Thaksin Could Be Overthrown : Observers

[george]

Thai Premier Could Be Overthrown: Observers

KUALA LUMPUR: -- Thailand’s Premier Thaksin Shinawatra is facing the possibility of a coup in the event of a repeat of the last April’s incident when 107 Muslims were brutally killed by Thai military in southern Thailand, sources in South Thailand revealed to IslamOnline.net Friday, May 7.

“Thaksin’s term in office is under threat and his policies, not only in south Thailand but also regarding other issues in the country, is bound to bring back the potentates of coup d’Etats (regime overthrow) that would reduce the nationalists in power to dust,” said Nik Abdullah, a Thai observer living in Pattani to IOL during a phone interview.

“Thailand is a country that since 1932 has had 17 coups, 23 Prime Ministers and 16 constitutions and if overthrowing Thaksin would be a solution to many of the problems in the country, it will happen within no time, wait and see,” said Abdullah.

Thaksin is believed to be close to Thai nationalists who have penetrated his party - the Thai Rack Thai - and who believe in nothing but extreme violence in dealing with separatism, for example.

“However, it will all depend on the mood of the monarch who is at times critical of Thaksin’s policies and on whom the PM reports on events such as the violence in (the) Muslim south, the anti-Drug war in Thailand and even on government policies in general,” added Abdullah.

The Muslim observer told IOL that Thailand’s political system is too corrupt to be trusted and the Thai Premier is surely working for some interests which are either “his own or his friends in the business sector. His attempts to bring development in the South are also viewed as self interest”.

“Thus there is a huge possibility that some members of the Thaksin cabinet, who is not happy with his handling of the situation in the south in particular will raise against him and will either plot to bring him down with the help of some military pundits or simply withdraw their support to the PM, a move that could cause Thaksin’s downfall,” he said.

Another political observer, Abduraeman bin Soelaeman, agreed with Abdullah’s reading of the situation.

Soelaeman, who works for a Muslim organization in southern Thailand, said to IOL that he believes some of Thaksin party members and cabinet ministers are already working in that direction.

“Many ministers and party members (the Thai Rack Thai), the ruling party in Thailand, have voiced their opposition to the mass murder of the Muslims April 28.

“They knew that these poor guys had no chance against the Thai military might and they also knew that Thaksin orders would have been critical in the crushing of the ‘show of separatism’ on that fatal day,” said Abdureaman to IOL.

“Most definitely these Ministers are now uncomfortable in their chairs and when the Cabinet meets the next time, the atmosphere will surely be electric charged,” he added.

He said that dissent in the Thai government is more than evident and that even some military elements refused to take actions against the group of young Muslims hiding in the Kru Se Mosque in Pattani.

“Yet they were ordered by the political officials to shoot to kill. That is how the carnage happened,” he claimed.

He told IOL that there is clear information that the military officers present at the Kru Se mosque compound were asked to eliminate all those in the mosque.

“Many of them had gun wound on he forehead. What you call that? Execution, that is what it is and Thaksin has a hand in it, he has to pay for that and if he is overthrown by the powers in Thailand, it will be good to the nation,” said Abdureaman.

The name of General Chavalit, the Thai first Deputy Premier in the cabinet of Thaksin came out almost every time IOL asked the observers who would be a potential leader of such a plot against Thaksin.

“Chavalit will surely push the army to pressure Thaksin and the King and this could result in Thaksin losing power eventually before the next polls,” said Abdullah.

Thailand is a democratically-ruled constitutional monarchy with a Prime Minister who has all the executive powers in his hands.

The country, however, has a history of frequent military coups.

Military influence over political activities in Thailand is also historical as most of the coup attempts proved in the past.

“It must be noted that most of the coup attempts in the past were successful. Thirteen out of the 19 last attempts to overthrow a government in Thailand have succeeded,” said Abdullah.

The last coup attempt in Thailand took place in 1992 when dozens died trying to overthrow a military regime in Bangkok.

