Royal Decree Sets Oct 15 Election Date

[chownah]

I read yesterday or the day before he plans a trip to Isaan to hear complaints. If he should go anyplace it is the south.

His vote base is in the North & Northeast so it only makes sense to go where you will do the most good. Hearing complaints and concerns from Issan will garner him much information to use in the election as well as votes. He could go stumping it in the South for a year and never see an extra vote from it.

As the acting PM he should go where there are problems, ie the South where teachers, rubber planters, ordinary people are dying every day. He is supposed to be the PM of Thailand, not only the constituencies that vote TRT.

But he hasn't a clue regarding the South.

The Issan trip is plain vote buying; regarding Burma, Lukumar and Chowna, do you remember Thaksin's statement a year ago when he said he 'quite understands why the junta keep Aung San Su Kyi under house arrest'.

Aphisit challenged him to debate on TV.

Do you think the weasel dares?

By the way, if he doesn't take the Premiership next time, assuming TRT win, there's only one man he trusts in my opinion, the loyal policeman, Chidchai.

From your post I think that you view me as a Toxin supporter......if this is correct then you are mistaken. My only concern is that democratic principles be used as much as possible in sorting out the bad guys...whoever they may be and that democratic principle be added to the gov'tal system and strengthened. I am against anyone being ousted or penalized by any authority which is not democratic..........I don't knee jerk that everything that Toxin does is wrong and bad and deserving of ridicule...like some poster here.....but on the other hand if Toxin is prosecuted for his wrongdoings by a legitimate court operating in a fair and democratic manner then I will be glad to see him go....but if some special interests force him out then I'm against it since this will give more power to special interests....this being totally contrary to the rule by democratic principle which I would like to see established and strengthened in Thailand.

[Martin]

Somebody used the phrase "uneducated farm girl" as a stereotype.

Let me assure you that there aren't any.

There are some who are unschooled, and so had a different education, and many of them have become very shrewd graduates of the University of Life.

It is a great mistake to equate schooling to education.

It would probably be nearer the mark to equate schooling to brainwashing.

The people of the North and NorthEast have had no reason to get involved in thinking about Bangkok politics; but, if they come to feel that they need to, there is going to be a lot of surprise at the formidably shrewd analysis that they make.

The advantage of being unschooled is that they didn't have their eyes filled with deciphering little black marks on white paper, and so were free to learn to read thoughts and infer motives; which might be very helpful in weighing up politicians.

[Siripon]

First is a question; The Thais in Isaan see things in a much simpler light,

Lukamar; what your wife is seeing is exactly I what I hinted at before. That is simply guilt by association.

John you are trying to think too much and put Western views into a Thai syntax it does not work.

I don't think the people in Issan see things in a simpler light, but I've never lived there. Northerners defiantly see things in a "different light" than people in other parts of Thailand.

Come on John, guilt by association my ass, that's a crock. What she is seeing, without my help, is a concerted effort by the media to influence the thinking of people and to quell any comment that may even remotely look like it's pro government. They work very hard to make the government and TS look bad at every opportunity. Tonight she was reading on the computer and kept saying "Manager Online is not good anymore". I ask her why and she replied now they are trying to ruin the reputations of any performers that just make simple statements like "everyone should get along in politics" making them look like they are pro TRT. As you know she's no uneducated northern farm-girl and is bright enough to think outside the box.

Lukumar, 85% of Thai people get their news from the TV and radio, The Nation and Bangkok Post's influence is minute when the whole picture is considered.

Thaksin censures this ruthlessly, an example being Mr Pichien whose radio programme on FM, 5pm to 7pm every night was removed. His crime? He conducted a radio phone-in regarding whether the EC should resign, this was prior to the court's verdict, 80% of the callers said they should resign.

How many political discussion programmes are allowed on state TV, all controlled by the government?

I realise being in Canada you may have no idea of the contents of Thai TV, but that is the main source of information for the vast majority of the population and it's heavily controlled.

