Yingluck goes on the offensive as battle gets tougher

[Dogmatix]

Good she can fight back against vile speach from Suthep like this

At least she is assured the moral high ground and Government programs, failed or not, are not in the same league as the hate and perscution she faces from the elites and their allies.

I thought her son's name was Pike not Pipe.

[Scamper]

" At this point, it will be interesting to see if Yingluck's offensive ignites the sentiment of her red-shirt supporters against these two independent agencies, because, after all, she is accusing both agencies of having double standards. "

Indeed she is. And it's a contemptible abuse of prime ministerial power. She is now doing what Jataporn could only dream of doing. She has become an advocate for undermining the institutions of law and administration oversight. It is dangerous and it is unlawful.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Scamper

[Dogmatix]

"She also alleged that the NACC had only spent 21 days studying the case before deciding to press charges."

It really should've taken just 21 seconds.

Poo's argument is like a murderer crying foul when he is arrested and charged because there are many other murderers out there who committed their crimes earlier than him and they should be arrested first.

The queue system doesn't apply here, Khun Poo khrap. If you're guilty, you're guilty.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Dogmatix

[Dogmatix]

There are a number of other officials from the Commerce Ministry struggling to defend themselves in the face of evidence in the NACC's hands that the two fake g2g deals were actually sold domestically for prices ranging from B4,000-6,000 per ton. The rice may also have been re-pledged to government.

Some of them have been negotiating hard for reductions in charges, if they spill the beans. If the NACC let this filthy lot all slither away, they should be prosecuted for dereliction of duty themselves.

[BossBar]

As i am not Thai i tend to keep out of their business but i do like a good read, and take it from me seeing some of the post's on here beats the old NEWS OF THE WORLD LOL.

But i am curious was Thailand a better place and not corrupt prior to the Sinawatra's ?????????????????

As i see that Suthep is one crazy guy and if he gets power who knows what might happen.

[winstonc]

I don't see a good end to this. If either side gains control, it's still graft and chaos. On the one hand there is proper democracy which might leave the Shinawatra clan in charge, on the other is anti-democracy Suthep.

I don't even see a lesser of two evils.

You're clearly not allowing yourself to see the potential advancements that could be made because you regard the current situation under the Shin clan as being a "proper democracy"...!!

Yes, take that man to the gas chamber, show him the bright future our leader will bring.

All hail Suthep!!!!

All hail the great leader!!!!

Now where did those tractors go?

gas chamber are for real you foolish moron...

[maxme]

NACC, EC, Judges, all the so called independent "checks and balances" dont work for Thailand or the people or the constitution or the law.... they are puppets of the elites, mostly put into power via and as a result of the 2006 coup for the military to protect their interests.

Straight out of the red handbook. Perhaps they should hire some semi-literate rice farmers so that they will be "better balanced".

JRSoul, how much of this rethoric you are spewing out comes from you really? Red or yellow, if you ain´t with them then you are against them. Living here for some time have made some people lose their common sense and logic. Be smart, don´t be a sheep. By the way, you don´t happen to live in Bangkok do you?

Unfortunately I see this farce going for at least a few more months, enough to plummet the economy further. It was unstabile before but this kind of yo-yoing has caused a gap or a rift that will be hard to fill if both sides don't get their act together and start engaging in talks.

[Goat Roper]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I don't see a good end to this. If either side gains control, it's still graft and chaos. On the one hand there is proper democracy which might leave the Shinawatra clan in charge, on the other is anti-democracy Suthep.

I don't even see a lesser of two evils.

You're clearly not allowing yourself to see the potential advancements that could be made because you regard the current situation under the Shin clan as being a "proper democracy"...!!

Yes, take that man to the gas chamber, show him the bright future our leader will bring.

All hail Suthep!!!!

All hail the great leader!!!!

Now where did those tractors go?

gas chamber are for real you foolish moron... alt=w00t.gif>

Lostinsurin,

what the devil are you? Your gas chamber mention is repulsive; Your should have your sack slit and have you leg run through it, that is if you are a man.

[Mister Fixit]

Yingluk should be very direct with the facts. She should call them out BEFORE the NACC takes action. Call them out not only to thai citizens but to the Intl community. Why cant the UN or other independent authorities be there to have impartial observation of the law/ procedures. Put the pressure back on the NACC.

'Call them out'? Do you mean 'confront'?

You HAVE to be an American!

Edited February 22, 2014 by Mister Fixit

[Dogmatix]

President Maduro of Venezuela nearly booted CNN out of the country for airing reports that were sympathetic to protestors trying to oust his democratically elected populist government.

