PM Ahbisit - Has The Government Lost Control

[clockworkorange]

By what criteria could anyone consider Abhisit to be a decent person or good guy? He started his campaign of censorship and suppression the day he took office. He boldly lied to the entire world about the Rohinga refugee murders and mistreatment. Now he is letting the entire country crumble because he is too egotistical to do the right thing. The only thing he has actually accomplished since taking office is to find ways to silence any opposing viewpoints. He would be a good politician in the USA. He says what sounds good to people and then completely fails to follow through.

now Mr 4 posts

to clear this up, the policy on the Rohinga was Thaksin's creation, its well documented, and as soon as Abhisit became aware of it, it was stopped

please check your facts before posting slanderous untrue comments

Saying that the Rohinga affair isn't Abhisit's fault is like saying that a ship's captain shouldn't be held accountable when the ship runs aground.

Accountability goes with the job. The Rohinga affair happened well within Abhisit's tenure, and for you to say that it is all Thaksin's fault is absurd.

Unless, of course, Abhisit isn't really in charge, which increasingly seems to be the case.

[Brocher]

By what criteria could anyone consider Abhisit to be a decent person or good guy? He started his campaign of censorship and suppression the day he took office. He boldly lied to the entire world about the Rohinga refugee murders and mistreatment. Now he is letting the entire country crumble because he is too egotistical to do the right thing. The only thing he has actually accomplished since taking office is to find ways to silence any opposing viewpoints. He would be a good politician in the USA. He says what sounds good to people and then completely fails to follow through.

now Mr 4 posts

to clear this up, the policy on the Rohinga was Thaksin's creation, its well documented, and as soon as Abhisit became aware of it, it was stopped

please check your facts before posting slanderous untrue comments

slanderous untrue comments

Standard fare from the Red Shirts and many of their farang supporters as well

[clockworkorange]

Thailand already loss a great leader Thaksin.

Mark is the only great leader Thailand have left.

Look around you, there is no other alternatives.

Hence please do not suspend Mark for 5 years. Please.

Umm - earlier you said that you hated Thaksin, now you mourn the loss of him as a graet leader. Make up your mind. And what of this great leader Abhisit, that his own army and police forces are so publicly disunited? Hardly another Churchill.

I do agree with you that Thailand needs strong leadeship now though, and that leadership is thin on the ground at the moment.

[rixalex]

The woman quizzing Abhisit on the BBC kept nagging him about not being 'democratically elected' and I was pleased he came back with the retort that he HAD been democratically elected 7 times, more than Thaksin.

The blatant misleading inaccuracies and mistruths from Bedawi in her questioning was embarrassing, as was her habit of interrupting unnecessarily when her question was being answered. Abhisit did ok. Not great, and i didn't buy his reasoning that they were getting on top of the problem with the protests. It's clear that little progress is being made. How that can be solved when the police and the army are in such disarray i have no idea.

[bendejo]

It would seem the PM is just timidly doing nothing, but I think there are things going on that are not going to be mentioned in print, things involving fortune tellers, mysticism and the like.

Taksin was known to have a bunch of fortune tellers, and remember the reds' cursing ceremonies? Does the PM have his own soothsayers telling him Taksin will soon be departing, or H1N1 will overtake the rabble?

On the other hand maybe the PM has been simply waiting for the rains, thinking a good torrent will clear the streets.

I still have the impression Abhisit is waiting for a military coup to rescue him from this. He sure as hel_l has dropped enough hints! Maybe this political solution he claims to be working on has something to do with Taksin's flunkies, trying to get the man in private jet to tell his goons to go home. I don't doubt they can find a few rats in the red ranks, but I think they know they won't be around long enough to spend the betrayal money.

All just my opinion.

[Motoon]

First of all, I don't think that Abhisit lost control. In order to loose it you must first have it. He comes across as a decent guy with a clear articulated vision but he never struck me as being in full control. With guys like Suthep, Sanan and Newin around, you know who the "players" are. It certainly appears the Government has gradually lost control and the window of opportunity to reverse that trend is almost closed. There still could be a few twists though.

