PM hits back at Thaksin

[rubl]

Come on, even those of you that approve of this government have to admit the General is making a prize tit of himself. Dear oh dear...

Is he? He strips a criminal fugitive of his former police rank and that's 'making a prize tit of himself"?

I think your reaction shows that at the moment not only Thaksin is clearly annoyed, but also some supporters, or some you keep on telling not to be his supporters.

Hurts, doesn't it? Thaksin no longer legally able to call himself Police Lieutenant-Colonel Dr. Thaksin, just plain old Dr. Thaksin.

[smedly]

I have not read any of the posts on this thread so it is purely in response to the OP topic

I am honestly fed up reading about this nonsense, it is not becoming of a PM running a country - enough already

and as for the rank thing, well the man is a criminal fugitive and a very divisive nasty piece of work, Thailand could be a very different place if he would just (deleted) off and take it on the chin - he will never be back here so enjoy your stolen billions and leave Thailand alone

[rubl]

Why is he scared of Thaksin?

That's a very good question. And the answer is - because Thaksin can call on an election-winning number of people to support him. Prayuth can call on his Mum, Prem and few of the barstool-squatters in TVF.

Oh, and the International community thinks he's an interloper. And they're right.

If he has so much support why does he not come home to a hero's welcome ? (this should be good)

300,000 soldiers. With guns. And tall hats.

And a few dozen folk who laughingly refer to themselves as judges - all of whom have had their orders. And about 300,000 nimrods who don't mind stopping the traffic in Bangkok. And Suthep/Abhisit'etc, collective IQ about 20 but who shout really really loud the way low-IQ people often do.

Obviously.

Did you *really have to ask why?

Thaksin plundered the nation, policy corruption to benefit his own companies, lunch boxes to judges containing millions of baht to swing criminal verdicts in his favour, he divided the country by openly saying those who voted for him would receive budgets first. The poor love him because of his populist policies but his policies have lost the nation billions, both the rice and rubber policies,All those empty rubber plantations now in Issan and the north- Thaksin's policy

Even the dreadful Airport Link was his idea..Come back Thaksin and face the charges about your NPL loans, looting of Krungthai Bank.

But the coward never admits to a mistake and runs away from responsibility.

Very revealing.You think Thaksin achieves victory after victory because the poor have been bribed with mostly defective populist policies.The educated section of the public oppose him.A crude summary but not I think unfair.

Don't you appreciate that this tension was and can be found in every society? The answer is to work toward social equality and fairness.In Thailand the Democrat Party in particular needs to invigorate itself.

Thaksin is getting on and will soon be irrelevant.His legacy good and bad will remain.Don't you think it would be better to concentrate on narrowing differences rather than obsessively focusing on Thaksin.

jayboy, I think you and I and a large number of both Democrat and Pheua Thai MPs actually agree on a lot of issues but until Pheua Thai and the red shirts can discard Thaksin Thailand is at deadlock.They have to stop being beholden to his money. But patronage politics is so deeply embedded. But despair leads nowhere. I still have hope for police and educational reform!

I agree.In addition to the worst aspects of Thaksinism being abandoned, the governing class must radically rethink its ideas and be little less arrogant.They should accept they do not have a monopoly on patriotism.They should take a leaf from the British upper class which has retained huge influence and wealth through a much more developed sense of enlightened self interest than its Thai counterpart.

I think police reform should be perfectly possible.Not sure about education.Neither possible under Junta in my view.

Agree in the main, but 2 points of divergence.

First I think we should accept as established fact that Thaksin turned from being admired by the amartya as one of their own to a pariah, simply because his popularity with the Thai people threatened to eclipse the popularity of people whose popularity should not be eclipsed if the revenue streams were to continue in perpetuity. The great unwashed, who became Thaksins natural constituency were much less able to be managed than the (non-Thai) educated, wealthy and in their own eyes 'more civilised' feudal barons among Sino-Thai old money and the Thai nouveau-riche who hoped to supplant them.

