PDRC to shut down Bangkok by end of next week

[XpatMike]

''He said the shutdown or what he described was the seizure of the capital would be the day when “People’s Revolution” would begin to end and uproot the Thaksin regime.''

''The shutdown will also mean government offices across the country by supporters who he said have been advised to get ready for the People’s Revolution.''

It sounds just like a couple of lines from that good old TV sitcome series, Citizen Smith (1977 - 1980) for those of you old enough to remember! (Showing my age!). Wolfie Smith is an unemployed dreamer from Tooting, London - a self proclaimed Urban Guerilla who aspires to be like his hero Che Guevara. Leading a small group called the Tooting Popular Front with aspirations to create a communist Britain. Although through being thoroughly disorganised his chances range from slim to none. His slogan was, ''Power to the people!''

Only problem is, for me, is that I must do my 90 day reporting on the 8th of Jan!

Happy new year, everyone!

[brit1984]

'He then advised Bangkokians who have not taken part in the shutdown to get ready and leave the capital to relax at resorts or other places to avoid the inconvenience in the capital that will affect their daily life.', sure they could jump on their private jets and head off the St Moritz for a nice ski trip or something.

not sure there is space on those pistes for all bangkok's maids, cleaners, taxi / tuk-tuk drivers, security guards, refuse collectors, street food vendors, shop assistants, waiters / waitresses, construction workers, and hookers...

suthep says some silly things but this must rank as one his top 10 silly statements (at least for this week)

[unanimosity]

As if there were ever a doubt, the comments show this ad hoc PDRC dictator council is about as much for the people as George Soros and Idi Amin. Imagine being so out of touch as to apologize to Bangkokians saying they should take a couple of weeks and go to a resort somewhere outside the city while he proceeds with whatever he is trying to do. He hasn't said what he is trying to do, only what he is against. And whatever he calls it, it isn't about corruption because according to reports, he himself helped wealthy families down south take possession of land that was earmarked for poor people. What he and the others are against is losing their clout and influence if a democracy rises from the ashes. Being able to fix just about anything legal or governmental to suit your own ends can be very intoxicating and to have that influence slip from your grasp will not be easily solved by a 12-step program. But his comment is a slap in the face of hard working Bangkok citizens who cannot afford to do much on their one day off during the week, yet he is telling them to take a resort vacation. He is talking to other elites, not the people at large.

[thaistocks]

Something may hit hard on select corrupt politicians on Jan 10 '14 -as this is an upcoming date of seeming importance. The ax then may well fall here as well as it just did in China: Rampant rule/law violations no longer just go on tolerated as in the past. As this is the giste of the present Thai uprising.

Who can stand up with a straight face to members of parliament here which just violated the rules? Yes, in the short run its messy but in the longer run it may well be the start of a less corruption tolerant society. And China seems to just have set the tone in that great land, for what may well come in Thailand now!

Consider, that in China corruption was third among the top public 10 top concerns in 2013, up from 7th in 2012. This according to a survey by the website of "People's Daily" carried out every March before the National People's congress. China's new communist party leadership headed by Ki and Premier Li K. , which took office in November 2012 in a once a decade power transition, in its speech it focused on that "unless they address corruption social unrest may rise and lead to the demise of the party". Does this not sound familiar in/for Thailand now?

A total of 512 delegates in the People's congress in Hengyang city in Hunan province just resigned on Dec 27, after they took bribes, according Kinhua News agency reported that day. Another 56 provincial -level congress delegates from Hengyang were found to have used more then 110 mill. yuan (18 mill US$) to win their elections. These elections were just declared invalid according the Bloomberg news reports, whom also reported this whole set of events. Hu Guochu was outright removed as head of the Hengyang people's congress etc.. This scandal was also broadcast a couple of days ago on state-controlled China central TV.

"Tigers as well as flyes will be removed" in a broad step and action to curb election fraud. "Rampant violations will result in severe punishment". And almost in a prelude to come in Thailand, they [China] just did so.

Ask again who can stand up with a straight face those politicians here which just grossly violated its rules/laws? Dont' ignore what is happening in China now, its too big and too old.

