PM Yingluck offers parley to solve political tension

[chainarong]

Your arrogance madam Prime Minister holds no bounds , you have not got a clue what is happening , I suggest you sack your advises , to think that this problem can be settled with a little chat, one could be arrogant like yourself and your administration and suggest Prime Minister that your brother returns from Dubai ,faces the courts and your supporters that have criminal proceedings against them face the music, and everyone abide by the law, now that's a start madam Prime Minister.

[Pimay1]

Wow, she can lie with a straight face. She's learning well from her brother.

Not true! She is writing the words handed down from her brother in order to save his sorry ass. I'm sure she'd rather be off out of the country on yet another jaunt as all this is making her head go all swimmy

"Making her head go all swimmy"

Love it - best comment all week

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Where is Sunisa when she is needed?

[Robby nz]

Then we have a problem. Because they will be reelected. As usual...

Yep PT and the reds on here are so sure they will be re elected

Just as they were so sure they would win the BKK mayoral election.

Just as they were so sure that would win the Don Muang By-election.

And the By-election before that and the one before that.

If the PM is so concerned with upholding the rule of law then she should tell her MP's and cabinet members to accept the Constitution courts verdict (which is binding on all) instead of rejecting it and threatening the court judges.

[h90]

How about you call an election and see what the masses say!

Then we have a problem. Because they will be reelected. As usual...

And you probably read that for Suthep new elections are "not enough". They just want tension to rise.

as they lost some by elections in normally red areas I wouldn't be that sure....But OK money can fix many things.

[Hawkman]

If there was an election tomorrow then I think we would see a defeat for PT. However, an election needs time and by the time the parties start their promises and payments PT would win.

You can't trust the majority of people, as said in one of my favourite TV shows, Peep Show -

Super Hans: People like Coldplay and wanted for the Nazis. You can't trust people, Jeremy.

I still think the main way to solve this once and for all - is for an agreement to allow Thaksin to come back, face an international court hearing about his crimes, if found guilty he doesn't face jail but loses a huge sum of his finances and legally dismantles himself from Politics. If found not guilty, free to run in Politics. Then both sides can be happy and move on. So, why doesn't he do this? I think we all know the answer.

[Songhua]

I can't imagine she strung those sentences together, seems far to advanced.

Yingluck is more likely to offer Parsley as opposed to parley.

The beauty of Facebook. Your lips don't have to move and you don't even need to type the words yourself.

[culicine]

Yep, buying votes is very democratic. There is no democracy in this country. Rule of Law is a joke! Rules are for the poor.

[manfrommanteo]

I have a Thai friend in America, who grew up in Chaing Mai with Thaksin. He has told me several stories of his relationship with Thaksin. He said he knew Thaksin was a crook since they were both in their teens, based on Thaksins actions then. No surprise, my friend told me. Thaksin has always been a crook. The story related to me by this man was referencing the movie theater biz his family was in, and how Thaksin would scalp tickets out front of the theater which his family owned when movies were "sold out". No surprises here that this family is corrupt.

[kotsak]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSYrt8nLOxI

[LuckyLew]

She will listen ... .then Thaksin will ignore

[ramrod711]

“I call for unity, reconciliation, peace and respect (for) the rule of law. There should not be conflicts that result in violence and deaths.

Seems as though she has forgotten why these people are on the streets. She and the PTP decided that they would pass an illegal bill in the middle of the night and ram it down the throats of their fellow citizens, you know, the ones she has so much respect for. Suthep would not have been able to garner this type of support on any other issue, but bringing back the criminal from afar had to be the first thing on the agenda.

Thaksin may just have made some enemies in his own camp, imagine if the government never gets to divide up the spoils from the two trillion baht loan.

[wolf5370]

How about you call an election and see what the masses say!

That's exactly what Suthep and his ilk don't want because they know the result may not suit them.Read his words carefully.

So why doesn't PT do what the Dems don't want and call an election?

Because there is a real risk of splintering in the PTP - and a likely leadership race which would be damaging - and no guarantee that the coalition parties would hold either. If they had had a clear majority to start with then they would be in a safer position to do so. An early election would not necessarily be in anyone's best interests (party wise). It could also very likely spark even more serious problems if it was a prolonged (which the law makes it) political race and the law and media would be obliged to ensure the rights of competing parties to air their views. Maybe even enticing foreign media interest too - which rarely play well in to the hands of this government.

