Caretaker PM Yingluck shuts option for neutral, non-elected premier

[WhizBang]

of course she shut it, she knows very well first thing a new / neutral PM would do would be to investigate how much money the PTP looted from the Thai coffers. IMO she is fighting not for the PM job but for her freedom and the ability to stay in Thailand and not have to flee like her coward brother Thaksin

That's a lost cause. The final outcome of this is either going to be jail time for herself and a bunch of close PTP associates, or a mass exodus of the Shin clan and PTP.

April 1 (how fitting) is approaching fast.

At this point, I am all for her retirement with extreme prejudice.

[WhizBang]

Yingluck is not protecting her to her position for the sake of being in power, she is protecting the rule of law, the constitution, democracy and the will of the electorate against a cowardly and bullying opponent.

Thats why she has the support of the vast majority of Thai people and full international support. In the face of this crisis, she has shown more maturity and responsibility than the last 10 prime ministers combined.

Really? What planet have you been living on? Surely not this one.

[marcusd]

Yingluck is not protecting her to her position for the sake of being in power, she is protecting the rule of law, the constitution, democracy and the will of the electorate against a cowardly and bullying opponent.

Thats why she has the support of the vast majority of Thai people and full international support. In the face of this crisis, she has shown more maturity and responsibility than the last 10 prime ministers combined.

A vast majority? The latest poll (ie the election) had about 20% supporting her.

Besides that, if she really wants "peace not power", she would at least offer to stand down if she is so intent that she is not allowed to. That doesn't mean that Suthep would suddeny be in power. She could offer a compromise of her standing down but making sure power stays with PTP.

Wouldn't it be nice if one of the minor parties got more votes in the outcome to be broadcast on Feb 23rd?

[Scamper]

Quietly usher Yingluck into a room. Offer her a comfortable chair, a cup of tea. Place the constitution before her on the table. Furnish her with special gold-framed glasses. Direct her attention to Article 7. She will see that on April 1, there will be set into motion the nomination of an interim prime minister through the Senate, in lieu of a prime minister not having been nominated within 30 days of a parliamentary quorum, and in lieu of a parliamentary quorum having not been achieved 30 days prior to that. Quietly take a step back, as Yingluck composes herself, looks into the distance, thinks some more ... and then lets out a tremendous scream.

[mightyatom]

of course she shut it, she knows very well first thing a new / neutral PM would do would be to investigate how much money the PTP looted from the Thai coffers. IMO she is fighting not for the PM job but for her freedom and the ability to stay in Thailand and not have to flee like her coward brother Thaksin

+ 100.

They can not find any way to cling to power, so they do everything to resist removal. Fine by me really.

I think the NACC will have the final say here, and I should think that they will revoke their passports.

Currently all PTP MPs and Yingluck are facing multiple investigations. The shredders must be working overtime.

The NACC is an organization the PTP would love to control, unfortunately for them they are on the side of Suthep. They always will be.

I am praying that this rabble will end up in prison for a long time.

Send out the ultimate message that Thailand is changing.... Nobody is above the law. It will also ensure they don't come back into politics seeing as a convicted criminal can not stand for election.

[jpeg]

I wish you were right, but I suspect that Thaksin's calculation is instead that his little sister should hang onto power until a constitutional crisis is provoked -- a crisis which would then give the military no choice (just as in 2006) but to stage a coup. Now that the gambit of bullheadedly going forward with the election has failed -- because voter turnout was so low, and so many people cast "no" votes or destroyed their ballots -- PT has lost the one potent political asset it could claim before: popular support. It is therefore now in crisis mode, and the only hope is to "throw a Hail Mary pass" (to use a metaphor from American football). What this desperate ploy will be, I suspect, is to force a deterioration in the situation by holding onto power no matter how many responsible voices join the chorus in earnestly insisting that the Thaksinistas are seriously injuring Thailand's economy, society, and political culture. Then when the military finally decides reluctantly that it must take the reins of power and toss Yingluck out, she will scream "coup, coup! Anti-democratic coup!" Because most foreigners are, naturally, unclear about the situation, they will be predisposed to sympathize with the pretty Thai prime minister. They won't have the time or the inclination to inquire into the far more complex political realities centering on Thaksin's deceitful stratagems.

The one thing you can absolutely count on is that neither Thaksin nor his agents will ever, for any reason, choose the decent route and do what's best for Thailand.

