Thailand grants citizenship to half a million people – but not farangs

[gemini81]

they were welcomed home? Does that mean they offered free garbage DELIVERY for all of their neighbors, that oughta make 'em feel at home. Was beginning to think the red camp in BKK wasn't trashed enough for 'em.

[cyberia]

Now I can truly understand why the Thais keep saying

Farang go home!

[Bakseedaa]

Until now the Military have not been able captured any of these black clad terrorists.

I also haven't seen any pictures of dead protesters with guns.

Because the live terrorist next to the shot one, took his gun away...there were no dead protestors...only dead terrorists... all the protestors went home safely...

[Bakseedaa]

For those of you who have wife/girlfriend who was part of the protesters, I would be interested to know what you would be saying when they get back.

Say nothing - don't want to provoke them?

Cheer them up?

Console them?

Kiss and hug them, they deserve every bit of it, love them for what they did, make them feel welcome, they have done a glorious job.

Robert, they did a terrible job, Mr Thaksin got not a penny of his fortune back... and that my friend was what it was ALL about..... So, who is going to back a gang of losers the next time round... and sore losers at that..!!! Som nam na..!

[dttk0009]

I know one "Red" who will not be returning to the Udon Thani in a hurry. The wife of Khanchai Prypana, Arphorn Sarakam, who was stopped by Police, at Wat Pathum-wanaram. Hubby is already in custody at Phetchaburi. Anyway, wifey was in the Merc 500 SEL, heading out of town. Guess what the Police found? Diamonds! (did you ever wonder what happened to the merchandise at Central World, it wasn't all Italian brand name clothes that went up in smoke). But wait there is more - they found a stash of weapons.

So what is this about, the "new money" leading the poor, against the "old money"? Very tacky.

Have you got the source for that?

Not doubting you -- just not read it anywhere else.

My wife found it on this website:

http://www.manager.co.th/Crime/ViewNews.as...D=9530000070316

It's in Thai. So unless you're fluent, you will need to get your partner to translate.

Well, she does not look pleased. Edit - Can anyone translate what the two guys re-enacting the crime were guilty of? Bomb making?

Edited May 21, 2010 by dttk0009

[ai kwaan]

Goodbye, don't come back. People will not be so accommodating next time.

A farang telling a Thai citizen not to go back to Krungthep. This is Thailand, for Thais.

Muppet!

[MrOzark]

Rogera: you make great points. I think the most important is this: How do you think they can undergo this difficult task of reuniting?

As someone now who watches the situation from abroad,why are there so many people on this site that can't remember that the people voted for Thai rak Thai party and it was so called stable for many years, what would have happened if the Military had null and voided the election in America or Britain?As I have pointed out on this site before, some people win the election and some people lose,That is what is called democracy,I voted conservative in the elections when Labour were in,but I accepted that that was the people's choice.Most people would agree that that is the way of the world now?? Why doesn't Thailand?When the next one comes is it all going to be the same again?.

Duangdao, from your name you are Thai, probably from the northeast or north, and I can understand the reasons for your post. I have relatives in the north east and think that the majority of the people there are probably the most sincere and honest people you can find in Thailand. However, you have to consider the reasons why Thaksin was overthrown in a coup because, with all his wealth and ability to buy votes, it was possible that he could have remained in power indefinitely. In retrospect, these fears may have been exaggerated for the reasons laid out below.

It may be that Thaksin was massively elected by over 60% of the vote when he lasted his first full parliamentary term. During that time, many people became totally disillusioned as explained in the next paragraph, and, at the subsequent election in 2005, despite massive vote buying, his share of the vote dropped off dramatically, so much so that the number of votes were fairly evenly split between TRT and the other parties at roughly 12, 400,000 for TRT and 12 million for the other parties. Although he had the largest number of seats and so formed the government, he still had to rely on the smaller parties to ensure that he had a comfortable working majority. In the election of 2007, Thaksin's share of the vote dropped even more to the point where his party could not muster an overall majority, relying on the smaller parties to govern. When, these smaller parties withdrew their support and joined the Democrats, Puea Thai had to relinquish power.

