Prayuth tops people's choice as next PM

[robblok]

A load of rubbish really - probably drew the poll in Bangkok amongst a select group of yellows.

How can this result possibly be any kind of reflection of the truth when 70% of the electorate have been voting red since 1994 - and before anyone jumps in , all parties buy votes in LOS.

70% of the electorate.. I hate to burst your bubble but the PTP has never passed the 50% maybe they hit 50% with aligned parties but 70% in your wet dream probably.

[bigbamboo]

BANGKOK: -- The Master Poll has found that junta chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha is on top of the people's choice, supported by 32.1 per cent of respondents, as the next prime minister.

Sounds like an overwhelming majority of the electorate.

Pity poor Yingluck. 6.9 per cent is distinctly underwhelming minority of the electorate.

[junk1e]

This actually backs up what the vast majority of local Thais I have spoken to have told me. They are impressed with what the general is doing but fear that everything will just go back to how it was before when elections are held.

It certainly appears to me that he has done more good in the past couple of months than any elected government has achieved in years.

Corruption is the biggest obstacle Thailand faces and it certainly appears that the general has the desire and muscle to be able to do something about it.

[rubl]

If he does run for office, his financial situation should come under scrutiny.

I will support him if he opens his books and requires all top army brass to do the same.

Remember the last Army General that was appointed PM by the 'good people' got caught with a vacation home in the national forest.

Where is he now I wonder?

Not in his vacation home because it was demolished

The house in a forest preserve was demolished and he was tried in court and punished I assume.

The yellow shirts would want to lynch Thaksin if he had been caught stealing state owned land. No?

Where is that General now?

Actually for 'yellows' lynching is illegal even in a 'conflict of interest' case where Thaksin let his wife do the 'buying of state owned property.

As for Gen. Surayuth, I'm afraid he doesn't keep me informed of his whereabouts. With Gen. Prayuth just indicating he may act as iPM, I guess though that Gen. Surayuth may no longer be at home waiting next to the telephone.

Edited June 29, 2014 by rubl

[millwall_fan]

another poll conducted, doubtless with the same methodology as most of the others: get a few university to call their friends of similar background and ask the questions in the poll, then get Somchai's maid to call her aunty in the Isaan to give it an 'all-Thailand' legitimacy. Then get some gullible subbie at The Nation to pretend it was a real poll with internationally accepted standards and hey presto you've got your headline!

[brianP]

The politicians always get us into wars. The military leaders try to get us out of them, so it makes sense to have military leaders to work the policies of politics and maybe things will be better.

[heybruce]

"The Master Poll of the Thai Researchers in Community Happiness Association, TRICHA)..."

Wow, they concluded that people want Prayuth as PM!

Here's another news flash, "The Born Again Christians for a Holier World" conducted a poll that shows that people prefer going to church over drinking, gambling and sex.

[NanLaew]

BANGKOK: -- The Master Poll has found that junta chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha is on top of the people's choice, supported by 32.1 per cent of respondents, as the next prime minister.

Sounds like an overwhelming majority of the electorate.

Pity poor Yingluck. 6.9 per cent is distinctly underwhelming minority of the electorate.

I don't know.... Nick Clegg would probably give his left nut for that level of adulation. François Hollande would probably give his other one.

[Just1Voice]

Prayuth 32.1 (Hardly a "majority")

Abhisit 13.9

Suthep 8.4

Some Dem 8.1

TOTAL 62.5

So what happened to the other 37.5%????

Polls reflect only what you WANT them to reflect, and rarely reflect the truth.

[rubl]

"The Master Poll of the Thai Researchers in Community Happiness Association, TRICHA)..."

Wow, they concluded that people want Prayuth as PM!

Here's another news flash, "The Born Again Christians for a Holier World" conducted a poll that shows that people prefer going to church over drinking, gambling and sex.

You should read and try to understand. The topic doesn't say 'the people' want Gen. Prayuth as PM. The topic only says that out of those asked junta chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha is on top of the people's choice, supported by 32.1 per cent of respondents, as the next prime minister.

Next we'll get into the subject of "local farang takes step towards reconciliation by opening a lounge"

[Strangebrew]

I feel the General would make a fine PM. While others passed the blame for what's wrong any denied doing any wrong The General sees a problem and sinks his teeth into to get it fixed. Others say we will make it better The General makes it better. I trust the General will see to it the changes happen that benefit all and that no one is above the law . You can bet the red bull heir is scared now.