[bigbamboo]

I have a Thai friend in America, who grew up in Chaing Mai with Thaksin. He has told me several stories of his relationship with Thaksin. He said he knew Thaksin was a crook since they were both in their teens, based on Thaksins actions then. No surprise, my friend told me. Thaksin has always been a crook. The story related to me by this man was referencing the movie theater biz his family was in, and how Thaksin would scalp tickets out front of the theater which his family owned when movies were "sold out". No surprises here that this family is corrupt.

Most criminals start young.

[JoeLing]

Jack Sparrow:
> Parleley, parlelellyleloooo, par le nee, partner, par... snip, parsley...

Yingluck:
> Prada, Cartier, Perrier, Parley?

Thaksin:
> Dam_n to the depths whatever man what thought of "Parley".

Jack Sparrow:
> That would be the French

Yingluck:
> I don't know but if it's French, I want it.

Edited November 25, 2013 by JoeLing

[Thait Spot]

How about you call an election and see what the masses say!

Then we have a problem. Because they will be reelected. As usual...

And you probably read that for Suthep new elections are "not enough". They just want tension to rise.

Now you're being obtuse.

I very much doubt that this rabble will be reelected because:

The people have seen the subterfuge of the amnesty bill

They have seen the lying and cheating of the Senate bill

They have seen the gargantuan losses of the rice scheme

They have seen the massive nepotism of the PTP club

They have seen the humungous loan bill for an unspecified list of projects

They have had enough of one family putting itself above the masses

[gerry1011]

 

How about you call an election and see what the masses say!

Then we have a problem. Because they will be reelected. As usual...

And you probably read that for Suthep new elections are "not enough". They just want tension to rise.

 

 

as they lost some by elections in normally red areas I wouldn't be that sure....But OK money can fix many things.

Sure... Everything can be fixed.

But even without doing too much they still win every election. So, nothing to worry about

Sent from my HTC One using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[JoeLing]

How about you call an election and see what the masses say!

Then we have a problem. Because they will be reelected. As usual...

And you probably read that for Suthep new elections are "not enough". They just want tension to rise.

Now you're being obtuse.

I very much doubt that this rabble will be reelected because:

The people have seen the subterfuge of the amnesty bill

They have seen the lying and cheating of the Senate bill

They have seen the gargantuan losses of the rice scheme

They have seen the massive nepotism of the PTP club

They have seen the humungous loan bill for an unspecified list of projects

They have had enough of one family putting itself above the masses

Offer "the people" free tablets (make it smart phones this time)

and they quickly forget what they have seen!

[bigbamboo]

Wow, she can lie with a straight face. She's learning well from her brother.

Not true! She is writing the words handed down from her brother in order to save his sorry ass. I'm sure she'd rather be off out of the country on yet another jaunt as all this is making her head go all swimmy

"Making her head go all swimmy"

Love it - best comment all week

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Where is Sunisa when she is needed?

That's what they used to say in her regiment's cookhouse.

[steveromagnino]

actually, Peua Thai are stuck completely, they really do not want to go to an election any more than anyone else especially in today's environment. What a difference 4 weeks makes!

If they achieve any seats LESS than what they got last time, then they cannot claim the majority mandate they have currently and it is difficult politically to push through legislation they want if they do not have that ability to say, 'well we have a mandate so tough luck we don't need to debate anything with the likes of you' as we have heard the last 2 years.

Bear in mind that they have (from memory) right around 260+ seats themselves, and the remainder include the various spineless smaller parties who will join with anyone including Banharn's Chart Thai, the coup army general Sonthi's single seat, Palangchon and so on. They bought out Bhumjaithai by buying the allegiance of part of that party (not all of it) leaving Newin and his group stuck in opposition. (the usual method of getting coalition partners is to offer them something they want, usually money in the hand or money via corruption through control of ministries). This time around they didn't roll all the parties into one like they did with TRT last time around.

