PDRC denies trying to illegally overthrow Thai govt

[SICHONSTEVE]

Yes I do remember that - it was his son that bought the land and this story appeared in Khaosod during a particularly bad week for the PTP at the height of the rice scandal when the rice farmers were threatening to come to Bangkok to protest. It was meant to deflect attention away from the governments problems and something was made of nothing with this story (as per usual with this Thai comic).

You are right though - I do seem to get sucked into these pointless arguments where the other poster spouts rubbish and lies in their retorts!!!

I should pay attention a bit more and not bite!!

[rubl]

Earlier today I wrote

"The Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong accuses again and others are challenged to deny or proof the accusation is wrong."

But it's getting even more interesting with

"Caretaker Deputy Commerce Minister Nuttawut Saikuar Tuesday called on the Army chief to declare his stand over the announcement by protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban about seizing state power."

"Pheu Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit on Tuesday filed a complaint with Department of Special Investigation, accusing protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban of sedition."

"Thailand's Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO) said it is collecting evidence to bring charges against the leaders of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) for unconstitutionally attempting to overthrow the country's democratic system."

"Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul on Tuesday told the US assistant secretary of state and US ambassador that the declaration of a sovereign by People’s Democratic Reform Committee leader Suthep Thaugsuban is an act of treason."

All that government action on 'alleged' statements and interpretation. Now I really start to think some are getting somewhat desperate.

[SOTIRIOS]

..the picture .........IS........quite 'telling'......actually.......

[chotthee]

..the picture .........IS........quite 'telling'......actually.......

Video is better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cngCYYWFSx4

[Publicus]

" Thaworn Senneam, a PDRC leader, said yesterday Suthep was referring only to a situation where red-shirt supporters and the government might refuse to accept two Constitutional Court rulings. "

Everyone expects Pheu Thai and the UDD not to accept guilty verdicts if they are handed down by the Constitutional Court and the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Pheu Thai supporters don't admit or even like to discuss that imminent reality at all, because it naturally undermines their entire argument. Their argument crumbles like a house of cards when the party they support refuses to recognize and abide by judicial rulings. And yet, as much as they will avoid this reality, that is the reality we will be faced with. Thaworn here makes it clear that the PDRC wants the courts to be heard, respected, and to prevail. But what happens if the rulings are not heard, respected and adhered to ? What then ? Purely and simply, if the administration of the day - Pheu Thai - refused to abide by a judicial ruling from the Constitutional Court, potentially requiring it to step down - if they refused to do that - it would create a constitutional crisis. It is as simple as that. And that is what would escalate the crisis to a whole new level.

You undermine your arguments when you fail to recognize that Yingluck appeared before the NACC as the NACC required the PM to do to hear the charges against her, to enter her defense and to ask for more time to prepare the defense to include more witnesses which the court instead pared down to a very few and no additional time.

The government also honored and respected the seemingly odd order of a court not to stop Suthep's street mobs in their insurrection because the particular court said the insurrectionists were demonstrating peacefully and peaceably.

The government accepted the spectacular CC ruling invalidating the Feb 2nd election on grounds even lay posters here were able to roundly trounce.

You fail to recognize the respect shown to the CC and other courts by the government, the PTP, the People's Power Party, the Thai Rak Thai Party.

So let me remind you of a few vital matters that are much to the credit of the government and the predecessor political parties related directly to it in recent years.

In 2008 the Constitution Court dismissed from government the People's Power Party PM Samak who consequently did honor and respect the CC by immediately vacating the office. Samak retained his MP status, which had been unaffected by the Constitution Court decision, but silently vacated the office of prime minister, as ordered by the Constitution Court.

Again in 2008, the Constitutional Court dissolved the People's Power Party which honored and respected the CC's ruling, thus being abolished from the political landscape by the CC ruling.

Simultaneously in 2008, the Constitutional Court thus dismissed the People's Power Party led coalition government which consequently honored and respected the Constitution Court decision by immediately vacating their offices of government.

