No Room For Red Shirts In New Thai Cabinet

[Max4243]

Hell I feel sorry for all those that express negativity willy nilly without any thoughts or ability to being proactive and creative and see the good actions that are already happening.

It's easier to be critical than be correct.

Give the Lady a chance...... its easy to say "i told you so" later if she does get it wrong......but so far she's doing just fine with her stated aims during the election run-up.

But whatever.....as farangs we are powerless, there is not a damned thing we can do to change anything.

Settle back in ur armchair pick up ur beer and .......Enjoy the ride.

Now watch the Flames arrive.

Totally agree with your comments. Those Thaksin bashers should take your cue.

[hellodolly]

Haha the reds will be back a'burning within 6 months ....this time though Thaksin will be on top of the pyre!

No way.

That rabble did not work for free and their paymaster is the one they will be upset with.

Looks good on the lot of them.

[Bkkorupcountry]

Hell I feel sorry for all those that express negativity willy nilly without any thoughts or ability to being proactive and creative and see the good actions that are already happening.

It's easier to be critical than be correct.

Give the Lady a chance...... its easy to say "i told you so" later if she does get it wrong......but so far she's doing just fine with her stated aims during the election run-up.

But whatever.....as farangs we are powerless, there is not a damned thing we can do to change anything.

Settle back in ur armchair pick up ur beer and .......Enjoy the ride.

Now watch the Flames arrive.

Well stated and well worth repeating.

Agreed.

Don't know about you but I don't remember reading a single post from the usual suspects here expressing any positivity or any compliments to anything that Yingluck or PT has done. All I read is the usual childish, immature and inane rants. Nothing but criticism from our armchair experts, most of whom who are venting their anger over their own underachievements.

[tigermonkey]

Subtlety isn't their strong suit as Chiang Mai's Pheu Thai Party candidate Surapong Towichakchaikul displayed on the campaign trail during the last election:

http://www.oknation....t.php?id=365032

Foreign Minister?

.

The foreign ministers post goes to a relative unknown. And this is after one of the worst five year periods in the nations history. The nations reputation worldwide is in tatters, and lets appoint an unknown to try to repair that image. Smart move. Either it means there is zero regard for what the world thinks, or the cronyism is so strong they could not appoint someone else. The entire world laughed when Kasit sat down with Hun Sen. Hun Sen ate him for lunch, and then spit out the bones. Now, another potentially incompetent man in that post. I wonder if he speaks good english? Amusing Thailand.

Yes, Thailand may be amusing, but the pathways of your logic are far more amusing -- you have concluded that being a relative unknown equates to being potentially incompetent. You have further concluded that appointing a relative unknown equates to "cronyism" and " zero regard for what the world thinks". You conclude by intimating that " good english" would make him competent. These are very interesting leaps of logic.

OK, you want a well known Thai who speaks some english --- how about Sinbi Taewoong -- he would exactly fit the needs of your logic.

..but then perhaps Suraphong has some skills of diplomacy, intelligence and logic which have never been showcased ?

[hammered]

There are still the chairmen of parliamentary committees that the government control to dish out yet. Expect a few reds to get something there.

[hellodolly]

Hell I feel sorry for all those that express negativity willy nilly without any thoughts or ability to being proactive and creative and see the good actions that are already happening.

It's easier to be critical than be correct.

Give the Lady a chance...... its easy to say "i told you so" later if she does get it wrong......but so far she's doing just fine with her stated aims during the election run-up.

But whatever.....as farangs we are powerless, there is not a damned thing we can do to change anything.

Settle back in ur armchair pick up ur beer and .......Enjoy the ride.

Now watch the Flames arrive.

Well stated and well worth repeating.

Agreed.

Don't know about you but I don't remember reading a single post from the usual suspects here expressing any positivity or any compliments to anything that Yingluck or PT has done. All I read is the usual childish, immature and inane rants. Nothing but criticism from our armchair experts, most of whom who are venting their anger over their own underachievements.