The plot led by pro democracy advocates ended when the Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej summoned the then Prime Minister and the leader of the dissident group for a telecast meeting that ended in the Premier’s resignation in disgrace.

Muslims in the south of Thailand are unhappy with the handling of the situation in the provinces where they are majority. The country has 6 million Muslims, most of them living in poverty, having little education and little hope of a better life under the government of Thaksin.

A series of violent outbreaks in the south provinces of Pattani, Satun, Narathiwat, Yala and Songkhla has created fears that Islamic militancy may be on the rise in the country though Muslims are said to be prepared for cooperation with the Thai government to bring development in the region which borders Malaysia.

--IOL 2004-05-07

[KevinN]

Many of them had gun wounds to the forehead,what you call that?"

Well at 100 meters I would call it fair shooting.

At 1000 meters I would call it real good shooting,,thats what I call "REAL GUN CONTROL"

Kinda sounds like someone is calling for a violent overthrow of this government.and I didn't think that was legal practise, I do know that the USA is a democracy and you can't do that shit there,so how are they getting by with it here?

And they bitchin about the ones killed,If you was standing by a guard house or what ever,and some <deleted> is running at you with machettes or swords or clubs or what ever,Wouldn't you shoot them? I know I sure would,they must have in mind to do something when they got there and I don't think I would like it at all.

[george]

Panic in Bangkok

The War on Terror comes to Thailand

On April 28 the so-called global War on Terror arrived in the Land of Smiles with a bloody bang. (Just when I thought I could write glibly about Iraq while sitting in faraway, peaceful Thailand)

That day, the Thai army and police- in a massive display of force- gunned down 107 Muslim 'terrorists', mostly young men under 20 years of age, armed with mere machetes. And all that in just one morning's work.

The incident, dubbed a 'massacre' by many, has elevated what was till recently a localized, low-intensity insurgency in a few provinces of southern Thailand into a national and international issue with all kinds of disturbing ramifications. In simple terms Thailand basically shot itself in the foot by trying to achieve a military solution to an essentially solvable, political problem.

Among the immediate consequences of the April 28 events is the heightened possibility of retaliation and real (as opposed to the hitherto imagined) terrorism in different parts of Thailand including the capital city Bangkok. Already some Muslim separatist groups from southern Thailand- long-defunct due to lack of popular support- have begun threatening repayment for the martyrdom of those killed with 'blood and tears'- warning off foreign travelers from popular tourist destinations in southern Thailand.

Apart from the threat to public security, in what has been one of Asia's safest countries so far, the unrest in southern Thailand has a long-term implication for the country's nascent democracy itself. A democracy that was fought for, won and nurtured by an entire generation of student and social activists since the 1970s in the face of stiff opposition from entrenched traditional elites. A major terrorist incident of any kind would encourage sections of the Thai elite- unhappy with the rapid pace of democratic change in recent years- to seek a return to hard-line, 'law and order first' regimes from the country's authoritarian past. Yet another potential case of 'Goodbye Peace and Democracy, Hello War on Terror'.

If all that sounds too drastic consider these facts:

a) The April 28 death toll in the south of Thailand is easily one of the biggest in the country's modern history rivaled only by incidents such as the October 14, 1976 massacre of students by right-wing mobs and the May 17, 1992 gunning down of pro-democracy agitators by the Thai army. Both of the two latter incidents mentioned wrought wide-ranging changes in Thai politics the impact of which (both good and bad) continues to this day.

Again, despite those ugly incidents in the 1970's Thailand's greatest virtue, relative to all its neighbors and indeed rest of Asia, has been the ability of those in power to negotiate and compromise to find peaceful solutions to problems that in other countries provoke full-fledged civil wars. Given a choice between maintaining peace and jettisoning democracy the Thai public, at least in the short run, would opt for the former- a tendency that could be taken advantage of by ambitious power-seekers within the Thai elite.

c) What the Thai authorities are facing in their Muslim dominated southern provinces is a highly motivated, though poorly organized rebellion. The youth who allegedly rushed to attack police outposts on April 28 before they mowed down with machine guns were armed with just machetes and a few low-grade firearms. Machete versus Machine Gun? That's a suicide mission you are talking about and there are more out there to take the place of those who died.

