Protesting against Thailand's Big Brother
Nepotism, corruption and negligence by Shinawatra's government are the root causes of the demonstrations.

Kasit Piromya
Kasit Piromya ia a former Thai Foreign Minister. He is currently a member of the Thai parliament.

The protest movement in Thailand is not triggered by class differences as described by many foreign journalists. It is, in fact, inspired by the discontentment towards the unprecedented levels of governmental corruption, the elective dictatorship in parliament, and doubts about the Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's expertise and competence to lead the country based on good governance and respect for the rule of law.

In 2001, many middle class Thais voted for Thaksin Shinawatra believing that he entered politics to contribute to the development of Thailand. However, it turned out that he came to power to exploit the country for his personal business interests. Thaksin’s era can best be described as the era of unprecedented nepotism and corruption. The self-exiled former prime minister has many corruption and political malpractice charges currently pending in the Thai courts, charges from which he has intentionally fled.

All cases were investigated by a special task force set up to perform as an ad hoc attorney general, and by the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. All legal grounds and juridical procedures were based on Thailand’s criminal laws, and not by any special law. [read more...]

Full story: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/12/protesting-against-thailand-big-brother-20131227421913272.html

-- ALJAZEERA 2013-12-04

And this written by one of the leaders who took over the airports in 2008? So so surreal......

...and to counter that corruption and nepotism, they offer up to lead the protests the one who is as pure as the driven snow...

How is the Interpol request going?

How the hell did this guy get into the conversation. Last I heard he was lost in the basement of survanabhumi with a foot clapper begging for someone to show him the difference between his ass and his elbow.

I'd sooner have Judas Iscariot as PM with Ali Baba and the 40 thieves as his party rather than the current pack of treasonous and venal traitors*.

*treasonous and venal traitors - someone who would sell parliamentary vote to a fugitive criminal intent on plundering the country.

And this written by one of the leaders who took over the airports in 2008? So so surreal......

Yes, but its food for thought, isn't it?

And this written by one of the leaders who took over the airports in 2008? So so surreal......

Sure but that doesn't make any of the article less true. I find it surreal that people try to justify unjust actions of one party by the unjust actions of the another. And that goes for both sides.

Sure the authors opinion is slanted but what he is saying is the truth - IMO

The 2nd last paragraph sums it up pretty well.

Why is there no international warrant out on Thaksin? I am sure that if there was and a reward was offered ( bring him in alive only) there are numerous bounty hunters that would love to bring him in.

The 2nd last paragraph sums it up pretty well.

yes ,fact is thaksin has many more charges to face if he returns.thats why his proxy bidding thugs and sister want the slate cleaned and a complete amnesty .After all that's why she came into politics.

Sure the authors opinion is slanted but what he is saying is the truth - IMO

I agree he's right on the "money"

I've been saying for months that the level of corruption PTP has been executing will be shocking once revealed

"Elective dictatorship"... sure you can make a case with such an innovative and original phrase.

Before the oligarchs and nobility didn't have any issue to get Thaksin supporters removed from power for corruption or ineligibility, if Yingluck's governement is so corrupted it shouldn't be that difficult to get her legally removed too then.

Probably they are corrupted, but not less than the other side. Reality is that the "democrat" side deems they are the only ones who are legit holding power in Thailand, regardless of what polls say.

And this written by one of the leaders who took over the airports in 2008? So so surreal......

This is probably the best piece I have read on the Thai political situation for a long long time. It sums up the current state of affairs perfectly.

Kudos to Al Jazeera for publishing the truth. Please disseminate this to as many people as you can so that the biased bs reporting I keep seeing full of half truths and propaganda may have some counter balance...

Why is there no international warrant out on Thaksin? I am sure that if there was and a reward was offered ( bring him in alive only) there are numerous bounty hunters that would love to bring him in.

Besides this is not the USA, it's all... Money talk

After reading it, this article is the most interesting opinion I have read yet, though I still I think what's happening now is a denial of democracy.

These days I rarely venture in to writing in these news forums, but I do have to say that the article is one of the better ones I’ve read in recent months that helps to explain what is really going on with this government.

