Can PM Yingluck Win Over A Foreign Audience?

[Gers1873]

I am sometimes wondering how she managed to get a degree from a U.S. university. I mean, with her even now English-language non-proficiency, how was she able to follow lectures, read - let alone comprehend - teaching materials or sit through and successfully complete exams? Let's be frank, she even has trouble reading prepared speeches in her own language without starting to stutter and losing the thread.

Perhaps she was proficient at basketball??

Listening to her speak is about a entertaining and as informative as watching paint dry.

[hyperdimension]

As for the charge she is a proxy for someone else, this doersn't fly either. All circumstances were fully declared and understood by the voters.

Does she herself admit that she is a proxy or a puppet? By her and her spokespersons' statements, it seems that she does not want to be known as such. So your statement that Pheu Thai supporters voted with the full knowledge that she is a puppet is disrespectful and denigrating to such a large swathe of the electorate.

As a result she has no difficulties with Foreign audiences. I have seen many instances where significant international figures were only too happy to be photo-opped with the well respected and photogenic Thai Prime Minister.

So is her beauty the main drawcard? I'd agree that she is physically attractive, like a Bimbo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBq4IwFLtA0

[anterian]

Yingluck should not speak in front of international audiences. I love that this article addresses the obvious problem of the "face-saving"/reinforcement issue. Thais bring a whole new meaning to the term "lackey", but that's more of an aside. Yingluck's administration demonstrated clearly that she is NOT in control when the floods happened. There were so many mouths spewing incomprehensible nonsense that government incompetence became as much a concern for the public as actual flooding. But there have been other instances as well, such as when Yingluck tried to tell the public that she wasn't aware of her own Foreign Ministry's plans to provide her brother with a passport (even if that's a bold-faced lie, it just shows how stupid they think the public is/how stupid they think they can be and get away with it). The fact is that successive Thai governments don't stand up to international scrutiny at all. This isn't just Yingluck; it's the entire system and it's been this way for a decade, at least. Thailand has essentially disconnected from global economic and political progress and integration. Thais are scrambling to prepare for the 2015 ASEAN integration because the citizens of other ASEAN nations have shown themselves to be much more aggressive and willing to learn. Bold, adventurous, confident, well-educated ASEAN investors will likely trounce their Thai equivalents in the global race towards prosperity. Thai academics and officials already know this and there have been numerous articles touching on the issue. Ultimately, Thai cultural pride (they were not colonized, something they really, really want everyone to know) and complacency have left the country with a government that reflects it's populace: oblivious and unskilled. Most Thais, it's been demonstrated, cannot find their own country on a map.

The Thai government is chock-full of proxies, puppets and known criminals. The international community knows this. Take a look at Yingluck's meetings with foreign officials in Davos: she met with no one of importance. It's very easy to see why. No serious government official, with little time and huge challenges before him or her, would sit down with someone who so clearly doesn't have her cards in order. There is every reason to believe that her brother would have to rubber stamp anything she happened to agree upon. She is so clearly incapable of leading a country and government (and that's not completely her fault; Thai political culture isn't merely a topic for study, it's a disaster) that it wouldn't truly make sense to spend any time discussing anything with her. When I stand her up next to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Indonesian PM; great interview with Charlie Rose), Barack Obama, Wen Jintao, Angela Merkel, or even Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, I can immediately make sense of the fact that Yingluck attracts little attention from foreign diplomats at major international political gatherings. She isn't a PM/President like any of them are (they all are leaders and are truly looking out for the long-term health of their respective countries). She can barely manage things in her own language, let alone in English.

I'm not sure about the last sentence other than a Thai social distinction (sophisticated urban as opposed to unsophisticated provincial).But overall this was an intelligent, well informed and rather devastating post obviously with some clear hits that someone like myself who is broadly sympathetic to Yingluck would have to consider very carefully.The small band of haters who are always in evidence to make witless remarks (and sometimes offensively sexist) remarks about the PM could learn something from this more incisive approach which is much more effective.

I have two comments about Yingluck's foreign reception.She has an advantage in the way she presents herself - well mannered, courteous and sympathetic.Secondly and much more importantly she unlike Abhisit has a clear electoral mandate.I understand what is said about the second tier people she saw in Switzerland, but I don't think this will be an ongoing issue.