Secondly, I don't believe the bulk of his loyal following followed him loyally because of his money, this is (I think) a mistake and way too simplistic. They became a loyal following because he attended to their needs and addressed their justified feelings of having been consigned to forever scrabbling in the dust for scraps from the table of the rich people who became rich by exploiting them. They became an electorate, not a herd of buffaloes fit only for growing rice and menial labour, Dignity has quite a lot to do with it and I think this is generally under-appreciated.

2c worth.

Absolutely. Bread and games and handouts. It does have a certain type of dignity to it.

Anyway, I'm told that the red-shirts have grown beyond Thaksin. That was even before he was stripped of his former police rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

[silverado]

The very best advice to the General re Thaksin is to say NOTHING. Or to say, "he's no longer relevant", " my focus is on the future not the past", deflect, pass, ignore, but don't get angry and don't bite. He can't win if he continues to react.

he cannot win , wathever he bites or not, because he's stupid (first of all), and for lots of other reasons... based on what this divine savior of thailand has been showing us since last year

[Skywalker69]

Why is he scared of Thaksin?

That's a very good question. And the answer is - because Thaksin can call on an election-winning number of people to support him. Prayuth can call on his Mum, Prem and few of the barstool-squatters in TVF.

Oh, and the International community thinks he's an interloper. And they're right.

If he has so much support why does he not come home to a hero's welcome ? (this should be good)

300,000 soldiers. With guns. And tall hats.

And a few dozen folk who laughingly refer to themselves as judges - all of whom have had their orders. And about 300,000 nimrods who don't mind stopping the traffic in Bangkok. And Suthep/Abhisit'etc, collective IQ about 20 but who shout really really loud the way low-IQ people often do.

Obviously.

Did you *really have to ask why?

So why didn't he came back when PTP and Yingluck was running the show?

[metisdead]

Grammar police posts and replies have been removed. A post containing a derogatory generalization toward Thais has been removed.

[jayboy]

reconciliation, not

economic stimulus, not

democracy, not

what is this Prem-wannabe doing?

note to General, I don't think they let B-team losers onto the Privy Council.

Oh the fun of it all. I was told Thaksin couldn't care less, but he does seem as peeved off and a number of posters here.

Somehow some seem to have no problem with a criminal fugitive retaining his former police rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Must be likewise it their own countries I guess. Makes you wonder about the moral integrity of other police forces. The level of moral integrity of the Thai Police Force is not under discussion of course, all already formed an opinion.

[diehard60]

Thaksin being petulant as usual, his vanity knows no bounds, and his minions at Krungthai Bank have just received jail terms of 18 years.As the mastermind what can he expect ? More years of counting the grains of sand in the Dubai desert.

Do you even know what you are talking about???????

[bangarang]

Who needs to restore order to the people when you have more important things to do like stripping away army and police ranks over the course of months.... time well spent.

[baboon]

Come on, even those of you that approve of this government have to admit the General is making a prize tit of himself. Dear oh dear...

Is he? He strips a criminal fugitive of his former police rank and that's 'making a prize tit of himself"?

Where did I say that he was making a prize tit of himself for removing Thaksin's police rank? That's right, I didn't. Thankyou very much and better luck next time.

[MZurf]

"....he will never be back here so enjoy your stolen billions and leave Thailand alone"

On, but he might very well be back here. That's the reason for this whole pussyfooting around the rank revocation. Edited September 9, 2015 by MZurf

[ldiablo]

Don't let the crooks, the corrupt aand the law breakers have a standing space in society but don't be too harsh against them. So much for his crackdown on corruption. What an extremely stupid comment for him too have made. This guy is laughable.

[baboon]

"....he will never be back here so enjoy your stolen billions and leave Thailand alone"

On, but he might very well be back here. That's the reason for this whole pussyfooting around the rank revocation.