In 2011, they won both the constituency and also the popular vote battle. If it goes to election, I do not necessarily believe they would win both, and it is VERY far from clear if PT could form a government alone. This is because:

1. The NO VOTE campaign of Pantamitr/yellow shirts/Sondhi was mostly damaging to the Democrats, if this doesn't occur again, then Dems can expect to increase their share of both votes cutting the difference between 2011 (260+/160+) in half approx. (exact measures difficult but around 5%+ of votes cast were part of this campaign and very damaging to the Dems; assuming all other factors remain equal

2. The regional players will go with whoever, and some are unhappy privately with the share of revenues as well as the way in which the leaders of PT have pushed them to accept various decisions similar to the atmosphere of TRT in 2005 - 'people need to eat' and guys like Sanoh and so forth have borne the brunt of things like the way the floods in 2011 and again in 2013 were handled, but without the ability to do anything about it

3. Bi-elections and the governor election in Bangkok plus the recent protests show a swing away from PT in the capital; you have former PT/TRT families openly supporting the anti-government protests now - this points to losing seats in the capital as occurred in 2006 when some seats could not even be won running unopposed

4. The heady days of 350++ seats for TRT and their power to roll all their small coalition parties into the same party and using a single party machine to promote and do PR is a long time ago, and now this election cycle has consistently been undermined by a slightly less compliant media, a lot more social media freedoms and a more educated electorate, some of whom have gained, but some of whom have suffered as a direct result of policy (whether rice, first car, tablet etc) that TRT used to tend to be better at getting close to right in the early 2000s; by comparison Yingluck has a lot less legitimacy than her brother and since their focus has been all over the place, they have got a lot less to bring to the table in terms of stating they have delivered what they said (which is what lead TRT to win so strongly in 2005 prior to collapsing in 2006 just a year later) - now timing is more like 2006 than 2005

5. Economic growth from dropping corporate tax and massive government handouts via first car, rice pledging, tablet, etc have run out and haven't delivered to the masses; the guys at the top are doing great (except for labor costs) but the big billionaire backers of political parties fund parties to win elections, they don't deliver votes - there are plenty of people worse off now than in 2011, and that's after 2 years of relatively strong worldwide growth; the Thai stock market is down 15%++ in the last 6 months (before any of the political issues) as a result of a variety of issues; this hits people in the pocket right when cost of living is climbing

6. The various small issues all combine to make things a lot spicier now for an election, including the clear in retrospect idiotic push for amnesty for all with a shunt to push it through without any oversight or review which appears aimed at only looking after Thaksin while conversely we see and hear about the seemingly poor treatment of their own red shirt supporters some still in jail; the blatant political appointments; the unfortunate decision in Cambodia (which is not directly their fault but whoever is in charge at the time bears the brunt, the decision to claim nothing lost though was just inept handling); the decision to have a PM travel and spend so much time outside the country; the decision to not allow debate of basically any issues in the house crippling the political process; most of all though, while she is more pretty, the reality is someone who looks pretty but cannot speak, do or lead is always going to have a more finite life than a more brash, leader type - if not Yingluck then who is going to want to step up to be the lackey to try to get Thaksin's money back and cut deals for oil and casinos etc for that family?

The scary thing is that if not Thaksin, then we would probably have some other similar overbearing despot in his place. Until the rural poor see that their power is to elect someone to represent THEIR interests instead of the same dynasty family faces repeatedly who just cut deals to join the party that pays them the best, we will end up in this same cycle. But right now, I am sure PT gaze back at the relative utopia of mid October when they were about to shackle us with this crazy amnesty bill, Cambodia looked promising and the Thai finance situation was not so dire, and it must seem a millennium ago.

Echoes of Thaksin in late 2005 when the money from the diesel fund, various other policies and all his policies ran out, and suddenly all he cared about was flogging his SHIN empire to Singapore and getting away with it. Surrounded by yesmen and his own protesters supporting him he didn't realise just how much people hated him until around mid 2006, prior to the coup.

[Artisi]

actually, Peua Thai are stuck completely, they really do not want to go to an election any more than anyone else especially in today's environment. What a difference 4 weeks makes!

If they achieve any seats LESS than what they got last time, then they cannot claim the majority mandate they have currently and it is difficult politically to push through legislation they want if they do not have that ability to say, 'well we have a mandate so tough luck we don't need to debate anything with the likes of you' as we have heard the last 2 years.

Bear in mind that they have (from memory) right around 260+ seats themselves, and the remainder include the various spineless smaller parties who will join with anyone including Banharn's Chart Thai, the coup army general Sonthi's single seat, Palangchon and so on. They bought out Bhumjaithai by buying the allegiance of part of that party (not all of it) leaving Newin and his group stuck in opposition. (the usual method of getting coalition partners is to offer them something they want, usually money in the hand or money via corruption through control of ministries). This time around they didn't roll all the parties into one like they did with TRT last time around.

