Prawit admits election may be delayed 'if risk of damage'

[bark]

9 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Oh  great  arm chair quarter backs,  just wondering.  Did  any

of  you  remember 2 governments  ago.  I  was  in Thailand  when

the  Reds  and Yellows  were  at  each others  throats,  and someone

buggered off in a jet to escape jail.  What  no  recollection?  Shame,

as it seems  that some of  you  want Thailand to return to those days.

Do not  for  one  minute  forget  that  the  Thai  people are still wearing

black  for  a  very  serious  reason. If Thailand  does not want  to maybe

get a true  democratic government on this  next attempt, well  they can

certainly slide back into what they  had  in  the  past. Try  remember that

if you all cannot remember anything else.  I would  rather see another

delay  instead  of  another  mistake.

Just my personal opinion of course

Geezer 

There have been 20 coups in Thailand. Mistakes happen

[DavidVincent]

No election before 2018/2019 for sure

[dcsw53]

Elections and referenda are dangerous things, Prawit has reason to be cautious. The way the world has been recently the wrong party might win. That is why they have warned us that the votes will take months to count, so the result will be "correct".

[lvr181]

8 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Oh  great  arm chair quarter backs,  just wondering.  Did  any

of  you  remember 2 governments  ago.  I  was  in Thailand  when

the  Reds  and Yellows  were  at  each others  throats,  and someone

buggered off in a jet to escape jail.  What  no  recollection?  Shame,

as it seems  that some of  you  want Thailand to return to those days.

Do not  for  one  minute  forget  that  the  Thai  people are still wearing

black  for  a  very  serious  reason. If Thailand  does not want  to maybe

get a true  democratic government on this  next attempt, well  they can

certainly slide back into what they  had  in  the  past. Try  remember that

if you all cannot remember anything else.  I would  rather see another

delay  instead  of  another  mistake.

Just my personal opinion of course

Geezer 

 

A degree of truth in what you say, but I have difficulty in accepting the ongoing "claims" that the current Government makes about anything, let alone a return to democracy. Democracy as it was practiced in the past in Thailand was a failure for the average Thai person - only benefited the rich and connected. Is this what the supporters of democracy want, in their quest for "pie in the sky" freedom of speech? In the meantime it just seems to me that some members of Government cannot seem to sleep straight in bed at night (just cannot bring themselves to tell the truth). And they are rapidly becoming "control freaks". Hear the excuses - want to digitize the economy, sounds good but all they want to do is to control the internet and media so that everyone will feel they cannot speak their mind or criticize what they see as being wrong. But whatever the outcome will be, the elite/military will always be in control until the average Thai person is fully educated and allowed to speak their mind and carryout peaceful protest (without violence).

[tigermoth]

The only possible action that could cause damage to the country is if they don't hold an election.

[impulse]

1 minute ago, tigermoth said:

The only possible action that could cause damage to the country is if they don't hold an election.

 

Or if they hold an election before the needed reforms- and the kleptocracy gets back into full swing.  Just like the last few dozen times.

[Eric Loh]

3 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Or if they hold an election before the needed reforms- and the kleptocracy gets back into full swing.  Just like the last few dozen times.

 Kleptocracy with absolute power and draconian laws against opinions and expression plus military courts and hauling citizens off the streets to camps - give me an elected government with the flaws anytime. 

[Bangkok Barry]

5 hours ago, sjaak327 said:

It would be good if he could specify what damage could possibly be caused by holding an election ?

 

In the end, the soon to be finished constitution already ensures any damage can be easily fixed...

 

The possibility of mob rule, blocked streets, intimidation of those who want to stand as candidates, total refusal to accept that one is able to have a different view to your own.... You know, things that led to the military taking over to prevent Thais tearing other apart last time.

[JAG]

1 hour ago, boomerangutang said:

 

Yes, that's part of the equation.  If you were to ask him (except we're lowly farang, and he's a VIP, so it's near impossible for us to ask him anything), .....he would mumble something like, "It's for stability of country."

 

That sort of answer has some credence, but let's scratch the surface and see why Thailand suffered such trauma with Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts and the Army and the Shinawatres, ......for so many years.

 

A root cause is;   The teeming masses voted for Thaksin.  They thought, because Thaksin was very rich, that he would make them all rich also.  They also thought Thaksin was too rich to ever be subject to influence by offers of money.   Thai voters were dead wrong, and the problems stemming from Thaksin are still reverberating today.   P.S.  Trump is the American Thaksin.

 

"The masses" voted for Thaksin (in 2001, again in 2005, again in 2006, for his proxy in 2007 and again for his proxy in 2011). That suggests to me a certain consistency over a sustained period. The reasons that they voted for him are many and varied, but undoubtedly the main driving factor was that they thought he would improve their lives (arguably he did). The last three election results were overturned by less than democratic means, to favour the military and their backers. That also suggests a certain consistency over a sustained period. This rather suggests to me that the root cause is in fact the repeated refusal of the military and those they serve to accept the repeated choice of "the masses".

 

Whilst I rather agree with much of what you have said lately about Trump, he is not an american version of Thaksin.

[Eric Loh]

48 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Oh  great  arm chair quarter backs,  just wondering.  Did  any

of  you  remember 2 governments  ago.  I  was  in Thailand  when

the  Reds  and Yellows  were  at  each others  throats....

 

Something that the military could have done to maintain peace but staging a coup was scripted in their original plan. You need to go back history to find out what other reasons were used in previous coups. Just need to arrange the situation for every coup.

 

 

 

 

 

[DrPhibes]

3 hours ago, grumbleweed said:

 

It's probably just a tiny oversight on Prawit's behalf, but...