d) Massive tensions have been building up within the Thai political system for the past four years following the unprecedented, sweeping electoral victory of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a telecom tycoon turned politician. Thaksin's authoritarian tendencies and grandiose notions of his own historic mission to change Thailand is ruffling a lot of feathers within the traditional Thai elite, especially Thai royal circles, who see him (and some of those in his cabinet who come from a left background) as a potential threat to the institution of monarchy itself.

e) Despite adhering to many aspects of the neo-liberal paradigm from the past the Thaksin government is essentially a populist regime and way more nationalist than previous Thai governments in terms of its economic policies. Thaksin's attempts to portray himself as the 'new Mahatir' of the ASEAN region is not going down too well with the current US administration that would like a more pliant, client regime in Thailand- just as in the 'good old days'.

But returning to the unrest in Thailand's south, what's really happening? Who are these Thai Muslim youth getting shot in droves? What do they want and why are they willing to kill and die for it ? And very significantly why are there conflicting descriptions of those killed- with the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra describing them as 'criminal gangs' and his Defence Minister General Chetta Thanajaro calling them Muslim separatists?

Broadly the current troubles in southern Thailand are related to:

a) A long history of separatist movements in the four provinces of Yala, Pattani, Satun and Narathiwat, most of which were part of the old Sultanate of Pattani, a previously autonomous region, annexed by Thailand in 1902. The predominantly Muslim and Malay population of these provinces has never fully accepted rule by Buddhist Thailand. Violent separatist insurgencies in the sixties and seventies were sorted out in the early eighties by enlightened Thai government policies that emphasized political over purely military solutions. However, in the late nineties poverty, crime and corruption among Thai officials posted in the south have helped revive the separatist movement.

Insensitive, short-sighted policies of successive Thai governments that seek to subsume and homogenize minority cultures, languages and identities under one large, officially cooked-up notion of 'Thainess'. Inspired largely by the process of fascist nation building adopted by pre-World War Two Japan these policies consist of imposing a uniform educational system, the Thai language and a value system loaded with deep loyalty to the Thai monarchy and other similar institutions on disempowered minority groups all over the country. While there has been some resistance to this also from other minority groups like the Lao-speaking populations of north-east Thailand and the numerous hill tribe groups in northern Thailand it has met greatest opposition in southern Thailand from a Muslim populace proud of its past as the centre of Islam in south-east Asia.

c) A complex struggle for power between various Thai institutions particularly the traditional elite consisting of the monarchy and political forces close to it versus the 'new elite' made up of business lobbies that support the current Thaksin Shinawatra government. Muddying the scenario further is the historical rivalry between the Thai army and police which have always competed for portions of a shrinking national security budget as well as opportunities for enhancing personal income through various corrupt practices. In mid-2001 the Thaksin government inexplicably transferred all responsibility for security in the southern provinces from the hands of the Thai army to the Thai police, sparking off what some say is a 'turf war' for control of the lucrative guns and drugs trade along Thailand's southern borders between the two agencies.

As if this were not an already complicated situation the Thaksin government has foolishly succumbed to pressures from the United States to join its bogus global 'War on Terror' turning off Muslim populations within and outside its borders. Apart from sending troops to Iraq, the current Thai government also actively cooperated with the FBI's arrest and abduction, last October, of Hambali, the alleged mastermind behind the Bali bombings. (This in a country that harbored Pol Pot and his men for nearly two decades and has repeatedly refused to extradite those wanted for terrorist attacks in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam)

Worse still, there is strong evidence that the Thai government, in a bid to impress George Bush Jr., on the eve of his visit to Bangkok for the APEC meet in October last year, also stage-managed the arrest of so-called 'terrorists' allegedly trying to put together and set off a 'dirty radioactive bomb'. Interviews with the suspected 'terrorists' in the Thai media suggested that they were victims of a frame-up by the Thai intelligence to score brownie points with their US counterparts.