Well I am all for giving them a chance but so far they have not been in power long enough to do any thing. I notice you are not posting any thing positive or compliments to them either. Kind of like the pot calling the kettle black. Are we reading the same posts?

While I can understand your concern I can not understand what you see them doing as some thing positive. So far they have done nothing. Mainly because they have not been in long enough. They have how ever done a lot of talking about cutting back on there campaign promises. It is hard to say give them a chance when they have all ready said they will not do it.

[OzMick]

Hell I feel sorry for all those that express negativity willy nilly without any thoughts or ability to being proactive and creative and see the good actions that are already happening.

It's easier to be critical than be correct.

Give the Lady a chance...... its easy to say "i told you so" later if she does get it wrong......but so far she's doing just fine with her stated aims during the election run-up.

But whatever.....as farangs we are powerless, there is not a damned thing we can do to change anything.

Settle back in ur armchair pick up ur beer and .......Enjoy the ride.

Now watch the Flames arrive.

Well stated and well worth repeating.

Agreed.

Don't know about you but I don't remember reading a single post from the usual suspects here expressing any positivity or any compliments to anything that Yingluck or PT has done. All I read is the usual childish, immature and inane rants. Nothing but criticism from our armchair experts, most of whom who are venting their anger over their own underachievements.

The original poster doesn't seem to respond, so I will put it to you - WHAT HAVE THEY DONE? The only thing that springs to mind is winning an election with a package of unworkable, unrealistic ill-considered populist policies most of which are likely to be abandoned.

[phiphidon]

Hell I feel sorry for all those that express negativity willy nilly without any thoughts or ability to being proactive and creative and see the good actions that are already happening.

It's easier to be critical than be correct.

Give the Lady a chance...... its easy to say "i told you so" later if she does get it wrong......but so far she's doing just fine with her stated aims during the election run-up.

But whatever.....as farangs we are powerless, there is not a damned thing we can do to change anything.

Settle back in ur armchair pick up ur beer and .......Enjoy the ride.

Now watch the Flames arrive.

Well stated and well worth repeating.

Agreed.

Don't know about you but I don't remember reading a single post from the usual suspects here expressing any positivity or any compliments to anything that Yingluck or PT has done. All I read is the usual childish, immature and inane rants. Nothing but criticism from our armchair experts, most of whom who are venting their anger over their own underachievements.

The original poster doesn't seem to respond, so I will put it to you - WHAT HAVE THEY DONE? The only thing that springs to mind is winning an election with a package of unworkable, unrealistic ill-considered populist policies most of which are likely to be abandoned.

Well, bearing in mind that Yingluck has been the Thailand PM for approximately 18 hours at the time of writing (minus a few hours for sleep, if that is allowed) I think you could possibly cut her a bit of slack, don't you think? Or am I just being unreasonable?

[Crushdepth]

Hell I feel sorry for all those that express negativity willy nilly without any thoughts or ability to being proactive and creative and see the good actions that are already happening.

It's easier to be critical than be correct.

Give the Lady a chance...... its easy to say "i told you so" later if she does get it wrong......but so far she's doing just fine with her stated aims during the election run-up.

But whatever.....as farangs we are powerless, there is not a damned thing we can do to change anything.

Settle back in ur armchair pick up ur beer and .......Enjoy the ride.

Now watch the Flames arrive.

Well stated and well worth repeating.

Sorry, we've already seen how Thaksin behaves in office. We don't need to guess, we know.

[vanheusden]

Hell I feel sorry for all those that express negativity willy nilly without any thoughts or ability to being proactive and creative and see the good actions that are already happening.

It's easier to be critical than be correct.

Give the Lady a chance...... its easy to say "i told you so" later if she does get it wrong......but so far she's doing just fine with her stated aims during the election run-up.

But whatever.....as farangs we are powerless, there is not a damned thing we can do to change anything.

