Thaksin Cancels Plans To Hand Out Land Deeds, Cows

[george]

Thaksin cancels plans to hand out land deeds, cows

KHON KAEN: -- Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Monday cancelled his plan to hand out land deeds, tree seedings, and cows to villagers in this northeastern province.

The cancellation came after criticism that Thaksin might violate the election law for abusing his authority to gain advantage during the run-up to the October 15 election.

Thaksin Monday visited villagers in None Sila district and preparations had been made for him to hand out Sor Por Kor documents to 400 villagers, cows to 50 villagers, Physic nut seedings to 500 villagers and much more.

But handout ceremony was cancelled.

-- The Nation 2006-08-07

[womble]

Oh how things have changed, under the old election commission they could do as they please, but now they have to follow the rules.

It's such an obvious stunt, I feel sorry for those impressed by such puny handouts.

If all the money stolen through policy corruption was given instead of a few stupid handouts, then we might actually see something on a scale that actually has an impact on society as a whole, rather than a few lucky ones who live in areas that voted for tthe 'right' party.

[Colonel_Mustard]

Oh how things have changed, under the old election commission they could do as they please, but now they have to follow the rules.

It's such an obvious stunt, I feel sorry for those impressed by such puny handouts.

If all the money stolen through policy corruption was given instead of a few stupid handouts, then we might actually see something on a scale that actually has an impact on society as a whole, rather than a few lucky ones who live in areas that voted for tthe 'right' party.

I might be wrong but I thought most of the TRT's support came from poor, rural areas. If so, they could hardly be described as the lucky ones.

[womble]

Oh how things have changed, under the old election commission they could do as they please, but now they have to follow the rules.

It's such an obvious stunt, I feel sorry for those impressed by such puny handouts.

If all the money stolen through policy corruption was given instead of a few stupid handouts, then we might actually see something on a scale that actually has an impact on society as a whole, rather than a few lucky ones who live in areas that voted for tthe 'right' party.

I might be wrong but I thought most of the TRT's support came from poor, rural areas. If so, they could hardly be described as the lucky ones.

yeah but is there enough cows and land titles to go around?

Whilst from the outside it may look like giving people land title deeds is a good thing, but the first thing they'll do is use those titles to get loans. Those loans will go on stuff that is owned by those in power, basically once again making the poor poorer and the rich, richer.

[isaanbrit]

I might be wrong but I thought most of the TRT's support came from poor, rural areas. If so, they could hardly be described as the lucky ones.

By poor rural areas, do you mean anywhere "upcountry" as they say??? If so I think the people - you mention can definitely be described as the lucky ones for many reasons.

- Life is easy going there.

- There is no (less) of a rat race.

- Air is clean.

- Life is peaceful.

- They have everything they need and have much less of a desire for things they dont than people in say Bangkok.

- The list is endless, my time is not

This is not africa where the poor, rural areas are starving and deprived, this is Thailand where poor, rural areas are friendly, buzzing places filled with smiles. I Thouroughly reccomend anyone to make a trip up here :-)

(yes I know there are spelling mistakes :-)

[John K]

This is one of those stories that you don’t know if you should believe. Did Thaksin see the light or did he just say ‘you may find some abandoned cows in a trailer down that road, I passed them on the way here.’

This is significant in that his arrogance has been stopped by the likely reality of being disqualified. This also signals that he does intend to run for PM. His actions betray him.

[Colonel_Mustard]

I might be wrong but I thought most of the TRT's support came from poor, rural areas. If so, they could hardly be described as the lucky ones.

By poor rural areas, do you mean anywhere "upcountry" as they say??? If so I think the people - you mention can definitely be described as the lucky ones for many reasons.

- Life is easy going there.

- There is no (less) of a rat race.

- Air is clean.

- Life is peaceful.

- They have everything they need and have much less of a desire for things they dont than people in say Bangkok.

- The list is endless, my time is not

This is not africa where the poor, rural areas are starving and deprived, this is Thailand where poor, rural areas are friendly, buzzing places filled with smiles. I Thouroughly reccomend anyone to make a trip up here :-)

(yes I know there are spelling mistakes :-)

I have a house in Isaan and spend a reasonable amount of time there and I agree with much of what you say. However, if people were so happy with their lot up there then why are a large percentage of the young(ish) population from there in working in various 'occupations' in Bangkok and the other tourist areas.