This is it. You cannot discount any scenario, especially in the light of the event which will have to take place sooner or later.

[Eric Loh]

Siripon you make it sound like it's only the Shinawatra family are capable of huge corruption. Us immigrants here know all this already, but we can also step back and see the bigger picture (well, most of us) he is just one of many, MANY corrupt Thai elite that have been raping Thailand and spitting on the poor before Thaksin was even on the political scene. It happened before him, while he was in power and now that he is gone. The army are in charge right now and has thousands of billionaire generals. How do you think they all got that rich? By being good little savers/stock market experts/married to rich wives?

The corruption problem in Thailand is bigger than the Shinawatra clan.

thousands of billionaire generals.-perhaps a little exaggerated regarding numbers but you're right regarding corruption. But that doesn't make Thaksin any the better, and this thread is about Prayud stripping Thaksin of his police rank.About time.

Anyway as regards to the billionaire generals, we can't talk about it, right? We have being warned. But Thaksin, it's no holds bar. Corruption is corruption and you can't talk about one and conveniently sidestepping the others. Just show that you are agenda driven.

[ldiablo]

@oxo1947. Where does it state that 40million us from taxpayers was sent to him to help him along? It doesn't, that's where. Stop mixing up facts with your fiction. It was seized from his children. Maybe you need to read the link again ssssllllooiwwwllllyyyy.

[Jon Wetherall]

The very best advice to the General re Thaksin is to say NOTHING. Or to say, "he's no longer relevant", " my focus is on the future not the past", deflect, pass, ignore, but don't get angry and don't bite. He can't win if he continues to react.

I don't get the impression the General is particularly cunning, savvy or even perceptive. He seems to publicly verbalize every emotion that moves him

This is a common weakness of Thais - I call it 'blurtitis', they do tend to just blurt stuff out - what the Americans sometimes call a 'brainfart' I think

Most people learn to have a cut-out mechanism, that interrupts the flow from thoughts/feelings to mouth. Thais seem not to have this or never to learn it. As soon as a thought or emotional state pops in, the mouth opens and out it pops again - the result of this in Mr P's case is often hilarious as the newspapers have demonstrated clearly/

I often tell my kids "think before you do and think before you speak" Even though they are 50% Thais, the message is getting through and the automatic component of their general behaviour is diminishing in favour of critical thought.

I think it's too late for the likes of Prayuth though, if this skill isn't learned during childhood, it generally isn't learned. Once they become convinced of their 'pooyay-ness' it's usually hopeless even trying.

But hey - he thinks he's wonderful so all is well. I have no regard for the man but that's unimportant since he has enough regard for himself to compensate for the loathing of the entire Thai nation.

[Searat7]

Thaksin should be ignored by the government and the media ; this will make him even more irrelevant and will reduce his influence on followers.

[toybits]

You have to admit that Thailand has bigger problems than stripping one person of his Title.

[hawker9000]

Thaksin being petulant as usual, his vanity knows no bounds, and his minions at Krungthai Bank have just received jail terms of 18 years.As the mastermind what can he expect ? More years of counting the grains of sand in the Dubai desert.

I imagine one could live happily ever after in Dubai with his resources. Doubt he's banished in the desert. Imagine how he could wind the General up if he really tried

Dubai? Happily ever after?? Yuk!! As they say, a nice place to visit, but ... Yeah, with his wealth, more than comfortable there certainly. No doubt about that. But if I could bask in luxury anywhere in the whole wide world, Dubai of all places would not be my first choice; or even on the short list... But while I know Thaksin's wealth does give him options, I sort o' suspect he'd not really find an open door (and outstretched hands) just anywhere, not on a permanent basis anyway.

Maybe we should start a new thread: "Where Would YOU Want To Go If It Were You?"