 

A democracy is not controlled by an unelected body populated by the army, where it has already been stated that the result of any election may be ignored. Not to mention living under a constitution that was hoisted upon the populace and could not be discussed without the risk of "thought adjustment"

 

This lot are beginning to make Orwell's 1984 look like the ultimate libertarian society

 

 

 

'the sovereign power belongs to the Thai people'   I guess some people are more Thai than others...

[DSJPC]

"risk of damage" my ass!!!...just another attempt at obfuscation by this corrupt government...

[smutcakes]

40 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Or if they hold an election before the needed reforms- and the kleptocracy gets back into full swing.  Just like the last few dozen times.

 

You must be the only person on this planet who still believes that reform was ever really part of the plan.

[tbthailand]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

THE GOVERNMENT could delay holding an election if it would cause damage to the country

 

said one of the generals leading a military coup... 

 

[impulse]

53 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

You must be the only person on this planet who still believes that reform was ever really part of the plan.

 

I'm not sure.  But I'm seeing illegal land encroachments reversed, illegal street vendors going away, and lots of other things that look suspiciously like reform.  Of course, the jury's still out.  You can't fix generations of broken with a couple of years of whack-a-mole.

 

And I'm pretty sure that the 13th attempt at putting together a functional democracy won't go much better than the previous 12 post-coup attempts without significant reforms firmly in place.  Reforms that have proven impossible under the kleptocrats that seem to have the money to get themselves elected to their place at the trough every time.

Edited November 25, 2016 by impulse

[elgordo38]

Is he sending the election through the mail???

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

THE GOVERNMENT could delay holding an election if it would cause damage to the country, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday.

In other words we need to rejig it again so that our side stands a 99% chance of winning 

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

the “road map for a return to democracy”. 

I have watched the Silk Road on Channel Asia. Its not a very smooth road. A return to democracy? There seems to be a very narrow vision of this in Thailand. Democracy for the people yeah sure just like in China. Dozens killed in a construction platform collapsing. They are touted by one and all on their poor safety record but yet they go on. I am sure the dead have all been replaced by now and the work will continue in the same old slip shod manner. You just have to love it when they call the country "The Peoples Republic of China"

[elgordo38]

3 hours ago, ddavidovsky said:

I'm beginning to feel a sense of self-degradation just being here to witness all this, if only on account of its tedious predictability.

When you start whipping yourself across the back you will know your really in trouble. 

[elgordo38]

4 hours ago, bobmac10 said:

The officer corps spend their time manoeuvring to form cliques, waiting for their opportunity to sieze power and help themselves to the benefits which flow from their newly won positions of absolute power.

Sounds like history repeating itself. 

[kingalfred]

 
"The masses" voted for Thaksin (in 2001, again in 2005, again in 2006, for his proxy in 2007 and again for his proxy in 2011). That suggests to me a certain consistency over a sustained period. The reasons that they voted for him are many and varied, but undoubtedly the main driving factor was that they thought he would improve their lives (arguably he did). The last three election results were overturned by less than democratic means, to favour the military and their backers. That also suggests a certain consistency over a sustained period. This rather suggests to me that the root cause is in fact the repeated refusal of the military and those they serve to accept the repeated choice of "the masses".
 
Whilst I rather agree with much of what you have said lately about Trump, he is not an american version of Thaksin.

Yes he is. An out and out populist.[although 2 million short of popular] telling the white working class in Midwest they can go back to the days of US manufacturing everything they bought, until Asia cottoned on!


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[lostinisaan]

The needle and the damage done.....Prayuth is the needle, just listening to his speeches is dangerous for your mental health.

 

 

[chilli42]

The subject not to be mentioned is likely on his mind.

[sjaak327]

2 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

The possibility of mob rule, blocked streets, intimidation of those who want to stand as candidates, total refusal to accept that one is able to have a different view to your own.... You know, things that led to the military taking over to prevent Thais tearing other apart last time.

Oh the irony. The hallmark of this administration must be that they don't allow different views. You even have the reason for the coup wrong.....

[NongKhaiKid]

49 minutes ago, elgordo38 said:

Is he sending the election through the mail???

No just the result.

As a former British Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe once commented about elections in China he couldn't say the govt fixed them but they did like to know the outcome in advance.

[elgordo38]

1 minute ago, NongKhaiKid said:

No just the result.

As a former British Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe once commented about elections in China he couldn't say the govt fixed them but they did like to know the outcome in advance.

Just a play on the words of his comment. As an ex postal worker I just could not resist. 

[TKDfella]

Well well well, who would have thought it eh? I wonder if the UN will hear about it, not that they can do anything, except laugh and cry at the same time...'...but you said (this & that) now you're saying maybe not.'

Wonder if it has anything to do with American President elect apparently not giving a hoot about Thailand.

[jesimps]

7 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Speaking as an American, yes, elections can definitely cause damage, but if you're going to try to be a democracy, you've still got to have them and not delay them forever. 

Depends which side of the fence you're on. I call this result damage limitation.

[lvr181]

36 minutes ago, TKDfella said:

Well well well, who would have thought it eh? I wonder if the UN will hear about it, not that they can do anything, except laugh and cry at the same time...'...but you said (this & that) now you're saying maybe not.'

Wonder if it has anything to do with American President elect apparently not giving a hoot about Thailand.

"Wonder if it has anything to do with American President elect apparently not giving a hoot about Thailand."

And why should he?

 

BTW I am not a citizen of U.S.A.

Edited November 25, 2016 by lvr181
Additional remark

[lvr181]

1 hour ago, elgordo38 said:

Sounds like history repeating itself. 

The only thing we learn from history is: we don't learn from history!