Witty New Pheu Thai Leader Is Wary Of Pitak Siam Movement

[webfact]

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MINISTER CHARUPONG

Witty new Pheu Thai leader is wary of Pitak Siam movement

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Charupong Ruangsuwan is no Chalerm Yoobamrung, but in Thailand's political context, the soft-spoken - albeit witty - new leader of the Pheu Thai Party seems to have hit the ground running. During a two-hour meeting with Nation Multimedia Group executives and senior editors yesterday, he demonstrated just enough of why he was selected for a job that requires a great balance of assertiveness, loyalty and flexibility in front of the media.

Combining satire and respect for opponents may be one of Charu-pong's strong points. "It's old wine in an old bottle with just a new cork," he said of the Pitak Siam movement, which is gearing up to hold what threatens to be the biggest anti-government protest to date on November 24, one day before the no-confidence debate begins. "We are watching them closely and never under-estimate them. The lesson was learned in 2006."

Thaksin Shinawatra failed to contain yellow-shirt protests when he was prime minister. The rest is history. Charupong said the government would do its best to make sure that wouldn't be the case. He trusts the military to stay in the barracks but admits that there are too many factors involved to completely dismiss the possibility of another coup. At

the risk of sounding a bit like Abhisit Vejjajiva when the red shirts were descending on Bangkok in early 2010, Charupong vowed to let Pitak Siam rally "as long as it's within the scope of the law". He beat several favourite contenders to take Pheu Thai's helm after Yongyuth Wichaidit became a high-profile casualty of the Alpine golf course scandal. Whether Charupong was prepared for the job is one thing; whether he's prepared to counter questions portraying him as a nominal figure is another.

"How much say does a Pheu Thai leader have when it comes to a Cabinet reshuffle?" he was asked. Refusing to fume, he replied: "Changing the Cabinet formation regularly is our corporate culture, so to speak. [To explain the rotation] we have a lot of qualified people in the party. On how much say that I have had about the look of the new Cabinet, let's just say I was right about more than 50 per cent of the changes."

He stood firm on the "merits" of the rice price-pledging policy, but conceded that some key changes are needed to tighten up the loose ends. For example, the programme has inadvertently excluded the very poor farmers who don't have title deeds to qualify themselves for full benefits of the scheme and this has to be corrected. Instead of waving off corruption as a trivial problem in the programme, Charupong acknowledged it and declared graft as priority problem to be tackled when the government goes ahead with the new phase of the policy.

The new Pheu Thai leader expects the opposition Democrats to pull no punches against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in the upcoming censure debate, saying the omission of the commerce minister from the censure motion despite the rice controversy indicated a clear intention to single her out. But he warned that, before asking Yingluck questions, the Democrats should first tackle the uncertainties surrounding Abhisit's MP status following his "removal" from the Army.

The Defence Ministry's dishonourable discharge of Abhisit, who was given the rank of sub-lieutenant for serving as an Army lecturer, has raised constitutional questions about his MP status. He has denied using any falsified documents to get the lecturer job, which effectively helped him avoid conscription.

Charupong all but confirmed questioning whether Abhisit is constitutionally fit to lead the grilling of Yingluck. "If the Constitution clearly prohibits it, it's interesting to see how they can do it," he said.

When it comes to Thaksin, his ultimate boss, diplomacy goes out the window. "I'd like to do anything I can to bring him back home. That's justice. He's a Thai and has a lot of good points, so he belongs in Thailand. It's just about the question of timing."

When pressed on "What's the best timing", even a witty man like Charupong seemed to be at his wits' end, though. And he virtually laughed off the question.

-- The Nation 2012-11-15

[Siripon]

The government are so afraid of Apisit questioning Yingluk in the censure debate, so afraid.

[saltandpepper]

The government are so afraid of Apisit questioning Yingluk in the censure debate, so afraid.

They should!

[waza]

Witty new Pheu Thai leader, "It's old wine in an old bottle with just a new cork," he said of the Pitak Siam. boom boom

We have a similar saying in Aus, "same <deleted>, different lable".

[CelticBhoy]

I must have missed the bit where he is 'witty' in the article.

Just another boring politician is what I read.

[Dap]

Wow! This man certainly understands "diplomacy" and wields it well. Watch out for this guy!

[Thai at Heart]

Satire is a genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement.[1] Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon.

A thai politician using his wit for constructive social criticism. Does Thailand understand constructive social criticism? If he's as witty and satirical as they say he is, he'll get tossed out for not loving his country enough.

I mean honestly, you'd think all the farmers would be millionaires by now. Where did all the money go?

Kaboom ching. (cue canned laughter).

[rubl]

"How much say does a Pheu Thai leader have when it comes to a Cabinet reshuffle?" he was asked. Refusing to fume, he replied: "Changing the Cabinet formation regularly is our corporate culture, so to speak. [To explain the rotation] we have a lot of qualified people in the party. On how much say that I have had about the look of the new Cabinet, let's just say I was right about more than 50 per cent of the changes."

