Thai Red Shirt leader Jatuporn accuses govt of looking for a 'fight'

[webfact]

Thai Red Shirt leader accuses junta of looking for a 'fight'

AFP

BANGKOK: -- The leader of Thailand's opposition "Red Shirts" on Thursday accused the junta of trying to provoke them into a "fight" as the movement falls under suspicion for a bomb attack and the circulation of a forged document on the revered king.

The Red Shirts are loyal to the toppled government of Yingluck Shinawatra, who was banned from politics last month by the junta-picked National Legislative Assembly.

The group -- who fall under the umbrella of the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) -- has been a powerful force in Thailand's near-decade of sometimes deadly political turmoil.

But the movement was winded by last May's coup and has, until now, softened its rhetoric as martial law blankets the country, stifling debate and banning political gatherings.

Police this week arrested a Red Shirt member, Krit Buddeejin, on suspicion of defaming the royal family after he was accused of spreading online a hoax.

But Red Shirt chairman Jatuporn Prompan defended 25-year-old Krit, saying he had believed it was a genuine palace statement and did not intend to harm the monarchy, which is protected from criticism by a draconian law carrying up to 15 years in jail.

On Monday, Thailand's junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha said a minor bomb blast near a Bangkok shopping mall on Sunday was the work of opponents to the coup -- although he stopped short of directly blaming the Red Shirts.

Speaking on Red Shirt television, Jatuporn accused those in power of using the two incidents to provoke a reaction.

"I don't believe that you (junta) want reconciliation, instead you want chaos and want us to go out and fight," he said on Peace TV.

"There is no reason for Red Shirts to take part in either case since we do not benefit from either incident," he said, adding the group are loyal to the king.

His comments come as anger simmers among the Red Shirts who fear their movement is being eviscerated by politically motivated legal moves, nine months after a government they helped elect was swept aside by the coup.

The political ban on Yingluck, the sister of billionaire self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, rules her out of an immediate political comeback in the next election, which the junta says it wants to hold by early 2016.

She now faces criminal charges linked to a botched rice subsidy scheme which was welcomed in the poor, rural Red Shirt heartlands.

Last week Jatuporn was bailed after receiving a two year jail sentence for defaming a former premier in comments made in 2009.

Thailand has been riven by bitter political divisions since 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra's government was ousted in another coup, again backed by the Bangkok-based royalist establishment.

They despise the Shinawatras -- whose parties have won every election since 2001 -- accusing them of poisoning Thai politics with corruption and cronyism.

Prayut says the junta is steering much-needed reforms to the political system, including the crafting of a new constitution to curb corruption and populist politics.

But critics say the coup is a pretext to destroy the Shinawatras' political network and weaken the electoral clout of their rural base.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-02-05

[webfact]

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[Costas2008]

I can understand the man.....he kept quite for 2 or 3 months but he can't take any more.

He has to start barking again and spilling out his usual nonsense.

In my opinion it's him looking for a fight and not the government.

Unfortunately, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

[PepperMe]

He said all the same things during the protest when there were almost nightly shootings and grenade attacks, completely denying all of it and even trying to say the PDRC was behind it all.... Lo and behold, almost straight after the coup, it turns out it WAS the red shirts doing all that crap.

There is very little doubt in my mind that the red shirts are behind this also.

If the junta had it in for the red shirts, they would have made life a hell of a lot worse for them and the UDD, and to be quite honest, the UDD should have been rounded up back in May and put inside for all the incitement to violence they involved themselves in, and should be still there now.

Jatuporn keeps poking the finger in, and I have lost count how many times he has been warned to stop making statements to inflame a reaction. If anyone is doing it.... It is him. Time to lock the <deleted> up and throw away the key.

Or even better..... Send out a couple of special ops.

Edited February 5, 2015 by metisdead

[smedly]

I thought Jatuporn Prompan was in prison and if not why not

[thesetat2013]

Isn't Jatuporn one of the people who incited to separate the north from thailand? Isn't he also the one who was trying to make Chiang mail the capitol so YL would be protected in her stronghold? This guy should have been sent to attitude readjustment a long time ago. Prison even

[Bluespunk]

"Thailand has been riven by bitter political divisions since 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra's government was ousted in another coup"

No it wasn't.

[chainarong]

I don't believe the Junta is looking for a fight however they are not endearing themselves with sections of the community that are concerned of the direction Thailand is taking, I would have thought Jatuporn would stay low until the elections, however the PTP now needs to gather it's leaders and play a diplomatic style of government and whatever they think the days of loud mouth complaining red necks is over, as for young Krit the laws of the land apply and until the people indicate otherwise in a referendum the best way to avoid L.M. is not to say anything.