Settle back in ur armchair pick up ur beer and .......Enjoy the ride.

Now watch the Flames arrive.

No flame from me! I agree with you.

[hammered]

Yingluck will be judged by her record. The cabinet is in some ways a bit of a weak one on paper but it doesnt include any obvious confrontational picks, so it seems she is going for the peaceful approach or at least let the other side start the histrionics. But whatever, we will see over the coming weeks.

We all know the history of the Abhisit, Somchai, Samak, Sarayud, and Thaksin governments. Some were more popular then others, one was actually voted out by the people and their records stand there for debate. To date Yingluck has no record beyond selecting a maybe slightly disappointing cabinet, but probably not as disappointing as the previous one on its announcement, but the rest of what she will be judged on comes next, and hopefully at the end of the term or when she calls an election her government will then be judged by the poeple

[ozziebloke]

Give her a chance gents. Why be so negative. You can always go back to London if it has stopped burning

So do so much agree! But as usual the Thaksin Haters have nothing to say positively about anyone that has anything to do with the Red Shirts or the lower classes and have a lot to say about how faulty Thailand is. It would be a good idea to look at their own countries or is that why they are living in Thailand ??

[SICHONSTEVE]

Haha the reds will be back a'burning within 6 months ....this time though Thaksin will be on top of the pyre!

wrong....this time there will be nobody to finance the reds for any street protest movement.

Don't count on it!! Also, if the poor people are let down badly then they won't be so averse to a coup by the army who can justify this by the failed policies of the Pheu Thai coalition damaging the country. Then we are back to square one!!:jap:

Not only that, if the Democrats have put their house in order and got their act together they could get voted in. One can only dream!!!

Edited August 10, 2011 by SICHONSTEVE

[AleG]

Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala as Minister of Economy, the same guy who was... ejem, asleep at the switch, as head of the SEC while Thaksin was doing all kinds of shenanigans concealing his fortune and involvement with his companies.

Interesting...

[Chris Lawrence]

Poorly written article: former billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-premier Thaksin. Thaksin was a milonaire telcom tycoon-turned-premier-with the help of his children-turned-billionaire. If they are intending to talk in terms that reflect what happened say what really happened. But aren't some assets frozen? So what does that make Mr T? Sounds petty as the writer may not like people who has more money then him?

Yingluck a novice? And what family did she grow up in, together with the position in the company? Yingluck has made her decisions within the time frame's permitted and is quite clear in the aim to re-unite the country. Nothing is being given away at the moment.

[steveromagnino]

Poorly written article: former billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-premier Thaksin. Thaksin was a milonaire telcom tycoon-turned-premier-with the help of his children-turned-billionaire. If they are intending to talk in terms that reflect what happened say what really happened. But aren't some assets frozen? So what does that make Mr T? Sounds petty as the writer may not like people who has more money then him?

Yingluck a novice? And what family did she grow up in, together with the position in the company? Yingluck has made her decisions within the time frame's permitted and is quite clear in the aim to re-unite the country. Nothing is being given away at the moment.

Thaksin was a billionaire before he was PM. If you knew his kids you'd know that in the time he tripled his family's net worth (estimated) from 2001 to 2005, his son had been caught cheating at Ramkumhaeng University (few details are available as the PM stepped in to hush it); the daughters were at Kaset and Chula. Now, they may be very very clever, but not many heavily partying 20 year olds (or sub 20) who don't work AT ALL are able to triple a father's wealth at the same time.

Yingluck is without doubt a novice; without any former public office experience; imagine if you were voting for a candidate who has no political office experience, how else do you describe them?

Obviously she has SOME experience in life, as a mother, as a business person, as a leader in the corporate sector (debatable how much) but politically she is a novice, hence the huge amount of handholding behind the scenes, as anyone who has had an audience with her in the last 2 weeks is well aware. No decision is made without consulting a group who are supporting her decision making. Who appointed those people...hmmm. They aren't elected that's for sure.