[plachon]

yesterday in parliament session, Chalerm said it was pointless to grill Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as "he led the only democratic government in the world tainted by bloodshed".

i thought the reds said the government weren't DEMOCRATIC??

now Phua Thai MP Chalerm says they are??

wasn't that democracy thing something that the reds were fighting for ?

now Chalerm says they already have it?

is it time for the reds to to go home then?

oh sorry, for a moment, i forgot that the red version of democracy is much different to the regular version of democracy

Glad to know that Chalerm and his murderous sons have clean hands!

I think for the record I would like to state that one of Chalerm's sons shot and killed a policeman in a night club. Chalerm's wealth and corruption assured that his son was not tried and imprisoned for murder. As for Chavalit, he oversaw quite recently the use of military teargas against the yellow shirts. The canisters exploded ripping of limbs of protesters and killing a young lady. Both Chalerm and Chavalit have blood on their dirty hands and represent the ugly and corrupt side of old Thai politics.

It should not be forgotten also that Chavalit's hands are tainted with the blood of hundreds, if not thousands, of Burmese students who came for shelter and asylum in Thailand, but he forcibly sent back over the border into the hands of the junta. Their subsequent fates included death, toruture, imprisonment, rape and many disappearances. Just the sort of man fit to be a democratic prime minister for the Reds. Senility is his most endearing feature.

[animatic]

By what criteria could anyone consider Abhisit to be a decent person or good guy?

If you were here in May 1992, you would not have to ask.

Most leaders take these things personally and try to crush the opposition. Abhisit has done everything possible to avoid using a heavy hand despite pressure from his own people.

I understand the frustration of the reds, but Abhisit is trying to keep things from spinning out of control and really damaging the country.

Nice post UG.

I don't always agree with UG, sometimes I REALLY disagree,

but this post is clear concise and hits the points perfectly.

[animatic]

By what criteria could anyone consider Abhisit to be a decent person or good guy? He started his campaign of censorship and suppression the day he took office. He boldly lied to the entire world about the Rohinga refugee murders and mistreatment. Now he is letting the entire country crumble because he is too egotistical to do the right thing. The only thing he has actually accomplished since taking office is to find ways to silence any opposing viewpoints. He would be a good politician in the USA. He says what sounds good to people and then completely fails to follow through.

now Mr 4 posts

to clear this up, the policy on the Rohinga was Thaksin's creation, its well documented, and as soon as Abhisit became aware of it, it was stopped

please check your facts before posting slanderous untrue comments

Saying that the Rohinga affair isn't Abhisit's fault is like saying that a ship's captain shouldn't be held accountable when the ship runs aground.

Accountability goes with the job. The Rohinga affair happened well within Abhisit's tenure, and for you to say that it is all Thaksin's fault is absurd.

Unless, of course, Abhisit isn't really in charge, which increasingly seems to be the case.

Not Thaksin's but Samak and Somchai's left over dirty laundry.

Abhisit didn't know this policy was in place until he got hit with it.

I have suspected it was a sleeping virus planted as a going away present.

[gatorsoft]

yeah, the ugly and corrupt side of new Thai politics is such an improvement. Abhisit is about 26 years late, but I guess double-speak and thought police are better late than never. How does elimination of freedom of press and speech equate to democratic?

So do you think it's ok for a Red Shirt channel to broadcast a doctored tape of Abhisit? You think it's ok for them to whip up hatred with their inflaming rhetoric, just like the Hutus in Rwanda before the mass killings there? You think that's permissible 'freedom of speech'?

Yes, I do. Freedom is not freedom when you start putting personal qualifications on it. If you truly believe in freedom, you have to believe that freedom applies to your worst enemy.