[Jon Wetherall]

Th

Glad to see you retain your delightfully batty set of priorities.That's exactly what Thailand needs now - another Orwellian hate fest.After all there aren't any more pressing issues to be dealt with.Still on the plus side it has the merit of distracting attention from the daily roll call of stupidity, corruption,arrogance, incompetence and brutality.

I don't think Thaksin is too concerned at being stuck in Dubai counting grains of sand.He seems to be far more welcome in far more countries than the Generalissimo.

I think Thaksin is very concerned at being stuck in the desert and unable to come back to his homeland. His own ex-wife and mother of his 3 children hasn't visited him in 7 years, I wonder why, perhaps his vanity was too much for her finally.

The older you get the more important family becomes and it must surely hurt to only have sand dunes to gaze at. Money can only do so much.

I agree with you.Exile is painful for all the reasons you mention and others.I just question the need for a hate fest.

There is no reason for a hate fest. Thaksin should be treated like any other citizen. He has jumped bail and faces imprisonment and warrants for numerous outstanding court cases. Either do something about it - or ignore him. But don't play silly spiteful tit for tat little games.

But of course they won't do anything meaningful, just like Red Bull boy will never appear in court, various murder and criminal cases will never be really solved and disappeared people will never be found. All to inconvenient and the masses might start realizing what those at the top are really like.

Successive governments have never reformed the police and judicial system so presumably things must work they way they like.

As for Thaksin - I'm sure his billions make him welcome in lots of places, and make him lots of "friends". But he won't come back to Thailand without his amnesty - too risky.

There most certainly is a need for a hate-fest and it's been systematically whipped up by the privileged and chattering classes in Thailand more or less ever since the Wat Phra Kaew beat-up. It's not an accident, nor is it naturally-occurring, it's been a deliberate strategy.

The only alternative to the hate campaign against Thaksin is to lay the blame for the massive problems Thailand, which are all self-created, has at the doors of the real authors of the misfortune - themselves and their godfathers.

In my opinion, the Thaksin-haters on TV are victims of a rudimentary opinion-shaping strategy by the privileged and chattering classes. Hook line and sinker. From a psychology perspective, there is a direct relationship between the effectiveness of poor propaganda (i.e. propaganda which relies mainly on telling the lie often enough without much more skill or science) and the IQ of the recipient. This is why the (USA designed and executed) propaganda campaigns in favour of the moneyed classes since the USA lost the Vietnam war have been so successful - a previous 3-4 decades of keeping the proletariat stupid, uneducated and poor, and it's why many people whose only obvious interests are cheap beer/women and occasional low-level chatter between themselves, fall victim to the same strategy. As the saying goes, "when you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds soon follow" and it's no secret that a certain category of foreigners are heavily influenced by the blandishments and opinions of a certain class of Thai woman.

So the hate campaign, albeit artificially generated beyond the point where people can actually remember what the substantive reasons were (if there were ever any) is both necessary to the feudal barons, and inevitable. For that reason, neither Thaksin himself (and I'm quite sure he doesn't give a flying Donald about it) nor anyone else should take the hatred seriously. Infra dignitatem.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Jon Wetherall

[pmarlowe]

Mr Prime Minister is engaging in the kind of repartee that is prevalent in the back of a school bus.

Or perhaps he is channeling the French knights when confronted by "Arthur, King of the Britons".

I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

Is there someone else up there we can talk to?

No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time ! ! !

We really could do with more Monty Python on this forum. Bravo...and I am dead serious.

[springheeled jack]

childish actions by childish people , thaksin was right there are far more important matters to attend to instead of listening to people who want to keep having a go at thaksin cha ocha should be doing the job of running the country.

[Songlaw]

Thaksin being petulant as usual, his vanity knows no bounds, and his minions at Krungthai Bank have just received jail terms of 18 years.As the mastermind what can he expect ? More years of counting the grains of sand in the Dubai desert.

