Opinion: Thailand's political plot is thickening

[webfact]

STOPPAGE TIME
Thailand's political plot is thickening
Tulsathit Taptim

BANGKOK: -- The scriptwriters are gathering somewhere that very few humans know exists. They have approximately 45 days to come up with a sensible "next chapter" for Thailand.

One of them, either hit by a brainwave or influenced by something he smoked, had written that the country's interim legislature decided to start impeachment procedures against ex-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. What he wrote escaped the rest, who were either asleep or busy doing something else. The urgently-called story conference was specifically meant for damage control.

Scriptwriter 1: How did we go from that song about peace, promise and patience to this crap?

Scriptwriter 2: Ask 5. He wrote about the impeachment decision.

Scriptwriter 3: And we all have to take responsibility for his moment of madness.

Scriptwriter 4: Easy guys. Shouldn't we hear what he has to say about it first? Number 5, why did you do it?

Scriptwriter 5: To begin with, the coup was our consensus, right? What would a coup be without a crackdown on corruption? I thought I was just saving you lot from a boring routine.

Scriptwriter 1: You moron. We had just made Prayut go to Italy and speak of pre-coup threats of a civil war, and you've put in a possible new spark.

Scriptwriter 5: With all due respect guys, the "rice scam" was not my idea. And I'm not the one who went on and on about how much it cost Thailand. No writer could invent such a mammoth scandal and let it lie.

Scriptwriter 2: If you had any common sense, you'd see you've given the interim Parliament a no-win situation. You basically wrote that the head of the interim Parliament is a suicidal idiot.

Scriptwriter 5: Did I? How so?

Scriptwriter 3: You really need to get your head checked. Impeach Yingluck and we'll have a military-installed legislature "persecuting" a democratically elected leader. Acquit her and people will ask why the coup? We should have kept the impeachment thing for a late chapter. You are making our job very, very difficult.

Scriptwriter 4: Can impeachment be put on hold?

Scriptwriter 1: No. Unfortunately, the vote will have to take place some time in the middle of December. I'm afraid our options today are limited to "guilty" or "not guilty".

Scriptwriter 2 (sighing): I'd go for guilty. That would limit the immediate future chapters to domestic consequences. "Not guilty" and we'd have to write about the United States, the EU, the Wall Street Journal and all the bloggers. I'm tired of that.

Scriptwriter 3: "Guilty" will force us to write about all those you mentioned as well, at least for a few days. But I know what you mean. We've made them give textbook reactions to the Thai crisis for too long.

Scriptwriter 4: What should we say about the red shirts if it's "guilty"?

Scriptwriter 1: That's the biggest question, because I think that, somehow, "guilty" is unavoidable.

Scriptwriter 5: Another red shirt revolt, anyone?

Scriptwriter 2: You really like messy stuff, don't you?

Scriptwriter 5: As if we haven't made it a big mess in an endless circle already.

Scriptwriter 3: We can have the military put it all under control.

Scriptwriter 4: At the expense of the reform process. We can't make it a smooth process if we cruelly put away a leader of one side. Yingluck will have to be banned for five years, and we will need to be convincing on how her side of the Thai divide reacts.

Scriptwriter 1: We have had all key red leaders tamed since the coup. We have had all their birthday parties closely watched by the military. A subdued red reaction won't be too unrealistic.

Scriptwriter 2 (having a second thought): If we decide to impeach Yingluck, our chapters on the coup against Thaksin, the guilty verdict on his Ratchadapisek land scandal, and the 2007 Constitution will look very silly. Well, it goes without saying that not impeaching her will make this year's coup quite ridiculous, too.

Scriptwriter 3: Can we have the interim Parliament vote to defer the issue to a post-election legislature? Or, can we have Prayut assert his all-round powers to postpone the impeachment thing for the sake of "national happiness"?

Scriptwriter 5: 700 billion baht, boys. 700 billion. We can't come up with that staggering loss and then let the politicians who are "responsible" sort it out. Our story is a mess, but it should be a reasonable mess. Last but not least, we have made it clear that "happiness" means different things to different Thais.

Scriptwriter 1: Exactly how many days do we have?

Scriptwriter 2: There will have to be a vote when Thais start shopping for Christmas and New Year.

Scriptwriter 3: This is sadistic. Look what you've done, Number 5.

Scriptwriter 5: You people should have thanked me for not writing anything about the criminal procedures. Now, it's up to you to decide whether the public prosecutors prosecute her. And you have to do it a lot sooner. In just a couple of days to be exact. Write well, boys, because this time it involves prison, not a political ban.

Scriptwriters 1,2,3 and 4: SHUT UP!!!!