I recommend that CNN should hire Jonathan Head and send him to Venezuela. He will be able to file reports in his smug, slippery style that will warm the heart of any popularly elected dictator. Oh but wait a minute. Maduro is hostile to US interests. So perhaps a different approach is needed there.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Dogmatix

[iancnx]

Yingluk should be very direct with the facts. She should call them out BEFORE the NACC takes action. Call them out not only to thai citizens but to the Intl community. Why cant the UN or other independent authorities be there to have impartial observation of the law/ procedures. Put the pressure back on the NACC.

'Call them out'? Do you mean 'confront'?

You HAVE to be an American!

UN and independent all in the same sentence. Interesting concept.

Much better a delegation of 4 or 5 senior respected lawyers drawn from across ASEAN to be invited to pop into Bangkok and tell it as it is. Happy to see additions from Japan, SKorea and HongKong. Invite SE Asia to try and help sort out this mess.

[Mister Fixit]

Know that all of Yingluck's pronouncements on Facebook come directly from Thaksin's office. The puppeteer pretending to be the puppet.

I think you mean 'puppet-MASTER'.

[Dap]

Good, about time she started talking tough.

Next, face to face confrontation with Suthep.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 2 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Hahahahahahahaha! Give me a break. She won't even do a face to face with the farmers

[mikemac]

Nice move by Yingluck in making the NACC the centre of the accountability argument.

Just why has abisits case not moved for years but she is suddenly fast tracked to the top of the agenda.

Answers please NACC members, International community awaiting

Cal ? Is that you Cal ? Where (or who) have you been ?

[Crushdepth]

Why shouldn't a case against a PM be fast tracked? They're running the country. If they are corrupt they need to be dealt with quickly.

Sent from somewhere in the Pacific

[Dogmatix]

Know that all of Yingluck's pronouncements on Facebook come directly from Thaksin's office. The puppeteer pretending to be the puppet.

I think you mean 'puppet-MASTER'.

Remember that her Facebook team put up a picture of the wrong king to say HBD on 5 Dec 2011. Duh!

[binjalin]

Good she can fight back against vile speach from Suthep like this

At least she is assured the moral high ground and Government programs, failed or not, are not in the same league as the hate and perscution she faces from the elites and their allies.

Vile man this Suthep

[AleG]

So now she wants the antu graft to fire someone because they dont support the current gov. She wants every group within the gov to be a PTP member so she can do what she wants and now she wants the group that does the checks and balances to all be her supporters. Me thinks she worres that someone has some hidden fears about getting caught. Good that the anti graft committee ignored her requests to fire him.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Look into the facts of the investigation by the NACC only came to a decision after removing a member that other member said held up their Strictly by the book, indepth, 21 day legal investigation!

Me thinks you thinks wrong, look up the fact ,I Know you will disregard them,but look it up so you know the truth!

Cheers

"21 day legal investigation!"

The NACC has been investigating the Rice Scheme for more than a year, April 5 2013:

Probe into controversial rice subsidy half complete

BANGKOK, April 5 – An independent investigation into alleged corruption in the multi-million-baht rice pledge scheme is more than 50 per cent complete, a member of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) said today.

Sakchai Metinipisaskul, a member of the NACC investigative subcommittee, deplored the government’s failure to cooperate in the probe which started last October.

The investigation started in October 2012, now, are you going to stick to the "21 days investigation" lie?

[Melyn]

Yingluck going on the offensive is about as believable as Chalerm getting in touch with his feminine side and doing a pole dance in a Cowboy bar dressed in a pink fluffy bikini

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[citizen33]

It seems that the wheels of the judicial process keep turning, but if the powers driving events want to avoid being seen to mount a judicial coup (and the consequences under the US Foreign Assistance Act etcetera) then they face a problem of explanation. Large agricultural subsidies and a measure of low-level abuse are a familiar part of the landscape in both Europe and N. America. Policies that fail and cause substantial financial loss are also far from unknown (witness a whole set of related economic policies prior to the recession). Yet Western courts have no jurisdiction to punish bad policies, much less to redefine political differences about redistributive social policies as a legal issue. So to have any legitimacy in Western eyes, the NACC has to establish that some systematic form of corruption took place; even 'negligence' does not have much resonance in the West where legal proceedings against members of a government are involved. To date I have not seen any clear evidence of high-level corruption in relation to the rice scheme, and until that is forthcoming I think the Western powers will take these proceedings with a pinch of salt.

Edited February 22, 2014 by citizen33

[unanimosity]

Good, about time she started talking tough.

Next, face to face confrontation with Suthep.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 2 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

she hasn't got the sack for that.