Edited December 29, 2013 by thaistocks

[hellodolly]

No pain, no gain. I hope the PDRC have worked out how to implement a strategy for exit counseling for a couple of million people from the cult of Shinawat. As with any cult following, rebuilding the followers self esteem and life can be difficult and traumatic after coming to terms with having been used by the cult leader for his own personal benefit only. I have to admit some surprise that Thaksin has been so successful in building such a cult following, he can't levitate like Shoko Asahara, can't write pop songs like Charlie Manson and doesn't have the good looks of Jimmy Jones. Either way, I wish PDRC luck trying to deprogram and re-educate the Isaanites.

Thailands future rests in your hands Khun Suthep. Fight the good fight, uniting the country will earn you reverence in the Thai history books.

yes i'm sure re-writing the history books is part of suthep's grand plan, but the rest of your post is just bizarre...

what gain has come from the many coups that have gone before?... what gain will come from taking power away from the people?... what gain will come from making the more fanatical reds angry and providing propaganda for their leaders?... what gain will come from replacing one corrupt leader with another corrupt leader?... what gain will come from demonstrating that power in thailand can be achieved by terrorism?...

More dribble

Suthep is attempting to rewrite the future not the past. He unlike you is trying to make the past the past and not the future. He is trying to get rid of that cycle. He is trying to give the people power. If you had been here from the first you should know that it was different groups of people who started this. They finally joined forces and became one voice. Suthep came after the people not before them. This is the peoples doing. As for the red shirts they are not a united force. They are no where near as fanatical as you. In the last three by elections in red shirt strong holds they have lost two of them to the Democrats and got a smaller margin of success in Chiang Mai.

Where other than fanatical posters does it say Suthep will become the Prime Minister of Thailand or for that matter even chair a committee to draw up reforms for the country. Who else has ever led the people in a demand to reform the election procedure before it is held so as to eradicate as much of the charlatanism as possible. All others made no changes unless they were in the drivers seat such as the PTP proposal recommends.

I ask you point blank why do you want to oppose some one trying to bring about a better Thailand? We have it in black and white what the PTP has done in regards to corruption with there corrupt committee and promise to eradicate corruption.

Again I refer you to irrefutable evidence that Fab4 informs me has been fine tuned so as to be more accurate.

http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/

[redutedog1]

Military rule , coming soon to a place near you

Edited December 29, 2013 by redutedog1

[Trouble]

My opinion is that there will not be the turnout to "shutdown" Bangkok. It's a big city. There may be some very congested areas but the city won't shutdown. How long can they carry on keeping government offices closed. I think in the end the government will just let them wear themselves out. Actually I think the government is handling this quite well. Being non-confrontational will just work better than confrontation and feeling the flames.

In the end this group really doesn't want free elections as they would loose. There is no chance that they can reform the method of voting so there is not a system of "one man, one vote" and I think they are out numbered even without the vote buying.

Unfortunately whether you like it or not the current government and the Thaksin government have given the rural poor better health care, better schools, etc. by doling out a few things here and there. That maybe a form of vote buying but dam_n if the Democratic Party in the USA doesn't do the same thing. That's politics. Who thinks government is about FairPlay? Foolish thinking in my book.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Trouble

[blackman]

Where is the prime minister? What does she have to say in response to this latest plan by the protesters? Why isn't she in Bangkok overseeing the crisis?

Maybe for the same reason Suthep has delayed his "revolution", his rent-a-mob are back in the south for the New Year holidays??

my housekeeper went last Sunday on her day off

they were stopped by police on lots of occasions and it took her all day to get to the PM's house

she went of her own volition

no one paid her

she just felt strongly about it

she did not tell me until Monday

so she was not part of a rent a mob and its insults her integrity to suggest she was

[brit1984]

No pain, no gain. I hope the PDRC have worked out how to implement a strategy for exit counseling for a couple of million people from the cult of Shinawat. As with any cult following, rebuilding the followers self esteem and life can be difficult and traumatic after coming to terms with having been used by the cult leader for his own personal benefit only. I have to admit some surprise that Thaksin has been so successful in building such a cult following, he can't levitate like Shoko Asahara, can't write pop songs like Charlie Manson and doesn't have the good looks of Jimmy Jones. Either way, I wish PDRC luck trying to deprogram and re-educate the Isaanites.