Logic is not his strongest point, I think. On 'how much say in changes' the answer is 'I was right about more than 50%' ? Even with no say in changes he might still be right in (guessing/wishing for/ expecting) about 50% of the changes.

Anyway, democracy at work, busy getting Thaksin back that is.

[Fozfromoz]

Witty new Pheu Thai leader, "It's old wine in an old bottle with just a new cork," he said of the Pitak Siam. boom boom

We have a similar saying in Aus, "same <deleted>, different lable".

Same whore in a different dress?

[JeffreyWitty]

Huh? I'm the new Pheu Thai leader? Also, How can I be wary of something I don't even know exists?

(sorry, can't help myself. )

[Buchholz]

Why does this witty character only have 1 friend on his Facebook page?

.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Buchholz

[MikeOboe57]

Why does this witty character only have 1 friend on his Facebook page?

.

You only need 1 friend to rise through the PTP ranks.

[Buchholz]

Charupong Ruangsuwan, the soft-spoken - albeit witty - new leader of the Pheu Thai Party

When it comes to Thaksin, his ultimate boss, diplomacy goes out the window. "I'd like to do anything I can to bring him back home."

Just to complete the latest installment to verify the long-standing, albeit witty, unholy trinity,

Thaksin = PTP = Red Shirts

Devoted To The Reds And To Thaksin

Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan seems the perfect choice for the post of Pheu Thai Party leader. While not a Shinawatra family insider, he has worked for the party for some time, is trusted by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and is also a prominent member of the red shirts.

http://www.thaivisa....n/#entry5811076

.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Buchholz

[philw]

Charupong Ruangsuwan, the soft-spoken - albeit witty - new leader of the Pheu Thai Party

When it comes to Thaksin, his ultimate boss, diplomacy goes out the window. "I'd like to do anything I can to bring him back home."

Just to complete the latest installment to verify the long-standing, albeit witty, unholy trinity,

Thaksin = PTP = Red Shirts

Devoted To The Reds And To Thaksin

Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan seems the perfect choice for the post of Pheu Thai Party leader. While not a Shinawatra family insider, he has worked for the party for some time, is trusted by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and is also a prominent member of the red shirts.

http://www.thaivisa....n/#entry5811076

.

Thank you for making it so clear, for all of us less able to understand the myriad intricacies of Thai politics.

Where would we be without your insight into all of this............

[OzMick]

"It's old wine in an old bottle with just a new cork," which is exactly how wine of the highest quality is kept at his best. If you asked him, he would probably think that Chateau Rothschild is the name of Chalerm's illegal cottage in the national park.

But he should fit in well at PTP where MPs often make comments about matters of which they have very little knowledge, and are appointed Ministers with absolutely no expertise - unless catching a bus once qualifies you as Minister of Transport, or having a Cambodian girlfriend is enough to be Minister of foreign affairs.

[Buchholz]

Charupong Ruangsuwan, the soft-spoken - albeit witty - new leader of the Pheu Thai Party

When it comes to Thaksin, his ultimate boss, diplomacy goes out the window. "I'd like to do anything I can to bring him back home."

Just to complete the latest installment to verify the long-standing, albeit witty, unholy trinity,

Thaksin = PTP = Red Shirts

Devoted To The Reds And To Thaksin

Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan seems the perfect choice for the post of Pheu Thai Party leader. While not a Shinawatra family insider, he has worked for the party for some time, is trusted by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and is also a prominent member of the red shirts.

http://www.thaivisa....n/#entry5811076

.

Thank you for making it so clear, for all of us less able to understand the myriad intricacies of Thai politics.

Where would we be without your insight into all of this............

Way back in the back of the pack who have unsuccessfully attempted to dismantle the trinity in their feeble - albeit witty - posts.

.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Buchholz

[rixalex]

When it comes to Thaksin, his ultimate boss, diplomacy goes out the window. "I'd like to do anything I can to bring him back home. That's justice. He's a Thai and has a lot of good points, so he belongs in Thailand. It's just about the question of timing."

Has a reporter ever responded to this nonsense above, that we hear so often from Thaksin's lackeys, with, "What pray tell is stopping him coming back? He has a private plane and a passport does he not? Doesn't seem like rocker science for him to come back. Why would he need your help to do so?"

Edited November 16, 2012 by rixalex

[rubl]

When it comes to Thaksin, his ultimate boss, diplomacy goes out the window. "I'd like to do anything I can to bring him back home. That's justice. He's a Thai and has a lot of good points, so he belongs in Thailand. It's just about the question of timing."

Has a reporter ever responded to this nonsense above, that we hear so often from Thaksin's lackeys, with, "What pray tell is stopping him coming back? He has a private plane and a passport does he not? Doesn't seem like rocker science for him to come back. Why would he need your help to do so?"