[nikster]

Lukumar, 85% of Thai people get their news from the TV and radio, The Nation and Bangkok Post's influence is minute when the whole picture is considered.

Thaksin censures this ruthlessly, an example being Mr Pichien whose radio programme on FM, 5pm to 7pm every night was removed. His crime? He conducted a radio phone-in regarding whether the EC should resign, this was prior to the court's verdict, 80% of the callers said they should resign.

How many political discussion programmes are allowed on state TV, all controlled by the government?

I realise being in Canada you may have no idea of the contents of Thai TV, but that is the main source of information for the vast majority of the population and it's heavily controlled.

Yeah, though I would make that 99% for TV. TV is owned by Taksin and friends. However, there is always a point where propaganda backfires and Thailand may just have reached that point. That's when the controlled media suddenly loses all credibility. It happened in Russia, it can happen in Thailand.

Taksin was going too far and he must leave. My main concern is that the democrats are not a credible opposition. They look like they are going to try to be "little" Taksins. With that, they won't even win the election despite loads of people hating Taksin, and even if they win, they will simply do no good.

I hope somebody else appears who can steer the country in the right direction.

The royal decree comes from a King who has seen 60 years of politics which included military coups and violence along the way. I take this as a sign that democracy in Thailand is currently seriously under threat, and that the King has taken a step to prevent that from happening. Successfully, of course, since no one in Thailand can defy the King.

[lukamar]

1. You chastise the Democrats for not campaigning in the North (stronghold of the TRT)

2. You praise the TRT for not campaigning in the South (stronghold of the Democrat)

Once again John you manage to spend all day finding the posts but then don't understand them, maybe because you just took the ones you wanted and interpret them the way you want.

1:- If the Democrats are to win the election, any election, they must carry the North and Northeast or a large part of it. That's not chastising the democrats that's just a simple fact even you should be able to grasp.

2:- The TRT already carries the power base of the North and Northeast, they don't have to carry the South to win the election.. That should also be easy for you to understand.

Hope that makes it a bit more clear for you.

[sriracha john]

Once again John you manage to spend all day finding the posts

Sorry to dispel your assumptions, but …some rudimentary knowledge of the search functions reveals the desired results in a mere couple of minutes, not “all day.”

[sriracha john]

PM: Burma trip based on 'modern diplomacy'

Critics suspect hidden agenda

Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday described his one-day trip to Burma as modern diplomacy, which requires only short, casual meetings between country leaders. After weathering two days of criticism that his half-day trip last Wednesday was really about his personal and business interests, Mr Thaksin yesterday used his weekly radio programme to insist the trip was perfectly regular. Former Thai ambassador Surapong Jayanama was not convinced by Mr Thaksin's approach to diplomacy and questioned his transparency. "The main thrust of diplomacy now was transparency and the rights of people to know what was discussed. The people's sector should be involved to make sure national interests stayed in their hands," he said.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/06Aug2006_news09.php

[lukamar]

Once again John you manage to spend all day finding the posts

Sorry to dispel your assumptions, but …some rudimentary knowledge of the search functions reveals the desired results in a mere couple of minutes, not “all day.”

Even a rudimentary knowledge of the search function does guarantee you have a rudimentary grasp of what was said.

[sriracha john]

Once again John you manage to spend all day finding the posts

Sorry to dispel your assumptions, but …some rudimentary knowledge of the search functions reveals the desired results in a mere couple of minutes, not “all day.”

Even a rudimentary knowledge of the search function does guarantee you have a rudimentary grasp of what was said.

I agree. It does.

[John K]

There have been a lot of good posts in the last day or so and it shows we are taking this to a higher level. My input seems to reflect a lot of things you are saying. First Thaksin must go because he is .... oh why bother we know why.