Good post. Except for the fact the rest of the world couldn't care less after the initial righteous indignation from those predominantly Western countries who've their own dirty little not so much secrets any more, has died down and the already manipulated press has moved on to the next democracy in crisis de jour.

They have no say in what happens after anyway. So long as their interests are protected. But tempting as a coup is, the last one really bombed didn't it

[fab4]

Yingluck is not protecting her to her position for the sake of being in power, she is protecting the rule of law, the constitution, democracy and the will of the electorate against a cowardly and bullying opponent.

Thats why she has the support of the vast majority of Thai people and full international support. In the face of this crisis, she has shown more maturity and responsibility than the last 10 prime ministers combined.

Rubbish.

What percentage voted for her?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Nobody knows yet. The Election is not finished and the results therefore will not be known until that time. Any pronouncements made wrt the Election results are therefore supposition.

Whether or not a majority of people support Yingluck is therefore also an unknown and more to the point, irrelevant, as the democratic method of electing a government in Thailand is those with the most votes wins. Simple enough really.

Edited February 8, 2014 by fab4

[Blackmirage2013]

I think we are all getting tired of listening to Yingluck's nonsense... makes you want to support anyone who opposes her. I give Suthep a lot of credit for getting in the middle of the ring and opening himself up for criticism.... he is not perfect but at least he has the balls to step in there and oppose her. I'm pretty sure no one on this blog would do that for whatever reason.

[mightyatom]

It would be poetic justice for the government who worked so hard at trying to get Thaksin back ended up exiled also..... never to return.

In the words of Kevin Keegan...... I would love it.... LOVE IT.

[fab4]

of course she shut it, she knows very well first thing a new / neutral PM would do would be to investigate how much money the PTP looted from the Thai coffers. IMO she is fighting not for the PM job but for her freedom and the ability to stay in Thailand and not have to flee like her coward brother Thaksin

+ 100.

They can not find any way to cling to power, so they do everything to resist removal. Fine by me really.

I think the NACC will have the final say here, and I should think that they will revoke their passports.

Currently all PTP MPs and Yingluck are facing multiple investigations. The shredders must be working overtime.

The NACC is an organization the PTP would love to control, unfortunately for them they are on the side of Suthep. They always will be.

I am praying that this rabble will end up in prison for a long time.

Send out the ultimate message that Thailand is changing.... Nobody is above the law. It will also ensure they don't come back into politics seeing as a convicted criminal can not stand for election.

"The NACC is an organization the PTP would love to control, unfortunately for them they are on the side of Suthep. They always will be"

I wouldn't say the NACC are on the side of suthep - I would say they are definitely influenced by sutheps backers (there is a hell of a difference, suthep is a handy fall guy for them).

All of which is very unfortunate, as the NACC is supposed to be an independant body.

[Publicus]

Quietly usher Yingluck into a room. Offer her a comfortable chair, a cup of tea. Place the constitution before her on the table. Furnish her with special gold-framed glasses. Direct her attention to Article 7. She will see that on April 1, there will be set into motion the nomination of an interim prime minister through the Senate, in lieu of a prime minister not having been nominated within 30 days of a parliamentary quorum, and in lieu of a parliamentary quorum having not been achieved 30 days prior to that. Quietly take a step back, as Yingluck composes herself, looks into the distance, thinks some more ... and then lets out a tremendous scream.

The EC has announced by-elections will be scheduled, asked the PM for a royal decree, will count votes in precincts where violence occurred, will sit with the government to set the next polling date.

The half of the senate that stands for election will go before the voters next month. Will Suthep allow the election to occur? Will Suthep still be around next month? Will the senate itself be able to sit to organize itself? Can you say? No, you can't say - no one including Ultraman himself can realistically say.

The other half of the senate that is appointed now will undergo a new and unprecedented public and media scrutiny of the appointing process, to include international media and civil society groups, so everyone will get to see how that may play out.

All Fool's Day is a long way off because a great deal must happen between now and then, so boil a cup of tea for yourself, put on your gold tin hat and open the windows so that if you should toss your chair it doesn't smash things up too much. .