Thaksin was removed for several reasons, not least of which was massive kleptomania, i.e. the wholesale pilfering of the national treasury, a major threat to the continuation of the monarchy, selling Thai land off to Cambodia for lucrative contracts with that country and a massive conflict of interest in dealing with neighbouring countries e.g. Burma. Add to that the stacking of the police and armed forces with people close to him, who were equally corrupt, so much so that even the middle class who had previously supported him felt seriously threatened. There was also the shutting down of the press for publishing articles that Thaksin did not like, the sacking of officials for not bending to his corrupt orders and many other things besides. Thailand was fast becoming a banana republic in the eyes of the world. That was the reason why many, many Thais welcomed the soldiers with flowers. For them it was a great deliverance from what was becoming a parliamentary dictatorship and a fascist state. All this and just giving crumbs to the rural poor.

Whether you like it or not, Thaksin's days are over and it is very likely that if he ever returned, someone would have him killed for what he has done to this beautiful country. The red shirts days may not be over, (but Thaksin's are) but it is highly unlikely that they will be able to mount such a protest in the future again, at least not for a long time to come.

The government's first priority after restoring order and getting the economy going again is to try to reconcile both sides of the social divide. In this sense, if the government succeeds in this difficult task, it may be something that very good may out of this mess through investments in infrastructure projects and the development of the rural areas that provide jobs and a decent standard of living for the rural poor. That must be of the highest priority.

In every country, even in the west, the rural economy is usually slightly less developed than the main cities, but the income gap there is far less than it is in Thailand and part of the solution is to try to make this income gap much, much less here than it is at the present. I would urge you to try to have some hope for the future and try to overcome your negative feelings. In any case, if the so-called elite do not do this, their days are numbered. Thailand and its people are resourceful, hard-working and it is a wonderful place to live. Keep the faith.

Edited May 21, 2010 by MrOzark

[gingsa]

"100 strong crowd"

Wow ... fantastic support.

How big was the crowd chanting and waving flags for Prime minister Abhisit ?

Prime Minister Abhisit did a superb job and deserves praise and appreciation from the entire nation - Red thugs, arsonists and looters excluded!

[andrewbkk]

I know one "Red" who will not be returning to the Udon Thani in a hurry. The wife of Khanchai Prypana, Arphorn Sarakam, who was stopped by Police, at Wat Pathum-wanaram. Hubby is already in custody at Phetchaburi. Anyway, wifey was in the Merc 500 SEL, heading out of town. Guess what the Police found? Diamonds! (did you ever wonder what happened to the merchandise at Central World, it wasn't all Italian brand name clothes that went up in smoke). But wait there is more - they found a stash of weapons.

So what is this about, the "new money" leading the poor, against the "old money"? Very tacky.

Have you got the source for that?

Not doubting you -- just not read it anywhere else.

My wife found it on this website:

http://www.manager.co.th/Crime/ViewNews.as...D=9530000070316

It's in Thai. So unless you're fluent, you will need to get your partner to translate.

Excellent post. Can someone please offer a translation.

[khunjamespittman]

Welcome home to the terrorists and arsonists. They claimed they wanted early elections. They won them, then threw it away. Then they burned Bangkok. Good job reds!

Nothing like tarring them all with the same brush for the actions of a sad misguided few who hopefully will pay for their dreadful actions.

Nevertheless,looks like they are going to get those elections in the not too distant future.

