Yingluck tells CNN "govt’s rice scheme launched for farmers' benefit"

[Scamper]

So Yingluck sends a lawyer to the NACC to speak on her behalf, but she prefers to give her testimony on CNN. And what feeble testimony it is. It doesn't address - naturally - that it has capsized the industry, taken Thailand off the world's top exporter of rice, destroyed farmer's livelihoods and as a consequence of mismanagement and rampant corruption has left the farmers bankrupted and desperate. Not only have they not been paid, but huge stores of rice untouched for years has gathered, much of it rotted. And in the meantime the people who administered the programme have padded their pockets. CNN hears none of that, of course. And naturally the NACC would ask far more probing questions and point to incriminating evidence, none of which she would be able to answer to. Today's long-awaited Constitutional Court ruling on the constitutionality of the 2 trillion baht bill will be the first volley in a series of legal challenges that the former Yingluck administration faces. If the court rules the bill unconstitutional, and if Pheu Thai dismisses the ruling, it will produce a situation too scary to contemplate - where the rule of law is itself considered dismiss-able. Pheu Thai would love nothing better than for the NACC inquiry to be quashed, and in fact all constitutional challenges to be dropped. It is clear that Thida and the UDD were very serious in their rally on February 23. If today's ruling deems the bill unconstitutional, and if Pheu Thai ignores it, then it will be unquestionably the greatest constitutional crisis this country has faced.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Scamper

[Pimay1]

I like these two statements from Yingluck during the interview. They speak for themselves.

“If I had to rely on other people or my brother, I believe I wouldn’t have solved the problems,” she told Amanpour, such as massive floods the country faced in 2011.

Yingluck told Amanpour that her government fully briefed the Thai people and parliament on the program.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Pimay1

[tominbkk]

Have any of the negative respondents seen the interview?

No? I am not surprised.

Why? did we miss something? Did she say something different than what was reported in the article? If so, please elucidate, if not, then stop wasting our time with your divergent tactics.

[Dogmatix]

Wrong Yingluck. The farmers were holders of junior bonds, i.e. they could only get a fixed amount with no upside and are the last to be paid in the event of cash flow shortages. Thaksin was the holder of an free option to benefit from massive upside, if his speculation on the global rice price went well with no cost, if it didn't work out and that was the main purpose of the scheme. Other politicians, civil servants, PT apparachtniks, red shirt leaders, rice millers etc were holders of equity and senior bonds entitled to be paid before the farmers with upside.

[billd766]

Have any of the negative respondents seen the interview?

No? I am not surprised.

Yes I have watched the interview at post#19.

I have no idea which country she is talking about but it is not the Thailand I live in.

[fstarbkk]

Have any of the negative respondents seen the interview?

No? I am not surprised.

Watched the whole thing, painful as it was - The usual incoherent gibberish, even in Thai. Proved only that the problem runs much deeper than her dismal English skills.

[gemini81]

Have any of the negative respondents seen the interview?

No? I am not surprised.

Watched the whole thing, painful as it was - The usual incoherent gibberish, even in Thai. Proved only that the problem runs much deeper than her dismal English skills.

Indeed not language, lack of brains combined with the guilt of being caught being so corrupt. Can't even answer any of those questions thrown at her, like the one about hr brother's involvement.

[djjamie]

I thought it was common knowledge what the nationalities of the guys that had their passports stolen where. Italian and Austrian…Yet when asked she states she does not know what the nationalities are.

One would have thought before doing the interview she would be briefed. Does she know the plane is even Malaysian or is the only plane she is interested in being the one that will leave directly after the NACC verdict?

[Prbkk]

She is a treasure and is somehow managing to hold the country together in the face of these rascals and scallywags. I thought she did very well. She is not a career politician and would probably much rather be doing something else. She is to be commended for her sacrifices on behalf of the people..

[ginjag]

She is a treasure and is somehow managing to hold the country together in the face of these rascals and scallywags. I thought she did very well. She is not a career politician and would probably much rather be doing something else. She is to be commended for her sacrifices on behalf of the people..

Top prize for this months best joke to date, oohh and last months.

[KRS1]

She didn't even bother with English :>

in the interview she says she faced a flood crisis like has never happened before upon taking office....bullshit, it floods in thailand almost every other year....ive lived here for 20 years.,

[fstarbkk]

She is a treasure and is somehow managing to hold the country together in the face of these rascals and scallywags. I thought she did very well. She is not a career politician and would probably much rather be doing something else. She is to be commended for her sacrifices on behalf of the people..

Top prize for this months best joke to date, oohh and last months.

Oh, leave the poor guy alone!!! It's clear that he has a huge crush on YL!

Love is blind... and deaf... and numbs the mind in general.

[scorecard]

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

Have any of the negative respondents seen the interview?

No? I am not surprised.

Yes I have watched the interview at post#19.

