Yingluck warned to attend first day of court trial today

[impulse]

yes that's right... it's a fundamental right that anything said within the House cannot be said outside and THAT guarantees freedom to say what they really think and let's the PM and government not be fearful to have the same scenario as here

they cannot be sued, taken to court etc

That all may be true. But it's not relevant. She's not being sued for something she said.

totally and utterly relevant as it protects laws enacted, policies pursued and even wars fought whilst in power. Try taking to Court Bush over Iraq or Blair over Afghanistan it is absurd and no one would ever go into politics

It does not protect criminal actions. Lots of politicians go to jail for stuff they did while in office.

If Bush or Blair personally profited from going to war in Afghanistan, you bet they'd be prosecuted.

Do her actions rise to the level of "criminal actions"? That's what the trial is about.

Edited May 19, 2015 by impulse

[seedy]

troll / flaming posts removed

[BSJ]

Here on TVF we look at the situation and in commenting, often, add some sarcasm or skepticism or exclamation of the stupidity of the topic in discussion...but is it as the average Thai see's it?

Despite what we may think or say unless you can get into the head of the average Thai we are effectively looking at it from a Western perspective.

I say Yingluck is guilty and must serve 10 years in gaol, must be stripped of her assets and money (but not the suitcases full of money on the last 2 trips O/S) and receive no time off for good behavior or be placed in a special gaol with special privileges.

But a Thai court may not see that as just punishment....may see it as to harsh a punishment and be more lenient.

Whatever the punishment it's doubtful she will spend a day in gaol. Whether she unofficially flits off to Paris to live, or stays behind there will be no time in gaol.

I'd wager money on that if it was legal to do so in LOS!

[webfact]

Yingluck reaches Supreme Court to make a plea in rice-pledging case
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra reached the Supreme Court at 8:45 am Tuesday to make a plea in the rice-pledging case in the Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office.

She was charged with nonfeasance for failing to stop alleged massive corruption in the rice-pledging scheme.

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Yingluck-reaches-Supreme-Court-to-make-a-plea-in-r-30260421.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-19

[LannaGuy]

yes that's right... it's a fundamental right that anything said within the House cannot be said outside and THAT guarantees freedom to say what they really think and let's the PM and government not be fearful to have the same scenario as here

they cannot be sued, taken to court etc

That all may be true. But it's not relevant. She's not being sued for something she said.

totally and utterly relevant as it protects laws enacted, policies pursued and even wars fought whilst in power. Try taking to Court Bush over Iraq or Blair over Afghanistan it is absurd and no one would ever go into politics

It does not protect criminal actions. Lots of politicians go to jail for stuff they did while in office.

If Bush or Blair personally profited from going to war in Afghanistan, you bet they'd be prosecuted.

Do her actions rise to the level of "criminal actions"? That's what the trial is about.

you don't think lying about WMD is criminal? anyway we digress... you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't... if the trial is about as you suggest then fair enough she was corrupt but everyone and their dog knows what this trial is about

[Thaddeus]

I personally think the lady is innocent of any wrongdoing and she is being made a scapegoat if she is found guilty there will be repercussions .

Doing nothing qualifies as wrongdoing.

Some families are in financial ruin, some farmers committed suicide, purely because she did nothing wrong.

[Baerboxer]

I'm not taking sides. I'm just curious as to how much the junta could beat her up before her supporters would start squealing. I wonder if she's really as popular in some places as some report she is.

I'm with you on this valid point. I've read elsewhere that an official has said bail is a question for the court but refusal could upset her supporters so what would jail time do ?

Does anyone see a finding of guilt resulting in a suspended sentence ?

the crazy thing is that she doesn't get 'parliamentary privilege' which is a foundation stone of democracies giving protection against law suits when not in office

maybe she could have done more and maybe she didn't have the skills to do so but jail...??? millions of Thais will shudder in shock if it happens

Parliamentary privilege - good one!

She hardly ever turned up to parliament and then is so dumb they wouldn't let her debate anything or answer questions.

They said Gerald Ford was so dumb he couldn't chew gum and fart at the same time - he's Einstein compared to her.

[NongKhaiKid]

I personally think the lady is innocent of any wrongdoing and she is being made a scapegoat if she is found guilty there will be repercussions .

The lady was a PM whose sole purpose seemed to be travel. As PM she rarely attended parliamentary sessions and she never attended any rice committee meetings which she chaired. She once said she thought something was wrong but never took if further, she said she only set policy and it was for others to carry it out so the usual refuge for her of no accountability and no responsibility.

She regularly insisted she WAS THE PM yet her ministers going to cabinet meetings when questioned on certain matters said they would be discussing it with Mr. T and taking his instructions.

Yes, she is totally innocent, she was only obeying orders but it didn't work at Nuremberg and other instances down the years.

[robblok]

Trial looms for Thailand's deposed PM Yingluck

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the start of a negligence trial which could see her jailed for a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Yingluck -- sister of fugitive billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago.

A guilty conviction could deliver a hammer blow to the political dominance of her family, but it also risks stirring up the powerful grassroots "Red Shirt" movement that supports her family but has remained largely inactive since the the military took over.

Yingluck is accused of criminal negligence over a populist but economically disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

She is not accused of corruption but of failing to prevent alleged graft within the programme, which cost billions of dollars and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme, a move which banned her from politics for five years.

"I believe a hawkish faction in the old powers... wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can," Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.

"But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more," she added.

Yingluck is expected to appear in person at the trial, which is being heard by the Supreme Court on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.

On Monday Thailand's Attorney General warned an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to appear without good reason.

Yingluck herself has defended the controversial rice scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers" in the poor northeast of a country where subsidies to farmers have long been a cornerstone of Thai politics.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies.

As a result, the Shinawatra family have faced two coups and the removal of three of their premiers by the Thai courts, while several deadly rounds of protest have rocked Bangkok and dragged on the Thai economy.

Former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law to Yingluck and Thaksin, is also facing criminal charges over a crackdown against anti-Shinawatra protesters in 2008.

Analysts say Yingluck trial is likely to drag on in order to keep her bogged down in ongoing legal challenges.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

Where to start with this crap-fest of a 'news' article. I think the author of this piece is clearly distorting the truth as exampled below.

and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

The protests were over an illegally passed 'blanket' amnesty bill that would bring Thaksin home and restore his wealth and position in the Thai political world as well as excuse 27,000 other corruption cases against politicians and NOT the Rice Scheme.

wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can

No, just the criminal ones.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme

She was found guilty by the Supreme Court for Office Holders of nepotism in the transfer of a high-ranking Civil Service member and for that she was impeached; not for the rice scheme scam.

But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more

More angry than they were when Jatuporn, Nattawut, Weng, Thaksin, and company were preaching hatred every night from the Red stage in their blockaded downtown enclave?