On a side note: How incredibly pathetic is it that all these "Leaders of Government" make their political "Stances and Announcements" on their FaceBook page instead of publicly.

LOL!!! How could you possibly believe in the year 2014 that facebook is not public, hahaha?

[dutchisaan]

Yingluk should be very direct with the facts. She should call them out BEFORE the NACC takes action. Call them out not only to thai citizens but to the Intl community. Why cant the UN or other independent authorities be there to have impartial observation of the law/ procedures. Put the pressure back on the NACC.

If she feels so strongly that they are wrong, she should go before her accusers on 27 February and face them directly. Will she? NO!

There is no pressure on the NACC; they have sufficient evidence, she needs to refute the evidence or face the consequences...!!

Why would a sitting PM appear before a politically biased group that was appointed by the previous Military dictatorship & Democrat administration?

She has just sent a wake up call to her political opponents and those in the PTP that have burdened her with their personal vested interests. This action is a long time coming and I hope she keeps doing it. She needs to go Ninja on her detractors.

Ah the.. it is all political defense.\

No sir nothing wrong with the rice program.. no corruption.. no destruction of the markets for years to come.. no hardship for the farmers as they will have to compete with the government for rice sales in future.. no rotting rice.. everything is fine sir.

If they have proof of corruption they can get her.. and i hope they do this puppet government has done so much damage its unbelievable.

- Rice rotting (yes there is proof of it and anyone thinking all storage is up to spec is crazy))

- Future stock will have to be sold at a huge loss and in direct competition with farmers result even lower prices and more pain for farmers

- G2G deals that never were (or sold at lower prices at Taksin allies and sold back into the programs bingo !!!)

- Rice imported from neighboring countries by Taksin allies sold into the system bingo !!!

- Enormous storage fees to make the program even more expensive

- Farmers with debts and liquidity problems as they did not get paid because government did not secure loans before

- Totally no transparency never any prices disclosed as they did not want to show the real losses

- People who warned before (civil servants) were replaced right away as you cant say a bad thing about this government

- Because the program did not look at rice quality it was quantity over quality destroying Thai rice reputation.

- Because of dumping worries they loose support from other governments

- The poorest farmers.. did not get money as they did not sell rice they eat their own rice (direct support would have helped)

Everyone warned them about it.. but they still did it.. that is not only stupid its criminal. All this so they could steal from the program.

A direct payment to farmers based on land (sliding scale so not to help the real big farmers like has been done now) would have been lots cheaper.. but initially more expensive in the books so they could not use the budget money for other things they wanted so much. So they claimed this program was budget neutral or would even make money. So only loans had to be secured for it almost no budget allocated.

It was one big scam from day one.. now its time to pay the piper.

Thank you for taking the time to write this. So far no commends from the yl fans, maby they do not have an answer.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited February 22, 2014 by dutchisaan

[iancnx]

Good she can fight back against vile speach from Suthep like this

At least she is assured the moral high ground and Government programs, failed or not, are not in the same league as the hate and perscution she faces from the elites and their allies.

Vile man this Suthep

Indeed, if the translation is true? Any takers? No excuse for bringing kids into the arena! Shameful. If true?

[iancnx]

No sir nothing wrong with the rice program.. no corruption.. no destruction of the markets for years to come.. no hardship for the farmers as they will have to compete with the government for rice sales in future.. no rotting rice.. everything is fine sir.

If they have proof of corruption they can get her.. and i hope they do this puppet government has done so much damage its unbelievable.

- Rice rotting (yes there is proof of it and anyone thinking all storage is up to spec is crazy))

- Future stock will have to be sold at a huge loss and in direct competition with farmers result even lower prices and more pain for farmers

- G2G deals that never were (or sold at lower prices at Taksin allies and sold back into the programs bingo !!!)

- Rice imported from neighboring countries by Taksin allies sold into the system bingo !!!

- Enormous storage fees to make the program even more expensive

- Farmers with debts and liquidity problems as they did not get paid because government did not secure loans before

- Totally no transparency never any prices disclosed as they did not want to show the real losses

- People who warned before (civil servants) were replaced right away as you cant say a bad thing about this government

- Because the program did not look at rice quality it was quantity over quality destroying Thai rice reputation.

- Because of dumping worries they loose support from other governments

- The poorest farmers.. did not get money as they did not sell rice they eat their own rice (direct support would have helped)

Everyone warned them about it.. but they still did it.. that is not only stupid its criminal. All this so they could steal from the program.