The Democrats seem to lack good ideas of their own but the TRT seems to be able to come up with ones that are popular. So very simply the platform for the Democrats should be region based. For Isaan adopt the TRT policies and include the desire to do some serious house cleaning on corruption. That way more money will be available for Isaan and the development of that region. The campaign should show TRT gives only a small percentage of what is available, and by removing corruption namely the TRT the percentage can only go up. I suspect it would be a bit awkward for Thaksin to try to put down his own policies. It should be very interesting to watch as he continues to shoot himself.

[Martin]

It is interesting to see 'john K' helping Thaksin to maximise his vote amongst the shrewd in the countryside.

Thaksin would just love for his political opponents to go around saying "We would do the same as Thaksin, but we would do it better".

The shrewd voters would say, in their minds, "If they would both do the same thing, we had better vote for the cleverer one. That is the one who would do it better". And, on who is the cleverer, there is no contest. It is, of course, the one who could build up Shin Corp.

Don't forget that, although Thaksin comes from a well-established business family, they weren't in computers and communications. They were in silk.

Like it or lump it, Shin is the result of Thaksin's acumen, judgment, willingness to take risks, and tenacity.

He has track record. And it is well known that he has, even among those who see Bangkok as an irrelevance to their harvesting of their rice.

His opposition have a big job ahead of them to get across a message that track record in building a successful business is irrelevant to governance, and track record of making a lot of noise beats it; so the voters should put their trust in the noise makers.

Because that is the message they are trying to get across.

And country folk will listen to that message and think: "Yes, and pigs should be trusted to fly".

Like him, or lump him, Thaksin is no slouch, and is known to be no slouch. (Which is, of course, why the non-parliamentary power brokers in the shadows will be hoping PAD can 'knock' him enough that (to mix the metaphor) his 'wings are clipped'.)

Edited August 6, 2006 by Martin

[John K]

Martin, you are reading it wrong,

I am saying TRT has become known for corruption. They do have some good ideas that seem to be popular with the voters. I am saying give the people a choice on corruption. It is like going out to buy a Hershey bar, You can get it with or without nuts.

Every truly good point Thaksin may come up with that is doable and not 60-20-20 the Democrats should adopt. It simply makes the only thing Thaksin can offer is corruption. Common sense on tactics here, use your opponents weapons against them.

[Netfan]

Like it or lump it, Shin is the result of Thaksin's acumen, judgment, willingness to take risks, and tenacity.

He has track record. And it is well known that he has, even among those who see Bangkok as an irrelevance to their harvesting of their rice.

There's an American businessman suing the good Dr. right now who might change a couple of those words....

[sriracha john]

Don't forget that, although Thaksin comes from a well-established business family, they weren't in computers and communications. They were in silk.

Like it or lump it, Shin is the result of Thaksin's acumen, judgment, willingness to take risks, and tenacity.

I'd be interested in knowing what your assessment on the development of the Shin Corporation is after you've read the book I recommended. It provides quite an in-depth expose' on that very subject:

Thaksin - The Business of Politics in Thailand

by Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker

2004

Silkworm Books

[hammered]

1. You chastise the Democrats for not campaigning in the North (stronghold of the TRT)

2. You praise the TRT for not campaigning in the South (stronghold of the Democrat)

Once again John you manage to spend all day finding the posts but then don't understand them, maybe because you just took the ones you wanted and interpret them the way you want.

1:- If the Democrats are to win the election, any election, they must carry the North and Northeast or a large part of it. That's not chastising the democrats that's just a simple fact even you should be able to grasp.

2:- The TRT already carries the power base of the North and Northeast, they don't have to carry the South to win the election.. That should also be easy for you to understand.

Hope that makes it a bit more clear for you.

As I have mentioned many times before, my wife has campaigned against TRT in two Northern provinces where she has family at every recent election. She has reaptedly been threatened by the local influential ones. To state that the Demcrats need to campaign in the North and Isaan is obvious, but it needs to be understood in the framework of the influential and vested interests in the North back TRT heavily and do not want to see their influence lost by TRT losing power. This makes campaigning in the North extremely difficult and very dangerous. To miss this reality is to miss another aspect of what Mr. Thaksin is about. Mabny seem to see him as a poo hard done by hero of the poor who is challenged by evil gun toting power brokers and mafia figures. The reality is he uses exactly these kind of people to insure his opponents will not get a voice that could criticize him in the North and North East, which insures his electoral victories. This combined with his almost total control of the media supports the status quo.