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras

That's the party line. Bangkok citizens must be nearly all be elite because they overwhelming voted against Thaksin's choice for Bangkok governor, 'Patsy the Lightpole'. Yingluck's party couldn't get 40% votes in uncontested districts to win the last election and couldn't get enough seats to make a Parliament. The poor, rural voters in the South wouldn't vote for Yingluck if she was the only candidate and most, formerly supportive, districts with poor didn't show up to vote for the Shinawatra puppet government, either. The North and NE is not so 'fiercely' loyal anymore now the fiasco of a Rice Support Scheme has been exposed for the corrupt enterprise it was.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and

Thaksin was not PM or even caretaker PM when the Army stepped in. He had dissolved Parliament, held new elections that his party got caught cheating in so they were annulled, after 60 days his caretaker status ran out and he stepped down and Police General Chitchai Wannasathit (Acting Prime Minister by Royal Command) 5 April 2006 - 23 May 2006, was appointed caretaker PM. Seven weeks later, Thaksin unlawfully reoccupied the PM's office and it was longer than four months after the annulled election before the Army stepped in (still no new election had been scheduled). How do you topple someone with no right to be there?

now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

Correction, not on a corruption charge but a corruption CONVICTION. A felony conviction, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison which he didn't bother to appeal.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

Two of those elections were nullified; the 2006 one for cheating and the 2013 one for not having enough support to get their MPs elected. Those so-called 'allied parties' were, in actuality, created and controlled by Thaksin.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies

Maybe the Shinawatra's croynism, corruption, and financially ruinous populist policies are exactly the reason their opponents became their opponents.

TVF might as well publish Robert Amsterdam's propaganda screeds as republish this trash from AFP.

Nobody forced or is forcing you to read it apart from your own hatred which has never been in any doubt.

If something irks me to the point it makes my blood boil, I tend not to read it, but you can't help yourself as it's the only thing, as in your hatred that seems to keep you going here in Thailand ?

Point is he is writing the real facts here not the lies the reds tell. I see nobody trying to correct his points. He comes with valid facts and the article is a sham.

[uty6543]

It does not protect criminal actions. Lots of politicians go to jail for stuff they did while in office.

If Bush or Blair personally profited from going to war in Afghanistan, you bet they'd be prosecuted.

Do her actions rise to the level of "criminal actions"? That's what the trial is about.

you don't think lying about WMD is criminal? anyway we digress... you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't... if the trial is about as you suggest then fair enough she was corrupt but everyone and their dog knows what this trial is about

you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't...

Yes i think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY but there is not enough evidence at this time to charge her with that crime.

[rametindallas]

Trial looms for Thailand's deposed PM Yingluck

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the start of a negligence trial which could see her jailed for a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Yingluck -- sister of fugitive billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago.

A guilty conviction could deliver a hammer blow to the political dominance of her family, but it also risks stirring up the powerful grassroots "Red Shirt" movement that supports her family but has remained largely inactive since the the military took over.

Yingluck is accused of criminal negligence over a populist but economically disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

She is not accused of corruption but of failing to prevent alleged graft within the programme, which cost billions of dollars and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme, a move which banned her from politics for five years.

"I believe a hawkish faction in the old powers... wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can," Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.

"But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more," she added.

Yingluck is expected to appear in person at the trial, which is being heard by the Supreme Court on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.

On Monday Thailand's Attorney General warned an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to appear without good reason.

Yingluck herself has defended the controversial rice scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers" in the poor northeast of a country where subsidies to farmers have long been a cornerstone of Thai politics.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies.

As a result, the Shinawatra family have faced two coups and the removal of three of their premiers by the Thai courts, while several deadly rounds of protest have rocked Bangkok and dragged on the Thai economy.

Former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law to Yingluck and Thaksin, is also facing criminal charges over a crackdown against anti-Shinawatra protesters in 2008.

Analysts say Yingluck trial is likely to drag on in order to keep her bogged down in ongoing legal challenges.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

Where to start with this crap-fest of a 'news' article. I think the author of this piece is clearly distorting the truth as exampled below.

and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

The protests were over an illegally passed 'blanket' amnesty bill that would bring Thaksin home and restore his wealth and position in the Thai political world as well as excuse 27,000 other corruption cases against politicians and NOT the Rice Scheme.

wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can

No, just the criminal ones.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme

She was found guilty by the Supreme Court for Office Holders of nepotism in the transfer of a high-ranking Civil Service member and for that she was impeached; not for the rice scheme scam.

But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more

More angry than they were when Jatuporn, Nattawut, Weng, Thaksin, and company were preaching hatred every night from the Red stage in their blockaded downtown enclave?

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras

That's the party line. Bangkok citizens must be nearly all be elite because they overwhelming voted against Thaksin's choice for Bangkok governor, 'Patsy the Lightpole'. Yingluck's party couldn't get 40% votes in uncontested districts to win the last election and couldn't get enough seats to make a Parliament. The poor, rural voters in the South wouldn't vote for Yingluck if she was the only candidate and most, formerly supportive, districts with poor didn't show up to vote for the Shinawatra puppet government, either. The North and NE is not so 'fiercely' loyal anymore now the fiasco of a Rice Support Scheme has been exposed for the corrupt enterprise it was.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and

Thaksin was not PM or even caretaker PM when the Army stepped in. He had dissolved Parliament, held new elections that his party got caught cheating in so they were annulled, after 60 days his caretaker status ran out and he stepped down and Police General Chitchai Wannasathit (Acting Prime Minister by Royal Command) 5 April 2006 - 23 May 2006, was appointed caretaker PM. Seven weeks later, Thaksin unlawfully reoccupied the PM's office and it was longer than four months after the annulled election before the Army stepped in (still no new election had been scheduled). How do you topple someone with no right to be there?

now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

Correction, not on a corruption charge but a corruption CONVICTION. A felony conviction, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison which he didn't bother to appeal.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

Two of those elections were nullified; the 2006 one for cheating and the 2013 one for not having enough support to get their MPs elected. Those so-called 'allied parties' were, in actuality, created and controlled by Thaksin.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies

Maybe the Shinawatra's croynism, corruption, and financially ruinous populist policies are exactly the reason their opponents became their opponents.

TVF might as well publish Robert Amsterdam's propaganda screeds as republish this trash from AFP.

Nobody forced or is forcing you to read it apart from your own hatred which has never been in any doubt.

If something irks me to the point it makes my blood boil, I tend not to read it, but you can't help yourself as it's the only thing, as in your hatred that seems to keep you going here in Thailand ?

Do you think I am responding to this article to vent my spleen? No, there are new forum members and members who are new to Thailand and there is a possibility they will take this article as truth. I know because I argue every day on this forum with those who believe this propaganda and push these 'facts'. It doesn't make my blood boil; I am too old to waste energy on anger or even getting upset. When I see distortions, I want to correct them. You don't have any problems with that, do you?

[LannaGuy]

It does not protect criminal actions. Lots of politicians go to jail for stuff they did while in office.

If Bush or Blair personally profited from going to war in Afghanistan, you bet they'd be prosecuted.

Do her actions rise to the level of "criminal actions"? That's what the trial is about.

you don't think lying about WMD is criminal? anyway we digress... you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't... if the trial is about as you suggest then fair enough she was corrupt but everyone and their dog knows what this trial is about

you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't...