Glad to see you retain your delightfully batty set of priorities.That's exactly what Thailand needs now - another Orwellian hate fest.After all there aren't any more pressing issues to be dealt with.Still on the plus side it has the merit of distracting attention from the daily roll call of stupidity, corruption,arrogance, incompetence and brutality.

I don't think Thaksin is too concerned at being stuck in Dubai counting grains of sand.He seems to be far more welcome in far more countries than the Generalissimo.

That is a lot of quarry brought down with essentially, one bullet. Nice shooting.

[Mot Dang]

“Don’t let the crooks, the corrupt and the law breakers to have a standing space in the society but we should not be too harsh against them,” he said.

What kind of gobbledygook is that ? The sentence is contradictory. One minute he's spitting bile and venom over the law breakers, but then says we should not be too harsh on them.

[Jon Wetherall]

childish actions by childish people , thaksin was right there are far more important matters to attend to instead of listening to people who want to keep having a go at thaksin cha ocha should be doing the job of running the country.

Indeed. And it's a tragedy (and bodes very ill for Thailand) that it's what he believes he *is* doing.

[jaidam]

There most certainly is a need for a hate-fest and it's been systematically whipped up by the privileged and chattering classes in Thailand more or less ever since the Wat Phra Kaew beat-up. It's not an accident, nor is it naturally-occurring, it's been a deliberate strategy.

The only alternative to the hate campaign against Thaksin is to lay the blame for the massive problems Thailand, which are all self-created, has at the doors of the real authors of the misfortune - themselves and their godfathers.

In my opinion, the Thaksin-haters on TV are victims of a rudimentary opinion-shaping strategy by the privileged and chattering classes. Hook line and sinker. From a psychology perspective, there is a direct relationship between the effectiveness of poor propaganda (i.e. propaganda which relies mainly on telling the lie often enough without much more skill or science) and the IQ of the recipient. This is why the (USA designed and executed) propaganda campaigns in favour of the moneyed classes since the USA lost the Vietnam war have been so successful - a previous 3-4 decades of keeping the proletariat stupid, uneducated and poor, and it's why many people whose only obvious interests are cheap beer/women and occasional low-level chatter between themselves, fall victim to the same strategy. As the saying goes, "when you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds soon follow" and it's no secret that a certain category of foreigners are heavily influenced by the blandishments and opinions of a certain class of Thai woman.

So the hate campaign, albeit artificially generated beyond the point where people can actually remember what the substantive reasons were (if there were ever any) is both necessary to the feudal barons, and inevitable. For that reason, neither Thaksin himself (and I'm quite sure he doesn't give a flying Donald about it) nor anyone else should take the hatred seriously. Infra dignitatem.

You mention the "privileged and chattering classes" twice. In your opinion, is Thaksin Shinawatra the elitist, multibillionaire recipient of telecommunications monopolies in Thailand, grandson of Princess Jantip na Chiangmai a member of these "privileged and chattering classes"??

I love it when somebody who has hopelessly swallowed very silly propaganda rails against the notion of others swallowing propaganda LOL

[sawadee1947]

they seem to be as really Good Buddies. Every week we hear some VERY interesting facts and stories about them. This week from PM about T. So next week the other way round. LOS

[mikemac]

The prime minister called Thaksin an unemployed while he had been working hard and more valuable than Thaksin.

Ooh, a pissing contest. I do enjoy a good pissing contest, though I doubt it's very useful to Thailand right now.

Reminds me of kids in a sandpit, but one of them is taking money from the Thai people and hasn't got the right or luxury of behaving like a big kid. No matter how good he is at it.

.........................."but one of them is taking money from the Thai people"................................

Grammar error ! What you should have written was - "but one of them was taking money from the Thai people".................but is now living in the desert in "self imposed exile" !

Oh, you junta lover boy,,,, where did the Gen get is wealth from ?

Nah, it's OK. You'll get used to Mike. The intellectual's intellectual. He tries hard.

Yes "Jon" ( ), you know me so well. As you should, you have been attacking me and publishing bs propaganda under a series of different names for a long time now.

