PM Prayut apologizes for latest flare-up at reporters

[MockingJay]

[Moonsterk]

The Nation ran an article Feb 4th along these lines " PM conveys apologies.." with this little gem- had quite a good laugh from it.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office has begun restructuring its publicity strategy by stressing proactive methods and opting for more online and social media channels to reach the masses.

The restructuring project is called the "State's PR is Sincere and Determined to Dispel Public Problems and Boost Wellbeing".
(Or the SPRiSaDtDPPaBW for short.)

PM's Office Minister Panadda Diskul has instructed the government's PR Department and the Office of the PM's Permanent Secretary to have all state PR agencies change their approach.

The PR offices are required to analyse the social, economic and political situation regularly and use this analysis to help ward off problems in according with government instructions....

(Makes you wonder what was the prior approach?)

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/PM-conveys-apologies-for-his-latest-outburst-30278507.html

Edited February 12, 2016 by Moonsterk

[elgordo38]

Soldiers are hot tempered so don't blame me as I'm just in ' character ' but it's hardly the best temperament for a leader supposed to be making sound, logical and well thought out decisions to have and he's admitted it.

If soldiers are hot tempered I hope none of them get mad and start a war ooops sorry they already have against those blaggard bridge players.

[mercman24]

normal Thai upbringing, lose your temper then next day, "so solly", and this guy running a country. the mind boggles.

[Srikcir]

Good, disciplined, seasoned, PROFESSIONAL soldiers are NOT hot tempered. In fact to the contrary, they are highly disciplined and adept at putting the deadpan face on when times get tough. This guy was never a real soldier, and is now a pure embarrassment to Thailand.

Oh and also have to throw in that this Sanserm guy is such a BS artist that it is actually painful to read anything that he's said because 99.999999999% of it is total nonsense. Thailand is doomed if these people are ever allowed near politics again in future

Not entirely true, in 1983 col. Prayut and his boys where surrounded by Vietnamese troops in Phanom Pa on Thai soil. He was about to be destroyed when buddy junior Udomdej came to the rescue, They fought the Vietnamese troops for a month before reclaiming Thai soil and pushing the Vietnamese back over the border. But for the rest I agree completely.

Do you have an independent confirmation of this seemingly heroic battle by the Thai Armed Forces?

I find only two sources of battles between Thailand and Vietnam military troops in 1983:

1. Wikipedia, Vietnamese Border Raids into Thailand (1983 timeline)

March 31^st - "1,000 Vietnamese troops, augmented by about 600 PRK "people's volunteers," attacked the Khmer Rouge refugee settlements of Phnom Chat and Chamkar Kor,. Thai officials claimed that the Vietnamese attacks again had resulted in "spillovers" of Vietnamese artillery and mortar shells falling into adjacent Thai territory. Vietnamese troops clashed with Thai forces for several days, drawing Bangkok into a defensive campaign. "

2. Letter to the UN Secretary-General from Thailand’s UN Representative M.L. Birabhongse Kasemsri dated April 15, 1983

“On 1 April 1983, between 11.00 a.m. and 7.30 p.m., some 500 Vietnamese troops intruded 2 kilometres into Thai territory, at Ta Phraya District, Prachinburi Province, and were pushed back by the Thai Armed Forces. As a result, seven Thai soldiers were wounded.”

“On 2 April 1983, at 3.40 pm, a group of 100 Vietnamese troops intruded into Thai territory through a pass between Phnom Pra and Phnom Chat Mountains, Prachinburi Province, and clashed with the Thai Armed Forces. As a result, five Thai soldiers were killed with seven injured. “

Kampuchea.pdf

Neither the March 31^st, April 1^st nor the April 2^nd engagements seem to fit your storyline that was originally posted recently in a Bangkok news paper.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Good, disciplined, seasoned, PROFESSIONAL soldiers are NOT hot tempered. In fact to the contrary, they are highly disciplined and adept at putting the deadpan face on when times get tough. This guy was never a real soldier, and is now a pure embarrassment to Thailand.

Oh and also have to throw in that this Sanserm guy is such a BS artist that it is actually painful to read anything that he's said because 99.999999999% of it is total nonsense. Thailand is doomed if these people are ever allowed near politics again in future

Not entirely true, in 1983 col. Prayut and his boys where surrounded by Vietnamese troops in Phanom Pa on Thai soil. He was about to be destroyed when buddy junior Udomdej came to the rescue, They fought the Vietnamese troops for a month before reclaiming Thai soil and pushing the Vietnamese back over the border. But for the rest I agree completely.

That's an interesting story... Do you have some source to substantiate it???

[AlQaholic]

Yeah, I think Bkk post and other media have been spoon-fed the story by Prayut's propaganda machine, they just swallow and write, being Thai media not bothering to dig more.

I should have been more professional in my own digging, my apologies, I could not find anything on the web to substantiate the story in Bkk post.

[jerojero]

Again a flare up? Not surprised at the flare up, but am at the apology!

[spidermike007]

Yeah, I think Bkk post and other media have been spoon-fed the story by Prayut's propaganda machine, they just swallow and write, being Thai media not bothering to dig more.

I should have been more professional in my own digging, my apologies, I could not find anything on the web to substantiate the story in Bkk post.

Well, I think it goes far, far beyond not having the willingness to dig more. I think they are expressly forbidden to rock the boat too much, or there will be consequences. Much the same as the media during the Gulf campaign, when Dickless Cheney cowered the media into submission. Nobody knows what was said to the media, at that time, except the inner circle of the neocon fascists in charge. But, the media sure behaved themselves. Nobody crossed the line. Nobody. All the TV outlets and even the Washington Post behaved themselves.

[tuanku]

[tuanku]

[lvr181]

Not the first time - is he a slow learner? Once again, an apology solves all - NOT.

Thinking before action is usually the best idea, minimises the chances of making avoidable mistakes and poor judgements.

[JAG]

Yeah, I think Bkk post and other media have been spoon-fed the story by Prayut's propaganda machine, they just swallow and write, being Thai media not bothering to dig more.

I should have been more professional in my own digging, my apologies, I could not find anything on the web to substantiate the story in Bkk post.

Like post#35, I too had a good dig around and could find no record of an engagement on that scale at that time. I agree, and think it was a rather unsubtle attempt to "create a legend".

Interestingly, in most armies, as a Colonel, allowing your unit to be surrounded and almost overrun, so that another unit had to fight through to rescue you, would be regarded as something of a career limiting result. With that on your"CV" you would certainly be unlikely to rise to command of the whole shebang!