The cabinet for me is quite a bit better than I expected; obviously they aren't that capable and there are some obvious wrong choices, but there are few completely hopeless choices and I must now eat humble pie, having expected Nattawut to get the PM's office job to handle PR; obviously his appointment must have been vetoed by the civil service in that area.

Thirachai and a few others are obviously elected to ensure that key departments will be controlled as per TRT. Good governance requires the right people to look in the right directions. And the reverse is also true.

Whether it is a wise idea to embark on increasing wages by order rather than letting market forces allow appropriate wage levels to be determined (no one in our employ at an office level earns anything like minimum wage as it is for instance) when the world is not in great shape; whether it is a good plan to introduce price controls and subsidise rice farmers via the taxpayer; whether it is a good plan to hand, for instance, Samart, ItalThai and other connected industries a huge wad of taxpayer cash to deliver computer tablets/infrastructure projects to people who don't need them courtesy of the tax payer; whether it is a good idea to reclaim a river mouth acheiving zero benefit to anyone when land isn't even needed....these are all things easily promised and I will be delighted if none of them come to pass, provided the government do their job (which to me would be best left to the same method of governance since late 2004...where the govt doesn't do too much for a variety of reasons, and let's the real market do the talking, instead of childlike idiotic heavy handed government intereference to help their friends).

Anyhow, most of the policies while the middle class will fund them, so it's best that they don't happen.

No one will come out on the streets if the policies don't happen; to think that will happen would be to mistake the red shirt leader's demands for a movement wanting actual long term policy for their benefit.

For instance, many taxi drivers support the red shirt movement. And yet the government policy that would be MOST logical to help them (increased fares, restrictions on number of taxis and quality of taxis, inclusion in social security schemes) is the exact opposite of the trackrecord of the party now in power. And you hardly ever seem them complaining about this! As long as they get a little or feel they are getting a little, that's more than enough to keep the majority of the factory workers and farmers happy enough. And the crumbs will be at a minimum....a raise of some sort in hte minimum wage and rice pledging.

Everything else....not important to them, but important PERHAPS to the party backers. Suppliers of IT equipment for instance ;_) Or construction firms for the various infrastructure projects.....

It is easier to rally for perceived injustice in the constitution and against foreigners (examples) than to rally for an ASEAN common market or deregulation of the energy industry. A minister gives a bit of face time, says wheels are in motion...that's more than enough.

As for the fact none of the red leaders have portfolios...they would have all been personally placated a while ago; I did love the magnanimous statement of one saying he was ready to stand aside and had asked not to be given a post....after he had already been told he wouldn't get one.

No...it's all plain sailing for now in the good ship of PT....happy days for now.

The purpose of this government is to show stability, have a few decent decisions, and look slightly raw yet be able to cross from red shirt extremism to appeal across the board; this will set the stage to then say we have made good steps in the last 12 months, but now we need to bring in experts, the banned 111, back into the fold...and a snap election will be called in around 9-12 months from now. This means that it isn't too important to do everything; rather it's important to plan for being front of mind...and getting to around 350 seats in the house.

Edited August 10, 2011 by steveromagnino

[OzMick]

Hell I feel sorry for all those that express negativity willy nilly without any thoughts or ability to being proactive and creative and see the good actions that are already happening.

It's easier to be critical than be correct.

Give the Lady a chance...... its easy to say "i told you so" later if she does get it wrong......but so far she's doing just fine with her stated aims during the election run-up.

But whatever.....as farangs we are powerless, there is not a damned thing we can do to change anything.

Settle back in ur armchair pick up ur beer and .......Enjoy the ride.

Now watch the Flames arrive.

Agreed.

Don't know about you but I don't remember reading a single post from the usual suspects here expressing any positivity or any compliments to anything that Yingluck or PT has done. All I read is the usual childish, immature and inane rants. Nothing but criticism from our armchair experts, most of whom who are venting their anger over their own underachievements.