Yes i think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY but there is not enough evidence at this time to charge her with that crime.

you gotta be joking right??? not even her worst enemies are stupid enough to think she took back handers from the rice scheme but I guess you think Elvis is alive? Lord Lucan is sunning himself in Spain and the Lock Ness Monster pops to say 'hi' every few decades?

[dunks]

Trial looms for Thailand's deposed PM Yingluck

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the start of a negligence trial which could see her jailed for a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Yingluck -- sister of fugitive billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago.

A guilty conviction could deliver a hammer blow to the political dominance of her family, but it also risks stirring up the powerful grassroots "Red Shirt" movement that supports her family but has remained largely inactive since the the military took over.

Yingluck is accused of criminal negligence over a populist but economically disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

She is not accused of corruption but of failing to prevent alleged graft within the programme, which cost billions of dollars and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme, a move which banned her from politics for five years.

"I believe a hawkish faction in the old powers... wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can," Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.

"But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more," she added.

Yingluck is expected to appear in person at the trial, which is being heard by the Supreme Court on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.

On Monday Thailand's Attorney General warned an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to appear without good reason.

Yingluck herself has defended the controversial rice scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers" in the poor northeast of a country where subsidies to farmers have long been a cornerstone of Thai politics.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies.

As a result, the Shinawatra family have faced two coups and the removal of three of their premiers by the Thai courts, while several deadly rounds of protest have rocked Bangkok and dragged on the Thai economy.

Former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law to Yingluck and Thaksin, is also facing criminal charges over a crackdown against anti-Shinawatra protesters in 2008.

Analysts say Yingluck trial is likely to drag on in order to keep her bogged down in ongoing legal challenges.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

Where to start with this crap-fest of a 'news' article. I think the author of this piece is clearly distorting the truth as exampled below.

and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

The protests were over an illegally passed 'blanket' amnesty bill that would bring Thaksin home and restore his wealth and position in the Thai political world as well as excuse 27,000 other corruption cases against politicians and NOT the Rice Scheme.

wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can

No, just the criminal ones.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme

She was found guilty by the Supreme Court for Office Holders of nepotism in the transfer of a high-ranking Civil Service member and for that she was impeached; not for the rice scheme scam.

But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more

More angry than they were when Jatuporn, Nattawut, Weng, Thaksin, and company were preaching hatred every night from the Red stage in their blockaded downtown enclave?

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras

That's the party line. Bangkok citizens must be nearly all be elite because they overwhelming voted against Thaksin's choice for Bangkok governor, 'Patsy the Lightpole'. Yingluck's party couldn't get 40% votes in uncontested districts to win the last election and couldn't get enough seats to make a Parliament. The poor, rural voters in the South wouldn't vote for Yingluck if she was the only candidate and most, formerly supportive, districts with poor didn't show up to vote for the Shinawatra puppet government, either. The North and NE is not so 'fiercely' loyal anymore now the fiasco of a Rice Support Scheme has been exposed for the corrupt enterprise it was.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and

Thaksin was not PM or even caretaker PM when the Army stepped in. He had dissolved Parliament, held new elections that his party got caught cheating in so they were annulled, after 60 days his caretaker status ran out and he stepped down and Police General Chitchai Wannasathit (Acting Prime Minister by Royal Command) 5 April 2006 - 23 May 2006, was appointed caretaker PM. Seven weeks later, Thaksin unlawfully reoccupied the PM's office and it was longer than four months after the annulled election before the Army stepped in (still no new election had been scheduled). How do you topple someone with no right to be there?

now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

Correction, not on a corruption charge but a corruption CONVICTION. A felony conviction, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison which he didn't bother to appeal.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

Two of those elections were nullified; the 2006 one for cheating and the 2013 one for not having enough support to get their MPs elected. Those so-called 'allied parties' were, in actuality, created and controlled by Thaksin.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies

Maybe the Shinawatra's croynism, corruption, and financially ruinous populist policies are exactly the reason their opponents became their opponents.

TVF might as well publish Robert Amsterdam's propaganda screeds as republish this trash from AFP.

Nobody forced or is forcing you to read it apart from your own hatred which has never been in any doubt.

If something irks me to the point it makes my blood boil, I tend not to read it, but you can't help yourself as it's the only thing, as in your hatred that seems to keep you going here in Thailand ?

Hatred is a reserved occupation for red shirt supporters only, i.e. cheering at a UDD meeting at the news of the deaths in Trat of children just because it was a yellow shirt area.

On this side, that is non red shirt supporters, we want to see facts not distortions. We also want to see justice served against anyone who has broken the law regardless of which political party they belong to. Was glad to see Suthep charged with corruption. Hope he is convicted as well as Yingluck.

If you can't correct anything rametindallas wrote I guess that is because everything he wrote is fact not fiction.

Attack the post not the poster.

+1 well said.

[robblok]

It does not protect criminal actions. Lots of politicians go to jail for stuff they did while in office.

If Bush or Blair personally profited from going to war in Afghanistan, you bet they'd be prosecuted.

Do her actions rise to the level of "criminal actions"? That's what the trial is about.

you don't think lying about WMD is criminal? anyway we digress... you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't... if the trial is about as you suggest then fair enough she was corrupt but everyone and their dog knows what this trial is about

you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't...

Yes i think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY but there is not enough evidence at this time to charge her with that crime.

you gotta be joking right??? not even her worst enemies are stupid enough to think she took back handers from the rice scheme but I guess you think Elvis is alive? Lord Lucan is sunning himself in Spain and the Lock Ness Monster pops to say 'hi' every few decades?

Depends mate, fact is there was no budget for the rice scam, and if you don't budget for it knowing it cost money its negligence. The budget was already overstretched and could not bear it so they kept it off books. However they needed the rice scam to keep the voters happy.

Did she benefit..sure.. not financially but she would not be as popular or even win an election if it was not for the vote buying policies she did. This was one of them a major one.

Now 2 of her top underlings have been implicated in fake G2G deals where companies allied to Thaksin bought rice pretending to be Chinese government (so they could get a low price as it was stated only governments could get a lower price on sales) and then they resold it for a higher price back into the program. So they benefited and you can bet your bottom dollar Thaksin took his cut.

Now also not forget she checked the rice.. said it was good quality (we know it was rotting and loods of it of worse quality as it was registered) and noting was missing (we seen the figures enough missing). That is also negligence.

[LannaGuy]

Depends mate, fact is there was no budget for the rice scam, and if you don't budget for it knowing it cost money its negligence. The budget was already overstretched and could not bear it so they kept it off books. However they needed the rice scam to keep the voters happy.

Did she benefit..sure.. not financially but she would not be as popular or even win an election if it was not for the vote buying policies she did. This was one of them a major one.

Now 2 of her top underlings have been implicated in fake G2G deals where companies allied to Thaksin bought rice pretending to be Chinese government (so they could get a low price as it was stated only governments could get a lower price on sales) and then they resold it for a higher price back into the program. So they benefited and you can bet your bottom dollar Thaksin took his cut.