Agreed, a well reasoned comment, it is not just Yingluck, or Thaksin or the PT, it is the entire cultural baggage of Thailand which is the problem.

[TheGhostWithin]

The Japanese are more than happy to be entertained by a geisha. They will be more focussed on what are the government's detailed plans for flood prevention matters.

Yoshi, as you well know, when she is asked questions about details, or about an issue of which she has not been told how to respond to by her "foreign minister" in Cambodia, she simply smiles and laughs, even during times of natural disasters while her people starve and die.

No government can be truly effective unless it is truly autonomous, and free of interference by both foreign powers and foreign entities - particularly those of organised crime. Vladimir Putin has changed the shape of Russia and kept the country on a single track during his time, however the internal corruption of his regime and meddling by both domestic and foreign mafias (those of ex-soviet countries mostly) has meant that the global mood towards Russia is that of a country whose words do not always mean the truth, and of which the price paid is often much higher than the profits are to be generated (Politically and economically). In some ways, Thailand is very much the same.

Until there is a single leader, who has the power to remove those operating as criminals under the white flag of honest politics and civil service, no leader of Thailand could ever be taken seriously - not even one with an Oxford education, sadly. Details or not, it is only action which will speak louder than the often conflicting words spoken too often in Thai Politics and the civil service. The snake rots from the head.

[Thai at Heart]

You have to have the required knowledge to be able to 'think on your feet',sadly I think in many areas Yingluk simply doesn't know what to say, unlike Apisit who always comes across as well informed and articulate.

Indeed, he appears to have a much more articulate ventriloquist manning the controls.

[hyperdimension]

He is a trolling red shirt leader so don't waste your time ...

I was thinking that he is one of Amsterdam's online perception management team (or Amsterdam himself, considering the writing style). What we do know is that he does work with (or for) Pheu Thai based on his statements in this thread: Thai Women's Fund Open To All: Nalinee

Edited March 19, 2012 by hyperdimension

[Buchholz]

Doubts expressed over Yingluck's ability to 'think on her feet'

Her ability to think while seated are just as un-reassuring...

[Anon999]

"Can the PM win over a foreign audience?" #1^

No problem, in spite of the opposition's hopes otherwise.

She is where she is legitimately as a democratically elected PM.

Her ability to calm the political waters in Thailand after her election, keeping her electoral base in tack and the Opposition nuetralized, is significant political achievement.

As for the charge she is a proxy for someone else, this doersn't fly either. All circumstances were fully declared and understood by the voters.

As a result she has no difficulties with Foreign audiences. I have seen many instances where significant international figures were only too happy to be photo-opped with the well respected and photogenic Thai Prime Minister.

"Doubts expressed over Yingluck's ability to 'think on her feet'

Only by those who would be advantaged, if such a perception found traction.

Her politiocal support has no such concerns, in fact they don't even think about it.

This is pure Opposition agenda.

"Top bureaucrats are going through some nail-biting moments as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra contemplates an invitation to attend an upcoming summit, the UN Conference on Trade and Development"

Says who?

The bureaucracy better be in line, recognizing their place vis-a-vis the political leadership.

Why not mention a name?....Who is biting his/her nails?

"Some bureaucrats fluent in English went as far as describing the performance as a "disaster".

Who?

Should this be true, this is more an indication of the PTP not cleaning house well enough after their electoral victory.

I have often heard accusations of the PTP electoral victory being followed by the installation of their "cronies'.

Should the above be true, obviously they didn't do enough, leaving some of Mr. Abhisit's cronies in place.

"Some think the invitation from Supachai was a trap so Yingluck can give the same mediocre performance as in Davos"

I have seen this frequently mentioned by the Oppositiuon media. This opinion stated as fact.

A little bit like saying the flood disaster management was not up to par. Another statement projected as fact, with no supporting data.

When compared to other Nations handling similar disasters of similar magnitude, Thailand's handling of it may be deemed exemplary.

When opposition accusations are expressed as fact, raises many red flags.

For a start I wonder if there is any chance that you can produce a post that is even more spread out than those you currently post on TV? It appears your first objective is to take up as much space as possible with the least amount of words.