Hopefully now Jingthing will go away and find someone else to call names an villify. Thailand has had to put up with all this hatred for too long now. I ask, if jingthing really cares about ordinary Thais and the reputation of Thailand, to re-direct all the hatred and name calling and do something positiveto help Thais and Thailand. This government has pitifully underfunded secondary schools. Maybe jingthing can do something positive and volunteer at a nearby school, if he or she has some expertise that would be helpful in the education of Thai students. Maybe Jingthing might also open the wallet and pledge a donation for a local school to hire a new teacher for a 1-2 years or improve the school facilities to improve Thai students opportunites to learn. It is far better to participate in improving the education for Thais than to complain about them being uneducated.

[RKASA]

"100 strong crowd"

Wow ... fantastic support.

How big was the crowd chanting and waving flags for Prime minister Abhisit ?

The reds are the ones telling everyone how much support they have!

At this current time it is illegal for more then five people to group together. 100 means the are showing some support because they can be arrested for doing it.

[Jingthing]

The so called "innocent" people were there for several weeks, listening night after night, to incindiary rhetoric. Except for the children and mentally retarded they had the FREE WILL to reject those radical leaders and GO HOME. Those that stayed to the end, what excuse do they have? Whether they threw grenades, burned malls, shot guns, etc. themselves or not they were AWARE of what was going on (excepting the children and retarded). In my view, they are lucky to get the free bus tickets home without jail, yes, even the old ladies.

I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and acknowledge their basic human intelligence. That means they had FREE WILL. Thus, they made the choice to follow those disgusting violent leaders. Not many innocents on those buses.

If they are going to burn down large sections of Bangkok, maybe they want to destroy their OWN land, their own livelihood? I thought not.

Edited May 21, 2010 by Jingthing

[yoshiwara]

The so called "innocent" people were there for several weeks, listening night after night, to incindiary rhetoric. Except for the children and mentally retarded they had the FREE WILL to reject those radical leaders and GO HOME. Those that stayed to the end, what excuse do they have? Whether they threw grenades, burned malls, shot guns, etc. themselves or not they were AWARE of what was going on (excepting the children and retarded). In my view, they are lucky to get the free bus tickets home without jail, yes, even the old ladies.

I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and acknowledge their basic human intelligence. That means they had FREE WILL. Thus, they made the choice to follow those disgusting violent leaders. Not many innocents on those buses.

If they are going to burn down large sections of Bangkok, maybe they want to destroy their OWN land, their own livelihood? I thought not.

I am sure they were able to bring some nice presents home for the family after their late-night shopping exertions.

[wasabi]

The recent tragedy of Thailand is the result of the government allowing the demonstrators to assemble in a high profile shopping area.

This never would have been allowed in any western country and I’m here to tell you that the Philadelphia police of the famous state of freedom revolution and democracy would have cleared them out within the first 24 hours.

They could have set up their protest area in Lumbini Park without interfering with the rights of the people of Bangkok. It would have been a perfect location so close to downtown and they could have stayed there for months without causing harm to the country. They could have told their story from that place and the whole world might have had sympathy for them were it not for their hate filled agenda.

The angry violence inciting speeches of the red shirt leaders and the war like fortifications built around the protest area and their stockpiling of weapons tell us one thing that this movement is not about peace, non-violence and democracy. The fact that they have several times now attacked media outlets tells us clearly that their movement is not about free speech.

The fact that the red shirt leaders forced their followers to stay in the protest area tells us that they are not about freedom.

Given the opportunity they would turn Thailand into another Burma.

It is very sad the poor people in this country who have many legitimate complaints but no leader to make their case other than corrupt power mongers not different than the overlords they oppose.

There is no brilliant academic, no saintly and charismatic leader among them to teach non-violent resistance.

No icon for the Thai as well as international community to identify with.

They are simply misled, used and abused once again and too ignorant to realize it.

In my opinion you are exactly right. They are sheep waiting for the slaughter, no education, no skills and no real worth to society so they feel empowered by their cause and excited by the rhetoric from their leaders that they must fight for justice. I'm not saying the people of Issaan don't have a legitimate grievance. Since many snobbish BKK elite view them as 2nd class citizens but I hardly think Thaksin is the messiah they think he is. It's a shame no one has given them more help that they were so desperate to listen to someone like him and he took advantage of that. I don't think their complaints should be ignored but I also think they should have tried to work with Abhisit and gone about this in a peaceful manner. The world would have listened if they peacefully protested there was no need to take it to this level.