Now also not forget she checked the rice.. said it was good quality (we know it was rotting and loods of it of worse quality as it was registered) and noting was missing (we seen the figures enough missing). That is also negligence.

you don't think if we tried all politicians for negligence the worlds jail's would not be full??? it's absurd and nothing to do with that as we all know, hopefully even you, that this is entirely about 'something else'

Edited May 19, 2015 by LannaGuy

[Fat Haggis]

Trial looms for Thailand's deposed PM Yingluck

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the start of a negligence trial which could see her jailed for a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Yingluck -- sister of fugitive billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago.

A guilty conviction could deliver a hammer blow to the political dominance of her family, but it also risks stirring up the powerful grassroots "Red Shirt" movement that supports her family but has remained largely inactive since the the military took over.

Yingluck is accused of criminal negligence over a populist but economically disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

She is not accused of corruption but of failing to prevent alleged graft within the programme, which cost billions of dollars and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme, a move which banned her from politics for five years.

"I believe a hawkish faction in the old powers... wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can," Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.

"But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more," she added.

Yingluck is expected to appear in person at the trial, which is being heard by the Supreme Court on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.

On Monday Thailand's Attorney General warned an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to appear without good reason.

Yingluck herself has defended the controversial rice scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers" in the poor northeast of a country where subsidies to farmers have long been a cornerstone of Thai politics.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies.

As a result, the Shinawatra family have faced two coups and the removal of three of their premiers by the Thai courts, while several deadly rounds of protest have rocked Bangkok and dragged on the Thai economy.

Former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law to Yingluck and Thaksin, is also facing criminal charges over a crackdown against anti-Shinawatra protesters in 2008.

Analysts say Yingluck trial is likely to drag on in order to keep her bogged down in ongoing legal challenges.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

Where to start with this crap-fest of a 'news' article. I think the author of this piece is clearly distorting the truth as exampled below.

and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

The protests were over an illegally passed 'blanket' amnesty bill that would bring Thaksin home and restore his wealth and position in the Thai political world as well as excuse 27,000 other corruption cases against politicians and NOT the Rice Scheme.

wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can

No, just the criminal ones.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme

She was found guilty by the Supreme Court for Office Holders of nepotism in the transfer of a high-ranking Civil Service member and for that she was impeached; not for the rice scheme scam.

But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more

More angry than they were when Jatuporn, Nattawut, Weng, Thaksin, and company were preaching hatred every night from the Red stage in their blockaded downtown enclave?

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras

That's the party line. Bangkok citizens must be nearly all be elite because they overwhelming voted against Thaksin's choice for Bangkok governor, 'Patsy the Lightpole'. Yingluck's party couldn't get 40% votes in uncontested districts to win the last election and couldn't get enough seats to make a Parliament. The poor, rural voters in the South wouldn't vote for Yingluck if she was the only candidate and most, formerly supportive, districts with poor didn't show up to vote for the Shinawatra puppet government, either. The North and NE is not so 'fiercely' loyal anymore now the fiasco of a Rice Support Scheme has been exposed for the corrupt enterprise it was.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and

Thaksin was not PM or even caretaker PM when the Army stepped in. He had dissolved Parliament, held new elections that his party got caught cheating in so they were annulled, after 60 days his caretaker status ran out and he stepped down and Police General Chitchai Wannasathit (Acting Prime Minister by Royal Command) 5 April 2006 - 23 May 2006, was appointed caretaker PM. Seven weeks later, Thaksin unlawfully reoccupied the PM's office and it was longer than four months after the annulled election before the Army stepped in (still no new election had been scheduled). How do you topple someone with no right to be there?

now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

Correction, not on a corruption charge but a corruption CONVICTION. A felony conviction, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison which he didn't bother to appeal.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

Two of those elections were nullified; the 2006 one for cheating and the 2013 one for not having enough support to get their MPs elected. Those so-called 'allied parties' were, in actuality, created and controlled by Thaksin.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies

Maybe the Shinawatra's croynism, corruption, and financially ruinous populist policies are exactly the reason their opponents became their opponents.

TVF might as well publish Robert Amsterdam's propaganda screeds as republish this trash from AFP.

Nobody forced or is forcing you to read it apart from your own hatred which has never been in any doubt.

If something irks me to the point it makes my blood boil, I tend not to read it, but you can't help yourself as it's the only thing, as in your hatred that seems to keep you going here in Thailand ?

Hatred is a reserved occupation for red shirt supporters only, i.e. cheering at a UDD meeting at the news of the deaths in Trat of children just because it was a yellow shirt area.

On this side, that is non red shirt supporters, we want to see facts not distortions. We also want to see justice served against anyone who has broken the law regardless of which political party they belong to. Was glad to see Suthep charged with corruption. Hope he is convicted as well as Yingluck.

If you can't correct anything rametindallas wrote I guess that is because everything he wrote is fact not fiction.

Attack the post not the poster.

It's not about what he wrote, he is constantly reading AFP knowing their Bias, and complaining about it, if you knew a particular paper was full of shit, would you continue reading it, or would you seek a better story elsewhere ?

For example the UK Sun newspaper is full of crap and inaccurate reporting, I stopped reading it after it used to just wind me up, isn't that the beauty of having a choice?

Read something you know is full and shit and complain about it

Or don't read it and not get wound up about it?

It's NOT the contents it's the reader getting pissed off about AFP when he knows full well they're dog shit !!

[ginjag]

It does not protect criminal actions. Lots of politicians go to jail for stuff they did while in office.

If Bush or Blair personally profited from going to war in Afghanistan, you bet they'd be prosecuted.

Do her actions rise to the level of "criminal actions"? That's what the trial is about.

you don't think lying about WMD is criminal? anyway we digress... you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't... if the trial is about as you suggest then fair enough she was corrupt but everyone and their dog knows what this trial is about

you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't...

Yes i think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY but there is not enough evidence at this time to charge her with that crime.

you gotta be joking right??? not even her worst enemies are stupid enough to think she took back handers from the rice scheme but I guess you think Elvis is alive? Lord Lucan is sunning himself in Spain and the Lock Ness Monster pops to say 'hi' every few decades?

Why the Yingluck back-up ?? you personally have NO idea who personally gained, the court will decide on evidence--squealers--etc and her tripping herself up.

example---Elvis--Lucan-Nessie-- I have a feeling yours is the joke post.

Take in the real facts of her antics from day one she was placed in the P.M. position by her brother/PTP................out of the country most of the time----never or rarely attending meetings as chairperson--rare attendances in parliament--near nil interviews on the Thailand situation--defense Minister ?? when did she attend defense meetings??-----do you consider her a suitable P.M. ??--------------I have an idea you are among the minority on TVF that just want to oppose for the sake of it. Because I cannot for the life of me see how anyone can back her on the 3 year non achievements.

[robblok]

It's not about what he wrote, he is constantly reading AFP knowing their Bias, and complaining about it, if you knew a particular paper was full of shit, would you continue reading it, or would you seek a better story elsewhere ?