The original poster doesn't seem to respond, so I will put it to you - WHAT HAVE THEY DONE? The only thing that springs to mind is winning an election with a package of unworkable, unrealistic ill-considered populist policies most of which are likely to be abandoned.

Well, bearing in mind that Yingluck has been the Thailand PM for approximately 18 hours at the time of writing (minus a few hours for sleep, if that is allowed) I think you could possibly cut her a bit of slack, don't you think? Or am I just being unreasonable?

You are not being unreasonable, but you seem unable to read and comprehend the prior posts. 2 prior posts claimed her "good actions" and lamenting that we have failed to compliment her on her achievements, when, as you pointed out, she has done SFA mainly because of the time factor.

My replies were critical of those claims, not the PM. Try a little harder will you?

BTW I have a deleted a post from the series so that the relevant posts can be displayed.

[webfact]

Red-shirt MP Asks Peers to Accept Cabinet Line-up

A red-shirt MP asks his peers to accept the new Cabinet even though no red-shirt MPs have been given any post.

He also asks red-shirt members not to stage any protest.

Pheu Thai party-list MP and red-shirt leader Korkaew Pikultong called on all red-shirt members to accept and cooperate with the Yingluck Cabinet.

Korkaew asks the group to remain calm and not to pressure the prime minister after no red-shirt leaders were appointed as ministers.

Korkaew also expressed full confidence in ministers in this Cabinet, saying they have knowledge and experience.

He went on to say the red-shirt group should now focus its attention on monitoring the government's performance, including corruption.

Although he expected to see a Cabinet reshuffle in six months, he still insisted that the group does not want to be rewarded with posts in the Cabinet.

The red-shirt leader voiced support for the appointment of General Yutthasak Sasiprapa as defense minister because he personally believes that it will bring about reconciliation in the country.

Korkaew confirmed that the red-shirt group agrees to reconciliation but added that the investigation into the 91 deaths during the crackdown on its protests last year must continue under the judicial system.

-- Tan Network 2011-08-10

[kutjebu]

I wish them all the good luck,Thailand need.

[virtualtraveller]

No doubt they've been promised something down-the-line when the famous Thai memory fades. Jatuporn would make a fantastic government spokesman, while Nattawud seems to be on the right level of thinking for Justice Minister. They could create a new ministry of 'I haven't got a clue' for Thida. Seh Daeng might have been earmarked for something special if he was still around. Rewards, rewards, rewards, you get rewarded in this country for being dodgy.

[clausewitz]

I just wish for Foreign Minister they had found someone of the caliber of Kasit Promiya, the outgoing FM. A diplomat's diplomat and the leading cause of the improved relations with several countries including Germany, Cambodia etc.

And when he was on the stage at the Airport invasion in 2008 he really wowed the PAD crowds with his comments about Hun Sen.

[drdoom6996]

Poorly written article: former billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-premier Thaksin. Thaksin was a milonaire telcom tycoon-turned-premier-with the help of his children-turned-billionaire. If they are intending to talk in terms that reflect what happened say what really happened. But aren't some assets frozen? So what does that make Mr T? Sounds petty as the writer may not like people who has more money then him?

Yingluck a novice? And what family did she grow up in, together with the position in the company? Yingluck has made her decisions within the time frame's permitted and is quite clear in the aim to re-unite the country. Nothing is being given away at the moment.

Am I the only one that saw her on CNN?

[Buchholz]

Subtlety isn't their strong suit as Chiang Mai's Pheu Thai Party candidate Surapong Towichakchaikul displayed on the campaign trail during the last election:

Foreign Minister?

The new foreign minister (copied and pasted)

Opposition Puea Thai member of parliament Surapong Towichakchaikul, a core UDD activist, earlier donated his blood and sprayed it dramatically at a portrait of Mr Abhisit

Thaksin sure can pick the mental giants....

.