[Bernard Flint]

And yet, despite being so popular, they did not want an election.

Dear leader must think that we are not capable of that

The general does not retire until sept/ oct 2014

i rest my case

[oldsailor35]

Where was this poll taken, Bangkok or Suratthani ?

[ZigZagMan]

Where was this poll taken, Bangkok or Suratthani ?

I think Suthep passed it around at that dinner the other night when he was bragging on and on about how close he is with the big boss.

[rubl]

Where was this poll taken, Bangkok or Suratthani ?

From the OP: "2,087 people in 15 provinces from June 23 to 28"

Mind you, it doesn't really matter. Personally I stopped believing in Thai polls a few decades ago

[Fat Haggis]

Was I not reading on TVF that if a coup were to occur, the Isaanites would rise up on mass and violently overthrow the junta? But now, that the Shinawat mafia tentacles are being chopped off and the oh-so pursuasive local puuyai baans and kamnans are unable to intimidate and cajole the locals to vote for Shin, we are seeing a logical progression that people don't want the return of Shin. The mouse that never roared?

What you read and what many people said at the time, including me that it was nothing more than rhetoric and sabre rattling, but still it was used as a pretext for the coup. There was even some ardent posters on here who were going on and on about the "call to arms, and that there was militias being formed and 1 million weapons being issued"

It was NOTHING short of jingoism, but people believed it as that what they wanted to believe, there was NEVER a threat of civil war, in some peoples eyes this was seen as a catalyst, but again I said on several occasions, to convince a man to go and die for a cause is a lot harder than recruiting for one.

There was PDRC/Suthep posters here who were alarmist at best, when it was claimed by the reds they were raising an "Army" again, I said it was all a load of crap, and that it was a handful of UDD nut jobs just stirring the shit.

But it was enough to make the Junta believe it was going to happen? I'm sorry but I never bought into that being one of the reasons for the coup. The Military would have had their own Intelligence people in places that would have seen the Army swing into action outside of the Capital.. that didn't happen, there was no huge arrests of the 10,000 militia members with their 1 million guns.... why? because they only existed in peoples imaginations that's why.

ALL warfare is based on deception.

Actually a few reasons for the coup.

The 'rhetoric and sabre rattling' in the form of cowardly night attacks on anti-government protesters, the seven months of political rebel rousing and the outcome of two days organised by the army with all interested parties represented and all confusing 'telling the others are wrong and making demands' with open discussions. IMHO

Rubl, I have always have a great deal of respect for your posts, and would love to meet you in person some day, and shoot the shit about everything and nothing, but you see, I am a realist, these night time cowardly attacks in the grand old scheme of things were actually very very very low in terms of fatalities, whilst not demeaning the deaths in any way, as all deaths at the hands of those who wish to do violence, as I'm a man of the sword myself, and have been protecting others in harms way for a long time.

Statistically speaking, less than 30 deaths in 8 months of violence is in military terms extremely low, there was more people killed in Road Traffic accidents in Thailand during the same period of time. Every death, as tragic as it may be, is also just a statistic to add to another statistic, Health and Safety people use such death rates as statistics.. it's cold and it's clinical, but it's the ground truth.

Really in Thailand, the deaths, again as tragic as they were, pall in comparison as to what has been going on in Syria, where you actually have a civil war ongoing, same with Iraq, there has been over 30-50 people killed there before the latest ISIS campaign every single day, but NOBODY cares about these numbers, and nobody cares about the reasons, and nobody cares as it doesn't effect them.

Thailand was no different, The Junta could have/should have stepped in sooner if it was acting on all that I mentioned before, please don't forget that the Army has also been on the streets of Bangkok supposedly to "protect" the population as well, and they were there pretty much from the start of the violence, and yet, they didn't step in till actually the deaths had tailed off a bit.

The RTA Intelligence Machine as well as other Armed services branches Intelligence people have been on the streets of Bangkok, and in Rural areas for a long long time, this General wasn't born yesterday, he would have had his people out and about building up site pictures, portfolios, scenarios etc, basic Intelligence gathering, that's HUMINT and ELINT. He would have had his finger on the pulse way way way before it got to where it did.