For example the UK Sun newspaper is full of crap and inaccurate reporting, I stopped reading it after it used to just wind me up, isn't that the beauty of having a choice?

Read something you know is full and shit and complain about it

Or don't read it and not get wound up about it?

It's NOT the contents it's the reader getting pissed off about AFP when he knows full well they're dog shit !!

Actually haggis its posted here in Thai-visa and people might think its the truth. But in fact its just red lies. Bij not commenting on it more people could be deceived by the reds. He is only making sure the real facts come out.

If you don't agree that his facts are true please correct them, else understand why its important not to have lies on a forum that can influence people. Newspapers are often accepted as truths and new members might believe this shit.

[ginjag]

It does not protect criminal actions. Lots of politicians go to jail for stuff they did while in office.

If Bush or Blair personally profited from going to war in Afghanistan, you bet they'd be prosecuted.

Do her actions rise to the level of "criminal actions"? That's what the trial is about.

you don't think lying about WMD is criminal? anyway we digress... you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't... if the trial is about as you suggest then fair enough she was corrupt but everyone and their dog knows what this trial is about

you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't...

Yes i think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY but there is not enough evidence at this time to charge her with that crime.

you gotta be joking right??? not even her worst enemies are stupid enough to think she took back handers from the rice scheme but I guess you think Elvis is alive? Lord Lucan is sunning himself in Spain and the Lock Ness Monster pops to say 'hi' every few decades?

Why the Yingluck back-up ?? you personally have NO idea who personally gained, the court will decide on evidence--squealers--etc and her tripping herself up.

example---Elvis--Lucan-Nessie-- I have a feeling yours is the joke post.

Take in the real facts of her antics from day one she was placed in the P.M. position by her brother/PTP................out of the country most of the time----never or rarely attending meetings as chairperson--rare attendances in parliament--near nil interviews on the Thailand situation--defense Minister ?? when did she attend defense meetings??-----do you consider her a suitable P.M. ??--------------I have an idea you are among the minority on TVF that just want to oppose for the sake of it. Because I cannot for the life of me see how anyone can back her on the 3 year non achievements.

[robblok]

Depends mate, fact is there was no budget for the rice scam, and if you don't budget for it knowing it cost money its negligence. The budget was already overstretched and could not bear it so they kept it off books. However they needed the rice scam to keep the voters happy.

Did she benefit..sure.. not financially but she would not be as popular or even win an election if it was not for the vote buying policies she did. This was one of them a major one.

Now 2 of her top underlings have been implicated in fake G2G deals where companies allied to Thaksin bought rice pretending to be Chinese government (so they could get a low price as it was stated only governments could get a lower price on sales) and then they resold it for a higher price back into the program. So they benefited and you can bet your bottom dollar Thaksin took his cut.

Now also not forget she checked the rice.. said it was good quality (we know it was rotting and loods of it of worse quality as it was registered) and noting was missing (we seen the figures enough missing). That is also negligence.

you don't think if we tried all politicians for negligence the worlds jail's would not be full??? it's absurd and nothing to do with that as we all know, hopefully even you, that this is entirely about 'something else'

I know in my country it would be tried as its a grave financial sin not to include something in a budget if you know about the cost. People have been persecuted for it especially in projects that started to cost far more as they were budgeted and the people knew this but kept it hidden. That is exactly what happened here. These are financial crimes even more so as this was a project to buy votes. Try that one back home and see where it lands you.

[Plutojames88]

Trial looms for Thailand's deposed PM Yingluck

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the start of a negligence trial which could see her jailed for a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Yingluck -- sister of fugitive billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago.

A guilty conviction could deliver a hammer blow to the political dominance of her family, but it also risks stirring up the powerful grassroots "Red Shirt" movement that supports her family but has remained largely inactive since the the military took over.

Yingluck is accused of criminal negligence over a populist but economically disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

She is not accused of corruption but of failing to prevent alleged graft within the programme, which cost billions of dollars and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme, a move which banned her from politics for five years.

"I believe a hawkish faction in the old powers... wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can," Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.

"But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more," she added.

Yingluck is expected to appear in person at the trial, which is being heard by the Supreme Court on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.

On Monday Thailand's Attorney General warned an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to appear without good reason.

Yingluck herself has defended the controversial rice scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers" in the poor northeast of a country where subsidies to farmers have long been a cornerstone of Thai politics.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies.

As a result, the Shinawatra family have faced two coups and the removal of three of their premiers by the Thai courts, while several deadly rounds of protest have rocked Bangkok and dragged on the Thai economy.

Former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law to Yingluck and Thaksin, is also facing criminal charges over a crackdown against anti-Shinawatra protesters in 2008.

Analysts say Yingluck trial is likely to drag on in order to keep her bogged down in ongoing legal challenges.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

Where to start with this crap-fest of a 'news' article. I think the author of this piece is clearly distorting the truth as exampled below.

and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

The protests were over an illegally passed 'blanket' amnesty bill that would bring Thaksin home and restore his wealth and position in the Thai political world as well as excuse 27,000 other corruption cases against politicians and NOT the Rice Scheme.

wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can

No, just the criminal ones.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme

She was found guilty by the Supreme Court for Office Holders of nepotism in the transfer of a high-ranking Civil Service member and for that she was impeached; not for the rice scheme scam.

But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more

More angry than they were when Jatuporn, Nattawut, Weng, Thaksin, and company were preaching hatred every night from the Red stage in their blockaded downtown enclave?

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras

That's the party line. Bangkok citizens must be nearly all be elite because they overwhelming voted against Thaksin's choice for Bangkok governor, 'Patsy the Lightpole'. Yingluck's party couldn't get 40% votes in uncontested districts to win the last election and couldn't get enough seats to make a Parliament. The poor, rural voters in the South wouldn't vote for Yingluck if she was the only candidate and most, formerly supportive, districts with poor didn't show up to vote for the Shinawatra puppet government, either. The North and NE is not so 'fiercely' loyal anymore now the fiasco of a Rice Support Scheme has been exposed for the corrupt enterprise it was.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and

Thaksin was not PM or even caretaker PM when the Army stepped in. He had dissolved Parliament, held new elections that his party got caught cheating in so they were annulled, after 60 days his caretaker status ran out and he stepped down and Police General Chitchai Wannasathit (Acting Prime Minister by Royal Command) 5 April 2006 - 23 May 2006, was appointed caretaker PM. Seven weeks later, Thaksin unlawfully reoccupied the PM's office and it was longer than four months after the annulled election before the Army stepped in (still no new election had been scheduled). How do you topple someone with no right to be there?

now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

Correction, not on a corruption charge but a corruption CONVICTION. A felony conviction, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison which he didn't bother to appeal.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

Two of those elections were nullified; the 2006 one for cheating and the 2013 one for not having enough support to get their MPs elected. Those so-called 'allied parties' were, in actuality, created and controlled by Thaksin.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies

Maybe the Shinawatra's croynism, corruption, and financially ruinous populist policies are exactly the reason their opponents became their opponents.

TVF might as well publish Robert Amsterdam's propaganda screeds as republish this trash from AFP.