Only a matter of time before you are banished again only to reappear later under the cover of a new identity.

Unfortunately for you your nasty, condescending writing style is so easy to recognize.

Flame away !

And Ikke, as usual your only defense of Thaksin is to attack anyone who is opposed to him. If you did that in a court of law the poor sap you were defending would "swing".

Sorry to disappoint you but you are wrong as usual. I am not a junta lover, could not care less if they went back to the barracks tomorrow. Don't care where the PM got his money as you obviously do. But I do know know your hero Thaksin is a criminal, on the run and evading a prison cell.

You can flame away as well, as I don't take any notice of you.

( I don't mind swapping comments with guys like Jayboy and Fat Haggis as they are genuine forum members, as opposed to posters like Jon, LG etc. who are nothing but posers. )

[Jon Wetherall]

There most certainly is a need for a hate-fest and it's been systematically whipped up by the privileged and chattering classes in Thailand more or less ever since the Wat Phra Kaew beat-up. It's not an accident, nor is it naturally-occurring, it's been a deliberate strategy.

The only alternative to the hate campaign against Thaksin is to lay the blame for the massive problems Thailand, which are all self-created, has at the doors of the real authors of the misfortune - themselves and their godfathers.

In my opinion, the Thaksin-haters on TV are victims of a rudimentary opinion-shaping strategy by the privileged and chattering classes. Hook line and sinker. From a psychology perspective, there is a direct relationship between the effectiveness of poor propaganda (i.e. propaganda which relies mainly on telling the lie often enough without much more skill or science) and the IQ of the recipient. This is why the (USA designed and executed) propaganda campaigns in favour of the moneyed classes since the USA lost the Vietnam war have been so successful - a previous 3-4 decades of keeping the proletariat stupid, uneducated and poor, and it's why many people whose only obvious interests are cheap beer/women and occasional low-level chatter between themselves, fall victim to the same strategy. As the saying goes, "when you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds soon follow" and it's no secret that a certain category of foreigners are heavily influenced by the blandishments and opinions of a certain class of Thai woman.

So the hate campaign, albeit artificially generated beyond the point where people can actually remember what the substantive reasons were (if there were ever any) is both necessary to the feudal barons, and inevitable. For that reason, neither Thaksin himself (and I'm quite sure he doesn't give a flying Donald about it) nor anyone else should take the hatred seriously. Infra dignitatem.

You mention the "privileged and chattering classes" twice. In your opinion, is Thaksin Shinawatra the elitist, multibillionaire recipient of telecommunications monopolies in Thailand, grandson of Princess Jantip na Chiangmai a member of these "privileged and chattering classes"??

I love it when somebody who has hopelessly swallowed very silly propaganda rails against the notion of others swallowing propaganda LOL

You mention the "privileged and chattering classes" twice. In your opinion, is Thaksin Shinawatra the elitist, multibillionaire recipient of telecommunications monopolies in Thailand, grandson of Princess Jantip na Chiangmai a member of these "privileged and chattering classes"??

Yes. Or was, as I stated and have stated previously. Perhaps you weren't paying attention?

I love it when somebody who has hopelessly swallowed very silly propaganda rails against the notion of others swallowing propaganda

Yes, I bet you do love that. But then I doubt you could deny being onn\e of just the persons you try to mock (in a semi-literate kind of a way).

LOL

LOL... that tells me all I need to know about you and how much notice I should take. Thanks for reading.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Jon Wetherall

[rubl]

Come on, even those of you that approve of this government have to admit the General is making a prize tit of himself. Dear oh dear...

Is he? He strips a criminal fugitive of his former police rank and that's 'making a prize tit of himself"?

Where did I say that he was making a prize tit of himself for removing Thaksin's police rank? That's right, I didn't. Thankyou very much and better luck next time.

Correct, you just suggest that others should have to come to that conclusion, because you seem to think so.