[chainarong]

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"Thailand has been riven by bitter political divisions since 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra's government was ousted in another coup"

No it wasn't.

Tell us more

[lewy67]

Jautaporn is exactly right. These staged events have been the modus operandi of Prayuth, Suthep and Wongsuwan since they started to plan the downfall and PTT of the UDD in 2010.

[PepperMe]

I thought Jatuporn Prompan was in prison and if not why not

Bail pending an appeal which he will buy his way out of the sentence via corrupt supreme court judges.

He has the money, he will not see prison, his conviction will be over-turned.

[bkkgooner]

For the first time in my life I agree with Jatuporn, the army sensed a bit of dissent was on the way and have been busy cooking up some trouble ever since

[mikemac]

I thought Jatuporn Prompan was in prison and if not why not

They cannot find a prison willing to accept this first class oxygen thief.

Even Thai prisons, for all the bad stories you hear about them, have standards you know.

Who would defend the actions of this imbecile ?

Edited February 5, 2015 by mikemac

[ratcatcher]

For the first time in my life I agree with Jatuporn, the army sensed a bit of dissent was on the way and have been busy cooking up some trouble ever since

the army sensed a bit of dissent was on the way and have been busy cooking up some trouble ever since.

And you can prove that interesting comment?

[kingalfred]

Picked the wrong fight here jutaporn.Its no the same as "mouthing off" under the previous 2 governments!

[Bluespunk]

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"Thailand has been riven by bitter political divisions since 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra's government was ousted in another coup"

No it wasn't.

Tell us more

Nope.

[Commerce]

"I don't believe that you (junta) want reconciliation, instead you want chaos and want us to go out and fight," Jatupon said on Peace TV.

His own rhetoric he will never understand.

"There is no reason for Red Shirts to take part in either case since we do not benefit from either incident," he said, adding the group are loyal to the king. - Yeah right, for sure he added such.

Out of the woodwork comes another louse who's not been heard of for months. He needs locking up, as soon as possible, preferably in his own home along with his hundreds of millions of baht supplied by you know who, and his amulets - cos they are not going to work against the junta!

MAKES me wonder if next week Chalerm will make a statement.... or is he still pissed up everyday??

[The Deerhunter]

That is darned rich coming from that man. Zero credibility and clearly totally out of any logical response to the helpless situation he is in when he cannot defame or threaten people himself, without ending up in the big house himself.

[The Deerhunter]

"I don't believe that you (junta) want reconciliation, instead you want chaos and want us to go out and fight," Jatupon said on Peace TV.

His own rhetoric he will never understand.

"There is no reason for Red Shirts to take part in either case since we do not benefit from either incident," he said, adding the group are loyal to the king. - Yeah right, for sure he added such.

Out of the woodwork comes another louse who's not been heard of for months. He needs locking up, as soon as possible, preferably in his own home along with his hundreds of millions of baht supplied by you know who, and his amulets - cos they are not going to work against the junta!

MAKES me wonder if next week Chalerm will make a statement.... or is he still pissed up everyday??

Rumor is that he signed a pledge. No not the alcohol one, but one that prevents him from opening his mouth about the political situation. I think it must be true because we have not heard a peep out of him since the coup. I cannot believe he is has kept quiet unless he has been muzzled. He was out with a stupid comment twice or three times a month while he & YS were in the driving seats. I kinda miss his Inspector Clouseau impersonations. He might have his time cut out avoiding murderous surprise attacks by his Korean servant like his role model. (PS Is this spreading rumors in violation of the TV rules???? I hope not!)

[rubl]

I guess Jatuporn was a bit disappointed when the American Envoy in his Chula speech only mentioned that the current government had a perception problem

[The Deerhunter]

For the first time in my life I agree with Jatuporn, the army sensed a bit of dissent was on the way and have been busy cooking up some trouble ever since

Idiotic post for today, above. They could have been referring to Southern insurgents or anyone else unhappy with the coup, but Jatuporn (grasping at straws) tries to plead victimization. Then again. if the cap fits, go ahead & volunteer to wear it Mr J. I think that is Jatuporn's sole five minutes of fame since last May. It must be galling him that he is not in the limelight & important any more. Keeping quiet was the price of staying out of jail at his (standard UDD/PTP strategy) court non-appearance a few months ago.

[trogers]

I thought Jatuporn Prompan was in prison and if not why not

They cannot find a prison willing to accept this first class oxygen thief.

Even Thai prisons, for all the bad stories you hear about them, have standards you know.

Who would defend the actions of this imbecile ?

Send him to be spokesman of ISIS in Iraq. A diplomatic mission.

[Robby nz]

It must be remembered that he, Jatuporn, does nothing on his own, he is still a paid lackey of Thaksin, we have seen several times that Thaksin has given 'orders' to do this or not do that.

