Midweek rant: Prime Minister points his fingers at Thai's Songkran driving behavior saying "if you want to die break the law"

[webfact]

Midweek rant: Prime Minister points his fingers at Thai's Songkran driving behavior saying "if you want to die break the law"

 

Picture: Sanook

 

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has made an exasperated rant against the Thai people for disobeying traffic rules.

 

In a withering attack on his own people he said that the government and authorities are doing everything they can to stop the carnage on the roads.

 

But he said in reference to road rules: "If you want to die, just ignore the state".

 

PM Prayuth was quoted by Sanook following meetings about organization ahead of this year's Songkran festival in two weeks.

 

He called on all Thais to follow the law and also asked everyone to behave respectfully as the country was still in "an important period".

 

He was referencing the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol last year.

 

Authorities have already said that activities at Songkran will be toned down as a continuing mark of respect to the beloved departed monarch.

 

Prayuth's own rant comes at a time when Thaivisa normally publishes a comment piece about an issue affecting the country - the midweek rant.

 

He began with a synopsis of how the Songkran festival has changed from a polite traditional event into something more akin to war.

 

He said: "Don't break the law. Songkran used to be a Thai cultural festival we could be proud of not a chance to dance provocatively or pour buckets of water over each other.

 

"Don't annoy other people when celebrating - we don't have as much water as we used to have".

 

He then went on a tirade attacking his country folk for disobeying the law causing the carnage on the roads each year, despite the best efforts of his administration.

 

"If you want to die, don't believe the state (by following the law).

 

"We are doing our best. We have tried to forbid everything - everything except breathing."

 

"Everybody talks about the carnage but the people have to take responsibility by following the law".

 

He proceeded to talk about invoking special powers under Article 44 to deal with the matter but he asked that if that fails to change people what is next?

 

The government will have nothing left to make people change their ways, he ranted.

 

Clearly irked by the situation he even made a reference to Thai's habit to put their faith in Buddha and their religion rather than the

law when it came to the rules of the road.

 

"We have told you about seat belts, the illegal overloading of vehicles," he continued citing two laws that are regularly flouted.

 

Pointing his finger at the Thais he said:"You say you don't know. You always say you don't know the law. Even if I invoke Article 44 I don't expect anything will change".

 

In an apparent reference to the videos shown at driving centers to promote good habits on the roads he intimated that the Thais attention span was too short.

 

"You need everything to be fun - after less than two hours of watching a movie you switch off".

 

Finally he said that observance of the law must come from the people. Though he accepted that the police must enforce the law he said that they often let the people off.

 

"Soldiers don't want to shoot anybody," he railed.

 

Source: Sanook

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-03-29

[Briggsy]

Pathetic.

 

Put policies into place that result in enforcement. There are examples from all over the world.

 

Ranting, feigning exasperation and then fatalistically suggesting that nothing will change is simply very poor governance.

 

He does this with every issue, (except those threatening his power or income streams). The fact is in reality this issue has zero priority with this government.

[craigt3365]

How about pointing your fingers at the police?  They do absolutely nothing here in Pattaya during Songkran.  The drive home from Central Pattaya last year was an absolute free for all.  Drunk scooter riders, weaving in and out (few with helmets), trucks with water cannons going down Sukhumvit blasting everything and everybody.  Absolute mayhem.

 

A few years ago we went to Issan.  No booze sold at 7/11.  But right behind the station was a cooler full of beer that you could buy. 

 

Place the blame properly.  On the police.

[TVGerry]

Have to admit, it is to the point. If people are too idiotic to want to preserve their own lives, what can the government do? Of course the police are also to blame for not enforcing the traffic laws but there are so many idiot drivers here who knowingly put their lives in danger driving like littlke<insert insulting word>.

[onemorechang]

I don't believe they are doing anything substantial about the

Thai Drivers / Riders,  behaviour  on the roads.

it a load of Bs

Same old  Same old.

[scorecard]

13 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

How about pointing your fingers at the police?  They do absolutely nothing here in Pattaya during Songkran.  The drive home from Central Pattaya last year was an absolute free for all.  Drunk scooter riders, weaving in and out (few with helmets), trucks with water cannons going down Sukhumvit blasting everything and everybody.  Absolute mayhem.

 

A few years ago we went to Issan.  No booze sold at 7/11.  But right behind the station was a cooler full of beer that you could buy. 

 

Place the blame properly.  On the police.

 

Agree!

[Briggsy]

13 minutes ago, onemorechang said:

I don't believe they are doing anything substantial about the

Thai Drivers / Riders,  behaviour  on the roads.

it a load of Bs

Same old  Same old.

I agree.

 

There is no immediate profit in conscientiously enforcing laws which is why it is not done.

[khwaibah]

Songkran 2016 Road Kill total was 442  http://www.richardbarrow.com/2016/04/full-road-accident-statistics-for-songkran-2016/

 

Will Songkran 2017 Road Kill be up or down? 

[BigBadGeordie]

 

"We are doing our best. We have tried to forbid everything - everything except breathing."

"Soldiers don't want to shoot anybody," 

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

 

I offer no observations or response to the PM's words.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

And to wind up his rant he proclaims............. “Soldiers don’t want to shoot anybody,” 

What is he meaning? Is he meaning what he says?

Is there some likelihood the cops will fire on some serious traffic offenders similar to the shooting of drug offenders in the Philippines?

That seems to be taking martial law to the extreme which could be a look into the future.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Foghorn Leghorn

[DM07]

I really can't hear it anymore!