I love the area for short visits and maybe when I'm older I could see myself spending more time there.

[John K]

Thai PM kicks off campaign with pledges

By Nopporn Wong-Anan

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra kicked off his campaign on Monday for a general election re-run, promising to shore up farm prices, hand out free computers for every child and tackle poverty in Thailand's poorest region.

The three-day tour of the northeast, which has the most lawmakers in the 500-member lower house of parliament and where Thaksin remains very popular, drew accusations he was using taxpayer money to win re-election.

The plan to give away cows and land deeds to poor farmers by Thaksin was canceled at the last minute to avoid violating election laws. But senior local officials did the job instead after he left, officials said.

Opposition parties, whose boycott of an April general election left Thailand without a functioning parliament and a caretaker government unable to make major policy decisions, complained loudly he was breaching election rules.

But Thaksin defended the trip as a routine tour to check progress of government policies.

"It is business as usual. You can't tell the country to stop progressing while politicians are fighting," Thaksin told reporters at a Bangkok golf course on the eve of his trip.

Arriving in Khon Kaen province, Thaksin visited a state hospital where patients pay a flat fee of 30 baht ($0.80) per visit no matter what the treatment.

He promptly ordered the transfer of a six-year-old girl suffering from leukemia to a more advanced hospital in Bangkok and promised staff, who can earn far more in the private sector, greater incentives to stay in the state system.

Thaksin, expected to win the Oct 15 re-run poll with a reduced majority due to his firm support in the countryside, called the April snap general election in an attempt to defuse street protests against him. The vote was later declared illegal.

TRIAL LOOMS

But it is far from certain whether he will remain prime minister if his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party wins.

He has made no comment on the issue as the party faces charges of election misconduct in April which could see it dissolved by the Constitutional Court in a trial widely expected after the October election.

Thaksin, who won landslide victories in 2001 and 2005, could also be banned from holding office in any party for five years if the party is found guilty. But he could remain as a member of parliament.

Analysts said Thaksin needed another landslide win to keep the majority of Thai Rak Thai MPs if it had to be reformed under a new name as some factions might defect to the opposition.

"Thaksin can't afford to have a neck-to-neck race. He needs to win by a big margin," said law lecturer Prinya Thaewanarumitkul of Bangkok's Thammasat University.

That is why he is focusing on keeping his support in the countryside, analysts say, offering land deeds to villagers, pairs of oxen and cows to poor families, and checking on pilot projects to tackle poverty in the northeast.

He also promised to boost prices of rice and tapioca, two main commodities grown in the region, and to speed up a project to hand out free laptop computers to every elementary schoolchild, delayed by the political turmoil.

Thaksin launched the trip shortly after the courts moved toward fixing a long-running political crisis by jailing the three sitting election commissioners for four years for mismanaging the April election.

[John K]

I think Thaksin just did himself. He announced it, he went, and he had someone else hand the goods over. I don’t think the courts will see it the way he does. Kinda like a moth drawn into fire here.

[sriracha john]

ORIGINAL OP NEWS ARTICLE EXPANDED

PM cancels handouts in rural areas

Contradicting earlier claims,Thai Rak Rai scraps plan for fear of breaking election law

Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday cancelled plans to hand out government assistance to villagers on his current tour of the Northeast, just one day after insisting that the handouts were not a violation of the election law.

"We have to be careful," a source in the Thai Rak Thai Party said yesterday. Since the election day is only two months away, the party is concerned that some of its actions could violate the election law, the source said.

PM's Secretary-General Prommin Lertsuridej yesterday denied that Thaksin had planned to give anything to villagers during his tour of the Northeast, saying he had merely wanted to review the progress of the government's policies in the region.

Hmmm... that's not what across-the-board media sources were reporting... they all reported these TRT "giveaways"

"Farmers are bringing cattle to show the progress of projects to the premier. He just wants to see which policies have worked out," Prommin said.

"We [politicians] will not give away anything, but let government officials do it," he said.

No real difference is there??? The cows still object to having tattoos put on their sides that say, "Brought to you by TRT"...

However, his claim is contrary to a schedule issued by the Government Spokesman's Office last week, which said that Thaksin would meet villagers and hand out seven items to them, including cattle, seeds and land title deeds.

ahhh... so the Government Spokesman Office and the PM's Secretary-General don't have each other's phone numbers?? Gosh, it's getting easier and easier to catch these TRT folks in their lies.