In 2011, they won both the constituency and also the popular vote battle. If it goes to election, I do not necessarily believe they would win both, and it is VERY far from clear if PT could form a government alone. This is because:

1. The NO VOTE campaign of Pantamitr/yellow shirts/Sondhi was mostly damaging to the Democrats, if this doesn't occur again, then Dems can expect to increase their share of both votes cutting the difference between 2011 (260+/160+) in half approx. (exact measures difficult but around 5%+ of votes cast were part of this campaign and very damaging to the Dems; assuming all other factors remain equal

2. The regional players will go with whoever, and some are unhappy privately with the share of revenues as well as the way in which the leaders of PT have pushed them to accept various decisions similar to the atmosphere of TRT in 2005 - 'people need to eat' and guys like Sanoh and so forth have borne the brunt of things like the way the floods in 2011 and again in 2013 were handled, but without the ability to do anything about it

3. Bi-elections and the governor election in Bangkok plus the recent protests show a swing away from PT in the capital; you have former PT/TRT families openly supporting the anti-government protests now - this points to losing seats in the capital as occurred in 2006 when some seats could not even be won running unopposed

4. The heady days of 350++ seats for TRT and their power to roll all their small coalition parties into the same party and using a single party machine to promote and do PR is a long time ago, and now this election cycle has consistently been undermined by a slightly less compliant media, a lot more social media freedoms and a more educated electorate, some of whom have gained, but some of whom have suffered as a direct result of policy (whether rice, first car, tablet etc) that TRT used to tend to be better at getting close to right in the early 2000s; by comparison Yingluck has a lot less legitimacy than her brother and since their focus has been all over the place, they have got a lot less to bring to the table in terms of stating they have delivered what they said (which is what lead TRT to win so strongly in 2005 prior to collapsing in 2006 just a year later) - now timing is more like 2006 than 2005

5. Economic growth from dropping corporate tax and massive government handouts via first car, rice pledging, tablet, etc have run out and haven't delivered to the masses; the guys at the top are doing great (except for labor costs) but the big billionaire backers of political parties fund parties to win elections, they don't deliver votes - there are plenty of people worse off now than in 2011, and that's after 2 years of relatively strong worldwide growth; the Thai stock market is down 15%++ in the last 6 months (before any of the political issues) as a result of a variety of issues; this hits people in the pocket right when cost of living is climbing

6. The various small issues all combine to make things a lot spicier now for an election, including the clear in retrospect idiotic push for amnesty for all with a shunt to push it through without any oversight or review which appears aimed at only looking after Thaksin while conversely we see and hear about the seemingly poor treatment of their own red shirt supporters some still in jail; the blatant political appointments; the unfortunate decision in Cambodia (which is not directly their fault but whoever is in charge at the time bears the brunt, the decision to claim nothing lost though was just inept handling); the decision to have a PM travel and spend so much time outside the country; the decision to not allow debate of basically any issues in the house crippling the political process; most of all though, while she is more pretty, the reality is someone who looks pretty but cannot speak, do or lead is always going to have a more finite life than a more brash, leader type - if not Yingluck then who is going to want to step up to be the lackey to try to get Thaksin's money back and cut deals for oil and casinos etc for that family?

The scary thing is that if not Thaksin, then we would probably have some other similar overbearing despot in his place. Until the rural poor see that their power is to elect someone to represent THEIR interests instead of the same dynasty family faces repeatedly who just cut deals to join the party that pays them the best, we will end up in this same cycle. But right now, I am sure PT gaze back at the relative utopia of mid October when they were about to shackle us with this crazy amnesty bill, Cambodia looked promising and the Thai finance situation was not so dire, and it must seem a millennium ago.

Echoes of Thaksin in late 2005 when the money from the diesel fund, various other policies and all his policies ran out, and suddenly all he cared about was flogging his SHIN empire to Singapore and getting away with it. Surrounded by yesmen and his own protesters supporting him he didn't realise just how much people hated him until around mid 2006, prior to the coup.

I'm sure many will agree and many will disagree, but putting that aside, to me a well presented summation of the state of the nation as it stands at the moment.

