Thaksin To Buy 300 Personal Airplanes?

[sriracha john]

In a throwback to squandering 1 billion baht of government money for his personal jet:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16373

Mr. T has managed to get his hands on 300 billion baht in government funds to spend however he sees fit:

Bt300 bn at PM’s disposal

Published on June 22, 2005

Thaksin primed to go on spending spree next year without the hassle of parliamentary scrutiny.

Next year’s unrestricted central fund has been stuffed with a whopping Bt300 billion so that the “CEO” prime minister can go on a spending spree without having to worry about Parliament fault-finding, the opposition said yesterday.

The fiscal 2006 Budget Bill was approved by the Cabinet yesterday and is scheduled to be deliberated by the House of Representatives next Wednesday and Thursday.

Democrat MP Shinaworn Boonyakiart said a central budget with no specific details of spending would be open to abuse.

“Politicians could easily interfere in the spending of the portion allocated to the governors’ budget of Bt40 billion,” he said.

“The budget to be overseen by deputy prime ministers also provides no explanation of uses. For example, the budget of Bt7.4 billion under Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai might be tapped to launch his election campaign for the post of UN secretary-general,” Shinaworn said.

“This kind of central fund budgeting could lead to corruption and abuse by creating political bases for the government.”

The central fund has been set very high so that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra can spend it the way he wants, he added.

“By late fiscal year, the premier could spend from the central fund for projects he likes and escape monitoring by Parliament.”

In the past the central fund was only used for emergency cases, had clear-cut guidelines for spending and was overseen by the National Economic and Social Development Board, he said.

Sompop Manarangsang, an economics lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, said the central fund of Bt300 billion was very high and could not justify the government’s claim that it was for restoring the economy.

“We have to ask whether the country’s economy is in such bad shape that it warrants the spending of Bt300 billion,” Sompop said.

“I think the government should make the spending of the budget more transparent so that the people will become aware of the prime minister’s budget discipline.”

The source said no specific procedures existed on how to set the budget for the central fund, but the government should consider whether the projects to be financed by from the fund were productive and worth the money.

Democrat MP Sathit Wongnongtoey, chief opposition whip, said the Budget Bureau had acknowledged that the government had never carried out performance-based budgeting or evaluated the achievements of its budget spending from previous years.

Sathit said the opposition would point out during the debate the broad picture of the economy, that projections for revenues and expenditures might be too optimistic, and that the budget was not allocated fairly.

Shinaworn said the opposition would outline economic risk factors – such as rising oil prices, US economic problems and violence in the southern border provinces – that could prevent the government from achieving the revenue assumptions set out in the budget.

The opposition will also question the effectiveness of the budget for creating Bt1-million village funds and dealing with problems related to the Bt30 universal healthcare programme, which has not been given enough financial support.

[HarryHacker]

A somewhat jaundiced topic headline, a very dramatic way to get peeps to read a decent story. However, you have given the lead for some Tako bashing.

[sriracha john]

A somewhat jaundiced topic headline, a very dramatic way to get peeps to read a decent story. However, you have given the lead for some Tako bashing. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Admittedly provocative headlining to increase readership. This is common in many forms of journalism. It's an often-used method to get the news out and spread knowledge as far as possible. One of Mr. T's quirks is that he so openly and quite willingly provides such good material for his own bashing on what seems to be a daily basis.

I sincerely and succinctly hope that Thailand can survive him.

[billd766]

I truly feel that Thailand will survive Thaksin but I dread the cost to the real people of Thailand. As usual, the rich and cronied will get richer, the poor won't lose much as they don't have much to lose and as for the middle class, they will adapt to survive if they can or they will just fade away.

It is so sad.

[sriracha john]

I truly feel that Thailand will survive Thaksin but I dread the cost to the real people of Thailand. As usual, the rich and cronied will get richer, the poor won't lose much as they don't have much to lose and as for the middle class, they will adapt to survive if they can or they will just fade away.

It is so sad.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I do tend to agree that Thailand will survive. It's historical past is full of outlasting tyrants. Just hurts to see the modern-day version of one operating so freely. He's finagled his way in by the voting booth and has connived the country in the process. I do have faith that the Thai people will eventually figure this all out and deal with him accordingly. There's cracks in the facade with top TRT Party guru Sanoh being kicked out of the party yesterday after complaining about Mr. T's abuses. That voice of dissent will only get louder.

[penzman]

I get the feeling he won't finish this second term somehow. Happened before. You can only laugh at people for so long.