Edited August 10, 2011 by Buchholz

[Buchholz]

Hell I feel sorry for all those that express negativity willy nilly without any thoughts or ability to being proactive and creative and see the good actions that are already happening.

It's easier to be critical than be correct.

Give the Lady a chance...... its easy to say "i told you so" later if she does get it wrong......but so far she's doing just fine with her stated aims during the election run-up.

But whatever.....as farangs we are powerless, there is not a damned thing we can do to change anything.

Settle back in ur armchair pick up ur beer and .......Enjoy the ride.

Now watch the Flames arrive.

Agreed.

Don't know about you but I don't remember reading a single post from the usual suspects here expressing any positivity or any compliments to anything that Yingluck or PT has done. All I read is the usual childish, immature and inane rants. Nothing but criticism from our armchair experts, most of whom who are venting their anger over their own underachievements.

The original poster doesn't seem to respond, so I will put it to you - WHAT HAVE THEY DONE? The only thing that springs to mind is winning an election with a package of unworkable, unrealistic ill-considered populist policies most of which are likely to be abandoned.

Well, bearing in mind that Yingluck has been the Thailand PM for approximately 18 hours at the time of writing (minus a few hours for sleep, if that is allowed) I think you could possibly cut her a bit of slack, don't you think? Or am I just being unreasonable?

Apparently your time frame is long enough for visions to describe her performance thus far as:

"but so far she's doing just fine"

.

[animatic]

Hmm,it would appear that the sinking ship is leaving the rats!.

ROTFLOL

[ginjag]

Poorly written article: former billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-premier Thaksin. Thaksin was a milonaire telcom tycoon-turned-premier-with the help of his children-turned-billionaire. If they are intending to talk in terms that reflect what happened say what really happened. But aren't some assets frozen? So what does that make Mr T? Sounds petty as the writer may not like people who has more money then him?

Yingluck a novice? And what family did she grow up in, together with the position in the company? Yingluck has made her decisions within the time frame's permitted and is quite clear in the aim to re-unite the country. Nothing is being given away at the moment.

Am I the only one that saw her on CNN?

To name Aussie T.V. and a brief humiliation on Hard Talk, BBC.. and her refusal to meet Abhisit for fear of being embarrassed. If she is the right person for the job why the evading-posters know. If her brother was the invisible man life would be a lot easier, he could be with her, it would save mailing and calls.

[bigbamboo]

Forget the rest the crucial appointment is the Defence Minister and how the Army will react to it.

[nurofiend]

it's hilarious how ye all make fun of this, when ye were the ones complaining about how the red shirt leaders were probably going to get in

ridiculous really

[rametindallas]

<br />Hell I feel sorry for all those that express negativity willy nilly without any thoughts or ability to being proactive and creative and see the good actions that are already happening.<br /><br />It's easier to be critical than be correct.<br /><br />Give the Lady a chance...... its easy to say "i told you so"   later if she does get it wrong......but so far she's doing just fine with her stated aims during the election run-up.<br />But whatever.....as farangs we are powerless, there is not a damned thing we can do to change anything.  <br /><br />Settle back in ur armchair pick up ur beer and .......Enjoy the ride.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now watch the Flames arrive.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

+1

[Chris Lawrence]

Poorly written article: former billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-premier Thaksin. Thaksin was a milonaire telcom tycoon-turned-premier-with the help of his children-turned-billionaire. If they are intending to talk in terms that reflect what happened say what really happened. But aren't some assets frozen? So what does that make Mr T? Sounds petty as the writer may not like people who has more money then him?

Yingluck a novice? And what family did she grow up in, together with the position in the company? Yingluck has made her decisions within the time frame's permitted and is quite clear in the aim to re-unite the country. Nothing is being given away at the moment.

Thaksin was a billionaire before he was PM. If you knew his kids you'd know that in the time he tripled his family's net worth (estimated) from 2001 to 2005, his son had been caught cheating at Ramkumhaeng University (few details are available as the PM stepped in to hush it); the daughters were at Kaset and Chula. Now, they may be very very clever, but not many heavily partying 20 year olds (or sub 20) who don't work AT ALL are able to triple a father's wealth at the same time.