Thailands future rests in your hands Khun Suthep. Fight the good fight, uniting the country will earn you reverence in the Thai history books.

yes i'm sure re-writing the history books is part of suthep's grand plan, but the rest of your post is just bizarre...

what gain has come from the many coups that have gone before?... what gain will come from taking power away from the people?... what gain will come from making the more fanatical reds angry and providing propaganda for their leaders?... what gain will come from replacing one corrupt leader with another corrupt leader?... what gain will come from demonstrating that power in thailand can be achieved by terrorism?...

There is a lot to be gained through returning the power back to the people instead of having thieves misusing and abusing it for their own personal enrichment!!

Suthep should be given a medal for his services to Thailand in returning democracy to it's people, we should be eternally grateful to him and I wish him a happy retirement once his task is completed.

suthep is no less corrupt than those he is trying to take power from... not sure quite how you can be unaware of the irony in associating suthep's movement with an anti-corruption objective

suthep is explicitly anti-democracy and will not bring anything to the people except a lot of destruction and death and a few years / decades delay on the path to stability (and peace)

[MJP]

Given that Thailand stands alone and is quite 'unique' regarding what counts as democracy when compared to the rest of the democratic world (how many coups ??/ ) , you have to ask the question if democracy is the right path for this country. We expats see democracy as the be all and end all of systems of governance, but bear in mind we have had hundreds of years to refine the concept and we still haven't got it perfect. IMHO Thailand is actually a feudal society with a very thin veneer of democracy and the power structures and rivalries that exist go deeper than just rural poor v's urban elite. It is more a case of giving allegiance to power brokers, irrespective of their political persuasions.

My guess is that Suthep knows he has the backing of the army and things will escalate until they step in with a coup. But of course we all know that this won't really 'fix' the problem...just suppress it ... for a time. The tragedy is that given the huge mandate PT gets at the polls, Thaksin and his cronies had the chance to go down in history as true believers and make changes that would have provided good governance, rule of law and genuinely improved not only the lot of the poor but the business elite as well. Instead he will be remembered as a divisive spirit, vindictive and corrupt to the max.

This is perhaps true. Hard as that is to accept. Really it needs a coup which removes all the old power structures to make way for a true democratic process and the transition from feudal kleptocracy to meritocratic democracy.

However, our own democracies are only in existence because of a lot of populist promises made before, promises which cannot be kept and similar socio-economic problems are bubbling (economic pun intended) away just beneath the surface. I have to question whether our own democracies have been worn down to a thin veneer as well.

Edited December 29, 2013 by MJP

[jackh]

A few days of inconvienance is a small price to pay to get the Thaksin clan out of power for good. Who knows what the future will hold, but right now I say , "Shut her down".

Thailand needs an immediate change of direction. Maybe this just the ticket.

[MobileContent]

He then advised Bangkokians who have not taken part in the shutdown to get ready and leave the capital to relax at resorts or other places to avoid the inconvenience in the capital that will affect their daily life.

He must mean the elite that can afford to get out of Bangkok and go to stay at a resort.

[HUAHIN62]

No pain, no gain. I hope the PDRC have worked out how to implement a strategy for exit counseling for a couple of million people from the cult of Shinawat. As with any cult following, rebuilding the followers self esteem and life can be difficult and traumatic after coming to terms with having been used by the cult leader for his own personal benefit only. I have to admit some surprise that Thaksin has been so successful in building such a cult following, he can't levitate like Shoko Asahara, can't write pop songs like Charlie Manson and doesn't have the good looks of Jimmy Jones. Either way, I wish PDRC luck trying to deprogram and re-educate the Isaanites.

Thailands future rests in your hands Khun Suthep. Fight the good fight, uniting the country will earn you reverence in the Thai history books.

Your hero will have a problem with only 1000 people following him on weekdays (the attack on the EC had 500 protesters). We passed him last week on an expressway and there he was with 5 trucks of people. He only have mass support on Sundays, the rest of the week it is only his hired hands. These hired hands are also getting few as I heard that he is now renting anyone including red shirts to protest for him. As they say money is money. Remember also that the BKK middle class and elites never get involved in the fighting and the dirty work they pay the rural poor to do that. As soon as we get to the point of real action Suthep will be left standing alone. By the way how the H...l will he ever be able to unite Thailand, you must be joking. The best could be that he started a process that will lead to reform in a democratic way. The majority of Thai's will rather eat a live king cobra than to follow Suthep on his reform nightmare.