Having said all this it must be pointed out that the level of violence and methods adopted by the miniscule separatist movement in southern Thailand is completely unacceptable. Since the beginning of January this year there has been almost daily violence in the southern provinces that has seen the murders of over 117 government and police officials, school teachers and even Buddhist monks (hacked to death with machetes). There has been particular brutality to these murders that seems to be the work of bigoted religious fanatics rather than militants with a purely political cause.

Many of those carrying out these attacks are young boys, brainwashed no-doubt by some ideologues in their religious schools, armed and trained by separatist outfits mostly based in neighboring Malaysia. These youth trying to attack police and army posts in such large numbers could not have materialized without some kind of organized force behind them (who must be raving mad to send them out with machetes to fight machine guns!). There is also some evidence of Islamic politicians in Malaysia funding these separatists and providing political support.

Are the Al Qaeda and other international terrorist groups other involved in all this? Good question, over to you Dick Cheney. Sorry, I was trying to mimic George Bush Jr. there- but the answer to that question really lies in what one means by international terrorist groups. The Jemaah Islamiyah, a loose network of Islamic fundamentalist groups in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines has always included southern Thailand as part of their dream of a unified Muslim 'homeland' in Southeast Asia. There is however no evidence of Al Qaeda presence in southern Thailand.

Like in so many other parts of the world, the real global network of terror implicated in the rise of conservative Muslim forces in southern Thailand is the chain of 'Madrasas' funded by the close US 'ally' Saudi Arabia in countries like Pakistan and some middle-eastern nations. Throughout the eighties and nineties scores of Thai Muslims have been through these religious schools that promote Wahabism, that peculiarly anti-modern trend in modern Islam.

Aware of both the domestic and global implications of continued unrest in southern Thailand the Thai Prime Minister has been attempting to impose a military solution to the problem while claiming that that it is all the work of 'criminal gangs'. Accepting the presence of an organized separatist movement he feels would bring unwanted international attention and also expose him to attacks from opposition political parties to the charge of incompetence in handling the situation politically.

What the Thaksin government urgently needs to do now to defuse the situation and prevent things from spinning out of control is to implement the recommendations made by one its own Deputy Prime Ministers (there are four of them !) Chaturon Chaiseng, a former student activist turned mainstream politician. According to Chaturon's seven-point plan, announced in early April, the Thai government should :

a) Lift martial law imposed on the four Muslim provinces since the beginning of the year,

Grant amnesties to those arrested on mere suspicion of being 'terrorists'

c) Review a government plan to regulate traditional Islamic religious schools and instead extend financial support to them

d) Hire more locals into educational and other government run institutions

e) Replace police sent from Bangkok to the southern provinces by local recruits

f) Involve local populations in a proposed 12 billion baht (300 million US dollars) project to remove poverty and create jobs in these provinces.

The Chaturon plan was shelved by Thaksin Shinawatra who caved in to pressure from sections of the Thai police who opposed it because they felt they were being blamed for the unrest in the southern provinces. Following the events of April 28 Shinawatra now has only a slender chance of winning back the trust of Thailand's Muslim minorities and what will make the difference is good politics and not his brute police force.

Only a drastic turnaround in the government's approach to the entire problem can prevent Thailand from becoming a self-toppled domino in the global War on Terror.

--Satya Sagar, ZNet.com 2004-04-07

Satya Sagar is a journalist based in Thailand. He can be reached at [email protected]

[snowleopard]

Thaksin’s term in office is under threat and his policies, not only in south Thailand but also regarding other issues in the country, is bound to bring back the potentates of coup d’Etats (regime overthrow)

Thaksin is believed to be close to Thai nationalists who have penetrated his party - the Thai Rack Thai - and who believe in nothing but extreme violence in dealing with separatism, for example.

his party - the Thai Rack Thai

First it was "Thai Rak Thai" (ไทยรักไทย);now it's "Thai Rack Thai";and soon it might become "Thai Wrack Thai","Thai Whack Thai",or "Thai Wreck Thai"!