Yingluck is without doubt a novice; without any former public office experience; imagine if you were voting for a candidate who has no political office experience, how else do you describe them?

Obviously she has SOME experience in life, as a mother, as a business person, as a leader in the corporate sector (debatable how much) but politically she is a novice, hence the huge amount of handholding behind the scenes, as anyone who has had an audience with her in the last 2 weeks is well aware. No decision is made without consulting a group who are supporting her decision making. Who appointed those people...hmmm. They aren't elected that's for sure.

The cabinet for me is quite a bit better than I expected; obviously they aren't that capable and there are some obvious wrong choices, but there are few completely hopeless choices and I must now eat humble pie, having expected Nattawut to get the PM's office job to handle PR; obviously his appointment must have been vetoed by the civil service in that area.

Thirachai and a few others are obviously elected to ensure that key departments will be controlled as per TRT. Good governance requires the right people to look in the right directions. And the reverse is also true.

Whether it is a wise idea to embark on increasing wages by order rather than letting market forces allow appropriate wage levels to be determined (no one in our employ at an office level earns anything like minimum wage as it is for instance) when the world is not in great shape; whether it is a good plan to introduce price controls and subsidise rice farmers via the taxpayer; whether it is a good plan to hand, for instance, Samart, ItalThai and other connected industries a huge wad of taxpayer cash to deliver computer tablets/infrastructure projects to people who don't need them courtesy of the tax payer; whether it is a good idea to reclaim a river mouth acheiving zero benefit to anyone when land isn't even needed....these are all things easily promised and I will be delighted if none of them come to pass, provided the government do their job (which to me would be best left to the same method of governance since late 2004...where the govt doesn't do too much for a variety of reasons, and let's the real market do the talking, instead of childlike idiotic heavy handed government intereference to help their friends).

Anyhow, most of the policies while the middle class will fund them, so it's best that they don't happen.

No one will come out on the streets if the policies don't happen; to think that will happen would be to mistake the red shirt leader's demands for a movement wanting actual long term policy for their benefit.

For instance, many taxi drivers support the red shirt movement. And yet the government policy that would be MOST logical to help them (increased fares, restrictions on number of taxis and quality of taxis, inclusion in social security schemes) is the exact opposite of the trackrecord of the party now in power. And you hardly ever seem them complaining about this! As long as they get a little or feel they are getting a little, that's more than enough to keep the majority of the factory workers and farmers happy enough. And the crumbs will be at a minimum....a raise of some sort in hte minimum wage and rice pledging.

Everything else....not important to them, but important PERHAPS to the party backers. Suppliers of IT equipment for instance ;_) Or construction firms for the various infrastructure projects.....

It is easier to rally for perceived injustice in the constitution and against foreigners (examples) than to rally for an ASEAN common market or deregulation of the energy industry. A minister gives a bit of face time, says wheels are in motion...that's more than enough.

As for the fact none of the red leaders have portfolios...they would have all been personally placated a while ago; I did love the magnanimous statement of one saying he was ready to stand aside and had asked not to be given a post....after he had already been told he wouldn't get one.

No...it's all plain sailing for now in the good ship of PT....happy days for now.

The purpose of this government is to show stability, have a few decent decisions, and look slightly raw yet be able to cross from red shirt extremism to appeal across the board; this will set the stage to then say we have made good steps in the last 12 months, but now we need to bring in experts, the banned 111, back into the fold...and a snap election will be called in around 9-12 months from now. This means that it isn't too important to do everything; rather it's important to plan for being front of mind...and getting to around 350 seats in the house.

If you read his story you will see that he entered into a few business's and went belly up. When he went into politics he was just starting out with the telco company. I can't see where he had time to develop his billionaire status. Where did you get your information from?