[rogera]

Rogera: you make great points. I think the most important is this: How do you think they can undergo this difficult task of reuniting?

As someone now who watches the situation from abroad,why are there so many people on this site that can't remember that the people voted for Thai rak Thai party and it was so called stable for many years, what would have happened if the Military had null and voided the election in America or Britain?As I have pointed out on this site before, some people win the election and some people lose,That is what is called democracy,I voted conservative in the elections when Labour were in,but I accepted that that was the people's choice.Most people would agree that that is the way of the world now?? Why doesn't Thailand?When the next one comes is it all going to be the same again?.

Duangdao, from your name you are Thai, probably from the northeast or north, and I can understand the reasons for your post. I have relatives in the north east and think that the majority of the people there are probably the most sincere and honest people you can find in Thailand. However, you have to consider the reasons why Thaksin was overthrown in a coup because, with all his wealth and ability to buy votes, it was possible that he could have remained in power indefinitely. In retrospect, these fears may have been exaggerated for the reasons laid out below.

It may be that Thaksin was massively elected by over 60% of the vote when he lasted his first full parliamentary term. During that time, many people became totally disillusioned as explained in the next paragraph, and, at the subsequent election in 2005, despite massive vote buying, his share of the vote dropped off dramatically, so much so that the number of votes were fairly evenly split between TRT and the other parties at roughly 12, 400,000 for TRT and 12 million for the other parties. Although he had the largest number of seats and so formed the government, he still had to rely on the smaller parties to ensure that he had a comfortable working majority. In the election of 2007, Thaksin's share of the vote dropped even more to the point where his party could not muster an overall majority, relying on the smaller parties to govern. When, these smaller parties withdrew their support and joined the Democrats, Puea Thai had to relinquish power.

Thaksin was removed for several reasons, not least of which was massive kleptomania, i.e. the wholesale pilfering of the national treasury, a major threat to the continuation of the monarchy, selling Thai land off to Cambodia for lucrative contracts with that country and a massive conflict of interest in dealing with neighbouring countries e.g. Burma. Add to that the stacking of the police and armed forces with people close to him, who were equally corrupt, so much so that even the middle class who had previously supported him felt seriously threatened. There was also the shutting down of the press for publishing articles that Thaksin did not like, the sacking of officials for not bending to his corrupt orders and many other things besides. Thailand was fast becoming a banana republic in the eyes of the world. That was the reason why many, many Thais welcomed the soldiers with flowers. For them it was a great deliverance from what was becoming a parliamentary dictatorship and a fascist state. All this and just giving crumbs to the rural poor.

Whether you like it or not, Thaksin's days are over and it is very likely that if he ever returned, someone would have him killed for what he has done to this beautiful country. The red shirts days may not be over, (but Thaksin's are) but it is highly unlikely that they will be able to mount such a protest in the future again, at least not for a long time to come.

The government's first priority after restoring order and getting the economy going again is to try to reconcile both sides of the social divide. In this sense, if the government succeeds in this difficult task, it may be something that very good may out of this mess through investments in infrastructure projects and the development of the rural areas that provide jobs and a decent standard of living for the rural poor. That must be of the highest priority.

In every country, even in the west, the rural economy is usually slightly less developed than the main cities, but the income gap there is far less than it is in Thailand and part of the solution is to try to make this income gap much, much less here than it is at the present. I would urge you to try to have some hope for the future and try to overcome your negative feelings. In any case, if the so-called elite do not do this, their days are numbered. Thailand and its people are resourceful, hard-working and it is a wonderful place to live. Keep the faith.