Do you also get the drift?

The wacky Thai wacko?

Snowleopard.

[KevinN]

c) What the Thai authorities are facing in their Muslim dominated southern provinces is a highly motivated, though poorly organized rebellion. The youth who allegedly rushed to attack police outposts on April 28 before they mowed down with machine guns were armed with just machetes and a few low-grade firearms. Machete versus Machine Gun? That's a suicide mission you are talking about and there are more out there to take the place of those who died.

What would have happened if the police/army had not have shot the insurgents to death,what would have been the outcome if they were allowed to continue their charge until within striking distance? ###### straight,there would still have been killings,but it would have been done with "just machettes and low grade firearms"instead of machine guns.

If they wern't promised to meet and have sex with 72 virgins,then they pobly wouldn't have been so eager to commit suiside,,coarse they aren't told that the virgins are also dead.

It is the same story the world over,whats wrong with those muslims,?do they all suffer necrophelia?

[bartender100]

Here is another slant on it.

Islamic fervour and modern grievances a toxic brew in Thailand's south

By Louise Williams

May 8, 2004

It probably seemed like a reasonable deal at the time. The kingdom of Siam, now Thailand, wanted a cheap loan from Britain, the colonial overseer in neighbouring Malaya.

So, in 1909 Siam traded four of its restive Muslim feudal states, on the southern fringes of Bangkok's territorial reach, for the £4 million it needed to expand its railway.

The British empire thus crept north. Siam reportedly put the best possible spin on its territorial loss - the Buddhist kingdom had merely cast off some of its distant troublespots.

But Siam kept much of the once fierce Malay sultanate of Pattani, part of South-East Asia's Islamic maritime trading network. Pattani's Malays were reluctant Thai subjects, all the more so once they were cut off from Muslim communities on the other side of the new border.

In the era of global terrorism, the jihad banner has been hoisted over these historic local tensions, suggesting this Muslim enclave in predominantly Buddhist Thailand is emerging as a crucible of extremism and a fertile recruiting ground for regional terrorists.

Last week the bodies of scores of Muslim teenage boys lay strewn around Pattani's Krue Se mosque, victims of the bloodiest Thai security crackdown since the 1970s. Seven of the dead are believed to have been Indonesians, strengthening fears that Jemaah Islamiah, the Indonesian-based al-Qaeda affiliate, had conscripted Thai Muslims for the first time.

"The parents of these teenagers buried them as Islamic warriors. They made sure their bodies were not washed, which symbolises that they were already purified in a holy war," said Associate Professor Mark Askew, chair of the International Studies program at Victoria University of Technology.

Intelligence reports published in the Thai-language press claim a new armed Muslim rebellion in southern Thailand is well advanced. It lists a seven-point plan that, according to Dr Michael Connors, a Thai specialist at La Trobe University, envisages a secretive, disciplined armed force of mainly teenage recruits "willing to die" for an Islamic state in Pattani.

A sizeable underground network is already in place, according to Thai intelligence, and escalating attacks on security forces are consistent with an emboldened armed movement. However, violent criminal networks in the region have their own vested interests and shadowy links to the security forces, complicating attempts to define the threat.

John Funston, of the Australian National University's National Thai Studies Centre, says there is no substantive evidence that JI has a clear plan for southern Thailand, beyond its opportunistic use as a hideout.

But he says: "One would expect Thailand to be a target of organisations such as JI and al-Qaeda. The United States and its allies have important interests there. Thai Muslims have a long history of links with Muslims throughout South-East Asia and the Middle East."

JI is seeking to revive old Muslim trading networks in the name of a South-East Asian Islamic state and is thought to have met in southern Thailand before the Bali bombing.

Past decades of sporadic armed uprisings have variously claimed independence for Thailand's 4 million Muslims, the revival of Pattani's fabled former glory and amalgamation with modern day Malaysia. Local confidence was buoyed and separatist sentiments waned dramatically in the 1990s when democratic reforms opened up greater political representation for Thai Muslims. After the September 11 attacks, images of Osama bin Laden were briefly openly displayed.