The Democrats cannot win the next election. Even if a level playing field were introduced now and even if they suddenly found an excellent team it would take years for them to get a mesage out in the N and NE regions which for years have been used to carefully controlled information. This is not about the democrats winning a an election. That is a distraction. This is about when TRT wins will Mr. Thaksin be PM or not. In fact that is a question that should be answerd before an election, but judging from his previous behavior I doubt we will get an answer soon.

[Arsenal]

Don't forget that, although Thaksin comes from a well-established business family, they weren't in computers and communications. They were in silk.

Like it or lump it, Shin is the result of Thaksin's acumen, judgment, willingness to take risks, and tenacity.

I'd be interested in knowing what your assessment on the development of the Shin Corporation is after you've read the book I recommended. It provides quite an in-depth expose' on that very subject:

Thaksin - The Business of Politics in Thailand

by Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker

2004

Silkworm Books

I expect he has already read it as I have.Khun Pasuk and Chris Baker are consistently reliable but are stronger on politics, sociology and history than business issues.A cynic might cite Chris Baker's own rather sad business career!!

Actually Thaksin doesn't come from a well estabished business family, at least by Thai standards.The silk business in Chiangmai was successful but not major league.Part of Thaksin's current problem is that he is seen as jumped up parvenu by the Bangkok based Sino-Thai plutocracy, and of course more importantly because his corporate empire has eroded their traditional dominance.As a side comment I understand that as China becomes increasingly dominant in the Thai economy, the Bangkok Chinese may be startled to find that they themselves are seen as jumped up peasants just a couple of generations away from the Swatow paddy fields.

I agree Thaksin has to be given credit for his business acumen, much rarer in Thailand than you might think with most Thai-Chinese family dominated corporations traditionally being content to be compradors of (usually) Japanese multinationals.Having said that Thaksin began his career by flogging main frame computers to the Police Department which is somewhat monopolistic given it was his former employer.

[John K]

Hammered; Re post #135

Being threatened is a bit serious. So tell me how you think the people who are making threats would responded to this in public.

“So if you were given a choice of having the same policies and benefits with or without corruption what one would you choose?”

It becomes a bit of a dilemma for them to choose corruption without pointing fingers at themselves. If this starts it will be very difficult to stand in it’s way without publicly calling attention ones self that you are corrupt. I can imagine there would be a lot of Thai creativity to come up with an answer to corruption is better. I would assume that the ratio of corrupt people is less than 1% of the population in Isaan. The key is to keep Thaksin and the TRT married to corruption and the democrats looking for the most part free or at best significantly less corrupt.

The more I think about this the better I like it. I wonder if the democrats read this thread?

[sriracha john]

There's an election soon. Time to open the Finance Ministry's checkbook and start spending:

PM: Cattle, land grants 'not illegal'

Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra insisted yesterday that his plan to distribute cattle and land deeds among people in the North and Northeast this week would not violate the election law.

Thaksin said his visit was part of his government's policy to end poverty.

In his weekly radio programme on Saturday, Thaksin said he would hand out title deeds for farmland, crop seeds and breeding livestock in three northeastern provinces from today.

"Can't I work at all?" Thaksin said yesterday when asked about claims that he could be deemed to be violating the election law by giving handouts after the enactment of a decree setting October 15 as the election day.

"Never," he said when it was suggested he could be disqualified from the election for giving handouts to poor farmers. "I'd have to do these things anyway - they are stated in my policies, and I've done them all along."

Told that former Election Commission (EC) member Sawat Chotephanit had interpreted the law as banning handouts within six months of the election date, Thaksin said no one could stop him from working for the country. "We can't just say 'Please stop developing the country as development has to wait for the politicians' fight to end'," he said.