Instead of giving out cattle, the plan was yesterday modified to allow villagers to bring their cattle for Thaksin to see. As for the Sor Por Kor 401 documents that the Office of Land Reform for Agriculture had prepared for Thaksin to hand out to 400 farmers, "We will give them to villagers later when things change", the office's secretary-general, Anant Poositthikul, said yesterday.

"We will give them to the villagers AFTER the election; provided, of course, that they vote for our party and we win the election. Otherwise, the deal is off."

Thaksin travelled to Khon Kaen yesterday on a three-day tour of the Northeast that also includes Maha Sarakham and Roi Et provinces. He plans to tour the North next week.

There has been a lot of criticism about the appropriateness of the caretaker government giving handouts to voters as this would give it an advantage over the opposition parties.

It has been suggested that one reason Thaksin cancelled the plan might be that he is unsure how strictly the new Election Commission (EC) will enforce the election law. The former EC refused to scrutinise Thaksin and his party despite allegations of vote-buying across the country in the previous election.

Although the Royal Decree for the October 15 election will only take effect on August 24, certain actions committed before then could still be held to be violations of the election law.

The first ever EC, chaired by Theerasak Karnasut, ruled that if there was a violation of the election law before the election decree took effect, the commission could order a by-election if the result in that constituency favoured the guilty candidate, as well as give the offender a yellow card.

EC secretary-general Ekachai Warunprapa said yesterday that Thaksin could give handouts as long as the election decree had not taken effect.

However, he said, Articles 144 and 145 of the election law empowered the election commissioners to determine whether certain acts committed by politicians before the election decree took effect were violations of the election law.

"But now we cannot do anything except collect information on the political parties. We have to wait for the new EC to give us the policy," he said, adding that the previous EC chaired by Vasana Puemlarp had decided to consider only violations that occurred after the election decree took effect.

In case the violation occurs after the election decree has taken effect, the candidate will be given a "red card", or disqualified.

Preecha Suwannathat, a former dean of Thammasat University's Faculty of Law, said it was clear that the provincial tours were for political advantage. It was similar to the government's reshuffling of important officials even though it is only a caretaker, he said.

Preecha said that making government handouts or approving projects might put Thaksin in violation of Section 181 of the Constitution, which says that government spending must be done only with the approval of Parliament. Thaksin cannot approve any project by himself, he said.

"I hope the new Election Commission is decisive, not like the previous EC, which didn't dare take up any charges against Thaksin," Preecha said.

Former Charter drafter Kanin Boonsuwan said Thaksin's provincial visits might violate the law because local officials had to organise receptions for him using government funds. Moreover, politicians might offer to recompense locals for the costs of coming to see them, which could be construed as vote-buying.

Even though the election decree only takes effect on August 24, it has already received royal endorsement. That means the run-up to the election has begun. Further complicating matters, the election decree endorsed for the April 2 election should be considered still in effect, he said.

"I hope the new Election Commission will take action for a free and fair election. In this case, I think Thaksin has violated both the law and political etiquette," he said.

Pirapong Pairin, director of the EC's Public Relations Office, said he assigned staff to gather information about Thaksin's tour, adding that it was the new EC's duty to consider whether it violated the law.

The Nation

[John K]

Can you say spin? The more they talk they more they lie. If Thaksin never went with intent to do it, why are they finding so many reasons to cover it. I am waiting for the headlines "Thaksin did in by cow."

Edited August 8, 2006 by John K

[chownah]

The plan to hand out those things to those farmers has been in the works for month. This was not a spur of the moment thing. It clearly is a popular idea and will clearly help TRT's chances of controlling parliament after the next election. Toxin's presence at the "ceremony" could certainly be seen as campaigning....but the actual handing over of the items is clearly a gov't program that was approved by the gov't and has been in the works for long enough that any unbiased observer would agree that it was not timed for any particular election...hence it is not campaigning within the context of any particular election. Toxin's self removal was a wise move that should not only keep him being called to account for his presence there but will also help him in convincing the rural voters that his opposition does not have their best interest at heart.