[The Coder]

In a throwback to squandering 1 billion baht of government money for his personal jet:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, my understanding is that jet (A319) was dreamed up and approved by the administration prior to Thaksin even being in office. It is not solely for the PM, but also for other govt officials and the script painted on the jet is indeed just "Thailand". Undoubtably the plane had already been ordered and deposit paid so Thaksin backing out of this might not have been practical even if he wanted to. It would be interesting to know how many in "Democrat MP Shinaworn Boonyakiart" party (who had so much to say in this article about misuse of funds) voted for it.

[sriracha john]

In a throwback to squandering 1 billion baht of government money for his personal jet:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, my understanding is that jet (A319) was dreamed up and approved by the administration prior to Thaksin even being in office. It is not solely for the PM, but also for other govt officials and the script painted on the jet is indeed just "Thailand". Undoubtably the plane had already been ordered and deposit paid so Thaksin backing out of this might not have been practical even if he wanted to. It would be interesting to know how many in "Democrat MP Shinaworn Boonyakiart" party (who had so much to say in this article about misuse of funds) voted for it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would love to respond, but guess I better ease off saying anything after reading this. It's difficult not to, but I certainly would NEVER want in any way to jeopardize thaivisa:

Anti-government websites shut down

Two websites with content deemed strongly critical of the Thaksin government have been shut down, allegedly on orders from the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry.

Site operators maintain their hosts were ordered to remove them.

One website – www.thai-insider.com – belongs to Ekkayuth An-chanbutr, who fled the country several years ago but returned last year and became a self-styled crusader against what he said was endemic corruption in the Thaksin government.

The other one – www.fm9225.com – belongs to a community radio station with a penchant for hosting vocal critics of the government.

Operators of the shut-down sites said they believed the ICT Ministry ordered the host Internet service providers (ISPs) to remove them. ICT Minister Suwit Khun-kitti denied the charges yesterday, insisting he had no idea why they had been shut down.

“The government issued no orders regarding this,” he said.

Suwit added that officials from the ministry’s Cyber Inspection Division might have ordered them shut down on their own initiative after considering some of the content to be detrimental to national security.

Ekkayuth launched www.thai-insider.com on June 11. It carried numerous reports and opinion pieces highly critical of the government.

A staff member at the website who asked to remain anonymous said he received a call on Saturday from the ISP hosting the site. The source was told the ICT Ministry had ordered the removal of www.thai-insider.com. That evening, it was inaccessible.

Ekkayuth said yesterday that he was considering filing a lawsuit against the ministry for violating the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of information.

Ekkayuth said he believed his website was shut down partly because it contained an interview with a former ambassador arguing against Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai standing for the post of UN secretary-general.

He said the site also provided an insider’s information about alleged stock-price manipulations by people close to the government and details of government mishandling of last October’s Tak Bai protest.

“The owner of our website’s ISP was harassed and threatened with reprisals. I can well understand why he had to remove us,” said Ekkayuth. “But they can’t stop me reopening it.”

A staff member at www.FM9225.com said Cyber Inspector Surachai Nilsaeng had sent a letter on Monday to A-net, host of the site, asking the ISP to remove it on grounds that its content was detrimental to national security.

The www.FM9225.com website was pulled from the Web at 4pm on Monday but relaunched operations yesterday morning. It relayed its radio broadcast in streaming-audio format, and 57 major community radio stations picked up the online broadcast for transmission on the air.

But the site went offline again yesterday afternoon after Anchalee Paireerak, an executive at FM 92.25 radio, received an email from Surachai that it jeopardised national unity and security.

Anchalee pledged to fight to have her website go online again.

An official from the Cyber Inspection Division said yesterday that he would prefer yesterday’s action against the two websites to be referred to as a “suspension” rather than “closure”.

He said there were complaints that the two websites contained defamatory content and that authorities were unable to determine who was operating the sites.

The official said the suspension would continue until the operators of the sites came forward, or until there were further instructions from the responsible authorities.

[mnoorsapl]

In a throwback to squandering 1 billion baht of government money for his personal jet:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16373

Mr. T has managed to get his hands on 300 billion baht in government funds to spend however he sees fit:

Bt300 bn at PM’s disposal

There goes the tax payers money.

[deepdiver]

In a throwback to squandering 1 billion baht of government money for his personal jet:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16373

Mr. T has managed to get his hands on 300 billion baht in government funds to spend however he sees fit:

Bt300 bn at PM’s disposal

Published on June 22, 2005

Thaksin primed to go on spending spree next year without the hassle of parliamentary scrutiny.

Next year’s unrestricted central fund has been stuffed with a whopping Bt300 billion so that the “CEO” prime minister can go on a spending spree without having to worry about Parliament fault-finding, the opposition said yesterday.