Nobody forced or is forcing you to read it apart from your own hatred which has never been in any doubt.

If something irks me to the point it makes my blood boil, I tend not to read it, but you can't help yourself as it's the only thing, as in your hatred that seems to keep you going here in Thailand ?

Do you think I am responding to this article to vent my spleen? No, there are new forum members and members who are new to Thailand and there is a possibility they will take this article as truth. I know because I argue every day on this forum with those who believe this propaganda and push these 'facts'. It doesn't make my blood boil; I am too old to waste energy on anger or even getting upset. When I see distortions, I want to correct them. You don't have any problems with that, do you?

You claim to like correcting distortion' s while being also against propaganda ?

It would seem at odds with those holding power by force.

( Something that isn't against your sensitivities it seems)

Your leader and his non elected representatives have the most silly Polls and news items here to digest daily.

Claims of world leadership in one thing or another ( In the future ) to popularity , to tourism numbers , and elections and power, to what media should say and act......

Yet in your self appointed wisdom we hear not one correction of this propaganda ?

A service you seem lovingly able and willing to want provide to new readers not yet in the ""know"?

Aside from your non sense and opinionated trivial annoyances which matter not here except to those foolish enough to not spot an ill informed person ranting.

The audacity of (you and your pandering associated kind here) pretending the restricted freedoms on press and the distorted news is not your own side is pathetic .

You may marvel in the mirror at your intellect think your corrections are wise.

But the rest of the world have no doubt as do we here as to where the fabrication lie.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Plutojames88

[Robby nz]

It does not protect criminal actions. Lots of politicians go to jail for stuff they did while in office.

If Bush or Blair personally profited from going to war in Afghanistan, you bet they'd be prosecuted.

Do her actions rise to the level of "criminal actions"? That's what the trial is about.

you don't think lying about WMD is criminal? anyway we digress... you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't... if the trial is about as you suggest then fair enough she was corrupt but everyone and their dog knows what this trial is about

you think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY? no... that's right she didn't...

Yes i think she profited from the Rice Scheme PERSONALLY but there is not enough evidence at this time to charge her with that crime.

you gotta be joking right??? not even her worst enemies are stupid enough to think she took back handers from the rice scheme but I guess you think Elvis is alive? Lord Lucan is sunning himself in Spain and the Lock Ness Monster pops to say 'hi' every few decades?

Its not a matter of her taking back handers.

The TDRI estimated that there was top end corruption of 111 billion in the rice pledging scheme. That does not include not include corruption by farmers, rice millers, warehouse owners or Govt officials.

Where do you think all those billions went and do you really believe that some did not reach the coffers of the big boss and that his clone would not get her share.

It is quite probable that she doesnt even know what is salted (hidden) away overseas but there is little doubt that even if all her declared assets in Thailand are seized she will not be left a pauper.

[exbikey]

Trial looms for Thailand's deposed PM Yingluck

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the start of a negligence trial which could see her jailed for a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Yingluck -- sister of fugitive billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago.

A guilty conviction could deliver a hammer blow to the political dominance of her family, but it also risks stirring up the powerful grassroots "Red Shirt" movement that supports her family but has remained largely inactive since the the military took over.

Yingluck is accused of criminal negligence over a populist but economically disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

She is not accused of corruption but of failing to prevent alleged graft within the programme, which cost billions of dollars and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme, a move which banned her from politics for five years.

"I believe a hawkish faction in the old powers... wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can," Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.

"But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more," she added.

Yingluck is expected to appear in person at the trial, which is being heard by the Supreme Court on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.

On Monday Thailand's Attorney General warned an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to appear without good reason.

Yingluck herself has defended the controversial rice scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers" in the poor northeast of a country where subsidies to farmers have long been a cornerstone of Thai politics.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies.

As a result, the Shinawatra family have faced two coups and the removal of three of their premiers by the Thai courts, while several deadly rounds of protest have rocked Bangkok and dragged on the Thai economy.

Former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law to Yingluck and Thaksin, is also facing criminal charges over a crackdown against anti-Shinawatra protesters in 2008.

Analysts say Yingluck trial is likely to drag on in order to keep her bogged down in ongoing legal challenges.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

Where to start with this crap-fest of a 'news' article. I think the author of this piece is clearly distorting the truth as exampled below.

and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

The protests were over an illegally passed 'blanket' amnesty bill that would bring Thaksin home and restore his wealth and position in the Thai political world as well as excuse 27,000 other corruption cases against politicians and NOT the Rice Scheme.

wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can

No, just the criminal ones.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme

She was found guilty by the Supreme Court for Office Holders of nepotism in the transfer of a high-ranking Civil Service member and for that she was impeached; not for the rice scheme scam.

But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more

More angry than they were when Jatuporn, Nattawut, Weng, Thaksin, and company were preaching hatred every night from the Red stage in their blockaded downtown enclave?

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras

That's the party line. Bangkok citizens must be nearly all be elite because they overwhelming voted against Thaksin's choice for Bangkok governor, 'Patsy the Lightpole'. Yingluck's party couldn't get 40% votes in uncontested districts to win the last election and couldn't get enough seats to make a Parliament. The poor, rural voters in the South wouldn't vote for Yingluck if she was the only candidate and most, formerly supportive, districts with poor didn't show up to vote for the Shinawatra puppet government, either. The North and NE is not so 'fiercely' loyal anymore now the fiasco of a Rice Support Scheme has been exposed for the corrupt enterprise it was.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and

Thaksin was not PM or even caretaker PM when the Army stepped in. He had dissolved Parliament, held new elections that his party got caught cheating in so they were annulled, after 60 days his caretaker status ran out and he stepped down and Police General Chitchai Wannasathit (Acting Prime Minister by Royal Command) 5 April 2006 - 23 May 2006, was appointed caretaker PM. Seven weeks later, Thaksin unlawfully reoccupied the PM's office and it was longer than four months after the annulled election before the Army stepped in (still no new election had been scheduled). How do you topple someone with no right to be there?

now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

Correction, not on a corruption charge but a corruption CONVICTION. A felony conviction, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison which he didn't bother to appeal.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

Two of those elections were nullified; the 2006 one for cheating and the 2013 one for not having enough support to get their MPs elected. Those so-called 'allied parties' were, in actuality, created and controlled by Thaksin.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies

Maybe the Shinawatra's croynism, corruption, and financially ruinous populist policies are exactly the reason their opponents became their opponents.

TVF might as well publish Robert Amsterdam's propaganda screeds as republish this trash from AFP.

Nobody forced or is forcing you to read it apart from your own hatred which has never been in any doubt.

If something irks me to the point it makes my blood boil, I tend not to read it, but you can't help yourself as it's the only thing, as in your hatred that seems to keep you going here in Thailand

FH, may I suggest that in the interest of maintaining your continued good health you follow your sound advice and, in future, refrain from reading anything further posted by Plutojames88

[Fat Haggis]

Trial looms for Thailand's deposed PM Yingluck

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the start of a negligence trial which could see her jailed for a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Yingluck -- sister of fugitive billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago.

