Military overthrow, stacking govt agencies and large corps with Generals, censorship by intimidation, corruption, tearing up constitution, limiting political activity, harassment of political opposition, etc.

Former Health Minister Rakkiat Sukthana, who the Supreme Court found guilty of corruption in a drugs scam and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

PTV RALLY
Generals probing TRT role in protest

Former members will be prosecuted if they financed demonstration, CNS chief warns

Former Thai Rak Thai Party members are under investigation and will be prosecuted if found to have financially supported an anti-government rally on Friday, junta chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said yesterday.

Council for National Security (CNS) chief Sonthi has a list of former Thai Rak Thai members believed to be behind the Sanam Luang rally organised by PTV.

First Army Region commander Lt-General Prayuth Chanocha suspected an "old political power group" financially supported the rally. Investigators are following the money trail.

"We believe they are behind the rally. Otherwise, the number of people attending would not have been so great. If investigations find a link, we will prosecute them under Council for National Security laws,'' he said.

He said the government had been moderate with protesters but former power cliques exploited this leniency to create political turmoil. "From now on, we have to strictly enforce the law and urge people not to be used as political tools,'' Prayuth said.

A meeting today will consider action against anti-government groups that physically assaulted municipal police on Saturday. "We cannot allow them to hurt officials and escape the law,'' he said.

Prayuth said the CNS was investigating other offences including defamation charges. He referred to an attack against Privy Council President General Prem Tinsulanonda.

PTV chairman Veera Musigapong said another rally would proceed at Sanam Luang on Friday. If it did not receive Bangkok Metropolitan Administration approval, it would gather outside the city hall in protest.

He warned Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin not to discriminate against his group. He said the People's Alliance for Democracy had been permitted use of Sanam Luang in the past.

PTV director Nattawut Saikua said the station would organise provincial rallies soon to gauge opinion there.

Nattawut admitted PTV rallies were not part of its media role. "We wanted to carry a media role but we are not allowed to. So we have to seek justice by organising political rallies,'' he said.

Thai Rak Thai caretaker leader Chaturon Chaisang denied the party was behind the Friday protest. Those who spoke were no longer members, he said.

He said former party members now associated with PTV "want to see Thai people exercise their rights to express political views".

Thanks, John. Now today the generals are warning Apirak not to interfere with the People Against Democracy (PAD) protests because they are heavily rewarded pawns of the junta. Other groups with well-founded grievances against the constitution-trashing are not allowed. Every day it's another travesty.

It certainly looks like the TRT is on the offensive again.

Thai Rak Thai caretaker leader Chaturon Chaisang denied the party was behind the Friday protest. Those who spoke were no longer members, he said.

He said former party members now associated with PTV "want to see Thai people exercise their rights to express political views".

Just like Thaksin is no longer a member I would imagine. I seem to recall him resigning just about a year ago.

Funding people to come to a rally, yes certainly and I would be great to see that come out and have the government come down on them with both feet.

I could make a few predictions but I think the will be obvious,

Government comes down on TRT and PTV, and they will cry foul. Then attempt to use that as some sort of political tool to rally people against the government. I think that would fly in Isaan but not to well with the higher educated.

This certainly sounds much more thought out than most of the things we have been seeing, and to me that would suggest Thaksin’s involvement. I would think that perhaps Thaksin’s plan B may be that if he goes down, get the TRT in power again and spring him from Jail. From there we all know where it goes.

This post has been edited by John K: 2007-03-26 09:02:00

Remember there are 31 million Thais banned from the constitution drafting process, not just the members of TRT. Remember it was democracy that was dissolved, not the TRT, as of yet.

Perhaps but setting up a preexisting mental state can and will swing votes. Wait until June or July and give them some time on the constitution. Things like this are not done on the back of a cocktail lounge napkin, and there has to be much more than superficial thinking to stop future Thaksin’s. You and I know deep and well thought out plans is not what Thais are best know for, so give them time they are out of their element here.

As bad as Thaksin was in some limited respects, isn't the point that Thais, especially those like Supinya) overwhelmingly want to stop future Sondhi's. As far as future less than perfect elected governments go, you can't stop that in a democracy. It happens. And then elections happen and people have a choice which direction to go.

Well let me put it this way,

Thailand was very sick with an infection last September 18 and there were few medicines in the pharmacy at the time. The medicine selected was old but powerful and has been know to produce negative side effects. Now chemists have been commissioned and they are busy making new stronger medicines called ‘Articles’ and they will be placed in the pharmacy once they have been approved. If the medicines are strong enough then the already very old medicine used in September should become obsolete.

While Thailand’s fever persists occasional delirious states may happen as the infection attempts to reestablish itself. Until the infection is eradicated or otherwise kept under control the fever will persist.