With so many prominent Pheu Thai and government people working on it, it's a bit of a mystery why these knowledgable, capable, full of potential people haven't progressed much. Mind you It only really started with the acceptance of Ms. Yingluck as Pheu Thai party list #1. Hardly 1-1/2 year ago. Rome wasn't build in a day and all that.

BTW re-reading the policy statement our PM presented in August, 2011 I cannot find a single item which refers to k. Thaksin, not even in the items to be accomplished or completed the first year. Maybe the censure debate is a reasonable time to ask the government. Their performance seems wanting

[Skywalker69]

The government are so afraid of Apisit questioning Yingluk in the censure debate, so afraid.

Because without a manuscript she is "lost in space"

[ratcatcher]

Frankly , my dear, I don't believe it's that long.

[ridkun]

When it comes to Thaksin, his ultimate boss, diplomacy goes out the window. "I'd like to do anything I can to bring him back home. That's justice. He's a Thai and has a lot of good points, so he belongs in Thailand. It's just about the question of timing."

Has a reporter ever responded to this nonsense above, that we hear so often from Thaksin's lackeys, with, "What pray tell is stopping him coming back? He has a private plane and a passport does he not? Doesn't seem like rocker science for him to come back. Why would he need your help to do so?"

Well, Thaksin has announced that he would like to make it a "cool" comeback. I guess his employees in the House are still trying to figure it out how to make it happen, or pretending like they are doing so just to impress him.

[philw]

Why does this witty character only have 1 friend on his Facebook page?

.

Why did you have to go to the length of researching that ??

Your obsession or merely general interest and the pursuit of knowledge ???

[Thai at Heart]

Why does this witty character only have 1 friend on his Facebook page?

.

Why did you have to go to the length of researching that ??

Your obsession or merely general interest and the pursuit of knowledge ???

Actually, its quite a telling statement.

[Hugo6]

Why does this witty character only have 1 friend on his Facebook page?

.

Why did you have to go to the length of researching that ??

Your obsession or merely general interest and the pursuit of knowledge ???

stalker, man, stalker.

[Buchholz]

Why does this witty character only have 1 friend on his Facebook page?

Why did you have to go to the length of researching that ??

Your obsession or merely general interest and the pursuit of knowledge ???

"go to the length"

Phil, Phil, Phil... when are you ever going to learn search engines????

Curious to see what's what about this character, I enter his name in Google.

The very first result is his Facebook account.

I click to enter the Facebook site. Time elapsed thus far is < 2 seconds.

Cool, I think, lots of people have all sorts of stuff about themselves on their Facebook.

Oak Shinawatra posts Assassination Breaking News on his, as an example.

However, it's disappointing and I'm quite surprised by the dearth of info on his page.

Then, glaring quite noticeably on his barren front page is, the lonely,

"Friends 1"

How odd that is. I don't recall seeing too many accounts with just 1 friend irregardless of who or what they are, but as the Party Leader of millions of Thais, this quirky finding was mildly intriguing.

Total elapsed time thus far is around 4 seconds.

I go back to the browser window I was just reading before (this thread) and type in my post.

Start to finish, somewhere between 5 and 6 seconds.

OR...about the same amount of time it took for you to write:

Why did you go to length of researching that?

*thanks for the chuckle*

.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Buchholz

[Thai at Heart]

Why does this witty character only have 1 friend on his Facebook page?

.

Why did you have to go to the length of researching that ??

Your obsession or merely general interest and the pursuit of knowledge ???

stalker, man, stalker.

Someone with only one friend on Facebook might be happy to have a stalker.

[Thai at Heart]

Why does this witty character only have 1 friend on his Facebook page?

.

Why did you have to go to the length of researching that ??

Your obsession or merely general interest and the pursuit of knowledge ???

stalker, man, stalker.

2 seconds of Google = Stalker

.

What a joke you are.

.

With the level of political journalism from the nation at an all time low, it may be front page tomorrow.

"PT leader has only one friend on Facebook". Not even thaksin can be bothered to friend him. Unless of course, he is the one.....

[OzMick]

With the level of political journalism from the nation at an all time low, it may be front page tomorrow.

"PT leader has only one friend on Facebook". Not even thaksin can be bothered to friend him. Unless of course, he is the one.....

May I refer you back to post #12. You only need one friend to be leader of PTP, the owner.

[waza]

Why does this witty character only have 1 friend on his Facebook page?

.

Why did you have to go to the length of researching that ??

Your obsession or merely general interest and the pursuit of knowledge ???

stalker, man, stalker.

Someone with only one friend on Facebook might be happy to have a stalker.

I guess some people aren't happy just accepting the party propaganda and actively seek a more rounded knowlege. They use their observation skills, think laterally, research and question, all for a better understanding. Thens there the redshirt hacks.

Think about it.

[metisdead]

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