Secondly your constant negative dross about everything that does not meet with your personal approval about PTP/Red Shirts. According to you they can do no wrong and every comment to the contrary is unfounded, wrong, inaccurate or lies. You are so biased that it makes one wonder what your levels of stress must be and your blood pressure is before you start to produce another rant?

Is there any possibility that you can actually agree with some of the comments that do not put your favoured people in a positive light when it is obvious to all and sundry? The recent presentation to the Japanese would be a good starting point.

I won't hold my breath.

PS You may have noticed that I have not double spaced my post!

[SabaiBKK]

Doubts expressed over Yingluck's ability to 'think on her feet'

Her ability to think while seated are just as un-reassuring...

this is horribly embarrassing for the country .... i would even say painfull to watch !

Edited March 19, 2012 by SabaiBKK

[allan michaud]

"Can the PM win over a foreign audience?" #1^

As for the charge she is a proxy for someone else, this doersn't fly either. All circumstances were fully declared and understood by the voters.

Are you serious? EVERYONE understood very clearly that she was representing her brother.

[bigbamboo]

Why pick on Yingluck? Apart from Abhisit, who had the significant advantage of an English education and a sound grounding in politics and of course the award winning Finance Minister, Korn Chatikanivanij, no Thai politician in my memory has really impressed on the international stage.

But, as we all know, that is not why she was elected.

Edited March 19, 2012 by bigbamboo

[hyperdimension]

Why pick on Yingluck? Apart from Abhisit, who had the significant advantage of an English education

Are you saying that an English education has a significant advantage over an American Masters degree education?

[Rosco911]

Yingluck should not speak in front of international audiences. I love that this article addresses the obvious problem of the "face-saving"/reinforcement issue. Thais bring a whole new meaning to the term "lackey", but that's more of an aside. Yingluck's administration demonstrated clearly that she is NOT in control when the floods happened. There were so many mouths spewing incomprehensible nonsense that government incompetence became as much a concern for the public as actual flooding. But there have been other instances as well, such as when Yingluck tried to tell the public that she wasn't aware of her own Foreign Ministry's plans to provide her brother with a passport (even if that's a bold-faced lie, it just shows how stupid they think the public is/how stupid they think they can be and get away with it). The fact is that successive Thai governments don't stand up to international scrutiny at all. This isn't just Yingluck; it's the entire system and it's been this way for a decade, at least. Thailand has essentially disconnected from global economic and political progress and integration. Thais are scrambling to prepare for the 2015 ASEAN integration because the citizens of other ASEAN nations have shown themselves to be much more aggressive and willing to learn. Bold, adventurous, confident, well-educated ASEAN investors will likely trounce their Thai equivalents in the global race towards prosperity. Thai academics and officials already know this and there have been numerous articles touching on the issue. Ultimately, Thai cultural pride (they were not colonized, something they really, really want everyone to know) and complacency have left the country with a government that reflects it's populace: oblivious and unskilled. Most Thais, it's been demonstrated, cannot find their own country on a map.

The Thai government is chock-full of proxies, puppets and known criminals. The international community knows this. Take a look at Yingluck's meetings with foreign officials in Davos: she met with no one of importance. It's very easy to see why. No serious government official, with little time and huge challenges before him or her, would sit down with someone who so clearly doesn't have her cards in order. There is every reason to believe that her brother would have to rubber stamp anything she happened to agree upon. She is so clearly incapable of leading a country and government (and that's not completely her fault; Thai political culture isn't merely a topic for study, it's a disaster) that it wouldn't truly make sense to spend any time discussing anything with her. When I stand her up next to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Indonesian PM; great interview with Charlie Rose), Barack Obama, Wen Jintao, Angela Merkel, or even Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, I can immediately make sense of the fact that Yingluck attracts little attention from foreign diplomats at major international political gatherings. She isn't a PM/President like any of them are (they all are leaders and are truly looking out for the long-term health of their respective countries). She can barely manage things in her own language, let alone in English.

[hyperdimension]

"Can the PM win over a foreign audience?" #1^

As for the charge she is a proxy for someone else, this doersn't fly either. All circumstances were fully declared and understood by the voters.

