Jatuporn to propose referendum as way-out for political impasse

[rubl]

No, no, and no.

They cannot be trusted to not interfere.

The word your looking for is campaigning..

The Dems should try it sometime.

Especially in the North and NorthEast. Those people there need some explaining on 'democracy'

[Johnnie99]

Jatuporn to propose referendum as way-out for political impasse

Can he do that from prison?

[chainarong]

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What a surprise Jatuporn and Surapong have come up with identical suggestions of a referendum. Oh the irony of it. There was never any such thought until PTP found their backs tight to the wall, but now, they are all for it. There is a strong whiff of desperation in the air......anything to prevent an appointed/temporary/neautral PM being put in place.

The biggest problems here being the time factor in organising a referendum, arguing over the wording and having something concrete in the way of reform proposals.....these problems bedevil all parties, not just the PTP/UDD side.....but Scamper has covered this while I was typing!

Skype must be going into meltdown as the afternoon meeting approaches.

On the plus side, it shows that people are beginning to think.....It would be a very foolhardy person who attended the meeting empty-handed....or even failed to attend.

Reforms and a referendum where the main part of Abhisit road map for piece, two weeks back

[Boxclever]

No, no, and no.

They cannot be trusted to not interfere.

The word your looking for is campaigning..

The Dems should try it sometime.

You should stand with the Democrats when they campaign in the north, see how you like being bombarded with feces, bottles, bricks, stones, nuts, bolts and in one case that I witnessed a potted plant. No, you wouldn't do it, I wonder why?

Sort of like PTP rep's campaining in the South. Same same but different right?

[Eric Loh]

Let's put all the proposal on the table.

1. Ahbisit want reform before election - vague and untrustworthy

2. Suthep want appointed government - illegal and veering towards fascism

3. PT want early election - slim chance and may be violent prone

4. UDD Jatuporn want referendum on reform or election first - most amicable by passing the mandate back to the people

Seem the most radical has the most sensible proposal.

[gabruce]

PM assigns Chaikasem to represent government in crucial meeting

BANGKOK: -- Acting Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisarn has designated caretaker Justice Minister Chaikasem Nitisiri to attend the second round of talks Thursday claiming he has other duty to perform on behalf of the prime minister.

He went to the Commerce Ministry to perform duties as commerce minister.

Mr Chaikasem said he would head the negotiation team today while Mr Pongsak Raktapongpaisarl, the energy minister, will be replaced by Mr Chadchat Sittipun, the transport minister.

He said his team was empowered to make decision as has been set in a guideline.

He also predicted the second talks would end inconclusively as conflicting groups might not get all their demands and needed more talks.

Meanwhile People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) leader Suthep Thaugsuban reiterated the People’s call for an interim prime minister with full power to resolve the political impasse and to reform the country.

He also called for the United Front for Democratic against Dictatorship (UDD) to participate in the reform, while telling political parties to keep off the reform.

The proposals were agreed upon during his meeting with provincial PDRC leaders this morning to find a common stand before attending the second round talks.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pm-assigns-chaikasem-represent-government-crucial-meeting/

-- Thai PBS 2014-05-22

I think that the most interesting part is that Suthep called for the UDD to work on reforms with them and that all political parties should have nothing to do with it. Definitely interesting.

[webfact]

Thai political crisis talks resume
by Boonradom Chitradon

BANGKOK, May 22, 2014 (AFP) - Thailand's deeply divided power blocs on Thursday resumed crisis talks ordered by the country's no-nonsense army chief, as supporters of the beleaguered government called for a national referendum on how to break a crippling political deadlock.

The opposing camps and other top political actors gathered at the bargaining table for the second straight day at a heavily guarded military social club in the capital Bangkok beginning at 2 pm (0700 GMT).

In a surprise move on Tuesday, army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha invoked martial law, saying he acted to prevent deadly political tensions spiralling out of control.

The move has been denounced by critics as a slow-motion coup by the army, which has intervened repeated in politics through history and assumed wide powers to ban public gatherings, restrict movements, detain people, and has already muzzled the media.

But Prayut insists he intends to cajole the warring factions into reaching a still-unclear compromise to an impasse that has paralysed politics and saw Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra dismissed from office earlier this month.

"In order for the process to continue (the army) invites those important people for further talks at 2 pm at the same place," said a military order read out on national television ahead of the meeting.

"Protesters and supporters need not come; they must remain at their rally sites, as they have been told before."

The political crisis broadly pits a Bangkok-based royalist elite and its backers against the billionaire family of Thaksin Shinawatra -- Yingluck's elder brother.

Thaksin was ousted by the military in 2006 but still enjoys strong support particularly in rural northern Thailand.

Only scant information has emerged from Wednesday's gathering -- the first time several of the Thai political contenders had met face-to-face.

An army spokesman said the tough-talking Prayut, who has vowed he would not let his country become another "Ukraine or Egypt," had on Wednesday given the participants "homework" -- to go back to their respective camps and devise proposals for a resolution.

The leader of Thailand's pro-Thaksin "Red Shirt" movement said he had proposed during Wednesday's meeting that a national referendum be held to determine a key sticking point: the timing of future elections.

The Red Shirts want new national polls they hope will provide a fresh mandate to the beleaguered elected government, now headed by a caretaker premier.

But the anti-government protesters who have waged a debilitating protest campaign for seven months, are demanding vague political reforms first.

The reforms are widely seen as a bid to cripple the political power of Thaksin's family and allies.

"Whatever the outcome is, we are ready to accept it (a referendum result)," Red Shirt chairman Jatuporn Prompan said at a press conference.
"We are not extremists who don't listen to anything."

The deadlock has seen nearly seven months of streets protests that have left at least 28 people dead and hundreds wounded.

The United States has led international expressions of concern over martial law, calling for a speedy resumption of civilian control.

The move has so far had little impact on people's lives in Bangkok, whose residents have become inured to the political polemics and went about their daily business. Even the pro-government Red Shirts have muted their criticism for now.

But in a sign of the potentially lethal passions, the army said police and military raids had seized four different caches of weapons in areas near the capital since martial law was imposed.

The weapons are suspected to have been gathered for the purpose of fomenting political violence, but it was not known who had collected them, army spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree told reporters.

An AFP journalist saw demonstrators at a protest site at a government complex in northern Bangkok set up months ago -- who had previously refused government and police demands to clear out -- leaving peacefully on Thursday afternoon at the military's request.

However, it was not immediately clear what their plans were.

The military has ordered 14 satellite television stations to suspend broadcasts and has announced restrictions on social media content, to the alarm of human rights campaigners.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-05-22