A direct payment to farmers based on land (sliding scale so not to help the real big farmers like has been done now) would have been lots cheaper.. but initially more expensive in the books so they could not use the budget money for other things they wanted so much. So they claimed this program was budget neutral or would even make money. So only loans had to be secured for it almost no budget allocated.

It was one big scam from day one.. now its time to pay the piper

Thank you for taking the time to write this. So far no commends from the yl fans, maby they do not have an answer.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

+1. When the facts are presented yet again, they all hide like little goblins in the mines of middle earth.

Edited February 22, 2014 by iancnx

[monkeycountry]

NATION ANALYSIS

Yingluck goes on the offensive as battle gets tougher

Somroutai Sapsomboon

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra seems to have changed her strategy from making gentle compromises to adopting a more aggressive "an eye for an eye" model as the political battle gets tougher.

Her first salvo directed at the anti-graft body in relation to the controversial rice-pledging scheme came in the form of a Facebook comment posted on Thursday. This was after she had delivered a public address earlier.

In both the speech and the Facebook comment, she appeared to show no regrets for the failure of the project and her policy. All she did was point at the anti-government movement, saying it was using the issue in a political game to topple her administration.

"I would love to see the National Anti-Corruption Commission [NACC] launch a strict examination against everybody, without any prejudice and in accordance with the rule of law with no hidden political agenda.

"If this is not done, good projects and the credibility of the checks and balances would be destroyed," she said in her speech.

In a statement posted against the NACC - which is pressing charges against the PM for negligence of duty over the rice scheme - Yingluck said the agency was motivated by the political purpose of toppling her government.

'Double standards'

She also alleged that the NACC had only spent 21 days studying the case before deciding to press charges.

She also drew comparisons with a similar case filed against former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in 2009, pointing out that the NACC had made no progress so far.

She went on to say her request to replace a member of the scrutinising committee who was clearly against her government had got no response from the agency.

"The anti-graft body should show the public that it exercises its authority fairly and constitutionally in accordance with the rule of law," her Facebook post read.

Apart from the anti-graft agency, Yingluck has also decided to put pressure on the Election Commission to speed up the completion of the election. The ruling Pheu Thai Party followed up by calling on the EC to stop dragging its feet to delay the election process.

At this point, it will be interesting to see if Yingluck's offensive ignites the sentiment of her red-shirt supporters against these two independent agencies, because, after all, she is accusing both agencies of having double standards.

In a move to strengthen her strategy further, key red-shirt leaders are hosting a gathering of more than 4,000 supporters in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima tomorrow to launch a crusade against the anti-government crowd.

The game has obviously changed.

Previously, the government tried to keep the red shirts out of the capital to avoid chaos and military intervention. Now a red-shirt leader has announced that nobody fears a coup d'etat, while democracy-loving red shirts say they will not tolerate another coup.

All we can do at this point is wait and watch.

-- The Nation 2014-02-22

She could say pretty much all of the above about Mr. Tarit and the DSI, but for some reason she is not complaining about them :-)

[bigbamboo]

Know that all of Yingluck's pronouncements on Facebook come directly from Thaksin's office. The puppeteer pretending to be the puppet.

I think you mean 'puppet-MASTER'.

Remember that her Facebook team put up a picture of the wrong king to say HBD on 5 Dec 2011. Duh!

You're kidding!......aren't you?

Edited February 22, 2014 by bigbamboo

[monkeycountry]

To sum up the main points of the YL's position. In defence of the accusations made by those nasty,cruel people at NACC

1. It wasn't her....it was her subordinates who thieved (she's in charge of them, of course, but unable to keep tabs on them)

2. It wasn't her fault, she was following orders from the puppet master

3. It's not fair...They caught her after only 21 days... poor Poo hasn't had the same time as Abhisit

4. She wasn't at any of the meetings that she was supposed to chair when some bad people agreed to do bad things.

5. She was too busy to attend, as she was shopping / Facebooking / hiding...

COME ON! You've left a trail of corruption, incompetence and malfeisance that bloodhound with sinusitis could follow

To be fair to Yingluck, she is right on all 5 points you mention, which is probably why the NACC is not charging her with corruption but with neglect of duty or something similar if I recall correct :-)

[whybother]

It seems that the wheels of the judicial process keep turning, but if the powers driving events want to avoid being seen to mount a judicial coup (and the consequences under the US Foreign Assistance Act etcetera) then they face a problem of explanation. Large agricultural subsidies and a measure of low-level abuse are a familiar part of the landscape in both Europe and N. America. Policies that fail and cause substantial financial loss are also far from unknown (witness a whole set of related economic policies prior to the recession). Yet Western courts have no jurisdiction to punish bad policies, much less to redefine political differences about redistributive social policies as a legal issue. So to have any legitimacy in Western eyes, the NACC has to establish that some systematic form of corruption took place; even 'negligence' does not have much resonance in the West where legal proceedings against members of a government are involved. To date I have not seen any clear evidence of high-level corruption in relation to the rice scheme, and until that is forthcoming I think the Western powers will take these proceedings with a pinch of salt.