A guilty conviction could deliver a hammer blow to the political dominance of her family, but it also risks stirring up the powerful grassroots "Red Shirt" movement that supports her family but has remained largely inactive since the the military took over.

Yingluck is accused of criminal negligence over a populist but economically disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

She is not accused of corruption but of failing to prevent alleged graft within the programme, which cost billions of dollars and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme, a move which banned her from politics for five years.

"I believe a hawkish faction in the old powers... wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can," Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.

"But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more," she added.

Yingluck is expected to appear in person at the trial, which is being heard by the Supreme Court on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.

On Monday Thailand's Attorney General warned an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to appear without good reason.

Yingluck herself has defended the controversial rice scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers" in the poor northeast of a country where subsidies to farmers have long been a cornerstone of Thai politics.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies.

As a result, the Shinawatra family have faced two coups and the removal of three of their premiers by the Thai courts, while several deadly rounds of protest have rocked Bangkok and dragged on the Thai economy.

Former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law to Yingluck and Thaksin, is also facing criminal charges over a crackdown against anti-Shinawatra protesters in 2008.

Analysts say Yingluck trial is likely to drag on in order to keep her bogged down in ongoing legal challenges.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

Where to start with this crap-fest of a 'news' article. I think the author of this piece is clearly distorting the truth as exampled below.

and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

The protests were over an illegally passed 'blanket' amnesty bill that would bring Thaksin home and restore his wealth and position in the Thai political world as well as excuse 27,000 other corruption cases against politicians and NOT the Rice Scheme.

wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can

No, just the criminal ones.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme

She was found guilty by the Supreme Court for Office Holders of nepotism in the transfer of a high-ranking Civil Service member and for that she was impeached; not for the rice scheme scam.

But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more

More angry than they were when Jatuporn, Nattawut, Weng, Thaksin, and company were preaching hatred every night from the Red stage in their blockaded downtown enclave?

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras

That's the party line. Bangkok citizens must be nearly all be elite because they overwhelming voted against Thaksin's choice for Bangkok governor, 'Patsy the Lightpole'. Yingluck's party couldn't get 40% votes in uncontested districts to win the last election and couldn't get enough seats to make a Parliament. The poor, rural voters in the South wouldn't vote for Yingluck if she was the only candidate and most, formerly supportive, districts with poor didn't show up to vote for the Shinawatra puppet government, either. The North and NE is not so 'fiercely' loyal anymore now the fiasco of a Rice Support Scheme has been exposed for the corrupt enterprise it was.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and

Thaksin was not PM or even caretaker PM when the Army stepped in. He had dissolved Parliament, held new elections that his party got caught cheating in so they were annulled, after 60 days his caretaker status ran out and he stepped down and Police General Chitchai Wannasathit (Acting Prime Minister by Royal Command) 5 April 2006 - 23 May 2006, was appointed caretaker PM. Seven weeks later, Thaksin unlawfully reoccupied the PM's office and it was longer than four months after the annulled election before the Army stepped in (still no new election had been scheduled). How do you topple someone with no right to be there?

now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

Correction, not on a corruption charge but a corruption CONVICTION. A felony conviction, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison which he didn't bother to appeal.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

Two of those elections were nullified; the 2006 one for cheating and the 2013 one for not having enough support to get their MPs elected. Those so-called 'allied parties' were, in actuality, created and controlled by Thaksin.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies

Maybe the Shinawatra's croynism, corruption, and financially ruinous populist policies are exactly the reason their opponents became their opponents.

TVF might as well publish Robert Amsterdam's propaganda screeds as republish this trash from AFP.

Nobody forced or is forcing you to read it apart from your own hatred which has never been in any doubt.

If something irks me to the point it makes my blood boil, I tend not to read it, but you can't help yourself as it's the only thing, as in your hatred that seems to keep you going here in Thailand ?

Do you think I am responding to this article to vent my spleen? No, there are new forum members and members who are new to Thailand and there is a possibility they will take this article as truth. I know because I argue every day on this forum with those who believe this propaganda and push these 'facts'. It doesn't make my blood boil; I am too old to waste energy on anger or even getting upset. When I see distortions, I want to correct them. You don't have any problems with that, do you?

Anyone who is serious about Thai politics and the power struggles ongoing to include those power struggles prior to Thaksin needs to read lots of stuff, including banned material to be able to get a look at the bigger picture.

Otherwise it's propaganda pushed out whatever side, to include the Reds and the yellows, to suit their agendas.

Isn't it up to the individual to draw their own conclusions?

I read your links it offers perspectives, but at the end of the day, it's down to what I want to believe, it's freedom of choice.

Sure the AFP is crap, hence why I don't bother with it, it's a shame lots stuff is "prohibited" as it really does offer up lots of different views.

[Baerboxer]

Depends mate, fact is there was no budget for the rice scam, and if you don't budget for it knowing it cost money its negligence. The budget was already overstretched and could not bear it so they kept it off books. However they needed the rice scam to keep the voters happy.

Did she benefit..sure.. not financially but she would not be as popular or even win an election if it was not for the vote buying policies she did. This was one of them a major one.

Now 2 of her top underlings have been implicated in fake G2G deals where companies allied to Thaksin bought rice pretending to be Chinese government (so they could get a low price as it was stated only governments could get a lower price on sales) and then they resold it for a higher price back into the program. So they benefited and you can bet your bottom dollar Thaksin took his cut.

Now also not forget she checked the rice.. said it was good quality (we know it was rotting and loods of it of worse quality as it was registered) and noting was missing (we seen the figures enough missing). That is also negligence.

you don't think if we tried all politicians for negligence the worlds jail's would not be full??? it's absurd and nothing to do with that as we all know, hopefully even you, that this is entirely about 'something else'

Your attempts at diversion just aren't working anymore.

This trial is about Yingluck and her behavior when PM and Chair of the rice policy committee.

Nothing to do with any other politicians, And please, don't try and say "something else" is the excuse for Yingluck's lies, cheats, and illegal acts.

Note you been a member of this forum since March 2015. Yet your style seems so so familiar.........................................

[smedly]

Trial looms for Thailand's deposed PM Yingluck

AFP

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's first female prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the start of a negligence trial which could see her jailed for a decade.

It is the latest legal move against Yingluck -- sister of fugitive billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago.

A guilty conviction could deliver a hammer blow to the political dominance of her family, but it also risks stirring up the powerful grassroots "Red Shirt" movement that supports her family but has remained largely inactive since the the military took over.

Yingluck is accused of criminal negligence over a populist but economically disastrous rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.

She is not accused of corruption but of failing to prevent alleged graft within the programme, which cost billions of dollars and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme, a move which banned her from politics for five years.

"I believe a hawkish faction in the old powers... wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can," Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.

"But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more," she added.

Yingluck is expected to appear in person at the trial, which is being heard by the Supreme Court on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.

On Monday Thailand's Attorney General warned an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to appear without good reason.

Yingluck herself has defended the controversial rice scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers" in the poor northeast of a country where subsidies to farmers have long been a cornerstone of Thai politics.