Edited February 8, 2014 by Publicus

[fab4]

of course she shut it, she knows very well first thing a new / neutral PM would do would be to investigate how much money the PTP looted from the Thai coffers. IMO she is fighting not for the PM job but for her freedom and the ability to stay in Thailand and not have to flee like her coward brother Thaksin

That's a lost cause. The final outcome of this is either going to be jail time for herself and a bunch of close PTP associates, or a mass exodus of the Shin clan and PTP.

April 1 (how fitting) is approaching fast.

At this point, I am all for her retirement with extreme prejudice.

"At this point, I am all for her retirement with extreme prejudice."

All very butch, I'm sure, but when you say "with extreme prejudice" do you mean the euphemism the CIA used in the 70's to assassinate someone?

If so, come right out and say it, I'm sure people of your ilk will lap it up.

[Why ask]

"Ms Yingluck gave assurances that the government would be responsible for overdue payments to farmers, saying that no government would ignore the problems and the people’s grievances but there are legal obstacles in assisting farmers."

There is only one legal obstacle, and it's sitting in Dubai with a big smirk on its face.

[whybother]

Nobody knows yet. The Election is not finished and the results therefore will not be known until that time. Any pronouncements made wrt the Election results are therefore supposition.

Whether or not a majority of people support Yingluck is therefore also an unknown and more to the point, irrelevant, as the democratic method of electing a government in Thailand is those with the most votes wins. Simple enough really.

Actually, government in Thailand is formed with more than 50% of seats. Too simple for some.

[gbswales]

Yingluck is not protecting her to her position for the sake of being in power, she is protecting the rule of law, the constitution, democracy and the will of the electorate against a cowardly and bullying opponent.

Thats why she has the support of the vast majority of Thai people and full international support. In the face of this crisis, she has shown more maturity and responsibility than the last 10 prime ministers combined.

Rubbish.

What percentage voted for her?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

If she does not have popular support then why didn't the opposition go against her in an election - they knew they wouldn't win and that is about popularity not corruption - however bad any government is, throwing away democracy is a recipe for disaster in any country. Military coups, temporary governments just postpone the problem until another day/year. The Dems need to go out to win the hearts and minds of the people by promising reforms that will more fairly distribute wealth throughout Thailand - the only problem is that if they offered that, their own supporters would turn against them. Winning politics takes years, even decades, of hard work but unless you win by fair means you are never seen as legitimate

[tezzainoz]

And who is going to appoint this 'neutral non-elected PM'?

Well that is obvious the Thai People

and you where hoping it would be you ???????

[bigbamboo]

Come on guys, give the poor woman a break. Yingluck doesn't 'decide' anything... her big brother does all that for her.

She couldn't quit even if she wanted to so there's no point in blaming her for what she says any more than blaming the organ grinder's monkey for playing the wrong tune.

[tezzainoz]

Yingluck is not protecting her to her position for the sake of being in power, she is protecting the rule of law, the constitution, democracy and the will of the electorate against a cowardly and bullying opponent.

Thats why she has the support of the vast majority of Thai people and full international support. In the face of this crisis, she has shown more maturity and responsibility than the last 10 prime ministers combined.

Edited February 8, 2014 by tezzainoz

[Gweiloman]

And who is going to appoint this 'neutral non-elected PM'?

Well that is obvious the Thai People

and you where hoping it would be you ???????

Fantastic. Great answer. To the head of the class Tezza. The Thai People will decide who is to the the PM.

Now, lets see how to institute this process. Shall we have, er, an election?

[Melyn]

Yingluck is not protecting her to her position for the sake of being in power, she is protecting the rule of law, the constitution, democracy and the will of the electorate against a cowardly and bullying opponent.

Thats why she has the support of the vast majority of Thai people and full international support. In the face of this crisis, she has shown more maturity and responsibility than the last 10 prime ministers combined.

Rubbish.

What percentage voted for her?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Nobody knows yet. The Election is not finished and the results therefore will not be known until that time. Any pronouncements made wrt the Election results are therefore supposition.

Whether or not a majority of people support Yingluck is therefore also an unknown and more to the point, irrelevant, as the democratic method of electing a government in Thailand is those with the most votes wins. Simple enough really.

It is very much a known.

30% of people voted for a valid party.

Even if they were all for PTP it would not make a majority as stated above. Nothing like it

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ianf]

And who is going to appoint this 'neutral non-elected PM'?

All evidence shows that Thaksin himself is the non-elected PM.