The fiscal 2006 Budget Bill was approved by the Cabinet yesterday and is scheduled to be deliberated by the House of Representatives next Wednesday and Thursday.

Democrat MP Shinaworn Boonyakiart said a central budget with no specific details of spending would be open to abuse.

“Politicians could easily interfere in the spending of the portion allocated to the governors’ budget of Bt40 billion,” he said.

“The budget to be overseen by deputy prime ministers also provides no explanation of uses. For example, the budget of Bt7.4 billion under Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai might be tapped to launch his election campaign for the post of UN secretary-general,” Shinaworn said.

“This kind of central fund budgeting could lead to corruption and abuse by creating political bases for the government.”

The central fund has been set very high so that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra can spend it the way he wants, he added.

“By late fiscal year, the premier could spend from the central fund for projects he likes and escape monitoring by Parliament.”

In the past the central fund was only used for emergency cases, had clear-cut guidelines for spending and was overseen by the National Economic and Social Development Board, he said.

Sompop Manarangsang, an economics lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, said the central fund of Bt300 billion was very high and could not justify the government’s claim that it was for restoring the economy.

“We have to ask whether the country’s economy is in such bad shape that it warrants the spending of Bt300 billion,” Sompop said.

“I think the government should make the spending of the budget more transparent so that the people will become aware of the prime minister’s budget discipline.”

The source said no specific procedures existed on how to set the budget for the central fund, but the government should consider whether the projects to be financed by from the fund were productive and worth the money.

Democrat MP Sathit Wongnongtoey, chief opposition whip, said the Budget Bureau had acknowledged that the government had never carried out performance-based budgeting or evaluated the achievements of its budget spending from previous years.

Sathit said the opposition would point out during the debate the broad picture of the economy, that projections for revenues and expenditures might be too optimistic, and that the budget was not allocated fairly.

Shinaworn said the opposition would outline economic risk factors – such as rising oil prices, US economic problems and violence in the southern border provinces – that could prevent the government from achieving the revenue assumptions set out in the budget.

The opposition will also question the effectiveness of the budget for creating Bt1-million village funds and dealing with problems related to the Bt30 universal healthcare programme, which has not been given enough financial support.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

so all he needs now is a privat airport to install the "leftover" scanning divices from the new BKK airport

[daleyboy]

Quote/

“This kind of central fund budgeting could lead to corruption and abuse by creating political bases for the government.”

Quote/

Corruption mr Toxin? Never

[opothai]

Quote/

“This kind of central fund budgeting could lead to corruption and abuse by creating political bases for the government.”

Quote/

Corruption mr Toxin? Never

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

give the man a chance it's most probably the first time he' had that much pocket money to play with, and a good thing too that he's not accountable ti shows trust would'nt you say

[h90]

I heared the airplain is not for him it is for the people of Thailand.

Tomorrow my wife want to fly to Phuket, she is people of Thailand, where she can book this airplain?

[Heng]

It's not for everyone to fly on. Kind of like the art in the Louvre is not for everyone to take home.

[sriracha john]

I heard the airplane is not for him; it is for the people of Thailand.

Tomorrow, my wife wants to fly to Phuket and she is people of Thailand. Where she can book this airplane? *free spelling correction cordially provided*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I believe it's done through his "other" airline, AirAsia, but only if you get a loan for the ticket from his Capital OK finance company and in order for that to happen you need to first watch his ITV television channel for a special program broadcast only through his Shin satellite for these special promotion numbers that are going to be given out. It's quite simple really.

[sriracha john]

It's not for everyone to fly on.  Kind of like the art in the Louvre is not for everyone to take home.   

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Does that mean that people can at least go inside the plane and enjoyably view it's splendor for hours like they do in the Louvre?

[sriracha john]

Hmm.. I was only KIDDING about buying the planes, guys... Sheesh, don't take things so literally.

I guess since they see Mr. T has one, they ALL want one.

I'm sure they are arguing, "but hey, we get TWO for the same price Thakky got one for":

Executive jets

Published on June 25, 2005

The Cabinet is expected on Tuesday to debate a Bt1-billion budget to buy two Jetstream aircraft for the Army to use for executive travel by military and government leaders.

Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya yesterday recommended the purchase of two twin-engine turboprop planes as per a proposal from the Defence Ministry.

In justifying the spending, the military cited the need to replenish the existing fleet of executive aircraft.

Newer aircraft are needed to service military inspection trips and transport government leaders. Last year, the Army provided 231 flights amounting to 700 flight hours for executive travel.