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[JRSoul]

If Yingluk wishes to overcome her political problems, she could start with being honest to the people she supposedly represents, admitting that she is merely the pretty face of a corrupt regime whose major aims were to benefit her criminal brother, other members of her family and various cronies, including the criminals given party list seats as a reward for the 2010 insurrection.

[Loles]

Wow, she can lie with a straight face. She's learning well from her brother.

Yes this is the same shameless and grabby Chinese family.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Loles

[allan michaud]

I will strictly abide by the rule (of law). I’m willing to listen to every voice in society to jointly find a resolution for the nation

A bit late for that. Why didn't she listen before?

Why weren't the opposition allowed to speak in parliament?

Also we have seen time and time again how she has avoided responsibility and lied her way out.

Does anyone trust her now?

Sorry but she won't be able to answer question 2 as I am pretty sure she doesn't even know where the building is.

[Thai at Heart]

If she is willing to listen then please listen. The people have been speaking for weeks now. And the common thread is they want her and her brother gone and never to return.

Why does she continue to call for "reconcilliation" at this time? When it has be shown by public outcry and pressure that it is not wanted. And that such a call is indeed the reason why we see the country splintering more and more everyday.

How can she preach about protesters being used as tools for change when her brother engineered a campaign paying protester to be used as political tool for him [ resulty in a lot of thier deaths] in 2010 ?

And how dare she rant on about laws under the constitution when members of her party want to take the contitutional court to court ??

Agree. The height of hypocrisy, decption, dishonesty and duplicity. What a shameful display of an unethical person.

What they need is general protest nation wide. Not just bangkok, but even in the red shirt heartlands.

[Baerboxer]

I will strictly abide by the rule (of law). I’m willing to listen to every voice in society to jointly find a resolution for the nation

A bit late for that. Why didn't she listen before?

Why weren't the opposition allowed to speak in parliament?

Also we have seen time and time again how she has avoided responsibility and lied her way out.

Does anyone trust her now?

Yes. She will strictly abide by the rule of law, as long as it favours them. Otherwise they will ignore it and sue the judges for rebellion, treason or anything they can dream up.

Sadly, this administration have proved themselves open and compulsive liars. Why would anyone believe them now ?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

“I call for unity, reconciliation, peace and respect (for) the rule of law."

Except of course when it comes to your own political party seeking rebellion charges against the nation's Constitutional Court, when they issue a ruling you don't like.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/684086-pheu-thai-party-to-file-rebellion-charge-against-constitutional-court-judges/

[khunken]

If she is willing to listen then please listen. The people have been speaking for weeks now. And the common thread is they want her and her brother gone and never to return.

Why does she continue to call for "reconcilliation" at this time? When it has be shown by public outcry and pressure that it is not wanted. And that such a call is indeed the reason why we see the country splintering more and more everyday.

How can she preach about protesters being used as tools for change when her brother engineered a campaign paying protester to be used as political tool for him [ resulty in a lot of thier deaths] in 2010 ?

And how dare she rant on about laws under the constitution when members of her party want to take the contitutional court to court ??

Agree. The height of hypocrisy, decption, dishonesty and duplicity. What a shameful display of an unethical person.

What they need is general protest nation wide. Not just bangkok, but even in the red shirt heartlands.

I don't think so. The protests have to be where the seat of government & the ministries are. In addition the red shirt intimidation mob would soon put a stop to any protests in Issan & Chiang Mai. There is no devolved government in Thailand - even the Bangkok administration has very limited powers.

Unfortunately I don't think Suthep's efforts or even a coup will remove the Shin clan if another election just follows either. Thaksin's party will still probably remain the largest albeit with a reduced number of seats.

Only if Thais can accept an appointed administration for a period of time while the clan & many of their lackeys are weeded out of the political system will the country progress. I'd love to see a referendum asking Thais if they would be prepared to suspend the facade of democracy for a period and a 'start again' afterwards with old faces debarred.

[tingtongteesood]

“In my capacity as an elected prime minister, I will strictly abide by the rule (of law). I’m willing to listen to every voice in society to jointly find a resolution for the nation,” she says on her Facebook page.

Now if only she would practice what she preaches instead of letting her party piss all over the constitution to help the puppet master fugitive and trying to sue judges. Yet more hot air from the air head....

[sscsamui]

She should be reading THAI Visa form.. She would lean a bit

[Mister Fixit]

Starting to get worried now ...? You should.