The Thai Rak Thai leader declined to answer and walked away when reporters asked him whether political etiquette required him not to make such handouts.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva reminded Thaksin yesterday that political etiquette dictated that he refrain from using state power to gain an electoral advantage.

Abhisit said the new EC should pay attention to the issue as Thaksin was apparently using state power to gain advantage ahead of an election.

Democrat chief adviser Chuan Leekpai said it was useless to criticise Thaksin over his provincial tour "because he does not care about ethics or political etiquette. He cares only about victory".

"I remember he once said he'd rather die than lose ... That means he would do anything to win," the former prime minister said.

Chuan said that while Thaksin called on the people to be united for the sake of His Majesty, his actions indicated otherwise. "This prime minister does not treat all subjects of His Majesty equally. He gives priority to groups of people or provinces that vote for Thai Rak Thai."

In Khon Kaen, meanwhile, a leader of the Khon Kaen People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) said her group would meet today and stage a peaceful campaign against Thaksin.

Soonthree Hatthisengking said the group would not disrupt Thaksin's visit to the province.

But a group calling themselves Northeastern People Who Believe in Judicial Activism distributed leaflets saying they would campaign for Thaksin's ouster and would launch anti-Thaksin protests at places the prime minister was due to visit.

The Nation

[sriracha john]

This would be very interesting. Will the PM accept? He never has before, but perhaps things are different now and he will:

Abhisit pressures PM to TV debate

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday again challenged caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to a live TV showdown - something Thai voters would love to see most, according to the latest opinion poll.

"If Prime Minister Thaksin is confident in Thai Rak Thai policies, please see me on television so that people can see and compare the differences," Abhisit said at a major seminar on his party's policies.

Of the 2,812 people in 15 provinces surveyed in an Abac poll from July 28 to August 5, 85 per cent said they were keen to hear what the party leaders had to say to each other on TV.

The most interesting issues for the TV debate are how politicians could expand royally initiated projects [95.6 per cent], how they could further materialise His Majesty's popular Self-sufficiency Economy [95.5 per cent], how the political leaders could bring about national reconciliation [94.8 per cent] and how they would tackle corruption [93.5 per cent].

The following issues were chosen in descending order: alternative fuels; drug abuse; poverty; violence in the South; long-term health promotion; and improvement in the quality of life for youth.

Asked who should organise such a debate, 36.4 per cent of respondents chose the election watchdog PNet, 19.6 per cent said the media and 15.6 per cent preferred educational institutes. The debate should be held three times, according to the poll.

Asked whether they thought the general election would solve the political crisis, 74.7 per cent said yes while another 11.6 per cent thought not.

Abhisit, knowing his disadvantage after five years of Thai Rak Thai domination, hopes a TV showdown with Thaksin could be a short-cut route to boost the Democrats' stagnant popularity.

He had complained about a lack of media exposure during Thaksin's reign, and is facing an uphill battle in trying to match Thai Rak Thai's marketing power in the run-up to the October 15 election.

His party plans to attack Thaksin's weakest points during the short campaign, including corruption, checks and balances, moral leadership and leaders' political openness.

Judicial reform will be part of the Democrat Party's policies to create a moral society, Abhisit said yesterday.

Besides conventional legal channels against crooked politicians, the Democrats would advocate "people's power" to go after corrupt officials. "Thai citizens should have the right to bring corrupt politicians to justice," he said.

"No longer can the politicians sit on their guilt and hope to get away with it once cases expire. No longer can anyone interfere with the justice mechanisms like the police, prosecutors or the National Counter Corruption Commission to prevent the cases against them from reaching the court," he said.

Last Monday, Thaksin questioned the credibility of the judiciary, after the courts issued a string of rulings that dealt blows to his party. The Constitution Court also is set to deliberate major election fraud cases against Thai Rak Thai and the Democrats, which could result in the disbanding of either party or both.