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Inheritance-tax-draft-to-be-presented-to-Cabinet-s-30246981.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-05

[noitom]

Is this guy considered to be an editor or a journalist of any sort?

[RustBucket]

Strange way of telling us what most of us already know.

[Thai at Heart]

Please can someone get tulsathit to lay off whatever he is smoking. These rambling analogies are painful.

[NongKhaiKid]

Is this guy considered to be an editor or a journalist of any sort?

Sounds like a soap opera script writer, same low standard. Maybe i shouldn't even say ' standard '.

[terryp]

absolute trash ..TV should be ashamed of being connect to this rubbish

[eeworldwide]

Actually - I thought it was a refreshing and quite a clever change. Well written, and in a way crystallises the situation very well.!

[CNXTim]

Did anyone attempt to read that idiotic diatribe beyond the 2nd line? A coherent synopsis might be useful, but nah leave it alone...It reminds me of one of those intemible group photo shots with a big handpainted sign in the background that no-one ever looks at

[ChrisY1]

This person really should go and work for a Thai language news agency.......!!!

His/her talents may be better appreciated by the masses of kindergarten comic book readers.

[WhizBang]

Nothing is going to change in Thailand. NOTHING.

[baboon]

What a steaming pile of grade 'A' monkey crap. My dog could have written better.

That's about the politest way I can put it...

[chainarong]

This gobbledygook has got to cease, even the brain dead knows the end result of this futile exercise , the good General should have kept his word and left the military out of it , at the end of the day Thailand will not be any further advanced than what the position was in the PTP days, the military and the elite will not give ground so nothing has changed all remains the same.

[chainarong]

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What a steaming pile of grade 'A' monkey crap. My dog could have written better.

That's about the politest way I can put it...

My dog would not become involved.

[alanferdi]

Is this guy considered to be an editor or a journalist of any sort?

Sounds like a soap opera script writer, same low standard. Maybe i shouldn't even say ' standard '.

yeah thats it....the whole scenario - a soap opera!!! Sorry you guys who love thrillers, sex striptease and your bottle or soother! Flip the page and continue your life.... Nothing will change it anyway.

[mca]

Puff puff give!

[WitawatWatawit]

Thais - and Nation writers especially - love this kind of mindless fantasising. But unless you are truly creative and intuitive, and Tulsathit is far from that, then this kind of political commentary isn't going to work. He could have said all of that in a couple of sentences, and then used the rest of the column space for some factual and intelligent opinion. Some people just don't get it. We already know about the impeachment minefield, thank you. Let's hear comments about it from real people, not a lazy bit of fantasising. Fail.

[Tatsujin]

I want some of what Tulsathit is smoking . . . little voices in my head arguing about right and wrong, dilemmas, quandaries, interesting . . . it's almost like a Thai soap opera. Actually, real life here IS a soap opera . . .

[Commerce]

I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down (after ransacking it for all I can get).

And they all lived happily ever after.

[rickirs]

The impeachment proceedings keep the political divide alive, continues to make Yingluck a central political figure whether one demonizes her or not, and contunes significant controversary and conflict among representatives of the current government. This would seem to be the complete opposite intent the original NCPO policies to nuetralize political parties and specifically the PTP power base.

When the NLA asked Gen. Prayuth whether it should hold impeachment proceedings on Yingluck, he had the power to bring the whole matter to a quick end by dispelling the process and allow the NLA to move forward on critical legislative and constitutional matters.

Instead he said "it was up to the NLA." But given that NLA essentially operates (The Nation called it a "rubber stamp") as an extension of the NCPO without the authority of independent leadership, it really had no choice but to proceed with impeachment. Gen. Prayuth had an opportunity to duplicate South Africa's end to its apartheid governance system in a manner that brought the country together and on the highway to democracy, human equality and rights - no roadmap required. But it seems there may have been more an interest by the military to reinforce its dominance in Thai society.

[pisico]

Do not trivialize the OP.

After 18-19 coup-charters, who is counting? Maybe the writer has inside info on who are the drafters of the forthcoming improved and expanded charter:

writers 1 - 5..

Thailand:the hub of charters.

[blaze]

IT is a bit strange that the Nation continues to publish the demented soul searching of this columnist.

His columns should be read as a warning to all: this is what happens to the **** mind when you think!

Edited November 5, 2014 by blaze

[Thai at Heart]

I want some of what Tulsathit is smoking . . . little voices in my head arguing about right and wrong, dilemmas, quandaries, interesting . . . it's almost like a Thai soap opera. Actually, real life here IS a soap opera . . .

It does show poorly Thais balance right and wrong with the greater good.

There normally aren't 5 different outcomes.