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies.

As a result, the Shinawatra family have faced two coups and the removal of three of their premiers by the Thai courts, while several deadly rounds of protest have rocked Bangkok and dragged on the Thai economy.

Former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law to Yingluck and Thaksin, is also facing criminal charges over a crackdown against anti-Shinawatra protesters in 2008.

Analysts say Yingluck trial is likely to drag on in order to keep her bogged down in ongoing legal challenges.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-05-19

Where to start with this crap-fest of a 'news' article. I think the author of this piece is clearly distorting the truth as exampled below.

and galvanised the protests that eventually felled her elected government leading to last May's coup.

The protests were over an illegally passed 'blanket' amnesty bill that would bring Thaksin home and restore his wealth and position in the Thai political world as well as excuse 27,000 other corruption cases against politicians and NOT the Rice Scheme.

wants to punish the Shinawatras as much as they can

No, just the criminal ones.

Thailand's military-appointed parliament impeached Yingluck in January over the scheme

She was found guilty by the Supreme Court for Office Holders of nepotism in the transfer of a high-ranking Civil Service member and for that she was impeached; not for the rice scheme scam.

But keeping her in prison will definitely anger the Red Shirts even more

More angry than they were when Jatuporn, Nattawut, Weng, Thaksin, and company were preaching hatred every night from the Red stage in their blockaded downtown enclave?

The army takeover last year was the latest twist in a decade of political turbulence that broadly pits a Bangkok-based elite, backed by parts of the military and judiciary, against poor urban and rural voters, particularly in the country's north, who are fiercely loyal to the Shinawatras

That's the party line. Bangkok citizens must be nearly all be elite because they overwhelming voted against Thaksin's choice for Bangkok governor, 'Patsy the Lightpole'. Yingluck's party couldn't get 40% votes in uncontested districts to win the last election and couldn't get enough seats to make a Parliament. The poor, rural voters in the South wouldn't vote for Yingluck if she was the only candidate and most, formerly supportive, districts with poor didn't show up to vote for the Shinawatra puppet government, either. The North and NE is not so 'fiercely' loyal anymore now the fiasco of a Rice Support Scheme has been exposed for the corrupt enterprise it was.

Thaksin was himself toppled by a previous coup in 2006 and

Thaksin was not PM or even caretaker PM when the Army stepped in. He had dissolved Parliament, held new elections that his party got caught cheating in so they were annulled, after 60 days his caretaker status ran out and he stepped down and Police General Chitchai Wannasathit (Acting Prime Minister by Royal Command) 5 April 2006 - 23 May 2006, was appointed caretaker PM. Seven weeks later, Thaksin unlawfully reoccupied the PM's office and it was longer than four months after the annulled election before the Army stepped in (still no new election had been scheduled). How do you topple someone with no right to be there?

now lives in self-exile to avoid jail on a corruption charge.

Correction, not on a corruption charge but a corruption CONVICTION. A felony conviction, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison which he didn't bother to appeal.

The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.

Two of those elections were nullified; the 2006 one for cheating and the 2013 one for not having enough support to get their MPs elected. Those so-called 'allied parties' were, in actuality, created and controlled by Thaksin.

But their opponents accuse them of cronyism, corruption and financially ruinous populist policies

Maybe the Shinawatra's croynism, corruption, and financially ruinous populist policies are exactly the reason their opponents became their opponents.

TVF might as well publish Robert Amsterdam's propaganda screeds as republish this trash from AFP.

Nobody forced or is forcing you to read it apart from your own hatred which has never been in any doubt.

If something irks me to the point it makes my blood boil, I tend not to read it, but you can't help yourself as it's the only thing, as in your hatred that seems to keep you going here in Thailand ?

I am surprised at that reply, I see no reason to be critical of someone that is correcting a very badly and possibly biased news article with the actual facts - and facts being not an opinion

If you believe any of what he posted to be incorrect then please offer an alternative or at least make an attempt to correct any error you see for the benefit of us all because -

I personally find most if not all of what he said to be correct and accurate

[robblok]

FH, may I suggest that in the interest of maintaining your continued good health you follow your sound advice and, in future, refrain from reading anything further posted by Plutojames88

Nobody takes him seriously.. a newspaper is something different and holds far more weight as a post from a member. I can see the difference in commenting on one and not the other.

[Fat Haggis]

Smedley,

See my post above, it's NOT the contents, the contents are crap, it's reading them and whining about them, knowing they're crap.

If you knew a restaurant kept serving food that tastes awful and went right through would you keep going to it?

That's how I see AFP.

It's a bit like red shirt TV, nobody forces expats to watch it, but yet many feel compelled to have opinions on it without having the ability to understand or read Thai. Go figure ?

Edited May 19, 2015 by Fat Haggis

[Wombat6]

yes that's right... it's a fundamental right that anything said within the House cannot be said outside and THAT guarantees freedom to say what they really think and let's the PM and government not be fearful to have the same scenario as here

they cannot be sued, taken to court etc

That all may be true. But it's not relevant. She's not being sued for something she said.

totally and utterly relevant as it protects laws enacted, policies pursued and even wars fought whilst in power. Try taking to Court Bush over Iraq or Blair over Afghanistan it is absurd and no one would ever go into politics

You Just don't get it do you. The poster is quite correct when he said your post wasn't relevent in the case against Yingluck. Time for your tablet.

[LannaGuy]

Depends mate, fact is there was no budget for the rice scam, and if you don't budget for it knowing it cost money its negligence. The budget was already overstretched and could not bear it so they kept it off books. However they needed the rice scam to keep the voters happy.

Did she benefit..sure.. not financially but she would not be as popular or even win an election if it was not for the vote buying policies she did. This was one of them a major one.

Now 2 of her top underlings have been implicated in fake G2G deals where companies allied to Thaksin bought rice pretending to be Chinese government (so they could get a low price as it was stated only governments could get a lower price on sales) and then they resold it for a higher price back into the program. So they benefited and you can bet your bottom dollar Thaksin took his cut.

Now also not forget she checked the rice.. said it was good quality (we know it was rotting and loods of it of worse quality as it was registered) and noting was missing (we seen the figures enough missing). That is also negligence.

you don't think if we tried all politicians for negligence the worlds jail's would not be full??? it's absurd and nothing to do with that as we all know, hopefully even you, that this is entirely about 'something else'

Your attempts at diversion just aren't working anymore.

This trial is about Yingluck and her behavior when PM and Chair of the rice policy committee.

Nothing to do with any other politicians, And please, don't try and say "something else" is the excuse for Yingluck's lies, cheats, and illegal acts.

Note you been a member of this forum since March 2015. Yet your style seems so so familiar.........................................

working at the truth is a labor of love and I know you must be heart broken at some's attempts at bringing honesty, integrity and truth to the table so if my style is similar to other 'truth seekers' then so be it

you try, again and again, to deny that we cannot speak about 'other matters' and you deny again and again that there is an ulterior motive to her demise and I can't for the life of me understand WHY as it's so obvious yet you remain in denial