Following Thaksin's criticism, the secretary to the Supreme Court president said there had been attempts to interfere in the judicial process from people with state power and money. Sometimes they rely on unlawful tactics to issue the threats, such as organised mobs.

Democrat deputy secretary-general Thaworn Senneam had succeeded in his legal campaign against the Election Commission's three controversial members, who have been sentenced to four years in jail. Thaworn filed the case as a Thai citizen, not a party executive.

Abhisit yesterday chaired his party's seminar on the "People's Agenda" at the Miracle Grand Hotel with 300 party executives, key members and academics attending.

Participants were asked to share their ideas and experiences in the local elections to improve the policies before Abhisit officially announces them on Wednesday.

The programme moderator Chaiwat Thiraphanthu said the Democrats had learned much and realised the importance of people's political participation after its People's Assembly last year, and after they had seen people's roles during the political crisis in the past year.

The People's Agenda, Abhisit said, included solving poverty by increasing minimum wages, reducing oil, cooking gas and electricity prices as well as establishing the sufficiency economy fund, to give financial support to people who follow the sufficiency economy principles. Moreover, the policies would include free education, textbooks, milk and supplemental foods for kindergartens. It will promote a quality universal healthcare scheme with no charge.

Abhisit said the party would also push for laws to protect media professionals from being sued by politicians who only want to cover their crimes.

The Democrat Party last month launched television spots to promote its leader and policies, with the slogan "We put the people first". It was the first political party to start campaigning for the election while its main opponent, the incumbent Thai Rak Thai Party, has been largely silent.

The Nation

[John K]

Thaksin would never knowingly enter in any fair political competition, it is simply not his style. He will stay away from the debate probably citing it is not necessary and that he is afraid of the light.

The cattle deal is just a bunch of bull to win votes and I suspect it is the wrong time of year for such gestures as the crops are in the ground. If it was at the start of the planting season it would make sense. Martin please verify this for me.

“Last Monday, Thaksin questioned the credibility of the judiciary, after the courts issued a string of rulings that dealt blows to his party. The Constitution Court also is set to deliberate major election fraud cases against Thai Rak Thai and the Democrats, which could result in the disbanding of either party or both.” Approximate Translation: They did not rule in my favor so I will see about repairing the courts.

“Following Thaksin's criticism, the secretary to the Supreme Court president said there had been attempts to interfere in the judicial process from people with state power and money. Sometimes they rely on unlawful tactics to issue the threats, such as organized mobs.” Approximate Translation: Someone is trying to alter the courts in their favor.

[sriracha john]

I think he might do well on a televised debate. On the close-ups, his Square-Head would fit nicely onto the Square television screen.

[John K]

What would be fun is to wire the debaters to lie detectors and show that at the bottom of the screen. I suspect Thaksin’s should resemble seismic readings seen on December 26, 2004.

[John K]

This is a quote from sj in the Violence Erupts In The South Again, 70 bombings last night and train-track bombing this morning.

Post #38

last week Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra transferred “full authority” over the South to the army chief General Sonthi.

This is a bit of a curious note. The full authority means the ability to control the media. Thaksin has been using that to silence his critics. If my memory serves me only one person can have this power as granted by the parliament when it was initiated. So does that mean it is now illegal for Thaksin to influence the media, Internet and so on?

[lukamar]

last week Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra transferred “full authority” over the South to the army chief General Sonthi.

The South is under a State of Emergency. The declaration allows the government to impose curfews, ban public gatherings, limit travel, censor and ban publications, detain suspects without charge, confiscate property and tap telephones and a bunch of other things.

[John K]

Yes and Thaksin has been using that authority not only in the south. If you will recall the banning of websites falls under this. Adult sites like Adultfriendfinder and so on were blocked under this act. I am sure there are some threads on this but at the moment I don’t have time to hunt them down. So the question is still as posted above.

[sriracha john]

last week Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra transferred “full authority” over the South to the army chief General Sonthi.

The South is under a State of Emergency. The declaration allows the government to impose curfews, ban public gatherings, limit travel, censor and ban publications, detain suspects without charge, confiscate property and tap telephones and a bunch of other things.