[beautifulthailand99]

Where is the prime minister? What does she have to say in response to this latest plan by the protesters? Why isn't she in Bangkok overseeing the crisis?

Maybe for the same reason Suthep has delayed his "revolution", his rent-a-mob are back in the south for the New Year holidays??

my housekeeper went last Sunday on her day off

they were stopped by police on lots of occasions and it took her all day to get to the PM's house

she went of her own volition

no one paid her

she just felt strongly about it

she did not tell me until Monday

so she was not part of a rent a mob and its insults her integrity to suggest she was

I only discuss this with the missus now along the lines of everybody at the top is corrupt so a curse on all their houses - but many of her friends are actively facebooking away - mostly on the Suthep side so if he seems to be winning the expat vote along the lines of "I love my country". At the end of the day we are mostly just the little people (particuarly those that frequent and comment on internet bulletin boards) and are opinions are unable to influence or change jack sh*t. So best as you do to nod and keep relations friendly and off politics. Que sera sera. Let's just hope it's over soon and as peaceful as possible.

[Benmart]

Whatever the outcome, I pray that peace prevails.

[justathought]

Before taking sides, please read his bio on wiki.

[Jasun]

Meanwhile, outside of Bangkok; rice will still be harvested, shrimp will be farmed, rubber will be tapped, electronics will be assembled, cars will roll of the production line and tourist will spend money at their swim up bars. Bangkok is welcome to lay seige to itself, Thailand's is not hostage to what happens in the capital.

[CIHUAHUA]

Ugly - WOW!

[beautifulthailand99]

No pain, no gain. I hope the PDRC have worked out how to implement a strategy for exit counseling for a couple of million people from the cult of Shinawat. As with any cult following, rebuilding the followers self esteem and life can be difficult and traumatic after coming to terms with having been used by the cult leader for his own personal benefit only. I have to admit some surprise that Thaksin has been so successful in building such a cult following, he can't levitate like Shoko Asahara, can't write pop songs like Charlie Manson and doesn't have the good looks of Jimmy Jones. Either way, I wish PDRC luck trying to deprogram and re-educate the Isaanites.

Thailands future rests in your hands Khun Suthep. Fight the good fight, uniting the country will earn you reverence in the Thai history books.

Your hero will have a problem with only 1000 people following him on weekdays (the attack on the EC had 500 protesters). We passed him last week on an expressway and there he was with 5 trucks of people. He only have mass support on Sundays, the rest of the week it is only his hired hands. These hired hands are also getting few as I heard that he is now renting anyone including red shirts to protest for him. As they say money is money. Remember also that the BKK middle class and elites never get involved in the fighting and the dirty work they pay the rural poor to do that. As soon as we get to the point of real action Suthep will be left standing alone. By the way how the H...l will he ever be able to unite Thailand, you must be joking. The best could be that he started a process that will lead to reform in a democratic way. The majority of Thai's will rather eat a live king cobra than to follow Suthep on his reform nightmare.

Hope you're right if so he will lose face big time and this might be the beginning of the end of him.

[brit1984]

No pain, no gain. I hope the PDRC have worked out how to implement a strategy for exit counseling for a couple of million people from the cult of Shinawat. As with any cult following, rebuilding the followers self esteem and life can be difficult and traumatic after coming to terms with having been used by the cult leader for his own personal benefit only. I have to admit some surprise that Thaksin has been so successful in building such a cult following, he can't levitate like Shoko Asahara, can't write pop songs like Charlie Manson and doesn't have the good looks of Jimmy Jones. Either way, I wish PDRC luck trying to deprogram and re-educate the Isaanites.

Thailands future rests in your hands Khun Suthep. Fight the good fight, uniting the country will earn you reverence in the Thai history books.

yes i'm sure re-writing the history books is part of suthep's grand plan, but the rest of your post is just bizarre...

what gain has come from the many coups that have gone before?... what gain will come from taking power away from the people?... what gain will come from making the more fanatical reds angry and providing propaganda for their leaders?... what gain will come from replacing one corrupt leader with another corrupt leader?... what gain will come from demonstrating that power in thailand can be achieved by terrorism?...