I think that the government should lay out a short term, medium and long term (i.e. 1 year, 3 years, 5 years) development plan for the north, south and for the northeast in particular in a way that the rural poor can understand. These plans should be broadcast both on local radio and television and they should be expressed in terms of both the northern, southern and northeastern dialects, not bureaucratese, so that the local people can fully understand what the government is trying to do. The objective should be to greatly improve the quality of education and create jobs so that the people can earn a regular income In that way they can get credit for the things that they want, e.g. decent housing, proper education for their kids - all the normal things they aspire to, things that we, as farangs, take for granted. Such plans would also help with the insurgency in the south.

Another thing that would help greatly is a great reduction in the overt corruption pervading the governmental process. If this can be seen by the rural people to be greatly reduced and that this reduction provides more funds for their development, then they will buy into the process. The rural people are not stupid. They are, in fact very, very smart and can see what is going on but, given the patronage system that currently exists, they feel powerless to do something about it - hence the explosion in Bangkok this past week.

There are other ways that the government can improve the lives of the rural poor, like trying to remove the patronage system, but I do not want to bore everyone with the details. Suffice to say that the general ideas laid out above would go a long way to creating the conditions for a reconciliation process that would return Thailand to the double digit growth of the 1970's. As an optimist, I hope all of these ideas come to fruition, not just for the sake of Duangdao, but for all of the rural people of Thailand. Thailand would then be truly the tiger of Asia.

[Herm]

millions will rise if the army does a crackdown - Chiang Mai railway station, the 100-strong crowd chanted loudly,

and that is in one of their so called strongholds!! No need to say more

[erniebanks]

millions will rise if the army does a crackdown - Chiang Mai railway station, the 100-strong crowd chanted loudly,

and that is in one of their so called strongholds!! No need to say more

100s of buildings burned to the ground.

Tourism wrecked.

Huge money lost by the rich.

Who won?

If that is winning for the Rich ruling class, then I sure hope I never win like that.

Reds will likely rip Bangkok a new hole as soon as the government moves to prosecute red leaders.

Funny you say the fight is over but you KNOW it is not. It is as if saying it makes you feel powerful for a moment.

Go shopping at the World trade and see how powerful you feel.

This fight is in round 1 of a 15 round fight.

If I were you, I would move all my money and my dim rump out of Thailand before the Reds get real real serious and trash this place.

But-Just me.

[rogera]

May I suggest that the time for blame and vitriol has now passed and that we, as farangs and Thais, try to contribute a more constructive debate on how we think the reconciliation process can be achieved. I have already suggested some general ideas and I believe that we, as a group, can come up with possible, more specific solutions to the healing and development process. How about it guys and girls? Can we do this in a spirit of harmony and goodwill and perhaps make this our contribution to the country in which we work and live and that, most of us, love? I believe that Abhisit is open to ideas and may in fact incorporate into the plan some of the ideas created here. I know that he reads the ThaiVisa forums as it gives him the pulse of the expat community

Over to you.

[difos57]

"100 strong crowd"

Wow ... fantastic support.

Yes, only 29,999,901 more to go and they will have a minority democratic government.

[DP25]

The so called "innocent" people were there for several weeks, listening night after night, to incindiary rhetoric. Except for the children and mentally retarded they had the FREE WILL to reject those radical leaders and GO HOME.

Now that they are home in the village, they will still be listening to the same hate speech every morning, over the village public address system.

[Ulysses G.]

I know that he reads the ThaiVisa forums as it gives him the pulse of the expat community

Let's hope not. He would throw us all out of the country.

[bangon04]

Sad to say, but Thailand must make new ground rules for "protests" and they need to be followed by all factions. The country can not afford a repeat of this current red disaster. For example, strict limits on location permits, times of permits (no ENDLESS occupations!), activities, etc. Obviously, peaceful protests are a wonderful thing for democracy, but even at the hint of an escalation out of that, tolerance should be zero. There is no hope at all for progress towards democracy only through peaceful elections until the game of using violent protests to gain demands is completely eliminated, again, for ALL sides. If this doesn't sound totally "free" well, it isn't. Face reality, Thailand isn't ready for totally free, totally free has proven to mean TOTAL ANARCHY here.