The Constitution Court in 2008 thus conducted a radical cancelling of the election outcome and completely dissolved the parliamentary coalition government. So in 2008 the orders of the Constitutional Court were honored and obeyed by the elected PPP government and by its coalition in government.

In 2007 the coup installed Constitution Court dissolved the Thai Rak Thai Party and banned 100 members from politics for the requisite five years. TRT and the banned members quietly accepted the court's ruling. The present CC is pretty much the same group that dissolved the TRT and then the People's Power Party.

I know reality is a strange place for you to be, but welcome to it anyway and try to make yourself at home with it as profoundly difficult as that is for you and so many others..

I would suggest you begin to introduce yourself to reality by comparing and contrasting the quiet and respectful compliance of the Constitution Court by the TRT, the PPP, and presently by the PTP and the government to the rabble of the Democrat Party of Abhisit, Suthep, and their pals of the PCAD and its predecessor anarchist organization the PAD, as noted by distinguished publications and commentators, most of which are from established democratic societies..

**********************************

"It’s just that when it comes to Thai democracy, the ironically named Democrat Party is among the worst practitioners.

"The Democrat Party last won a majority in 1992. Its power base is the Bangkok bourgeoisie, described as “timid, selfish, uncultured, consumerist and without any decent vision of the future of the country” by Cornell University Professor Benedict Anderson. As such, the party finds no support among the rural poor of the nation’s northeast — which is Red Shirt territory — and flounders at the ballot box. But instead of developing manifestos and platforms that could compete for rural votes, the party alienates the heartland electorate further by petulantly calling upon powerful allies — such as the military or judiciary — to undermine its rival."

http://world.time.co...ously-misnamed/

"Critics have said the group's name appears to be a misnomer as its opposition to the results of three elections show it is neither populist nor does it want representative democracy.

"Instead, the PAD advocate scrapping the one-man-one-vote system in Thailand, and say only 30 per cent of parliament's members should be directly elected by the people. The remaining 70 per cent should be chosen from various occupations and professions and be appointed, they say."

http://www.aljazeera...2059385189.html

"At the Democracy Monument, in Bangkok’s historic district, tens of thousands of protesters gather nightly to speak of their skepticism of the notion of one person, one vote."

http://www.nytimes.c...gewanted=2&_r=0

"One-person, one-vote democracy may or may not be the best of all possible systems; but it is the one indicated by the Thai Constitution, and the one deserving the respect and support of all decent Thais.

"But the many thousands of angry protesters in Bangkok, the capital city where the anti-government movement is boiling, are not marching for democracy but, in effect, for an end to it.

"They would thus end the system of universal suffrage in place since 1933 and substitute an elitist, authoritarian system."

http://www.japantime...s/#.UyvpoJ2S1dg

Edited April 8, 2014 by Publicus

[zydeco]

Did Publicus just say something?

[Publicus]

Did Publicus just say something?

The CC has been busy writing, speaking, dissolving.

And you love it.

[JAG]

Did Publicus just say something?

Don't worry, it was all about the use of politicised courts to oust elected governments. It's not as if that's something which bothers you is it now?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited April 8, 2014 by JAG

[CaptHaddock]

Astute observers will notice that Suthep has never provided any details at all about the "reforms" that he is calling for. These "reforms" were apparently not so urgent as to be mentioned during the two and a half years of power that Abhisit and Suthep enjoyed courtesy of the courts rather than the ballot box. But now, with the help of the ever-reliable court, he will probably be back in power again. Probably at that point there will be a lot of stalling accompanied by commissions to study the matter of reform during which time Thailand will once again have no Constitution and will by governed by the unrestrained impulses of Suthep and his ilk. Eventually though, they will come forward with actual proposals which will certainly include a provision for disenfranchising the majority of Thai citizens. After all, that is the point of this whole exercise: to get the Democrats back in power for a long time, which cannot be achieved without suppressing the majority.

The only hope a this point is that a strong demonstration by the reds in Bangkok after Songkran to remind the ammart that there will be a cost to their depriving the electorate of their voting rights as there was in 2010.

[CaptHaddock]

Did Publicus just say something?

Yes, but it was over your head. Mai pen rai.