However, the deployment of Thai troops in the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and tough new Thai anti-terrorism legislation has again heightened paranoia within southern Muslim communities.

Dr Funston and other experts believe the core issues are domestic, but these grievances are now coinciding, dangerously, with the radicalisation of Muslims driven by international events and an undoubted local capacity to revive clandestine networks.

In 2002, for example, a local civil-military task force was abolished, removing an important listening post for Muslim concerns. The recent disappearance of a prominent Muslim human rights lawyer has raised fears of abuses by Thai security forces.

The Thaksin Government's "war on drugs", in which police shot dead at least 2500 "suspects" and the imposition of martial law in parts of the south suggests a simplistic reliance on crushing force against Islamic separatists.

Terrorism poses a serious, well documented regional threat. While Thailand appears to be, at most, on the fringes of international terrorism, there is a parallel path; recent history suggests an opportunity remains for Islamic extremism to be defused by dealing with the domestic grievances upon which it

[john b good]

It might perhaps be a good ting if he (Thaksin) at leat were replaced.

To many of the expat community and the world at large he is nothing more than a joke.

Fixing the traffic problem in "the big mango" a few years back in six months, we don't have SAR's, there ain't no bird flue in Thailand, the unrest in the south is not associated with terrorism (not sure what the 200++ people who have been killed since 04 January this year or their families would call it) and there are many more too numerous to list here. AND there are the issues we don't know about.

To give some credit where it is due (and there is some) Thaksin has gotten a few things done but he has lost sight of the matter of, that Thailand is allegedly a democracy. It is not a one man band and he (Thaksin) appears to have either forgotten that or was never aware of that in the first place.

I believe it is time for a change (but who would be a better bet) however this should come about by peaceful means i.e. that the Thai caucus or whatever it is called in Thailand discusses the issue and elects a new leader.

This brings the question just who might be quailified to do the job. There are many that can (must) be ruled out, namely "big jiew", the "little man", Pol Capt Chalerm, Khun Suchinda, and all other like people.

Thailand has in recent times only had one man in the position who was remotely honest and he it seems has moved in to the "semi retired" mode.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The odds are against a successful coup against Thaksin. He is far more likely to step down than to be removed.

[Bob Chittie]

Many of them had gun wounds to the forehead,what you call that?"

Well at 100 meters I would call it fair shooting.

At 1000 meters I would call it real good shooting,,thats what I call "REAL GUN CONTROL"

Kinda sounds like someone is calling for a violent overthrow of this government.and I didn't think that was legal practise, I do know that the USA is a democracy and you can't do that shit there,so how are they getting by with it here?

And they bitchin about the ones killed,If you was standing by a guard house or what ever,and some <deleted> is running at you with machettes or swords or clubs or what ever,Wouldn't you shoot them? I know I sure would,they must have in mind to do something when they got there and I don't think I would like it at all.

God, your're naive. Shot at 100 meters in the center of the forehead, falls of the motorcycle and remains clutching his machete.

[Bob Chittie]

What would have happened if the police/army had not have shot the insurgents to death,what would have been the outcome if they were allowed to continue their charge until within striking distance? ###### straight,there would still have been killings,but it would have been done with "just machettes and low grade firearms"instead of machine guns.

Maybe they would have been shot in the leg's, arrested, jailed, interrogated. May I remind you that MOST OF THEM DIDN'T HAVE GUNS! But you and others prefer to see them murdered and then you start reaching for justifications...

[sbk]

The last coup attempt in Thailand took place in 1992 when dozens died trying to overthrow a military regime in Bangkok.

Sorry to be pedantic here, but there was a successful coup in 1991. The deaths in 1992 were of people demonstrating against one of the coup leaders making himself prime minister, not from a coup attempt.

I don't think there needs to be a coup to get rid of Thaksin, a vote of no-confidence, withdrawal of certain parties from his coalition, withdrawal of members of his party who changed from other parties. These are all peaceful means of changing govt.