There never was a credible threat in my own opinion, if anything, from what I personally noticed when I was at home the last 2 times, the people in Korat and surrounding areas were quite simply NOT interested in what was going on in Bangkok, it didn't effect them in any shape or form, life in rural areas was the exact same as it was 2 years ago when I moved there, there was no increased Police activity, there was NEVER any Military personnel around, life was a mirror image of 2013 mate. The people were getting on with their lives, as I suspect it was the same in many many places in Issan, I even asked my wife if anyone in the village received a "call to arms" she said no, what for? I said to fight the Yellows in Bangkok, and she said no and no boy would be stupid enough to go.

Without a doubt there was the "intentions" to stir the situation, it was in my opinion simple deflection tactics, if I told you I was going to come and beat you up, a part of you would be wondering if it was ever going to happen, but a part of you also knows that it's a thinly veiled attempt to get you worried, most people would shrug any threat off, but a small percent would be genuinely worried.

I believe the idea was to try an scare the PDRC off the streets, it failed, the nightly attacks failed, I have my doubts about these too, IF the UDD were determined to cause mass panic, and fear, and go the civil war route, then if it were me, I'd have been firing my M79 rounds into protest groups during the day time, cause mass casualties, and mass panic, and in the ensuing panic, make good your escape. I'd have fired them from within vehicles that had sunroofs, and in free flowing traffic, nobody would pay much attention to the sound, as it would have been barely audible over regular traffic.. but that's me, you can bet your bottom Baht that if I can make a simple plan like that, then the UDD lunatics with a military mind, with death and fear and panic on their agenda, could easily have thought the same things.

Civil war on the cards? No, not even close, especially when it's already been ongoing in the South for 10 years. I've been in Iraq for 10 years, I know what a civil war looks like and feels like, having been on the receiving end from both sides, and Thailand wasn't even remotely close.

The Atmospherics for a start were never of a country that looked or felt like it was about to implode.

[oldsailor35]

When Suthep see this his head will expload ! and his mouth won't stop gabbing on. Suthep is the nations number one corruptor, he has grown rich from his corruption and now we see this pozi poll put out by his mate Prayuth, which we are expected to believe. What a mob of raving ratbags this country is about to get as rulers.

[RJJ]

2087 people across 15 provinces...

The numbers are statistically irrelevant.

Survey 100,000 across ALL provinces to start to get a trend you can rely on.

2000 people; what a joke.

[rubl]

2087 people across 15 provinces...

The numbers are statistically irrelevant.

Survey 100,000 across ALL provinces to start to get a trend you can rely on.

2000 people; what a joke.

[oldsailor35]

another poll conducted, doubtless with the same methodology as most of the others: get a few university to call their friends of similar background and ask the questions in the poll, then get Somchai's maid to call her aunty in the Isaan to give it an 'all-Thailand' legitimacy. Then get some gullible subbie at The Nation to pretend it was a real poll with internationally accepted standards and hey presto you've got your headline!

Congrats ! You are the first Millwall fan i have known to talk sense.

[Jim walker]

The ballot box will decide the next PM and if that doesn’t work as I wanted and my vote lost the election then I will just dig out my wrist band amulet and whistle and head for the streets or airport once again

[Krataiboy]

A prediction: The General will become PM of a military-led party which will win enough votes in next year's election to form a Coalition with the Democrats, leaving Pheu Thai in opposition under a leader not related to the Shinawatra family.

[gchurch259]

If he retires in September he will need a job and that will be good but hold elections in about a year or two. It takes time to change peoles minds, unless you have them by the B____'s!!

[rubl]

2087 people across 15 provinces...

The numbers are statistically irrelevant.

Survey 100,000 across ALL provinces to start to get a trend you can rely on.

2000 people; what a joke.

Not really a joke, but there are many factors which can influence the accuracy.

"A 3% margin of error means that if the same procedure is used a large number of times, 95% of the time the true population average will be within the 95% confidence interval of the sample estimate plus or minus 3%. The margin of error can be reduced by using a larger sample, however if a pollster wishes to reduce the margin of error to 1% they would need a sample of around 10,000 people.[6] In practice, pollsters need to balance the cost of a large sample against the reduction in sampling error and a sample size of around 500–1,000 is a typical compromise for political polls. (Note that to get complete responses it may be necessary to include thousands of additional participators.)[7]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_poll

[oldsailor35]

Not so long ago he announced that all the world cup games would be shown live on Thai TV as part of returning the people's happiness. Brasil's game wasn't shown last night, neither was England's final game. I think it is a major PR mistake to promise something to the people and then not deliver. Stupid!!!