[rixalex]

Yes, I do. Freedom is not freedom when you start putting personal qualifications on it. If you truly believe in freedom, you have to believe that freedom applies to your worst enemy.

Wake up. Freedom of speech is not unconditional in any country.

[clockworkorange]

Abhisit declares to the world that he will step down if his presence were a threat to the security of the Thailand.

In hanging on, he still clings on to the belief that he is part of the solution, when in fact he is part of the problem.

And your solution? Get rid of one of the best PMs Thailand has had in a long time and replace him with a stand in for one of the most corrupt PMs ever?

Squareface wants rid of him before he has a proper chance to prove how well a decent, honest Thai politician can run the country in the interests of ALL it's citizens, not just for a criminal gang controlled by Thaksin.

The woman quizzing Abhisit on the BBC kept nagging him about not being 'democratically elected' and I was pleased he came back with the retort that he HAD been democratically elected 7 times, more than Thaksin.

Well Abhisit may be the best PM in your opinion, which you are entitled to. The problem is that so few people around the world, and a major chunk of the Thai public, don't believe his flimsy rationalisations and squirming excuses on how he got installed into his job. People smell a rat.

Now, if there were to be civil unrest uprising against a democratically elected civilian government, you would expect at least a few of Thailand's major allies and trading partners to voice support for the government. Not so with Abhisit - he has a credibility crisis that that he could so easily solve by calling a snap election and getting a decisive mandate from the Thai electorate. Thailand and the world is not behind him, and don't seem to believe his waffling implications that he deserves his job and that his tenure is legitimate. In refusing to hold an election, he adds credence to those who accuse him and say that he stole his seat from another and refuses to put it to a democratic test.

If Abhisit is a popular as he claims, then why is he so afraid to hold an election?

Of course, if Abhisit goes, then there may well be a new PM that you don't like. That's unfortunate for you, but if it is what the Thai electorate wants, then in a democratic society so be it.

[bendejo]

The woman quizzing Abhisit on the BBC kept nagging him about not being 'democratically elected' and I was pleased he came back with the retort that he HAD been democratically elected 7 times, more than Thaksin.

The blatant misleading inaccuracies and mistruths from Bedawi in her questioning was embarrassing, as was her habit of interrupting unnecessarily when her question was being answered. Abhisit did ok. Not great, and i didn't buy his reasoning that they were getting on top of the problem with the protests. It's clear that little progress is being made. How that can be solved when the police and the army are in such disarray i have no idea.

Yeah, Zeinab is not good at the Hardtalk thing. She copies Steve Sackur's style of just being naggingly difficult, as opposed to asking the hard questions and getting the guest to answer them. That thing with asking a question and then cutting them off after a few words is her hard style. Tim Sebastian is better at it.

[animatic]

.... Chavalit's... Senility is his most endearing feature. ..

Can't make this stuff up.

[LindsayBKK]

The government is in Control,

but The Military have been given the power of the street's so they are the one's who are dragging their feet.

Only after 20-30 dead red shirts could they be taken seriously.

General Watermelon being paid by Thaksin?

Just goes to show the power of Thaksin Lobbying BBC, CNN etc.

The questions were so one sided it wasn’t just funny but ridiculous.

(yes i watch Hard Talk frequently) Stephen Sackur would have done a better job.

Hard Talk showed they have no political knowledge regarding Thailand and it’s history.

The previous TRT party failed when they had power with how many Temp PM’s? 4 or 5? The Thai house took a stand and

knew Thailand would have no future if it did not change course but now Abhisit is in the hot seat they are jealous he is gaining popularity.

Thaksin has Prostate cancer but of course BBC has not mentioned that yet.

Hard Talk did not ask questions regarding Red Shirt terror tactics did she? Did she ask about the M79′s found, bombs planted around the city, anything? no.

The Red Shirt have no credibility at all with a leader who pays terrorists to do his dirty work for him.

Lucky Thaksin didn’t pay his Shin-Corp taxes otherwise he may still be PM.