Are you serious? EVERYONE understood very clearly that she was representing her brother.

That's what CalgaryII was saying - that Pheu Thai voters knew full well that she is just a puppet for her brother. This is in stark contrast to her own statements that Thaksin is not making the decisions. So is CalgaryII acknowledging that Yingluck is a liar? That would be totally against his tasked agenda.

Edited March 19, 2012 by hyperdimension

[Jingthing]

Why pick on Yingluck? Apart from Abhisit, who had the significant advantage of an English education

Are you saying that an English education has a significant advantage over an American Masters degree education?

Great educations are available in both countries. Abhisit went to a top shelf school. Yingluck went to a D-list school. Abhisit is well educated. Yingluck is not. Quite obviously.

[bigbamboo]

Why pick on Yingluck? Apart from Abhisit, who had the significant advantage of an English education

Are you saying that an English education has a significant advantage over an American Masters degree education?

As an Englishman, absolutely!

Fair point, I should have specified that he learnt English as a primary language.

[Jingthing]

Why pick on Yingluck? Apart from Abhisit, who had the significant advantage of an English education

Are you saying that an English education has a significant advantage over an American Masters degree education?

As an Englishman, absolutely!

Fair point, I should have specified that he learnt English as a primary language.

Hold on there. Most of the top rated universities in the world are ... AMERICAN.

http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/top-400-universities-in-the-world

[Thai at Heart]

Doubts expressed over Yingluck's ability to 'think on her feet'

Her ability to think while seated are just as un-reassuring...

this is horribly embarrassing for the country .... i would even say painfull to watch !

Well a brave try, but really really horrible. She obviously hasn't been coached at all about how to do this. Ironically, isn't it Abhsit's cousin who is now her "press" man? Trying to wing this kind of thing infront of live camera is largely impossible, but then where in Thailand would you expect to get any coaching in this type of thing? It isn't as though she had to do her time on the back benches is it.

[Jingthing]

I don't see any evidence she has the aptitude (or desire) to be trained in performing for these events. So in that sense it is not only a lack of training.

[bigbamboo]

Why pick on Yingluck? Apart from Abhisit, who had the significant advantage of an English education

Are you saying that an English education has a significant advantage over an American Masters degree education?

As an Englishman, absolutely!

Fair point, I should have specified that he learnt English as a primary language.

Hold on there. Most of the top rated universities in the world are ... AMERICAN.

http://www.usnews.co...es-in-the-world

America has more universities than the rest of the world put together and six times the population of England and yet we have four of the top seven in the world, including my own at number one! Peterhouse (and the rest) rule!

[Crushdepth]

Nepotism inevitably leads to incompetent appointments. Yingluck was handed this job by her brother, it's up to her to prove she's not completely useless and self-serving.

[belg]

for thai, it is not important if they go to foreign country and the audiance does not understand her speaking thai... thais are so much better and smarter than everybody else

everybody should adapt and learn thai, and learn that in her country, you can come to invest and build a company that only belongs 49% to you and 51% to complete strangers

and the land and buildings you put overthere, cannot be yours as you are not thai, but must belong to some shady construction

thais still think if farang owns land, they will steal it from thailand bring it to their home country

[hellodolly]

The Japanese are more than happy to be entertained by a geisha. They will be more focussed on what are the government's detailed plans for flood prevention matters.

Yoshi, as you well know, when she is asked questions about details, or about an issue of which she has not been told how to respond to by her "foreign minister" in Cambodia, she simply smiles and laughs, even during times of natural disasters while her people starve and die.

No government can be truly effective unless it is truly autonomous, and free of interference by both foreign powers and foreign entities - particularly those of organised crime. Vladimir Putin has changed the shape of Russia and kept the country on a single track during his time, however the internal corruption of his regime and meddling by both domestic and foreign mafias (those of ex-soviet countries mostly) has meant that the global mood towards Russia is that of a country whose words do not always mean the truth, and of which the price paid is often much higher than the profits are to be generated (Politically and economically). In some ways, Thailand is very much the same.

Until there is a single leader, who has the power to remove those operating as criminals under the white flag of honest politics and civil service, no leader of Thailand could ever be taken seriously - not even one with an Oxford education, sadly. Details or not, it is only action which will speak louder than the often conflicting words spoken too often in Thai Politics and the civil service. The snake rots from the head.