The Brazil game was shown, I watched it.

Is your TV made in North Korea?

So did i , and many friends.

[rubl]

A prediction: The General will become PM of a military-led party which will win enough votes in next year's election to form a Coalition with the Democrats, leaving Pheu Thai in opposition under a leader not related to the Shinawatra family.

As it is many of the political parties have police and army generals as MPs. The 2006 Coup leader turned to politics, started his own political party and became MP, even joining the Pheu Thai led coalition.

Anyway, even though Gen. Prayuth only turns 60 I don't think he would like to become a politician who has to let anyone ask foolish questions. I think he'll rather retire and may even curse the year he might (have to) spent as interim PM.

[gchurch259]

Was I not reading on TVF that if a coup were to occur, the Isaanites would rise up on mass and violently overthrow the junta? But now, that the Shinawat mafia tentacles are being chopped off and the oh-so pursuasive local puuyai baans and kamnans are unable to intimidate and cajole the locals to vote for Shin, we are seeing a logical progression that people don't want the return of Shin. The mouse that never roared?

What you read and what many people said at the time, including me that it was nothing more than rhetoric and sabre rattling, but still it was used as a pretext for the coup. There was even some ardent posters on here who were going on and on about the "call to arms, and that there was militias being formed and 1 million weapons being issued"

It was NOTHING short of jingoism, but people believed it as that what they wanted to believe, there was NEVER a threat of civil war, in some peoples eyes this was seen as a catalyst, but again I said on several occasions, to convince a man to go and die for a cause is a lot harder than recruiting for one.

There was PDRC/Suthep posters here who were alarmist at best, when it was claimed by the reds they were raising an "Army" again, I said it was all a load of crap, and that it was a handful of UDD nut jobs just stirring the shit.

But it was enough to make the Junta believe it was going to happen? I'm sorry but I never bought into that being one of the reasons for the coup. The Military would have had their own Intelligence people in places that would have seen the Army swing into action outside of the Capital.. that didn't happen, there was no huge arrests of the 10,000 militia members with their 1 million guns.... why? because they only existed in peoples imaginations that's why.

ALL warfare is based on deception.

Actually a few reasons for the coup.

The 'rhetoric and sabre rattling' in the form of cowardly night attacks on anti-government protesters, the seven months of political rebel rousing and the outcome of two days organised by the army with all interested parties represented and all confusing 'telling the others are wrong and making demands' with open discussions. IMHO

Rubl, I have always have a great deal of respect for your posts, and would love to meet you in person some day, and shoot the shit about everything and nothing, but you see, I am a realist, these night time cowardly attacks in the grand old scheme of things were actually very very very low in terms of fatalities, whilst not demeaning the deaths in any way, as all deaths at the hands of those who wish to do violence, as I'm a man of the sword myself, and have been protecting others in harms way for a long time.

Statistically speaking, less than 30 deaths in 8 months of violence is in military terms extremely low, there was more people killed in Road Traffic accidents in Thailand during the same period of time. Every death, as tragic as it may be, is also just a statistic to add to another statistic, Health and Safety people use such death rates as statistics.. it's cold and it's clinical, but it's the ground truth.

Really in Thailand, the deaths, again as tragic as they were, pall in comparison as to what has been going on in Syria, where you actually have a civil war ongoing, same with Iraq, there has been over 30-50 people killed there before the latest ISIS campaign every single day, but NOBODY cares about these numbers, and nobody cares about the reasons, and nobody cares as it doesn't effect them.

Thailand was no different, The Junta could have/should have stepped in sooner if it was acting on all that I mentioned before, please don't forget that the Army has also been on the streets of Bangkok supposedly to "protect" the population as well, and they were there pretty much from the start of the violence, and yet, they didn't step in till actually the deaths had tailed off a bit.

The RTA Intelligence Machine as well as other Armed services branches Intelligence people have been on the streets of Bangkok, and in Rural areas for a long long time, this General wasn't born yesterday, he would have had his people out and about building up site pictures, portfolios, scenarios etc, basic Intelligence gathering, that's HUMINT and ELINT. He would have had his finger on the pulse way way way before it got to where it did.