Many posters here seem to be of the opinion that any gov't program that benefits a constituency is "vote buying" and "populist programs". I don't want to argue with the words you use to describe these things but I would like to point out that one of the basic ideas of a democracy is that the people should vote for whoever they think will do the best job at representing their best interests......this is how democracy works. Why do liberals vote to increase social security?...is it "vote buying?"....of course it is. Why do conservatives vote to eliminate business taxes...is it "vote buying"?...of course it is. It is easy to spin all gov't decisions into "vote buying"......perhaps this arguement will naturally lead to a view that democracy is a bad form of gov't since it consist of nothing but "vote buying"....I don't know.

[Thaipwriter]

- They have everything they need and have much less of a desire for things they dont than people in say Bangkok.

I disagree 100% on this, the desire for material possesions like pick ups, mobile phones and dvd players in Isaan is as rampant if not more than any area of Thailand.

Debt levels are totally out of hand and parents are perfectly happy to play an active part in seeing off thier daughters to Pattaya so they can fund their ever expanding desires for things they dont need.

[Heng]

The younger members of such families are often just as bad in terms of living beyond their means as the old folks. Just as often it's the younger generation that completely drains the modest family savings in exchange for "luxuries" they simply can't afford.

That said, I think "rampant" makes the situation sound a bit more dire than it actually is. There's still the segment of the population, even in Issan and the north, that keeps the ol' 80-20 laws intact by living well within their means.

Edited August 8, 2006 by Heng

[Thaising]

Only if these country folks understand and knew the meaning of sufficiency economic proposed by his majesty the king.

Edited August 8, 2006 by Thaising

[joe beets]

Many posters here seem to be of the opinion that any gov't program that benefits a constituency is "vote buying" and "populist programs".

I can't speak for anyone but myself, but it's not the implementation of these populist programs that I find so irksome.

As a rule, I think populist programs are in and of themselves not bad things at all; far from it.

It is the launching of such a program during election season that sticks in my craw.

jb

[Plus]

Ideally politicians should be looking for the country's benefit, not for votes. It's easy to be a cynic, but if the system is setup properly and politicians are forced to follow, then they WILL have to work for pulbic good. It might not be too late, but Thaksin has succefully turned millions of people into consumers of politics rather than active participants. It's all an exchange, a trade, not a service.

I think the reason is that he is a businessman, not a leader, he doesn't know any value higher than money and trade, he doesn't know any higher principles, has no dignity, no pride, no honesty.

[John K]

The plan to hand out those things to those farmers has been in the works for month. This was not a spur of the moment thing.

Thaksin did not need to go if that was the case. It could have been done by anyone while Thaksin was busy making more friends in Bangkok. He has a skill for that.

[manjara]

- They have everything they need and have much less of a desire for things they dont than people in say Bangkok.

I disagree 100% on this, the desire for material possesions like pick ups, mobile phones and dvd players in Isaan is as rampant if not more than any area of Thailand.

Debt levels are totally out of hand and parents are perfectly happy to play an active part in seeing off thier daughters to Pattaya so they can fund their ever expanding desires for things they dont need.

Anecdotally, I would have to agree with Thaipwriter. Whenever we go up north for a visit, there is a constant procession of people wanting to sell us land or cows or something else. The major reason for the sales is that they have to pay the bank for the loan they took out against their house or other land.

Often the loans are to pay to send their children to University, but are often squandered by the children on plastic surgery, gambling and other even more ridiculous expenses.

Their earnings per month give them no hope of repaying the debts (unless their offspring qualify and get a good job). The debt phenomenon is not limited to the North, as several neighbours (thai) have mortgages that are constantly increasing (as they are not paying the 'flower', let alone the capital)

It would be interesting to see how many people who are given land or cows by TRT, still have them after a year or so. It would also be interesting to see who is buying the land (esp.). If TRT officials are snapping up large tracts of the country on the secondary market, that would be highly unethical, although probably completely legal. Who says working for Taksin doesn't have it's benefits..?

All economies are built on some level of debt and somewhere like the UK has vast personal debt, but it seems to me that there is a greater percentage of people in Thailand who have no prospect of repaying. When will the debt bubble burst, and what effect will it have?

[Thaising]

That's why the poor farmers are holding protest at the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry, It was the second time that members of the Indebted Farmers Network have resorted to these means to press the ministry to speed up debt relief, and thinking election time Mr. thaksin might help and waive their debts.

Edited August 9, 2006 by Thaising