P.S Soldier shot a few days ago in Bangkok was NOT Friendly Fire, CNN got it wrong, BBC wrong.

Red Shirts don’t have guns do they. nahhhhhhhhhhh

Edited April 30, 2010 by LindsayBKK

[gatorsoft]

Yes, I do. Freedom is not freedom when you start putting personal qualifications on it. If you truly believe in freedom, you have to believe that freedom applies to your worst enemy.

Wake up. Freedom of speech is not unconditional in any country.

Wake yourself up. When the PM gets to decide where the line gets drawn you're under a dictatorship, plain and simple. Just as the selective enforcement of the emergency decree reveals the same.

[whybother]

Can we start a new topic: Red shirt leaders have lost control.

One of the leaders organises an invasion of a hospital, and all the other leaders can do is say "Sorry, It wasn't us".

[clockworkorange]

The woman quizzing Abhisit on the BBC kept nagging him about not being 'democratically elected' and I was pleased he came back with the retort that he HAD been democratically elected 7 times, more than Thaksin.

The blatant misleading inaccuracies and mistruths from Bedawi in her questioning was embarrassing, as was her habit of interrupting unnecessarily when her question was being answered. Abhisit did ok. Not great, and i didn't buy his reasoning that they were getting on top of the problem with the protests. It's clear that little progress is being made. How that can be solved when the police and the army are in such disarray i have no idea.

You obviously have never watched BBC's Hard Talk. It's famous for pinning down politicians by interrupting their waffle and demanding straight answers to straight questions. Abhisit knew what he was letting himself in for when he agreed to do the interview, but still could not give convincing answers. There was nothing unusual about the way that Abhisit was questioned.

[gatorsoft]

By what criteria could anyone consider Abhisit to be a decent person or good guy? He started his campaign of censorship and suppression the day he took office. He boldly lied to the entire world about the Rohinga refugee murders and mistreatment. Now he is letting the entire country crumble because he is too egotistical to do the right thing. The only thing he has actually accomplished since taking office is to find ways to silence any opposing viewpoints. He would be a good politician in the USA. He says what sounds good to people and then completely fails to follow through.

now Mr 4 posts

to clear this up, the policy on the Rohinga was Thaksin's creation, its well documented, and as soon as Abhisit became aware of it, it was stopped

please check your facts before posting slanderous untrue comments

slanderous untrue comments

Standard fare from the Red Shirts and many of their farang supporters as well

I stand by my "sladerous untrue" (and repetitively redundant) comments. He lied to the entire world and then helped facilitate a cover-up while promising to bring the truth to light. Nothing slanderous or untrue in that statement whatsoever.

[zorm999]

As for whether Abhisit has lost control.... is a snake's *sshole close to the ground?!

Of course he has lost control. That is why we are all pissed off. Why, for God's sake is the City under siege?

Next ridiculous question please....

Ummm, the city is under siege because the RED SHIRTS think it's the appropriate way to make a political point.

By expecting Abhisit to have to solve this problem single-handedly, you take all responsibility from the red shirts, effectively treating them like small children. You seem to see this situation as if a large group of helpless kids have made a big mess in the middle of the house and now the adult has to come along and clean it up.

What rubbish! I for one am pissed off because the red shirt leaders think it's OK to vent their anger about the system and the government (which I can understand and I support some of the things they claim to stand for) in a way that's very unfair on the people of Bangkok.

[gatorsoft]

Can we start a new topic: Red shirt leaders have lost control.

One of the leaders organises an invasion of a hospital, and all the other leaders can do is say "Sorry, It wasn't us".

An excellent point! One has to believe the red shirt leaders lost control a while ago.

[hammered]

Whatever moral highground the reds had and a while, quite a while back they did have some but now it has evaporated completely.