I tend to disagree with you in your reference to Abhist. If he had been giving the support the PT was things would have been a lot better.

But he was denied the support to do any thing. I am not saying all would be a bed of roses but it would defiantly be a better Thailand.

[Jingthing]

America has more universities than the rest of the world put together and six times the population of England and yet we have four of the top seven in the world, including my own at number one! Peterhouse (and the rest) rule!

Whatever. Fine. In any case, there are ample world class schools in both countries and crappy ones as well. Yingluck and her brother went to crappy ones.

Next ...

[animatic]

Give her a chance, she has been thrown to the wolves in the past 9 months, an almost impossible task. The amount of character asassination has been appaling and the pressure would crush anybody. Just give her a chance.

A chance is not what you expect in a national leader. You expect them to DO THE F'n JOB.

9 months is more than enough time to 'get up to speed'.

Considering the number of former government ministers, MPs and Ministry heads surrounding her, there is no reason that 3 months should have been necessary to be able to DO The JOB.

As too Unis World TOP 20

Cambridge

Harvard

MIT

Yale

Oxford

Imperial College London

University College London

U of Chicago

U of Pennsylvania

Columbia

Stamford

CalTech

Princeton

U of Michigan

Cornell

Johns Hopkins

McGill Canada

ETH Zurich

Duke

U of Edinburgh

Yes, there is quantity,

but in this case it is all about QUALITY.

University of Tennessee is ranked Nationally #101

But Yingluck didn't even go here...

She went to a Tennesse State University which is ranked #16... in Tennesse...

And is " Rank Not Published" on the national ratings. ( too embarrassing to publish )

Vanderbilt #1 in Tennesse, is #100 nationally.

Edited March 19, 2012 by animatic

[Jingthing]

In a healthy parliamentary system, wouldn't it be about time for a successful NO CONFIDENCE vote against the embarrassing PM?

[Thai at Heart]

Give her a chance, she has been thrown to the wolves in the past 9 months, an almost impossible task. The amount of character asassination has been appaling and the pressure would crush anybody. Just give her a chance.

A chance is not what you expect in a national leader. You expect them to DO THE F'n JOB.

9 months is more than enough time to 'get up to speed'.

Considering the number of former government ministers, MPs and Ministry heads surrounding her, there is no reason that 3 months should have been necessary to be able to DO The JOB.

I can't but agree. So I guess, when it comes to the international stage, we will have to expect to be disappointed.

Everyone gets a certain "honeymoon" period, and everyone has a certain amount of time to blame the previous administration for the problems encountered today, but that time has run out. Time to start performing.

Of course, domestically, there are some pretty serious changes coming with minimum wage etc, but when it comes to the flood, they have made a rod for their own back by initially stating that there wasn't a serious flood coming, now everything will be solved in weeks, when it in reality takes years. Running a country is pretty serious business, and there isn't time to stand still, take stock and wait and wait for the right result. However, this also presumes that you have capable people around to do the job quickly, which, unfortunately, I don't think they do.

So as I said, chaos reigns.....

[Sakeopete]

Posters keep criticizing statements by Thai politicians as obvious lies and nonsense. All that is true if the audience was international and educated. However there often ridiculous statements are intended for a domestic audience "Their voters". In that context the silly statements and bold faced lies are appropriate as that's want their constituents want to hear and accept.

[bigbamboo]

Posters keep criticizing statements by Thai politicians as obvious lies and nonsense. All that is true if the audience was international and educated. However there often ridiculous statements are intended for a domestic audience "Their voters". In that context the silly statements and bold faced lies are appropriate as that's want their constituents want to hear and accept.

So you are saying that Thais are uneducated and stupid? Does that include the politicians too?

[jonclark]

Yingluck in Davos

Talks a lot, but what the hell she is talking about?

Having seen her talk, how the hell did she manage to get a master degree

"Education will go along with female???" Female as myself can say that" Male and female must be complement together" "That is will be in Thailand".

My Thai is not that good, but I am not PM. But I have got an MA and i know that getting an MA requires far better English that the English she spoke.