I have no idea which country she is talking about but it is not the Thailand I live in.

Hey g'kid, what's the specific upside you see in the CNN interview?

And please share your honest without spin opinion of the rice scam.

Edited March 12, 2014 by scorecard

[scorecard]

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

She is a treasure and is somehow managing to hold the country together in the face of these rascals and scallywags. I thought she did very well. She is not a career politician and would probably much rather be doing something else. She is to be commended for her sacrifices on behalf of the people..

Treasure, well she should be careful someone might sell her.

Sacrifices. Some examples please

[Nickymaster]

So Yingluck sends a lawyer to the NACC to speak on her behalf, but she prefers to give her testimony on CNN. And what feeble testimony it is. It doesn't address - naturally - that it has capsized the industry, taken Thailand off the world's top exporter of rice, destroyed farmer's livelihoods and as a consequence of mismanagement and rampant corruption has left the farmers bankrupted and desperate. Not only have they not been paid, but huge stores of rice untouched for years has gathered, much of it rotted. And in the meantime the people who administered the programme have padded their pockets. CNN hears none of that, of course. And naturally the NACC would ask far more probing questions and point to incriminating evidence, none of which she would be able to answer to. Today's long-awaited Constitutional Court ruling on the constitutionality of the 2 trillion baht bill will be the first volley in a series of legal challenges that the former Yingluck administration faces. If the court rules the bill unconstitutional, and if Pheu Thai dismisses the ruling, it will produce a situation too scary to contemplate - where the rule of law is itself considered dismiss-able. Pheu Thai would love nothing better than for the NACC inquiry to be quashed, and in fact all constitutional challenges to be dropped. It is clear that Thida and the UDD were very serious in their rally on February 23. If today's ruling deems the bill unconstitutional, and if Pheu Thai ignores it, then it will be unquestionably the greatest constitutional crisis this country has faced.

Don't worry. CNN surely knows what a mess Yingluck has created with this controversial policy. Now CNN is simply showing the world that Yingluck still doesn't take any responsibility for it.

[Nickymaster]

She is a treasure and is somehow managing to hold the country together in the face of these rascals and scallywags. I thought she did very well. She is not a career politician and would probably much rather be doing something else. She is to be commended for her sacrifices on behalf of the people..

You are trolling (again) right?

[beenhere2long]

She is a treasure and is somehow managing to hold the country together in the face of these rascals and scallywags. I thought she did very well. She is not a career politician and would probably much rather be doing something else. She is to be commended for her sacrifices on behalf of the people..

please send me a large portion of whatever you are on..

[Prbkk]

She didn't even bother with English :>

in the interview she says she faced a flood crisis like has never happened before upon taking office....bullshit, it floods in thailand almost every other year....ive lived here for 20 years.,

If you listen to what she said, it related to the MAGNITUDE of the flooding. Some of the criticism here is beyond a joke. She is articulate, considered, sensible, accommodating. It's no wonder she will win the next election hands down

[scorecard]

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

She is a treasure and is somehow managing to hold the country together in the face of these rascals and scallywags. I thought she did very well. She is not a career politician and would probably much rather be doing something else. She is to be commended for her sacrifices on behalf of the people..

You are trolling (again) right?

Hey prbkk, earlier you made some posts with arguments. Now only 1 or occasionally 2 liners with no substances and no specific meaning.

I guess you've run out of steam, like your colleague fab4.

[scorecard]

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

Be serious........ what else was she supposed to say?

Did you really expect her to tell CNN that the scam was set up by her brother to keep the farmers supporting his party, to enrich his cronies and to manipulate the rice market so that Thais would get rich whilst the cost of the staple food crop of the world's poor would increase dramatically?

In that case you must be as dumb as Thaksin claims her advisors are.

One suspects the questions were sent to her before the interview to prepare answers, and there will have been certain topics CNN would not be allowed to ask questions on ie the rice scam, otherwise dear YK wouldn't do the interview

Think people are being very naive in thinking the liked of CNN, BBC are asking off the cuff, probing to the point questions..... They are not guests on the shows are briefed on the questions up front

No politician in their right mind would get on a TV show to be blind sided by an interviewer

I'm wondering when the must do overseas trip is coming up with no return.

[northernjohn]

Keep repeating the mantra! Poor reporting from CNN of course! They should have asked about the alleged corruption, non payment to farmers and the current price problems within Thailand! The rice farmers got sucker punched and she keeps telling porkies!

In all fairness to CNN they were only allowed to ask certain questions that had the answers printed uop on a card for her to read.

Any other questions and they would not have had an interview.

I liked this part

 
When asked about the case that she was being charged by the National 
Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) in relation to the rice mortgage program, Miss 
Yingluck said she had yet to be found guilty as the investigation was still 
underway.

In other words they are still investigating the depth of her involvement so they can get all the charges before they make the first one.