Unfortunately your ground rules above require the presence of a functioning police force.

[bangon04]

millions will rise if the army does a crackdown - Chiang Mai railway station, the 100-strong crowd chanted loudly,

and that is in one of their so called strongholds!! No need to say more

100s of buildings burned to the ground.

Tourism wrecked.

Huge money lost by the rich.

Who won?

If that is winning for the Rich ruling class, then I sure hope I never win like that.

Reds will likely rip Bangkok a new hole as soon as the government moves to prosecute red leaders.

Funny you say the fight is over but you KNOW it is not. It is as if saying it makes you feel powerful for a moment.

Go shopping at the World trade and see how powerful you feel.

This fight is in round 1 of a 15 round fight.

If I were you, I would move all my money and my dim rump out of Thailand before the Reds get real real serious and trash this place.

But-Just me.

This style of esoteric prose reminds me of the Farang guy in the YouTube clip who was foretelling the doom of CWP.

[mauGR1]

May I suggest that the time for blame and vitriol has now passed and that we, as farangs and Thais, try to contribute a more constructive debate on how we think the reconciliation process can be achieved. I have already suggested some general ideas and I believe that we, as a group, can come up with possible, more specific solutions to the healing and development process. How about it guys and girls? Can we do this in a spirit of harmony and goodwill and perhaps make this our contribution to the country in which we work and live and that, most of us, love? I believe that Abhisit is open to ideas and may in fact incorporate into the plan some of the ideas created here. I know that he reads the ThaiVisa forums as it gives him the pulse of the expat community

Over to you.

Well said, "rogera", i agree completely, at least we should try not to add negativity.

[gemini81]

millions will rise if the army does a crackdown - Chiang Mai railway station, the 100-strong crowd chanted loudly,

and that is in one of their so called strongholds!! No need to say more

100s of buildings burned to the ground.

Tourism wrecked.

Huge money lost by the rich.

Who won?

If that is winning for the Rich ruling class, then I sure hope I never win like that.

Reds will likely rip Bangkok a new hole as soon as the government moves to prosecute red leaders.

Funny you say the fight is over but you KNOW it is not. It is as if saying it makes you feel powerful for a moment.

Go shopping at the World trade and see how powerful you feel.

This fight is in round 1 of a 15 round fight.

If I were you, I would move all my money and my dim rump out of Thailand before the Reds get real real serious and trash this place.

But-Just me.

I sure hope not, but they've proven themselves low enough. all investors recommended to get any saving and investments the heck out of thailand (ironic they all recommended that weeks and months ago)

One ironic note too is how Thaksin said at 8:23 in the morning on Wed, to prepare for a guerilla style war if the reds were left defeated. then it happened. This man and his weasel's communications still pose a threat to the country. I hope to God everyday they will cut him off in the press, media, and communications, but they don't.

Hope its the end of it, I was in the cross fire far from the red camp and still feel lucky to have ran away, I don't want a second round.

...Just praying there's enough troops and that they remain here for sometime to keep things in order...so we can enjoy amazing thailand.

[LindsayVM]

Who said it was all finished? Red Shirts are planning a rally Senam Lueng Park 3 days after the emergency situation is lifted.

Please go to the Park and make sure this does not start up again.

Thailand has not learned it's lessons yet, Police in this country need to explain

why they are being so nice to Red Shirt Supporters/Members.

Below Red Shirt Leaders visited by Fans in their wonderful house of blithe.

The Thais is other Forums are very angry to say the least.

Nice place, I guess they have housemaids as well. We should all be so lucky.