More dribble

Suthep is attempting to rewrite the future not the past. He unlike you is trying to make the past the past and not the future. He is trying to get rid of that cycle. He is trying to give the people power. If you had been here from the first you should know that it was different groups of people who started this. They finally joined forces and became one voice. Suthep came after the people not before them. This is the peoples doing. As for the red shirts they are not a united force. They are no where near as fanatical as you. In the last three by elections in red shirt strong holds they have lost two of them to the Democrats and got a smaller margin of success in Chiang Mai.

Where other than fanatical posters does it say Suthep will become the Prime Minister of Thailand or for that matter even chair a committee to draw up reforms for the country. Who else has ever led the people in a demand to reform the election procedure before it is held so as to eradicate as much of the charlatanism as possible. All others made no changes unless they were in the drivers seat such as the PTP proposal recommends.

I ask you point blank why do you want to oppose some one trying to bring about a better Thailand? We have it in black and white what the PTP has done in regards to corruption with there corrupt committee and promise to eradicate corruption.

Again I refer you to irrefutable evidence that Fab4 informs me has been fine tuned so as to be more accurate.

http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/

wow... how do you give the people power by taking power from those the people voted to represent them in power?...

just to be clear i have a lot of respect for abhisit and korn and i think they (as representatives of the party formerly known as the democrats) had a very good chance of winning the next election, if they just waited a year and campaigned in a positive and clever way

if the government is so bad (as is clear to most of us) and the electorate so cheap (as is claimed by many) surely it wouldn't be impossible to take power democratically... of course it wouldn't be easy but that is the only way to take and hold power in a way that is conducive to stability / peace (which surely is what really matters)

instead, they have allowed this nutcase (with a history of corruption) to rant divisive hate speech and make ridiculous threats with bizarre grand plans that derail the political process (and the path to peace) and to completely misrepresent everything which the "democrats" were supposed to stand for

Edited December 29, 2013 by brit1984

[Halion]

Where is the prime minister? What does she have to say in response to this latest plan by the protesters? Why isn't she in Bangkok overseeing the crisis?

She is hiding out in her sacred Isan with her parasitic mini cabinet on the pretense of inspecting road and rail developments and using government funds to hold receptions and buy votes..

Someone might want to point out that Isan is only part of Thailand and it needs the country more than the country needs it.

[IamNoone88]

I may start laying off some Thai staff if this nonense continues and business is interupted. Farrangs may not meddle in politics but as investors and employers the P&L cost lines are within our control and so is the future of foreign direct investment.

[Longtooth]

I'm afraid it shows you what world he lives in when he advises noodle shop owners and people who work for a living in Bangkok to go to a resort and relax for a while. I'm sure the common person could afford that, even before forced vacation and lack of income. Not! And these types of people are demonstrating to not have their voices heard? How odd.

[KOZMO]

Where is the prime minister? What does she have to say in response to this latest plan by the protesters? Why isn't she in Bangkok overseeing the crisis?

Hiding in Chaing Mai, or going to hua hin or anyplace except Bangkok. She is no prime minister and has always disappeared when something big happens in Bangkok. She does not know how to over see what she will wear let alone oversee the government or any crisis that comes along. I hought Obummer was useless but she even makes him look good!!! Since she has not fulfilled her obligation as prime minister she should just step down and no difference would be noted.

[diehard60]

This should be very interesting week. What a great way for Thailand to start the New Year. This idiot suthep and his band of Desporados I guess will have some fun.

[Alwyn]

No pain, no gain. I hope the PDRC have worked out how to implement a strategy for exit counseling for a couple of million people from the cult of Shinawat. As with any cult following, rebuilding the followers self esteem and life can be difficult and traumatic after coming to terms with having been used by the cult leader for his own personal benefit only. I have to admit some surprise that Thaksin has been so successful in building such a cult following, he can't levitate like Shoko Asahara, can't write pop songs like Charlie Manson and doesn't have the good looks of Jimmy Jones. Either way, I wish PDRC luck trying to deprogram and re-educate the Isaanites.

Thailands future rests in your hands Khun Suthep. Fight the good fight, uniting the country will earn you reverence in the Thai history books.