There never was a credible threat in my own opinion, if anything, from what I personally noticed when I was at home the last 2 times, the people in Korat and surrounding areas were quite simply NOT interested in what was going on in Bangkok, it didn't effect them in any shape or form, life in rural areas was the exact same as it was 2 years ago when I moved there, there was no increased Police activity, there was NEVER any Military personnel around, life was a mirror image of 2013 mate. The people were getting on with their lives, as I suspect it was the same in many many places in Issan, I even asked my wife if anyone in the village received a "call to arms" she said no, what for? I said to fight the Yellows in Bangkok, and she said no and no boy would be stupid enough to go.

Without a doubt there was the "intentions" to stir the situation, it was in my opinion simple deflection tactics, if I told you I was going to come and beat you up, a part of you would be wondering if it was ever going to happen, but a part of you also knows that it's a thinly veiled attempt to get you worried, most people would shrug any threat off, but a small percent would be genuinely worried.

I believe the idea was to try an scare the PDRC off the streets, it failed, the nightly attacks failed, I have my doubts about these too, IF the UDD were determined to cause mass panic, and fear, and go the civil war route, then if it were me, I'd have been firing my M79 rounds into protest groups during the day time, cause mass casualties, and mass panic, and in the ensuing panic, make good your escape. I'd have fired them from within vehicles that had sunroofs, and in free flowing traffic, nobody would pay much attention to the sound, as it would have been barely audible over regular traffic.. but that's me, you can bet your bottom Baht that if I can make a simple plan like that, then the UDD lunatics with a military mind, with death and fear and panic on their agenda, could easily have thought the same things.

Civil war on the cards? No, not even close, especially when it's already been ongoing in the South for 10 years. I've been in Iraq for 10 years, I know what a civil war looks like and feels like, having been on the receiving end from both sides, and Thailand wasn't even remotely close.

The Atmospherics for a start were never of a country that looked or felt like it was about to implode.

I like your post and believe the thing that was/is needed is the end of corruption and the possibility of someone having Dictator Interest., even though the one party has as their slogan "Against Dictatorship.

I believe it will take one or two years to trulysquare away Thailand.

Jerry

[oldsailor35]

He has my vote, if I could! A great choice, I hope he does it.

Up until i found out that Prayuth has been talking to and taking advice from Suthep for months now, i would have voted for Prayuth.But not any more. It is obvious that something was going on between them, just look back at the photo shoot of them sitting together in government house, all smiles. And the fact that Suthep has not been ordered in to the Generals office to answer for his remarks, smells of a guilty General to me.

[Ve37]

BANGKOK: -- The Master Poll has found that junta chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha is on top of the people's choice, supported by 32.1 per cent of respondents, as the next prime minister.

32.1% is roughly the number of anti-government elitist folks that feel the North shouldn't be allowed to vote. Frankly, I'd strongly support Gen Prayuth for PM,...although not because I have any sympathy for pro-elitists who think the North have the brains of a buffalo, and should give more to the elitists. (case in point....according to the World Bank, Bangkok elitists got 14 times more of Thailand's resources and Northern citizens...until the Shinawatra's deviated from that inequality).

As the Military junta thus far appear to be only interested in the elitist agenda, and from what I've read in various Bangkok Post stories and editorials, intend to form a diluted democracy, with all real decisions coming from unelected, pro-Suthep agencies, I wonder how Gen Prayuth would adapt to a new, purely ceremonial, powerless PM position.

The new Thailand should be interesting. Imagine, if PM Yingluck could not even choose her own Security positions (and was removed for that), what would the new PM position be like? Maybe something like a General in name only having the power of a Private.

[Ve37]

He has my vote, if I could! A great choice, I hope he does it.

Up until i found out that Prayuth has been talking to and taking advice from Suthep for months now, i would have voted for Prayuth.But not any more. It is obvious that something was going on between them, just look back at the photo shoot of them sitting together in government house, all smiles. And the fact that Suthep has not been ordered in to the Generals office to answer for his remarks, smells of a guilty General to me.

I'm a regular reader of the Bangkok Post, and although I've seen nothing directly showing that the Junta is doing Suthep's bidding, it is implied in stories and editorials nearly everyday. Also implied, is that the reconditioning program is for Northerners to be happy with Yellow shirts, but not the other way.