[billd766]

Yingluck is not protecting her to her position for the sake of being in power, she is protecting the rule of law, the constitution, democracy and the will of the electorate against a cowardly and bullying opponent.

Thats why she has the support of the vast majority of Thai people and full international support. In the face of this crisis, she has shown more maturity and responsibility than the last 10 prime ministers combined.

That would be a first for her AND the PTP.

[billd766]

of course she shut it, she knows very well first thing a new / neutral PM would do would be to investigate how much money the PTP looted from the Thai coffers. IMO she is fighting not for the PM job but for her freedom and the ability to stay in Thailand and not have to flee like her coward brother Thaksin

+ 100.

They can not find any way to cling to power, so they do everything to resist removal. Fine by me really.

I think the NACC will have the final say here, and I should think that they will revoke their passports.

Currently all PTP MPs and Yingluck are facing multiple investigations. The shredders must be working overtime.

The NACC is an organization the PTP would love to control, unfortunately for them they are on the side of Suthep. They always will be.

I am praying that this rabble will end up in prison for a long time.

Send out the ultimate message that Thailand is changing.... Nobody is above the law. It will also ensure they don't come back into politics seeing as a convicted criminal can not stand for election.

"The NACC is an organization the PTP would love to control, unfortunately for them they are on the side of Suthep. They always will be"

I wouldn't say the NACC are on the side of suthep - I would say they are definitely influenced by sutheps backers (there is a hell of a difference, suthep is a handy fall guy for them).

All of which is very unfortunate, as the NACC is supposed to be an independant body.

So are the Royal Thai Police.

[Mark Thaiford]

Why on earth would she stand down...? To set the worst possible precedent ever...? To sanction blatant insurrection...? If she abandons the fragile Democracy which still actually keeps this place going.. it would be the worst thing possible...

An excellent post that puts this whole saga into perspective. The pros and cons of the PTP or the Democrats as rulers do not matter. What matters is preserving the democratic system because once that is lost it could take decades to regain it.

The farang posters in this thread and many others who blindly cheer the abolition of democracy in Thailand have hardly any good arguments to justify the judicial coup in the making - instead they rely on soundbites, a few old quips about corruption and endless tirades of name-calling. All in all their arguments are totally devoid of any intellectual or rational content. And the international media has seen right through that which is why if you want a non-biased view of what is happening in Thailand you need to read foreign media.

The farangs who live in Thailand and cheer on the return of an aristocratic/oligarchic rule to the country do so because they think they are somehow part of the elite that ought to run Thailand. They see themselves as some neo-colonial force on a par with the Thai-Chinese elite. Sadly, the Thai-Chinese elite do not quite see their farang allies like that but are happy to let the farangs stay ignorant about that. The Thai-Chinese know that the pitiful farangs ready to dirty themselves by cheering on the destruction of democracy do so only because of petty self-interest - the farangs are scared that democracy in Thailand will mean an increase to their taxes, they are scared that the great mass of Thai people will increase their lot in life which will make life more expensive for your average expat farang.

Edited February 8, 2014 by Mark Thaiford

[h90]

And who is going to appoint this 'neutral non-elected PM'?

whoever, as long Thaksin isn't appoint the person...

[fab4]

Nobody knows yet. The Election is not finished and the results therefore will not be known until that time. Any pronouncements made wrt the Election results are therefore supposition.

Whether or not a majority of people support Yingluck is therefore also an unknown and more to the point, irrelevant, as the democratic method of electing a government in Thailand is those with the most votes wins. Simple enough really.

Actually, government in Thailand is formed with more than 50% of seats. Too simple for some.

I swear you get more pedantic by the minute.

[tezzainoz]

And who is going to appoint this 'neutral non-elected PM'?

Well that is obvious the Thai People

and you where hoping it would be you ???????

Fantastic. Great answer. To the head of the class Tezza. The Thai People will decide who is to the the PM.

Now, lets see how to institute this process. Shall we have, er, an election?

Simple mind

people from different areas of Thai institutes will be choses to be part of the committee

as They are a caretake committee, and changes must be put forward by the majority

No reason why Yingluck can not be part of the committee as long as balance is kept with a Dem leader

These are the people who will find a soulution to stopping the corruption

and form the basis of the next election

Now my 5 year old daughter understands

if you end me your email I will get her to explain it to you

Bt I will have no say in the committee and great neither will you

I find it easier to be a willow tree and bend with the wind

No matter how much you try to understand Thai Logic

You end up a mental case

Edited February 8, 2014 by tezzainoz

[tezzainoz]

"Thailand cannot have a non-elected leader" she states.