Spoken like a true brainwashed numpty

[blackman]

How can a whole nation be kept hostage by a single person. The consequences Thailand will be coming soon. Tourist from all over the world will think twice now to book there holiday 2014 in Thailand. Companies are thinking to invest in Asia will look around for more stable opportunities such as Vietnam and Indonesia. People like S don't care as they have the resources. But the demonstrators on the street will feel the pain. Khun S does not belong into a Jail but in a padded cell of a madhouse. I must have lost his marbles on the road.

you may be forgetting but this civil unrest is because of another megalomaniac madman whose supporters held Thailand hostage before

he was supposed to be in a jail cell but skipped bail and now runs the country from Dubai

Suthep is a rank amateur compared to Thaksin

we have had unrest before, lots of coups and Thailand always bounced back

as long as there are fat, balding old men who want to get laid Thailand will be ok

[Benmart]

soi41, on 29 Dec 2013 - 13:29, said:

I know I am stupid, but can someone please explain to me, how spoiling the lives and businesses of the people, who voted for you (Dems has many voters in Bkk) is going to make them support your cause?

Suthep! Your "enemy" is in the north. So take your stupid fight to Khon Kaen, Surin or Buriram.

But I guess you are too much of a chickenshit to do that!!

Don't give him silly ideas.

I like Khon Kaen as is.

test Thai democracy

put a yellow supporters poster in your front window

i think your life in Khon Kaen may change pretty quickly ...

Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.

Thomas Jefferson

It's not my battle. I remain neutral and will let the country work out it own business.

[tragickingdom]

Suthep and Abhisit are just like other dictators and thugs. If you cannot win an election (even after three different constitutions) and you are labeled a born loser you use your brown or black Mussolini shirts to force people in submission.

That's fine. We know how Suthep and the Democrat party have ruled in Southern Thailand. We know that they cannot even control one single village over there and that they embraced violence in the South. But Bangkok is not the south. Only a mere 25% of Bangkokians are registered as such and vote. 75% is unregistered and mainly red.

Suthep can muster 150000 people on the streets and he can use his Malay and Chinese speaking thugs to attack the police. But he grossly overestimate his power if he thinks that he can commit another act of treason. Even an army leader who was born before the computer age and who has never learned to use twitter or social media will understand that they have to take him and his thugs out. if the Bangkokians who are losing their livelihood will not do it themselves.

Suthep is a chicken.

[SICHONSTEVE]

No pain, no gain. I hope the PDRC have worked out how to implement a strategy for exit counseling for a couple of million people from the cult of Shinawat. As with any cult following, rebuilding the followers self esteem and life can be difficult and traumatic after coming to terms with having been used by the cult leader for his own personal benefit only. I have to admit some surprise that Thaksin has been so successful in building such a cult following, he can't levitate like Shoko Asahara, can't write pop songs like Charlie Manson and doesn't have the good looks of Jimmy Jones. Either way, I wish PDRC luck trying to deprogram and re-educate the Isaanites.

Thailands future rests in your hands Khun Suthep. Fight the good fight, uniting the country will earn you reverence in the Thai history books.

yes i'm sure re-writing the history books is part of suthep's grand plan, but the rest of your post is just bizarre...

what gain has come from the many coups that have gone before?... what gain will come from taking power away from the people?... what gain will come from making the more fanatical reds angry and providing propaganda for their leaders?... what gain will come from replacing one corrupt leader with another corrupt leader?... what gain will come from demonstrating that power in thailand can be achieved by terrorism?...

There is a lot to be gained through returning the power back to the people instead of having thieves misusing and abusing it for their own personal enrichment!!

Suthep should be given a medal for his services to Thailand in returning democracy to it's people, we should be eternally grateful to him and I wish him a happy retirement once his task is completed.

suthep is no less corrupt than those he is trying to take power from... not sure quite how you can be unaware of the irony in associating suthep's movement with an anti-corruption objective

suthep is explicitly anti-democracy and will not bring anything to the people except a lot of destruction and death and a few years / decades delay on the path to stability (and peace)

He wants MORE democracy not less. How can the wanting of holding fair elections be undemocratic.

Abusing the trust of people is about as undemocratic as it gets and the PTP went 'all the way' and more in that respect!!