Edited May 21, 2010 by LindsayVM

[bangon04]

These are very simple minded people. All countries have them- not just Thailand. The uneducated, rural poor will be fed (again) false stories and propaganda and once again will be used by the "Red thugs". (Not being sarcastic here... Maybe the governement should buy them all refrigerators/ AC's or better yet, a small tractor something materialistic they can see... In the long run, it would be cheaper than the millions of dollars lost from their next rebellion or terrorist acts. )

What about interest free loans to buy essential equipment for development? Oh no, tried that - lots of people bought new phones and pickup trucks, and they still mortgaged their lands.

[difos57]

When PM dissolved the house before, this never happened !

Blaim him for all the unnecessary killings.

I fully agree, He should have stepped down.

Ok now let's get serious. You two are comical. The PM steps down so Taksin can return and run the country. We have seen how Taksin ruins the country and now runs away lying that he had nothing to do with destroying Thailand.

Why in the world would want Taksin to return? Unless for justice to be served on him.

[erniebanks]

May I suggest that the time for blame and vitriol has now passed and that we, as farangs and Thais, try to contribute a more constructive debate on how we think the reconciliation process can be achieved. I have already suggested some general ideas and I believe that we, as a group, can come up with possible, more specific solutions to the healing and development process. How about it guys and girls? Can we do this in a spirit of harmony and goodwill and perhaps make this our contribution to the country in which we work and live and that, most of us, love? I believe that Abhisit is open to ideas and may in fact incorporate into the plan some of the ideas created here. I know that he reads the ThaiVisa forums as it gives him the pulse of the expat community

Over to you.

I have some simple ideas.

1) Hold a REAL election with the UN in watching.

2) After the Reds win again, and they will, perhaps try something new for a change like recognizing the will of the people. Stop the endless chain of coups.

3) Put in a new Constitution giving the people full power with the elected Parliament.

4) Remove ALL Generals who do not swear allegiance to who ever is elected as PM and the ruling party in p[Parliament.

5) Remove all Top judges and replace them with REAL judges that will support the Constitution.

But of course, when we start with number 1 above, the whole thing is rejected by the group that has done over 20 coups.

This group is declaring victory as the nation burns.

You know how you can tell when the current Thai government is untruthful?

Their lips are moving.

But go ahead and declare victory as your nation breaks apart if it makes you feel strong.

Maybe you can abuse your maids at home.

The fight will resume again in just weeks.

The men in black--can do much worse to this place if the current regime chooses to prosecute and then kill the red leaders arrested.

The next time the entire city could burn.

I bought some marshmallows.

[rogera]

Who said it was all finished? Red Shirts are planning a rally Senam Lueng Park 3 days after the emergency situation is over.

Please go to the Park and make sure this does not start up again.

Thailand has not learned it's lessons yet, Police in this country need to explain

why they are being so nice to Red Shirt Supporters/Members.

Below Red Shirt Leaders visited by Fans in their wonderful house of blithe.

The Thais is other Forums are very angry to say the least.

Nice place, I guess they have housemaids as well.

I think that the government will be well prepared for any protest rally. Having learnt a great deal from these past six weeks, they have already instituted new rules regarding protests and will never again allow a situation as happened recently to occur again. They will move very quickly to snuff out any protest that threatens the economic recovery. Given the poor performance of the constabulary during the recent crisis, I can foresee wholesale transfers to inactive posts and the promotion of more professional officers to senior posts. Time for a clean-out I'm afraid for the boys in brown. When they realise that Thaksin's days are over, they will probably be forgiven and return to the fold - very Thai indeed.

With regard to the pictures shown, I understand that this was the first day that the leaders were under arrest and, in typical Thai fashion, gave them the opportunity for their close relatives to visit them. I feel that this was used as a photo opportunity to tell the foreign press that the red shirt leaders are not being badly treated but, in fact, being treated rather well. As I understand it, all are now in cells, one cell to each. this was reported by Maj. Gen Amnuay during the evening news tonight. Hope this clarifies the situation for you. Lindsay.