My Thai is nowhere near good enough to understand what Suthep has been ranting on about in recent days, but judging from the translations, he has done a poor job in elucidating the current situation as set out in the well-written article. If he did, maybe a few more Thais would start to understand what was really going on in their country.

I certainly hope that all the foreign journalists read and inwardly digest this as they seem so sure of themselves and they write with such assurance on matters of which they know so little.

These days, even Johnathan Head of BBC has adopted a more balanced stance than he did during the red shirt riots – probably because he, like most journalists, always tend to take the side of those protesting, regardless of the reasons.

But in all his interviews he still insists that the current anti-government protesters, (‘antigovvers’ – next year’s new word for OED), are all from the middle-class Bangkok elite.

He fails to mention that the protesters have huge support in the south and central Thailand and he tries to portray the political polarisation as purely between the wealthy Bangkokians and the rural poor, whereas the truth is that the whole country, rich and poor, urban and rural, are all involved in this political polarisation. It just so happens that the reds in the northeast and north have a greater population density so they always win the elections.

And who can ever forget back in the days Thaksin’s fury against those parts of the rural poor that failed to support him in elections. He told them in no uncertain terms that they would have to go to the back of the line when it came to distributing government largess…

I don’t know how many people I talked to from the North-east who said words to the effect:

‘We know he is bad and corrupt, but what choice do we have? If we vote against him, he will punish us and we won't get our free goodies….’

I could go and on… but what’s the point?

"Moreover, the Amnesty Bill, which is now pending for confirmation by the House of Representatives, will prohibit any investigation into Thaksin’s involvement in the governmentally-ordered extrajudicial killings and abuse of human rights in the restive southern border provinces, as well as the criminal crime cases in the war on drugs, while he was prime minister."

This is the first time that I have seen this fact being published in the foreign media. Bravo, Al-Jazeera!

The truth is indeed that the controversial amnesty bill was "amended" in such a way that is was BACK-DATED to January 2004 (i.e. more than 2 years before then-CARETAKER prime minister Thaksin was even ousted!), so the Tak Bai and Krue-se Mosque incidents as well as Thaksin's "War on Drugs" could be included.

The PTP government has certainly never mentioned it to the public, because this fact alone would have made even more crystal-clear who that amnesty bill was supposed to benefit the most.

What also is rarely noticed is the fact that the amnesty bill's rejection by Thailand's Senate did NOT "kill" it for good, as PM Yingluck and her mouthpieces have repeatedly claimed. Truth is that the bill is now back in parliament and can be passed into legislation after 180 days WITHOUT having to submitted once again to the Senate for approval.

Just because this Al-Jazeera article was penned by former FM Kasit Piromya does not make it untrue, as so many TV posters seem to think. The man got his facts right, and that is what counts.

Until the public hears from the PTP government in unmistakably clear terms that leave no margin for "interpretation" that the amnesty bill will NOT be passed into law under any circumstances, we may all just wake up one morning and Thaksin's back in all his glory - and scot-free.

I dread that day, because all hell will break loose - again.

I'd sooner have Judas Iscariot as PM with Ali Baba and the 40 thieves as his party rather than the current pack of treasonous and venal traitors*.

*treasonous and venal traitors - someone who would sell parliamentary vote to a fugitive criminal intent on plundering the country.

Agreed, at least there would be some honour amongst them not like the current brown-nosing idiot clambering over the top of each other trying to be first at the trough every morning.

Why is there no international warrant out on Thaksin? I am sure that if there was and a reward was offered ( bring him in alive only) there are numerous bounty hunters that would love to bring him in.

Why alive? don't waste good money on freight charges.

"Elective dictatorship"... sure you can make a case with such an innovative and original phrase.

Before the oligarchs and nobility didn't have any issue to get Thaksin supporters removed from power for corruption or ineligibility, if Yingluck's governement is so corrupted it shouldn't be that difficult to get her legally removed too then.

Probably they are corrupted, but not less than the other side. Reality is that the "democrat" side deems they are the only ones who are legit holding power in Thailand, regardless of what polls say.

"if Yingluck's governement is so corrupted it shouldn't be that difficult to get her legally removed too then."

