the Reds... I don't see anything on the news yet? Blackout?

[animatic]

The governement under Thaksin was voted in by the people thru a parliament elected by the people .

This one is short of one general election it would seem . So lets be careful about the word authority .

Anyway Thaksin had no business shuting down TV stations , 100% concurr

ummm actually Thaksin ended up being the caretaker PM of an extra-constitutional government and was not elected at all.

Thaksin ended up the way you say after winning two general elections .

Abhisit havent even started along that path

hmmm wrong --- 2007 elections delivered NO party with the majority. Coalition governments are standard in parliamentary elections.

Abhist won his area vote, no question, he is an MP.

You MUST be an MP to be elected PM, therefore his IS elected TWICE.

[bangkokrick]

What does he expect the Soldiers to do? Shoot there own people?

Sorry Soldiers really are not trained for this kind of work and he knows it.

At the most they should back up the police force.

Nobody has or is suggesting that the soldiers shoot their own fellow Thais.

What PM Abhisit is asking them to do is to protect without undue violence. They may not be trained deeply on this subject but they can ptotect and stop the red shirt taking over a site or whatever.

I strongly admire and support PM Abhisit for many reasons and I even more strongly admire him for speaking his mind and telling the generala their work is not satisfactory. A first for a Thai PM, please give PM Abhsiist some credit for this.

I totally agree scorecard. He is showing a lot of strength in times of great pressure. I am glad that I don't have to handle a situation like this because he is in a 'damned if I do and damned if I don't situation'. If he uses force he is wrong and if he does not use force he is wrong. It's a tough one to deal with.

Cheers, Rick

[animatic]

Here is a weird one. It seems the reds Buddha image has broken in two, Being taken by some as a bad tiding. Wonder how many people believe in that kind of stuff

Far too many. Particularly country Thais.

It's an omen for sure, and is the kind to give a sense of foreboding in the average up country Somchai.

Why else did Thaksin go to such lengths to do all those rituals and have others do them for him when he wasn't here?

Because most of his chosen demographic is profoundly superstitious.

This is the kind of omen that loses wars.

Whether that will be true this time.....

[scorecard]

There is no need to dissolve a party in which milions of voters have put their trust in .

Banning the culprits , even sentencing them to jail is good enough .

I think Abhisit agrees with you. However, dissolution may not be an easy penalty to change.

Really ?

Just need to change the constitution , and really strike with upmost severity those who buy votes but not punish the voters .

Imagine for one minute , am a poor farmer and voted for PPP , suddenly my party is dissoved . For sure i will be frustrated , so

would you ....

Sure I would have some form of initial negative reaction if the person/party I voted for was barred/disbanded.

I should ask myself WHY and I should try to learn and understand WHY!

When I learn WHY, I should now be well enough informed to say that the banning/disbanding was appropriate.

I shoyud now realize that I should be angry with the person/party who has been banned/disbanded, for it is they who have given me false hope and have tricked me.

I should also now be well enough informed to realize that the system is appropriate and has provisions whicj are in fact there for my protection.

Edited April 10, 2010 by scorecard

[kissdani]

What does he expect the Soldiers to do? Shoot there own people?

Sorry Soldiers really are not trained for this kind of work and he knows it.

At the most they should back up the police force.

Nobody has or is suggesting that the soldiers shoot their own fellow Thais.

What PM Abhisit is asking them to do is to protect without undue violence. They may not be trained deeply on this subject but they can ptotect and stop the red shirt taking over a site or whatever.

I strongly admire and support PM Abhisit for many reasons and I even more strongly admire him for speaking his mind and telling the generala their work is not satisfactory. A first for a Thai PM, please give PM Abhsiist some credit for this.

[bubba]

Looks like it's getting ready to happen. Watching Thai PBS now with live coverage of police massing in several places. Loves like they are beginning to move over at Soi Ruamrudee and up Ploenchit.

[bangkokrick]

NBT showing the troops moving in on the Red sites now. Not sure where though.

Cheers, Rick

[khunjamespittman]

Moresomekl.

You've been carrying on this argument about parties being dissolved, and how governments can change without elections for other three weeks now. Lots of people have answered your questions and have sent you links to other examples.

However you still don't get it. I have more joy explaining things to my cat. I for one can no longer be bothered responding to you never listen to anything. I suggest others do the same.

Where are all these examples? All I've seen is the repetition of a Parlimentary vote and coups.

It is rather isane to use the coup example because by definition a coup is illegal.

When an government is removed it is customary to hold a national referendum to here the will of the people in selecting a government to represent them.

Stop with your silly repetitions and show a real example if you know of one. So far everyone has been silent on this.

[beejoir]

Yeah, same in Wireless, got a Military Helicopter buzzing around.