[chokrai]

Here we go again with the 'shoot them in the legs' nonsense. Maybe thats what the policemen that got killed did,maybe they waited a little too long?

[meadish_sweetball]

So let me get it straight, KevinN...? Shoot to kill first, and ask questions later?

If you really, truly believe in what you just wrote, you would have made a great soldier in Mussolini's Italy or Hitler's Germany.

Of course the soldiers had to shoot, I am not questioning that. Of course *some* of these young people had to die in the heat of the moment - but the way it was handled suggested the soldiers shot to kill, and then the pictures were doctored to make it seem more justified.

Your acceptance of this, coming from a so called "enlightened" society, scare me a lot more than radical Islam, which manipulates on poor, uneducated youth. You're old enough to know better.

[Lifelover]

I think that Satya Sagar's article should be the last word on this topic. A brilliant expose of Thai politics and the handling of the problems in the South.

I doubt that the Thai police have a clear understanding of the situation they face. This is an extremely complicated situation that must be handled with the greatest sensitivity if a long term peaceful solution is to be found. The massacre was absolutely the wrong move.

[plachon]

So let me get it straight, KevinN...? Shoot to kill first, and ask questions later?

If you really, truly believe in what you just wrote, you would have made a great soldier in Mussolini's Italy or Hitler's Germany.

Of course the soldiers had to shoot, I am not questioning that. Of course *some* of these young people had to die in the heat of the moment - but the way it was handled suggested the soldiers shot to kill, and then the pictures were doctored to make it seem more justified.

Your acceptance of this, coming from a so called "enlightened" society, scare me a lot more than radical Islam, which manipulates on poor, uneducated youth. You're old enough to know better.

Meatball, please don't be too hard on our Kev. He's one of the Forum's institutions, guaranteed to come out with well considered, moderate, liberal comments on diverse subjects and needs all the understanding he can get. See his comments above for affirmation of his southern US (Texas?) solutions to the southern Thai problems. He'd feel right at home in China, where they have more executions (often for non-violent crimes) than the rest of the world put together. But note, they usually go through the motions of a trial first!

[meadish_sweetball]

I am now speechless, Kevin's latest post made me see the light as well. Of course, we must kill them all before it's too late. Let's start with the women and children, quickly now. No time for asking questions. Kevin leads the way. Show us the light.

...and get that COW OUTTA the kitchin' Peggy-Sue, you hear now! I'm a darn well trying to rite a piece of my mind in this here web forum to ebjucate those other sorry sons-of bitchies. And Rita-Bess-Bobby-Bill-Stew, pass me my shotgun and those methamphetamine pills while you're at it, there's a good girl.

[johng]

meadish_sweetball

This has nothing to do with this topic, but should you not be a

" Swedish Meatball "

sorry just wondering

[mango head]

if thaksin is to be removed from office, i would hope that it can be done at the polls during election time. more violence piled on top of violence can onle be detrimental to the country. let's not forget that most of us here are guests in LOS. constructive critiscism and civilised discussion works better than personal attacks and hateful language. jai yen yen everyone.

chok dee

mango head

[morphic]

I would take stories of a coup seriously. Thailand has a history of it, Thaksin is disliked, and he is increasingly in conflict with the army and police. He may have the sense to step down in order to avert it, but I doubt it. Like most leaders, in fact more than most, he is power mad. Also, I imagine he is surrounded by yes men who don't really tell him what is going on. If and when the coup comes it will probably be as much a surprise to him as the rest of the world.

Personally, I am wihdrawing most of my cash held in Thai banks and have already sold off investments I had in Thai funds. Of course my paltry assets don't matter to Thailand, but they do matter to me, and I sense trouble ahad. Have done for a while.

Thats just my point of veiw.

