King Warns Pm On Arrogance

[randyksf]

Great artical in the bangkok post, or I should say a highlight of the kings speach.

All I can say long live the KING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/05Dec2003_news06.html

Here is a copy of the story..

His Majesty the King has advised Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra not to let success go to his head.

In his birthday speech, the King said he needed to say something to the prime minister although he knew that Mr Thaksin would not appreciate another person giving him a warning.

In delivering his message to Mr Thaksin, the King referred to Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother's teachings when she was alive.

``When I was 40-50 years old, my mother told me sometimes that I was great but she always added that I must not forget myself. She said I must not float and that my name `Bhumibol' means that I had to keep my feet on the ground.

``She said when I did something good, it's all right to know what I did but I should not be too proud,'' said the King.

He urged the prime minister to be more careful about policies he had implemented, particularly the war on drugs in which 2,500 people were killed.

The King said he believed the real number was far beyond 2,500 deaths, although the actual number killed by state officials might be small.

``People say the prime minister killed 2,500 people in his war on drugs, so how can we take responsibility for this?'' His Majesty said.

He urged the government to verify the cause of those deaths, as some people might have been killed by drug dealers rather than police.

The prime minister had left the matter to CEO ministers and government officials, but nobody had taken responsibility, and the public had to bear the results.

The King said since the prime minister was keen to take responsibility for every matter, he needed to accept any criticism.

``As you're the only one who makes decisions, it's natural that you alone should be pinpointed, but if you did good things, and everyone benefitted, you would benefit also. So don't be angry, and be proud of what you did,'' said the King.

Comparing the prime minister's position to his own, the King said he was in a tighter spot because the constitution did not allow people to criticise the King, so he did not know whether he did right or wrong. ``The only person I could listen to was my mother, who has gone already,'' he said.

The King suggested that Mr Thaksin should listen to the media and allow it freedom.

``You have to read newspapers ... and let them write,'' he said.

Mr Thaksin, in his birthday wish to the King, said drugs were the country's major problem and the government's success in the crusade against drugs showed its loyalty to the King.

His Majesty also commented on the child-centred education system promoted by the government.

``The government has a `think new' concept which encourages students to teach their teachers.

``This is impossible because children have just been born and seen the world. How can they teach the teachers?'' said the King.

``It's true that some teachers cannot teach, but if they teach with the right method, that will enable children to teach them back,'' he said.

The King said teachers also should listen to their students, and not get angry when they express doubts.

Referring to the day the prime minister taught Mathayom 5 students at Samsen school in September, the King said despite the child-centred concept, Mr Thaksin did not allow the students to teach him.

In one part of his speech, the King mentioned rifts among people and called on everyone to maintain harmony and unity.

``The worst rift of all is the rift among people, especially senior ones and those in power, which is hard to heal.

``Don't let the rift happen, and do keep yourselves in harmony,'' he said.

The King said his birthday wish was for people to listen to his words and put them into practice.

``My voice has turned hoarse after this speech, and if people won't listen it's their business. If you listen but don't follow my words then you could get into trouble. But if you listen and think about it, that would be good.''

Now I wonder what will happen?

[sam77]

When the King speech of concerning, he knew someone is about to step out of line and about to causes troble to the country and it citizens.

The king knew because he had single-handedly plant and build Thailand to become gigantic economic hub and prosperity in the regent.

The history had written before that the one who will screw up all of these prosperity usually are those power grab and greedy politicians and its leader, and time after time the king had safe the country from distruction untill today.

I hope the king will live to another hundred years.

LONG LIVE THE KING.

[kwiz117]

Though some of his advices directly pointed at Thaksin and his Govt officers, I think it has many good advices for all of us.

People do Mistakes and it is impoartant to accept them with a sense of humar than covering them up. I do hope some other leaders in the world will get a copy each of the above speach.

Many things to learn..

PS: Hope some forum admins in this forum also get ready to accept critics and learn than sensoring/deleting things that they do not wish to see.

[KevinN]

KWIZ,, You sure came up with a good one there,seems like anything the least bit controversial is immediately struck from this forum,so this is not really a forum and is only a column of YES men and nothing of controversy can be written here.

If you want to agree,then you are free to post,but if the slightest bit of talk is in the opposite direction then the post is gone so fast that you will not even see the skid marks,and the title is "ThaiVisa Expat forum"

[steffi]

Has anybody seen a full transcript posted yet?

[Guest IT Manager]

I understand the frustration KevinN but we are restricted in what we let happen on the board, simply because it has such an enormous readership.

There are some topics which on the surface are fine and they are good until they go off-topic, as you have seen happen many times, and frequently they stay, but in this instance it gets too close for comfort so the admins can them.

Please understand, this is not having a go at people so much as protecting the long term prospects of the board.

When George thanked people for making this "The number one expat forum" in Thailand, he wasn't just boasting to try and generate new members. The visits to the board go up every day. The numbers are available. It really is getting visits at a huge rate. So to keep it there, we need to keep a bit of an eye on what is said. Sometimes posts are deleted or edited just because what was said was rude or unnecessary, and I think I am the worst at that. I sometimes apologise even, but to keep the board as a place for intelligent discussion in my opinion, is important. There are plenty of other boards people are welcome to use which are not moderated and you can say what you like, but having visited a few of them, I don't see much added to my view any way, of life and living in Thailand.

To say the admins unfairly target some posters is blatant nonsense. It may however appear that some posters get edited more than others. Look back at other posting from them, you may be able to discern the reason.

I hope this mitigates in some way your negative view of what we as admins are doing.

[morphic]

Thailand is extremely fortunate to have its King. He seems to be a genuinely intelligent and decent man.