A real stickler "other thing" in this Martial Law edict is the immunity from prosecution for any crimes committed by security personnel.

Philippines, circa 1977 (under "President" Marcos Martial Law)

1. "impose curfews" : Yes, it was 24:00... Everyone off the streets, otherwise subject to immediate arrest

2. "ban public gatherings" : Yes, not even small-scale groups were tolerated

3. "limit travel" : Yes, any area could be placed off-limits

4. "censor and ban publications" : Yes, all media was highly censored and only favorable to the government publications were allowed

5. "detain suspects without charge" : Yes, happened frequently with an estimated 100,000 Filipinos never heard from again following detention

6. "confiscate property" : Yes, it invariably ended up as property belonging to government officials

7. "tap telephones" : Yes, led to the infilitration of anti-Marcos groups and their subsequent detention with further subsequent disappearance for good

8. and the aforementioned, "immunity from prosecution for any crimes committed by security personnel" : Yes, no security personnel were ever prosecuted for crimes committed "in the line of duty"

----------------------------------------

Congratulations Thaksin. You scored a perfect 8 out 8 for following in Marcos's footprints. You're in wonderfully good company.

Interesting how many of the 8 are already being implemented to some degree or another in the rest of this Nation and that are OUTSIDE the Deep South, which has been officially declared a Martial Law area.

Edited August 7, 2006 by sriracha john

[lukamar]

Yes and Thaksin has been using that authority not only in the south. If you will recall the banning of websites falls under this. Adult sites like Adultfriendfinder and so on were blocked under this act. I am sure there are some threads on this but at the moment I don’t have time to hunt them down. So the question is still as posted above.

It was the courts that most recently were searching the web, not Thaksin, for those that did not agree with their rulings on boards like this and panthip. They even caused panthip to close for a few days by making it known that they would search out anyone, with the polices help, that disagreed with them.

[Jai Dee]

The majority of samples in an ABAC poll call for public debates by heads of all political parties

About 85% of 2,812 people in 15 provinces surveyed by ABAC poll want public debates of leaders of all political parties on ways to solve the country’s problems.

ABAC Poll director Noppadon Kannika (นพดล กรรณิกา) said the topic of the debate most preferred by the samples is how each political party will promote and support projects initiated by His Majesty the King. Others include ways to make the people live a sufficiency life, the nation’s reconciliation, corruption elimination, solutions to the energy crisis, drug and social problems and violence in the deep south and poverty eradication, Mr. Noppadon said.

He said three quarters of the samples believe the October 15 general election will help ease political tension because the new government will be set up to administer the country and solve national problems.

The poll was conducted between July 25 and August 5.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 07 August 2006

[Jai Dee]

Civic groups form network to boycott supporters of the caretaker PM

A network of several civic groups has been formed to socially boycott people and businesses supporting caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Santi Wiriyarangsan (สันติ วิริยะรังสรรค์), a network representative, said the network will soon hand letters to business groups, including Charoen Pokphand (เจริญโภคภัณฑ์) Group, provincial governors and police commanders across the country not to support anyone who poses danger to democracy.

The network will also ask these businesses and government officials to stay impartial during campaigning for the October 15 general election, Mr. Santi said.

He said the network is not a political organization and does not resort to rallying against the caretaker prime minister and the government. It is looking to eliminate corruption and promote morality and ethics in Thai society, he said, adding those interested in joining the network can also check for details at www.stocktaksin.com.

The network has organizations such as Corruption Watch, Culture Group for Education and the Network of Students for Democracy as its members, Mr. Santi said.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 07 August 2006

[lukamar]

Congratulations Thaksin. You scored a perfect 8 out 8 for following in Marcos's footprints. You're in wonderfully good company.

Good point John and it might fly, except that Martial Law has always been set out in the Constitution and predates Thaksin and the TRT's election as the government. So someone may have followed Marcos's footprint but it wasn't TRT or Thaksin.