The problem with the rice scheme isn't that it is making losses (although the size of the losses may be an issue), it is the amount of corruption involved in it.

Corruption that Yingluck is still denying.

[BossBar]

No sir nothing wrong with the rice program.. no corruption.. no destruction of the markets for years to come.. no hardship for the farmers as they will have to compete with the government for rice sales in future.. no rotting rice.. everything is fine sir.

If they have proof of corruption they can get her.. and i hope they do this puppet government has done so much damage its unbelievable.

- Rice rotting (yes there is proof of it and anyone thinking all storage is up to spec is crazy))

- Future stock will have to be sold at a huge loss and in direct competition with farmers result even lower prices and more pain for farmers

- G2G deals that never were (or sold at lower prices at Taksin allies and sold back into the programs bingo !!!)

- Rice imported from neighboring countries by Taksin allies sold into the system bingo !!!

- Enormous storage fees to make the program even more expensive

- Farmers with debts and liquidity problems as they did not get paid because government did not secure loans before

- Totally no transparency never any prices disclosed as they did not want to show the real losses

- People who warned before (civil servants) were replaced right away as you cant say a bad thing about this government

- Because the program did not look at rice quality it was quantity over quality destroying Thai rice reputation.

- Because of dumping worries they loose support from other governments

- The poorest farmers.. did not get money as they did not sell rice they eat their own rice (direct support would have helped)

Everyone warned them about it.. but they still did it.. that is not only stupid its criminal. All this so they could steal from the program.

A direct payment to farmers based on land (sliding scale so not to help the real big farmers like has been done now) would have been lots cheaper.. but initially more expensive in the books so they could not use the budget money for other things they wanted so much. So they claimed this program was budget neutral or would even make money. So only loans had to be secured for it almost no budget allocated.

It was one big scam from day one.. now its time to pay the piper

Thank you for taking the time to write this. So far no commends from the yl fans, maby they do not have an answer.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

+1. When the facts are presented yet again, they all hide like little goblins in the mines of middle earth.

Do any of you really know what you are talking about ????????????? YL fans do you think its a game ??????????????

[mikemac]

No sir nothing wrong with the rice program.. no corruption.. no destruction of the markets for years to come.. no hardship for the farmers as they will have to compete with the government for rice sales in future.. no rotting rice.. everything is fine sir.

If they have proof of corruption they can get her.. and i hope they do this puppet government has done so much damage its unbelievable.

- Rice rotting (yes there is proof of it and anyone thinking all storage is up to spec is crazy))

- Future stock will have to be sold at a huge loss and in direct competition with farmers result even lower prices and more pain for farmers

- G2G deals that never were (or sold at lower prices at Taksin allies and sold back into the programs bingo !!!)

- Rice imported from neighboring countries by Taksin allies sold into the system bingo !!!

- Enormous storage fees to make the program even more expensive

- Farmers with debts and liquidity problems as they did not get paid because government did not secure loans before

- Totally no transparency never any prices disclosed as they did not want to show the real losses

- People who warned before (civil servants) were replaced right away as you cant say a bad thing about this government

- Because the program did not look at rice quality it was quantity over quality destroying Thai rice reputation.

- Because of dumping worries they loose support from other governments

- The poorest farmers.. did not get money as they did not sell rice they eat their own rice (direct support would have helped)

Everyone warned them about it.. but they still did it.. that is not only stupid its criminal. All this so they could steal from the program.

A direct payment to farmers based on land (sliding scale so not to help the real big farmers like has been done now) would have been lots cheaper.. but initially more expensive in the books so they could not use the budget money for other things they wanted so much. So they claimed this program was budget neutral or would even make money. So only loans had to be secured for it almost no budget allocated.

It was one big scam from day one.. now its time to pay the piper

Thank you for taking the time to write this. So far no commends from the yl fans, maby they do not have an answer.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

+1. When the facts are presented yet again, they all hide like little goblins in the mines of middle earth.

Their conspicuous absence is living proof that the "goblins" only trawl topics where they can rack up an easy victory. Topics like this are no fun for them. They are too easily shot down in flames. Only the very desperate ones who need a "fix" put their two bobs worth in on subjects like this.

Fabio and friends will be raiding another juicier one, you can bet on it.