The government is also not in control. The reds, government, opposition and the yelklows all remain dsicredited. The problem is what does that leave? There is no solution coming form any of these groups or involving any of them as they arer all despised by large segment sof the population who will not accept any of them leading the country. Therein lies the problem

[zorm999]

I find it interesting that at the start of all this many red supporters were saying that Abhisit was a puppet of the army and the elite and that he didn't make any decisions anyway.

Now, all of them are saying it's ALL Abhisit's fault and he has blood on HIS hands.

So, which way is it?

I go for born with a silver spoon in his mouth Ammart puppet, no idea of the life poor people in Thailand have to suffer and probably no interest, interested at staying in power while the nation goes down the pan. Self centred, incompetent and like most toffs highly unpleasant. and smug, don't forget smug.

Amen. For a leader people should have someone who gets what it's like being poor. Know any billionaires that might want the job?

Nice one!

[gatorsoft]

As for whether Abhisit has lost control.... is a snake's *sshole close to the ground?!

Of course he has lost control. That is why we are all pissed off. Why, for God's sake is the City under siege?

Next ridiculous question please....

Ummm, the city is under siege because the RED SHIRTS think it's the appropriate way to make a political point.

By expecting Abhisit to have to solve this problem single-handedly, you take all responsibility from the red shirts, effectively treating them like small children. You seem to see this situation as if a large group of helpless kids have made a big mess in the middle of the house and now the adult has to come along and clean it up.

What rubbish! I for one am pissed off because the red shirt leaders think it's OK to vent their anger about the system and the government (which I can understand and I support some of the things they claim to stand for) in a way that's very unfair on the people of Bangkok.

Another excellent point. The knee-jerk reaction is to point out that the PAD did it first, but that's a pretty childish retort. As strong a libertarian as I am, freedom of speech, assembly, and expression does not give the right to viciously trample the basic rights of others no matter how pissed off you are. A strong and timely response to the PAD crimes would certainly have helped to discourage what is happening now, but that ship has sailed.

[rixalex]

You obviously have never watched BBC's Hard Talk. It's famous for pinning down politicians by interrupting their waffle and demanding straight answers to straight questions. Abhisit knew what he was letting himself in for when he agreed to do the interview, but still could not give convincing answers. There was nothing unusual about the way that Abhisit was questioned.

I was an avid watcher of the show in the days of Tim Sebastian and Steven Sakur, but my interest has tailed off in recent times as i think Bedawi, great news reader though she is, is not up to this job. Just my opinion.

Kudos to Abhisit for being prepared to attempt answering tough questions, even if some of his answers weren't convincing.

Anything is better than this:

Edited April 30, 2010 by rixalex

[barky]

Can we start a new topic: Red shirt leaders have lost control.

One of the leaders organises an invasion of a hospital, and all the other leaders can do is say "Sorry, It wasn't us".

Yes, red shirt terrorists have also lost control. It's anarchy.

[mic6ard]

he's lost control since the 1st week. Due to his inability to act, all talk and no action. He has no control over the police or the arm forces. Gen Anupong still try to keep his hand clean, ignoring the command of the PM, the police openly disobey orders and even support the UDDs,

Stop the saber rattlings and draw your swords, be a leader please. if you can't bring yourself to do something, then stand aside and let those who are willing to shed blood inorder to bring peace do something about it.

[rixalex]

Wake yourself up. When the PM gets to decide where the line gets drawn you're under a dictatorship, plain and simple.

The UK must be a dictatorship in that case, considering what happened to Abu Hamza.

[whybother]

The army just needs to poke and prod a little bit.

Go in and break down all the barracades ... then pull out and wait.

The reds will show their colours by throwing petrol bombs and grenades, and by bringing out their armoury.

[mazeltov]

Chalerm is one of the most despicable politicians in Thailand, ever. Look at his sons - one Duang, allegedly shot a policeman in cold blood and then basically got away scot free because his father was a threatening politician. If anyone is like Hitler with a warped ego, then it is Chalerm.

source?