"It's not constitutional" she adds.

Well we've had your big brother fro Dubai doing it for 3 years.

To add to that, it should be unconstitutional for an unelected novice to be put at number one on the list to ensure that she gets selected and for the unconstitutional and unelected villain from Dubai to have the power to pressure "his" MPs to chose her as PM

Its also unconstitutional for a government to cheat and lie in the house.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

sorry you are wrong on all points

Non of these appear in Taskin's book "The Thai Costitution for Dummies"

[tezzainoz]

Why on earth would she stand down...? To set the worst possible precedent ever...? To sanction blatant insurrection...? If she abandons the fragile Democracy which still actually keeps this place going.. it would be the worst thing possible...

An excellent post that puts this whole saga into perspective. The pros and cons of the PTP or the Democrats as rulers do not matter. What matters is preserving the democratic system because once that is lost it could take decades to regain it.

The farang posters in this thread and many others who blindly cheer the abolition of democracy in Thailand have hardly any good arguments to justify the judicial coup in the making - instead they rely on soundbites, a few old quips about corruption and endless tirades of name-calling. All in all their arguments are totally devoid of any intellectual or rational content. And the international media has seen right through that which is why if you want a non-biased view of what is happening in Thailand you need to read foreign media.

The farangs who live in Thailand and cheer on the return of an aristocratic/oligarchic rule to the country do so because they think they are somehow part of the elite that ought to run Thailand. They see themselves as some neo-colonial force on a par with the Thai-Chinese elite. Sadly, the Thai-Chinese elite do not quite see their farang allies like that but are happy to let the farangs stay ignorant about that. The Thai-Chinese know that the pitiful farangs ready to dirty themselves by cheering on the destruction of democracy do so only because of petty self-interest - the farangs are scared that democracy in Thailand will mean an increase to their taxes, they are scared that the great mass of Thai people will increase their lot in life which will make life more expensive for your average expat farang.

Birds of a feather, always flock together

Say its getitng dark and they will swear its just someone closing the blinds

[MadDog2020]

Why on earth would she stand down...? To set the worst possible precedent ever...? To sanction blatant insurrection...? If she abandons the fragile Democracy which still actually keeps this place going.. it would be the worst thing possible... If a judicial coup is how the opposition intends to do this let it be so.. . it will be the worst outcome possible but is probably where they are loading the dice now... remember that most if not all that faces us now since the insurrection began is a direct result of the oppositions efforts. They had their chance within the government to use the rice scheme and failed Amnesty bill to proceed through legitimate/lawful means to use their billions for political out each with the Public and delegate consolidation and lobbying within the govt..instead they started throwing chairs, beating their chest and empowering a very un-balanced mind to lead the sheep into a mindless attempt at overthrowing an elected government,, and creating/re[lacing it with a circus that is laughable yet has taken lives from all walks of life.. Blue, yellow, red, pink, brown matters not.. crooks and troughies on all sides of the sty..what matters is that those who have been empowered by the people... maintain the duties they were charged with until such a time comes through a democratic process for a change... not at the whim of every tom. dick and harry just because they can't have a piece of the pie at the moment... if she were to stand down now it would give the green light for every wealthy corrupt iconic entity to follow the same path of insurrection to achieve the same outcomes...POWER GRAB... that is not reform.... that is giving the keys to the henhouse to a whole band of wolves.. reset...? Restart...? BUZZ WORDS ...progress is not the intention of the opposition.. they don't want a fully elected Parliament they don't want to be answerable to the people.. it is not in their interests to do so.. they don't want a dilution of wealth they don't want to share the responsibility of a collective voice... whether you like or dislike the sitting PM or not has no bearing on the entity of Democracy... it must be preserved.. and acquiescing to rogue, scoundrel and charlatans is not the way to go..it condones anarchy

So I've been reading these types of post about "Protecting the Democracy" for 2 or 3 months.

In the current thai government the PM is selected by the lower house and then appointed by the King. 74 members of the Senate are selected (appointed) and 125 members of the lower house are selected (appointed).

Of the total number of PM, Senate and House seats; 200 are appointed. Where is the "Democracy"?