[Wolfie]

Dont blame the people who were there doing the shooting, they were acting on orders, according to the news post, and if faced with 10+ people running at me with long <deleted> knives with a fanatical look in their eyes, and i had a gun i would shoot, a lot, its me or him, so hes gotta go. Would i shoot them in the legs? If ordered to shoot to kill then no, if not then i dont know, depends how many of them there were, etc.

Either way, some thing isnt working. Thaksin, maybe. Muslim terrorists, maybe.

[natee1]

Police shooting people armed with machetes in the head is unacceptable in most civilised countries, there is something like appropriateness of measures. War on drugs, fighting terrorism, the line between the wrong and rightdoers is getting blurred. Both sides strike the fatal blow preventively.

Time for Taksin to take his hat.

[Padkapow Guy]

If they wern't promised to meet and have sex with 72 virgins,then they pobly wouldn't have been so eager to commit suiside,,coarse they aren't told that the virgins are also dead.

It is the same story the world over,whats wrong with those muslims,?do they all suffer necrophelia?

They were lied to. They don't get 72 virgins. They get 1 virgin who is 72 years old.

[Snark]

deleted

[john b good]

As long as it is "peaceful, legal and democratic" it would get my vote.

Never have been a fan of "the man"

Nuff said........

[KevinN]

MEATBALL, I guess your wartime experience that you got at home is far superior to any thought that I had.

I know how all you people in SCANDAHOVIA always shoot for the legs and never kill anyone outright,,That is very fine if you want to be under the control of people like A.H. during the years preceding 1945,and a lot of your fellow northern compadres under J.Stalin, I know how happy LATVIA was under German and Russian rule.coarse they chose A.H. over Russia.but they always fired for the knees.

If I was as again everything done in a country as you seem to be against here,why don't you go back where you came from ,or to a country that does things that suit you and not be somewhere that you are not happy?

It just seems to me that you cannot appease the Muslims,give them something and they want something else,and when they have it all,then they start to kill each other, or do you see it different. looks like now in IRAQ that they are fighting each other as well as the invading army's that got rid of a dictator that brooked no discontent at all,they seem to only be peaceful when allowed no personal freedoms.

[george]

Please keep the topic, discussions about foreign politics like Iraq will be deleted. Please post political stuff at the Bearpit instead: http://www.bearpit.net

This forum is for Thailand related topics ONLY!

Thanks!

/Admin

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I would take stories of a coup seriously. Thailand has a history of it, Thaksin is disliked, and he is increasingly in conflict with the army and police. He may have the sense to step down in order to avert it, but I doubt it. Like most leaders, in fact more than most, he is power mad. Also, I imagine he is surrounded by yes men who don't really tell him what is going on. If and when the coup comes it will probably be as much a surprise to him as the rest of the world.

Personally, I am wihdrawing most of my cash held in Thai banks and have already sold off investments I had in Thai funds. Of course my paltry assets don't matter to Thailand, but they do matter to me, and I sense trouble ahad. Have done for a while.

Thats just my point of veiw.

The Chief's of the services and of the police, are Thaksin appointees.

[taxexile]

100 islamic rioters, wounded ,arrested, go to trial,receive long sentences for armed assault on the police and the military.

that would give islamic terrorist/separatist groups both here and in other muslim countries ample cause to wage a campaign of violence and terror against the thai kingdom in order to secure the release of those prisoners.

car bombs,suicide bombers,hostage taking situations,shopping centres,tourists,schools,wats..... you name it. those people have no mercy.

look at similar scenarios that have happened in other countries where islamic radicals have been imprisoned.

the thai authorities did the correct thing down there in pattani.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

meadish_sweetball

This has nothing to do with this topic, but should you not be a

" Swedish Meatball "

sorry just wondering

A mere play on words. Jeeez even I got it.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

if thaksin is to be removed from office, i would hope that it can be done at the polls during election time. more violence piled on top of violence can onle be detrimental to the country. let's not forget that most of us here are guests in LOS. constructive critiscism and civilised discussion works better than personal attacks and hateful language. jai yen yen everyone.

chok dee

mango head

It won't happen Mango. The opposition to TRT isn't sufficiently organized to take over the country's management.