billd766

Let's hope so.

One word from the King is worth more to the people than a thousand political soundbites.

tlansford, on Yesterday, 21:03 , said:

The only major changes (AFAIK) to the constitution were to insert anti-corruption measures after removing a highly corrupt government, and to remove the elitist requirement that a degree must be held to be an MP. So what leads you to say  " tore up the constitution" - please specify the changes that altered it in any major way?
The "installed military junta" was only in office long enough to make badly needed measures to reduce corruption before calling elections. This is not Myanmar or some S American banana republic, please don't try to make it sound like it is.

tlansford, on Yesterday, 20:43 , said:

Yes as I said in my earlier post, Thailand *could* be a democracy today if it wasn't for government nepotism, larceny & oligarchy. Those things are anti-democracy, democracy meaning the common man in the street is no different from the PM who is merely representing said common man. Meritocracy being the highest form of democracy, meaning the people most able & hard-working get the job. Yingluck? Really? She is meritocratically the single most politically-able and hard-working person in Thailand?
My comment on autocracy meant just that - rule by one individual. He hangs like a spectre over this whole government. Just like before he got kicked out of power and found guilty by the Supreme Court for the handful of charges they actually tagged him with, of which I'm sure they were the very tip of his crime iceberg, he was a shameless undemocratic nepotist, giving jobs to his family at the very top of society and government, like a little Shin family bird-nest in the loftiest boughs of the social tree. How truly democratic of him.
The current PM got the job by carrying his family name  and her campaign funded by his (stolen) billions. That is not democracy. That is autocracy. She serves his interests. He is still the boss. They got votes for him by proxy,  by bribing & by promising a new dawn stuffed full of untold riches to extremely poor people, who are now even poorer today as they are once again in the grip of an uncaring billionaire crook. The nepotism continues now the same as when he wasn't fugitive, with top jobs for the whole famly.
To answer your other point about me "not liking Thaksin" I don't like or dislike him especially, he is just another dangerous fleeing criminal, he is less than me in so many ways I do not even deign to like him or not, I just think he should be in prison where he belongs & that Thai people should be given new progressive candidates who are not related to corrupt former leaders or funded by crime.

The moral of the story: To do bad, illegal and unethical things in Thailand is fine. To talk about bad, illegal and unethical things being done here, is NOT! What's wrong with this picture?

ttelise, on Yesterday, 23:09 , said:

I gave up wearing a watch the day I retired.

David

LucidLucifer, on Yesterday, 18:55 , said:

Well, he is out of the cupboard now, caught with his drawers down, I expect he will call a cabinet meeting

hansnl, on 2012-05-26 18:57:04, said:

No, it's not sad. If you think it is then that is a reflection on yourself and the people around you, not on Thai women.

Sorry Percy.

As I lay asleep in Non'buri
There came a voice from over the Sea,
And with great power it forth led me
To witness Red Democracy.
I met Murder on the way -
He had a mask from old Chiang Mai -
Very smooth he looked, yet grim;
Seven blood-hounds followed him:
All were fat; and well they might
Be in admirable plight,
For one by one, and two by two,
He tossed the human hearts to chew
Which from his wide cloak he drew.
Next came Fraud, and she had on,
Like Jatuporn, a scarlet gown;
Her big tears, for she wept well,
Turned to mill-stones as they fell.
And the little children, who
Round her feet played to and fro,
Thinking every tear a gem,
Had their brains knocked out by them.

yoshiwara, on 2012-05-26 09:46:04, said:

but killing selectively a number of bankers might help

I think many are missing the real message he was giving

Quote

A reminder, and a veiled warning.

Damning with faint praise.

jonclark, on 2012-05-25 08:30:56, said:

The only bit that's "sensationalist and apocalyptic" is the last part about debt rising to 80%, the rest is a pretty accurate assessment in my opinion. Too many 'ifs' as someone else noted. Given the track record of politicians on all sides the chances of Thailand investing intelligently and taking a lead role in ASEAN seem very unlikely. I have yet to see this govt make one sensible well thought out policy. Their rice policies are driving Thai companies abroad and other dumb things like the Chinese ipads are just laughable. The 300baht wage rise is also going to impact greatly on development and investment. Thaksin's efforts to get the IMF debt moved sideways will also have a big impact on all this. I do not see Thailand heading remotely in the right direction and can't help feeling its all about getting snouts into this very large trough.

angsta, on 2012-05-25 11:14:14, said:

How compassionate.

Flying from one major city to another and staying in five star hotels is not the sort of trip young kids like this are looking for, they want to explore the country, can't do that from a leather arm chair holding a brandy and a cigar.

There should be travel advisories explaining the dangers of all road travel here, but an advisory will not stop an accident happening, only the Thai authorities can do that.

While nearly every neighbor such as Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China, Vietnam, the Phillippines, and even Laos have been fighting corruption for years, Thailand has been in a great slumber. No officials have been arrested for years now. Perhaps Thaksin was the last one? In China officials are getting put to death, while here the transport minister is caught with a billion baht cash in his living room, and he is not even arrested! Thailand is the laughing stock of all of Asia, and is on par with Burma, and Cambodia, in terms of the level of imbedded corruption, and the lack of will to fight it. Many friends are going to have to be lost, much pain will have to be endured, and many central, state, and local government officials, policemen, and military men will have to be arrested, tried, and convicted, in order for things to begin to change around here. Does Yingluck have the will for that fight? Does she have it in her? Is she the Harari of Thailand? If so she will go down in history. If not, she will be just another slogan uttering politician. Thailand has been cursed with way too many of them. Thailand needs change, and it cannot come too soon. This particular goombah needs to be sentenced to life in prison.

Some Thais say he was a bag man who collected all the bribes from road contractors in person.  And that towards the end of the Abhisit government he foresaw their demise at the polls and suspended payment of the mandated monthly rent of Bt 10 million to nominees of the man behind the party that controlled the Transport Ministry.  After the elections, knowing that he had a large amount of cash awaiting laundering and/or distribution to co-conspirators in his house, they decided to take their revenge by arranging the burglary, while he was out at his daughter's wedding.  Of course I don't believe these scurrilous rumours about a law abiding civil servant who has made it clear that the cash payments were all honestly earned consulting fees from companies in the construction sector for work done in his free time over 10 to 20 years that he declared for income tax. He was busy with his onerous duties at the ministry he just hadn't been able to find time to get to the bank to deposit the money and stacked up under his bed for safekeeping instead.

He will have to get off unpunished or with a slap on the wrist because it is unthinkable for a "poo yai" of his status to go to jail for merely looting the taxpayer but it will be a costly undertaking and his enemies have the satisfaction of seeing him bogged down in legal proceedings for years.