To bad Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are not around. They could make a movie with her entitled On the road to Dubai.

[djjamie]

She is a treasure and is somehow managing to hold the country together in the face of these rascals and scallywags. I thought she did very well. She is not a career politician and would probably much rather be doing something else. She is to be commended for her sacrifices on behalf of the people..

Top prize for this months best joke to date, oohh and last months.

Yes, notice he can't back anything he said with links or evidence.

When you only have a link of yingluck looking at the mekong river water level in Mukdahan as a sign of "holding the country together" then I can understand the lack of evidence he provided. yingluck can't recall facts about the Malaysian airline passport theft (that is common knowledge) on a CNN interview is another example of a woman that does not know what is going on around her and is not up to date with happenings in Thailand.

I see "holding the country together" for the next 4 days involves visiting the north of Thailand again to look at drought affected areas. The South of Thailand are in dire need due to drought as well, but they didn't vote for yingluck so I assume she won't visit there to offer support.

After the terrorist attacks her idea of holding the country together was looking at tomatoes. Guess where? Yep, up north...

So maybe he mean's holding the north of the country together.

BTW - I provided links that show her priority is not holding the country together. That is 2 more links than prbkk showed who says she is holding the country together…Facts speak louder than words..

Edited March 12, 2014 by djjamie

[northernjohn]

And the idea of a multi billion loan for some upcoming silly high speed rail, that is going to benefit the general public too, as the rice sham benefited the farmers?

What clear examples of a few liege lords hoarding wealth and using graft as power on the backs of those destitute.

Shame on you Poo, you're a disgrace.

I noticed on the proposed budget they put forth for it there was not one single baht to improve education for the people who would be paying for it for the next two to three generations. Real caring people those PTP are.

Dump a huge bill on them and do nothing to help them help them selves.

[ezzra]

" that the government’s rice subsidy program is to benefit the Thai rice growers" and for the benefit of all my family, friends, lackeys cronies, middle man and red shirt leaders, she should have gone on to say..

[GAZZPA]

The farmers had a low income,, now they have zero income and are borrowing money to survive from less then desirable sources.

The damage to the rice export market has been catastrophic resulting in Thailand losing it's long held global number 1 export position.

The stockpile of rice has to be sold, this will impact future sales of current rice crops resulting in even less money for the farmers.

The farmers have not been paid for the rice they have submitted.

The Agriculture bank is at risk as it is owed huge sums of money from the rice pledging scheme. This will hit the whole of Thai society as the money will have to be found and that will end up being taxes as it is the primary source of income.

The PM is being investigated for corruption along with other key members of the party.

In short, someone has got rich, the money had to go somewhere but it is certainly not the farmers who have benefitted. It's a stupid thing for her to say. What she needs to be saying to CNN is what the plan is to get out of this terrible mess not simply saying we meant well.. It's like the issues don't even exist to her. Good news is that people are not that stupid and they can see how weak and ridiculous her answers really are.

I feel for the poor farmers of Thailand,, totally let down by the government they were (allegedly) paid to vote in.

[Piichai]

She is a treasure and is somehow managing to hold the country together in the face of these rascals and scallywags. I thought she did very well. She is not a career politician and would probably much rather be doing something else. She is to be commended for her sacrifices on behalf of the people..

Unfortunately for the people of Thailand, the only people Yingluck made sacrifices for were her brother and his cronies.

[GAZZPA]

Be serious........ what else was she supposed to say?

Did you really expect her to tell CNN that the scam was set up by her brother to keep the farmers supporting his party, to enrich his cronies and to manipulate the rice market so that Thais would get rich whilst the cost of the staple food crop of the world's poor would increase dramatically?

In that case you must be as dumb as Thaksin claims her advisors are.

How about her focusing on revealing a plan to get the rice industry out of this mess.. She could have used this opportunity to announce the plans to fix all of the problems,,, oh wait, she doesn't have any plans.

[Piichai]

She didn't even bother with English :>

in the interview she says she faced a flood crisis like has never happened before upon taking office....bullshit, it floods in thailand almost every other year....ive lived here for 20 years.,

NOT where *I* live.

Now that she's being investigated, the flood is another issue that should be looked into.

[Pimay1]

She is a treasure and is somehow managing to hold the country together in the face of these rascals and scallywags. I thought she did very well. She is not a career politician and would probably much rather be doing something else. She is to be commended for her sacrifices on behalf of the people..

Be careful my friend. It appears you have assumed the role of Romeo in William Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet with Yingluck being Juliet and we all know how that ended.

“One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun

Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun.”

--- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

[renaissanc]

The foreign press will no doubt lap this up, believe it to be the truth, especially if it has Thaksin's stamp of approval, and then condemn the PDRC as cruel, heinous elites who are supressing the rural poor. I can see another BBC report coming out soon to this effect.