Thaksins strategy team has decided that the BS that the bombs were planted by the army should be reinforced and this is the result.

As we see on this topic alone there are those who are silly enough to believe this, so the Thai red supporters will be keen to believe.

Planting the bombs will all be part of the overall strategy.

Small explosions to cause a disturbance then go all out make it look like the military planted them to give them an excuse to continue martial law which western countries are against.

It also has the effect of getting countries to issue new travel advisories to make it look like Thailand is a dangerous place to visit due to political disturbance, in the hope that tourist numbers can be kept down to hurt the economy, for a depressed economy will make the military Govt look bad.

He is an extremely dangerous man Thaksin and will have an overall strategy planned to destabilize as much as possible, we have seen in the past, as per 2010, that he will do anything to get back into power and does not care who he hurts in the process, including his sister, or how much he damages the country.

In fact the country in chaos and bankruptcy would be a bonus to him as he could then return the great savior.

On thing he has against him is that he can no longer rely on the police, and arrests linked to the reds in this and the royal letter business (part of the plan) will stuff up things for him.

[Throatwobbler]

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"Thailand has been riven by bitter political divisions since 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra's government was ousted in another coup"

No it wasn't.

Tell us more

Nope.

Completely pointless posts by you then.

[Ricardo]

"Thailand has been riven by bitter political divisions since 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra's government was ousted in another coup"

No it wasn't.

Funny how an otherwise-respected foreign news-agency keeps trotting this over-simplistic line out ?

"The failing caretaker-government, whose crumbling remnants were headed by time-expired former-caretaker-PM Thaksin after their failure to run an election legally, was finally put out of its misery by the military, to general acclaim" might perhaps capture the feeling of the time better ?

But that doesn't sell foreign-papers in quite the same dramatic way, does it ?

Better to pretend that he was still the heroic rightful democratic PM, and forget "Democracy is Not Our Aim" or 'Don't bother to ask My ministers, I Make the Decisions !', and other classics, including the immortal "I've Quit Politics" which was shortly to come !

But returning to K.Jatuporn's new allegation, that the latest government is trying to stir-up a fight, well he is an expert on these things, isn't he ?

[Bluespunk]

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"Thailand has been riven by bitter political divisions since 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra's government was ousted in another coup"

No it wasn't.

Tell us more

Nope.

Completely pointless posts by you then.

Nope

You want to know why I say what I said then check out the facts and the events as they occurred, not propaganda BS.

There was no govt to overthrow at the time of the last coup due to corruption and illegal practices during the election.

Thaksin was not PM. TRT was not the govt.

Clear enough for you?

PS, there's this thing called google......

Edited February 5, 2015 by Bluespunk

[Cuchulainn]

They want a fight, the General'll give 'em a fight alright!!

Ready....aim.................

[Tatsujin]

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"Thailand has been riven by bitter political divisions since 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra's government was ousted in another coup"

No it wasn't.

Tell us more

Nope.

Completely pointless posts by you then.

Go Google it if you weren't here at the time ... the Government had been dissolved in February, subsequent elections were boycotted and declared null and void, new elections were scheduled for October, with the courts fighting over the right and wrongs of everything, and Thaksin also had a few court cases going on for hiding assets and tax evasion etc, and then he decided it was his right to continue on as PM in a "caretaker" role despite dissolving Parliament, stepping down and holding elections which failed/were declared null and void. It was a right mess.

I'll remind you of one of the biggest reasons he was ousted, passing a bill that benefited himself directly:

"On Monday, 23 January 2006, three days after new Thai Telecommunication Act (2006) passed on Friday, 20 January, his family sold all stake in Shin Corporation, a leading communication company in Thailand, to Temasek Holdings with tax liability exemption. The families of Thaksin and his wife netted about 73 billion baht (about US$1.88 billion) tax-free from the buyout, using a regulation that individuals (as opposed to corporations) who sell shares on the stock exchange pay no capital gains tax."

[waitforusalso]

The scheming of the yellow administration has been ongoing since 2005. Constant efforts to destabilise & diminish their opposition, the only way they can contemplate retaining power. A PAD lady colleague of mine told me the week after Yingluck was elected that plans were in place for her removal.

[halloween]

The scheming of the yellow administration has been ongoing since 2005. Constant efforts to destabilise & diminish their opposition, the only way they can contemplate retaining power. A PAD lady colleague of mine told me the week after Yingluck was elected that plans were in place for her removal.

It must be true then. A week before she was elected the tea lady told me that the rice scam would send the country broke, and the somtam bloke reckoned the whole aim of her government was to get Thaksin an amnesty. These people KNOW things.