I fully agree that it shouldn't, but it isn't. With the DSI firmly in Thaksin's pocket it is literally impossible to legally remove this corrupt regime. And even if it was managed by a court decision it would be labelled as a judicial coup by his paid propagandists and, with sufficient infusion of funds, the red hordes descend on BKK again.

"Elective dictatorship"... sure you can make a case with such an innovative and original phrase.

Before the oligarchs and nobility didn't have any issue to get Thaksin supporters removed from power for corruption or ineligibility, if Yingluck's governement is so corrupted it shouldn't be that difficult to get her legally removed too then.

Probably they are corrupted, but not less than the other side. Reality is that the "democrat" side deems they are the only ones who are legit holding power in Thailand, regardless of what polls say.

"it shouldn't be that difficult to get her legally removed too then."

Apparently you don't live in Thailand or don't know the situation too well... It would be virtually impossible to remove a government official of the ruling party side at the moment - and if the changes that triggered all the protests were to be allowed, it would be impossible to remove them ever.

That's why all the protests - exactly as the article says - mind-blowing amounts of corruption that have only existed at this level during one particular groups turn in government.

In 2006 the corruption triggered the Army to step in (selling a communications satellite used by our military to a foreign unfriendly power - Singapore), and in 2013 the people have again had enough, this time triggered by the Amnesty Bill.

And this written by one of the leaders who took over the airports in 2008? So so surreal......

Well well, he was there once or twice as a speaker. He wasn't a leader. Like all politicians go to the stage now and then. Last Saturday the current Interior Minister was singing a song (while holding Arisman's hand) on the Red stage. So please don't dramatize the whole thing.

Fact is that the contents of Kasit's story is fair and correct.

"Elective dictatorship"... sure you can make a case with such an innovative and original phrase.

Before the oligarchs and nobility didn't have any issue to get Thaksin supporters removed from power for corruption or ineligibility, if Yingluck's governement is so corrupted it shouldn't be that difficult to get her legally removed too then.

Probably they are corrupted, but not less than the other side. Reality is that the "democrat" side deems they are the only ones who are legit holding power in Thailand, regardless of what polls say.

"Probably they are corrupted, but not less than the other side"

And today's thread, reporting that Thailand is far more corrupt now than a few years back, shows that the current PTP-led coalition-government under nominal leadership of PM-Yingluck is indeed markedly more corrupt than under the Dems.

There's corruption, and there's S-Clan Corruption, in a class of its own !

Roll-on the overview-lite flood-control spending, and the nebulous infrastructure-plans, who cares if the country spends the next 50 years paying for them ?

Edited December 4, 201312 yr by Ricardo

Populist policies may buy votes, but, they take away the determination for self-improvement and the value and ethics of hard work.

I hardly think he's ever had to slave away in a rice paddy for sweet F.A.

Populist policies may buy votes, but, they take away the determination for self-improvement and the value and ethics of hard work.

I hardly think he's ever had to slave away in a rice paddy for sweet F.A.

What's football got to do with rice ??? unless it was the Irish FA, because of the PADDY field. ??

Sorry mate just had to do.

How is the Interpol request going?

How the hell did this guy get into the conversation. Last I heard he was lost in the basement of survanabhumi with a foot clapper begging for someone to show him the difference between his ass and his elbow.

ฺBack to the article, Kasit hit the nail right on its head. Well done!

Looking at the format of the Aljazeera page, with Yingluck's intellectual interview in the middle, there is hope that finally the (whole) world is starting to know with the Shins are all about.

Populist policies may buy votes, but, they take away the determination for self-improvement and the value and ethics of hard work.

I hardly think he's ever had to slave away in a rice paddy for sweet F.A.

What's football got to do with rice ??? unless it was the Irish FA, because of the PADDY field. ??

Sorry mate just had to do.

Grim mate. Truly grim

Populist policies may buy votes, but, they take away the determination for self-improvement and the value and ethics of hard work.

I hardly think he's ever had to slave away in a rice paddy for sweet F.A.

Slavery? Not a bit of it. There is a labour shortage in Thailand, plenty of alternative work. If rice farmers aren't happy with their income/work load they can walk away and find other employment, or vote for someone who will give them money.