The infection has been know to take on the appearance of seeming harmless organisms in the body in the hope to trick the body into dissolving and absorbing the medicine used against it. Once that happens the infection may develop immunity to the medicine used and the results could be fatal.

I think they are doing ok, as long as they keep Thaksin at bay. The country has generally agreed to move forward withoug him, if he returns into the picture, it will be back to square one again.



Rakkiat's case has been started in Democtrat's time, not Thaksin's. In fact the rural doctors society, who blew the whistle on Rakkiat, accused Thaksin's administration (Sudarat) of covering up Rakkiat's scandal and protecting and even promoting his accomplices.

This post has been edited by Plus: 2007-03-26 12:14:02

It is amazing that the Generals have decided to probe the role of the TRT in the PTV protest. Considering it is almost impossible to find a Thai person who does not think the PTV and TRT are the same this would seem to be a very conservative statement.

Technically PTV people have resigned from TRT. Finding who sponsored the rally and tracing funds to TRT is nearly impossible.

That's another example of "everyone knows" but they are "presumed innocent until proven guilty".

Imagine how many more rallies these guys can stage before the due process goes through all stages. The best hope at the moment is obtaining court injunction.

Apologies if my memory fails me but if I remember correctly Rakkiat was a member of the New Aspiration Party which joined the Chuan government, later Thaksin bought the party and promoted Rakkiat to the party list.

John K has put it better than I can but I'd like to mention some points.
1. Corruption, apart from General's Sprang's recent jaunt to England I think you'll find the corruption in Thaksin's term was way in a league of its own- look at the latest from Watana, his Commerce Minister.
2.Censorship by intimidation- I haven't seen anyone being sued for billions for suggesting the generals are benefiting from their tenure.Likewise newspapers haven't been threatened with withdrawals of lucrative adverts from AIS or government agencies even though they frequently criticise the government.
3. As Nevin Chidchorp said the popliticians just have to lie low for a year, the junta have promised an election, they know they can't backtrack from that.

Plus is correct and Siriporn is mostly correct...

For clarity sake:
From Asia Week, dated September 25, 1998

Rakkiat, deputy leader of the Social Action Party, resigned Sept. 15, taking responsibility for a scandal in which companies linked to senior officials forced public hospitals to buy medicines at inflated prices. The scam erupted earlier this month, seriously hurting the government's reputation. Thai NGOs launched a vigorous signature campaign for Rakkiat's ouster on Sept. 11. Rakkiat has denied involvement. The office of Premier Chuan Leekpai said the resignation "will make the investigation easier" and reduce public pressure to oust Rakkiat's party from the ruling coalition.

That's something that snakes are very adept at...

Ousted Thaksin to appear on hi-thaksin.net Monday night

Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will appear for the second time in a video clip on his website; www.hi-Thaksin.net tonight, the website said Monday.

The broadcast of the video clip, titled "Moral Support from Overseas," will start at about 8.30pm.

The website said that Thaksin will provide suggestion for people who have been facing with many problems, out of belief that they would finally survive all obstacles.

This will be the second time that Thaksin who is now in London spoke in video clip aired in this website since he was ousted in a power seizure last September.

- The Nation

I guess he is beginning to discover there will be no more friendly interviews.

He just does not give up. With that said keep your eyes open because he is up to something.

Rakkiat was deputy leader of the Social Action Party (A breakaway faction of the Democrat Party)
SAP was in the Chuan government coalition, but dissolved itself after the 2001 election, when they failed to win a single seat.

Future foreign interviews will inevitably involve questions on his wife and the 1997 "gift" as the prosecution seem to have at least one witness that states brokerage fees consistent with a trade were paid it will be difficult to argue this was indeed a gift. Probably no surprise that the strongest case is the first to reach charges. Only one guilty verdict is needed. It will also make it difficult for Mr. Thaksin to spin interviews to his advantage. We will probably be hearing more from PTV as funds are channeled their way and they bark for their master.

Shawn Crispin has an interesting article on the A-Times about the collapse in support for TRT and Thaksin. It covers a lot of stuff including how the TRT controlled a lot of the North through a climate of fear by their links to human traffickers and drug dealers something which my own observations in this region agree with. It also links the collapse of Mr. Ts support to his failure to really push through any democratic changes. Anyway worth a read whatever side you tend to take:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IC23Ae01.html

As it cut across many threads, it is also posted in its entirety for the "Bringing Thaksin To Account" thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?ac...amp;pid=1213443

Apologies. I didnt notice it there

mai pen rai.... as stated, it could have easily gone into any number of threads as it touched on several areas...

In other words, as it relates to the majority of the population (upcountry), it is business as usual. When Thaksin was in power, the majority were pro Thaksin. Now that it is the junta, the majority are pro junta. As a patriarchal society, this is what was expected with the Monarchy continuing to be the stabilizing force.

Thailand is resilient. Somehow, someway, this country always maneuvers through the most difficult of times and moves forward.