Fine the drunk drivers of all kind and you will most probably more than half the death- toll!

People can drink and pour water over each other...as long as after the are done, they don't get on a bike or in a car!

Easy as that!

 

 

 

[baboon]

"Don't annoy other people when celebrating - we don't have as much water as we used to have".

"Soldiers don't want to shoot anybody," he railed.

 

A shortage of water AND bullets?

[DrTuner]

Even Head Somchai is frustrated about the behaviour of Common Somchai. If you don't like it, go .. ah right, well, TiT, suck it up.

[Sphere]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has made an exasperated rant....

Chai yen yen P......kin kao reu yang..... 

Edited March 29, 2017 by Sphere

[GeorgeCross]

people will by nature do what they can get away with thats why we have police, army and governments or there would be anarchy. 

 

the police are paid to enforce the law. so order them to do their <deleted> jobs or replace them with those who can.

 

how can they not understand this?!!

 

not rocket science.

[maewang99]

we're the only ones that take these pronouncements at all seriously.

Thai's don't.  they know better.

these things are about making face, and looking like they are doing something. and gives them something to do, the government... and "teachers" too.  

only farlang take this stuff seriously....because where we are from at least some of our government's pronouncements make some kind of sense (although now... in the USA..... in 2017... that's kind of an 'off statement' now)... because we listen and obey rules from a Theory of Mind perspective... that the rules have a basis that is good for most and other rules we do like.... so we comply. 

here the pronouncements are treated as nonsense to be ignored, or given face to but not abided with.... unless backed up with monetary penalties. 

contract farlang ajarn working at schools and universities can back me up on this 100%.... whenever we had a conference at XXXXX University.... they would go on endlessly for hours... we would agree to do A, B, C.... and then after the meeting... none of us would do anything (well, except maybe one farlang.... me.. who then learned his own lesson about how this works here).    

and Theory of Mind generally requires literacy.. or at least literacy on the part of one of your mentors, one or more parents.. or some of your friends........ and ****not**** just everyday life... ****not*** merely being born a Sapien (nor is it provided... nor prohibited.... by your particular geographical location i.e. what country you were born in or kind of 'culture' it is).  literacy.  getting into someone else's mind... which movies.. TEXT books and even most religious tomes do not provide.... in fact the latter invariably lecture that we are evil or ignorant and need to abide by very specific religious precepts..... rather than the Sapien ones that we share with each other. all of us. if we are engaged, plugged in. 

Youtube is okay... but it is not generally sufficient. rarely do we share our best insights for free... in public... you need to buy and read and share... IP protected.... novels and nonfiction... of quality... as well as some of less quality, I guess, along the way....

there really are some books that are life changing.  power packed.

how often do you see folks 'buried in a book'.... and I mean buried because they are enjoying a great pleasure as well as a Love of Learning... which is the ONLY measure of what a school or university or education system is..... the ONLY measure. 

all the other stuff is nonsense.

and by the way... the subject areas that Thailand has a bad teacher shortage in... the one currently discussed re: teaching license requirements... are those fields where literacy..... but not in a well known phonetically written language we won't mention.... is required.

gee.... what a coincidence.

NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   

  





      

 

Edited March 29, 2017 by maewang99

[MichaelJohn]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

the government and authorities are doing everything they can to stop the carnage on the roads.

The government and authorities have done NOTHING to stop the carnage on the roads.

Talk, talk, talk, year after year of talk talk talk; no laws are enforced ...... no even if you run over and kill a policeman.

Nothing will ever change; except perhaps one  day Thailand will become top of the Road Killer tables rather than second.

[Ceruhe]

Comedic gold this man. Pure. Gold. But worth so much more than that...

[champers]

A statement of the bleeding obvious.

[jaltsc]

"Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has made an exasperated rant against the Thai people for disobeying traffic rules."

 

I find it amazing that he narrowed it down to Thais disobeying traffic rules, when It appears that they disobey just about any rule and law when it applies to them personally. Including, the laws of nature.

 

And with no institutional body to actively enforce laws, rules and regulations, all is ranting is falling upon deaf ears.

Edited March 29, 2017 by jaltsc

[Falcon]

So, what's the chances of his rant really needing to be taken as "if you break the law (don't do what I say), you will die" rather than the headline above of  "if you want to die break the law'. This is the usual way of thinking/threatening by a military tyrant!

[klauskunkel]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has made an exasperated rant against the Thai people for disobeying traffic rules.

You wanted to rule the Thai people,... you made your bed, now sleep in it.

[brain150]

"We are doing our best. We have tried to forbid everything - everything except breathing."

This simple quote says everything about the mindset ... in other words: insanity !!!

 

A society is not the military where following orders is the only rule there is.

 

A society exists out of agreements made by the people for the people ... it's just not working by simple order.

Sadly all other governments in this world have forgotten about this simple fact also.

Without any exception !!! [just in case somebody wants to tell me it's different in their country - it's not]

[akirasan]

Well he's right, they have tried to forbid everything..

[upena]

Thanks to the greedy TAT for making Sonkran what it is today

[garywim]

I agree with most of the posts here,

The Government and the Police are both tarred with the same brush.

[yooyoo]

At least someone in a position of authority admits the bad road behavior of Thai drivers!  I'm amazed!!!

[dinsdale]

Waaaaaay tooooooo much bullsh*t in this to comment. I'd be typing for hours.

[TheFishman1]

Well two young guys got killed in there village O wait the Army did that TIT

[lvr181]

"..if you want to die break the law."  

 

True but what a defeatist attitude!