Thai Politics

[STEVE G]

Yes, that seems to me to be the root of the problem, for those at the top of society life couldn't ever be any better which is why they don't want any change.
For those at the bottom, even a small redistribution of wealth would make a huge improvement to their chances of having some quality of life.

[PeteC]

Here's some of what is going on behind the scenes to flank the situation. With one published like this, there is sure to be more the government will highlight in weeks to come. Pete


BAAC to lend B420bn to rural sector

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews ... ral-system

* Published: 28/04/2010 at 03:48 PM
* Online news: Breakingnews Bangkok Post

The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives has set a target to extend 420 billion baht in loans to the rural sector in the 2010 accounting year (March 31, 2010-April 1, 2011), BAAC president Luck Wajananawat said on Wednesday.

He said 140 billion baht would be for the production of major economic crops, 45.5 billion baht for the production of alternative energy, 44.5 billion for livestock and fisheries.

Another 52 billion baht for the support of Agricultural institute, 68 billion for the creation of rural jobs, 30 billion baht for the development of rural economic community, and the remaining 40 billion for the support of government’s agricultural policy, the BAAC president said.

Mr Luck said the bank will establish risk management measures to ensure that its ratio of non-performing loans to total loans would not exceed 7.5 per cent.

The bank also has a target to increase deposits by 20 billion baht this accounting year.

[Super Joe]

Agreed HHF but it also very much depends in which strata of society you have grown up in.
.
The ultra rich elite do not want change at any price they are perfectly happy and will fight dirty to keep it as it is.
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The upper middle upwardly mobile class just want the upward march to keep going same old same old they have the ambition to be in the above group.
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The lower middle class just want to hang on to what they have got
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As for anything below those stratas i think we are seeing that now they just dont want to stay as slaves peons donkeys or forgotten peasants anymore they want their kids to have a chance/place at the trough of wealth as well

Agree with the basic assessment Sarge, but think they're going the wrong way about it, and you're maybe being a bit too generous with .... "they want their kids to have a chance/place at the trough of wealth as well" .... many send their kids off to a place called Pattaya then bully and emotionially blackmail every last Baht out of them so they can smoke and drink more.

Is it these people we're seeing camped out in Bangkok affecting other people's livelihoods and doing damage to the country while pocketing daily allowance?
.
And what would their reaction be if their fellow working class that they have now put out of work and money (cleaners, security guards, small vendors, construction workers etc) camped out on their farms holding illegal raves?

Not sure they could care less if they ruin other people's lives, ruin the country, not sure they're even sure why they're there. Yellow shirts started it all, they share some blame. Anyway it's none of our business, so I'm staying well out of it.

SJ

[stgrhe]

This is a very interesting, and IMO well balanced, article on the subject matter, which tries to shine a light on the conflicts within the army and how these conflicts affect the current unrest situation.

“The deep political crisis within the Royal Thai Army officer corps”
April 27th, 2010 by Freelander

Link removed by Grim Reaper - That article contains editorial that could possibly get this website closed down for linking to it.

Our T&C's clearly state. - Discussion on Thai monarchy is strictly forbidden. Political topics are permitted however they will be closely monitored.

[hhfarang]

agreed HHF but it also very much depends in which strata of society you have grown up in.

the ultra rich elite do not want change at any price they are perfectly happy and will fight dirty to keep it as it is

the upper middle upwardly mobile class just want the upward march to keep going same old same old they have the ambition to be in the above group

the lower middle class just want to hang on to what they have got

as for anything below those stratas i think we are seeing that now they just dont want to stay as slaves peons donkeys or forgotten peasants anymore
they want their kids to have a chance/place at the trough of wealth as well

I grew up in very much a lower middle class family and I had to work hard to get a place at the trough just enough to call myself upper middle class later in life. You won't do it by stopping work and demonstrating for weeks or months on end and ruining the livelihood of many other families and business people by shutting down the main commercial center of your country. All that does is make things worse for all "strata of society".

[STEVE G]

I would agree if hard work was the answer to getting wealthy, but I've a suspicion that a huge number of those rich Thais driving expensive cars around Hua Hin derived their wealth from abusing positions of power and graft.
They didn't work for it, they effectively stole it from the country and every inhabitant of it and thats what people want changed.

[sargeant]

I agree HHF up to a point but i would be interested in how you think the poor can get anything changed (75/80% of the population) if the rich and the elite just dont give a toss about them and control all the levers of power.

I am sure they have tried talking begging lobbying and voting in the people to do what is wanted to no avail its this arrogant disregard for the poor that has led to all this crap in the first place

and suddenly there are billions of baht for agriculture why wasnt it on the table months after they came to power maybe if it had been this crap would not have happened

I am quite sure the poor dont want the disruption and damage any more than anyone else and would like to be working for a LIVING WAGE

thanks steve i totally agree

[sargeant]

i read this in the nation today

The Democrat Party had no malicious intent when it might have violated the Bt29 million funds paid by the Election Commission to subsidise the party's campaign billboards in the last general election, party's MP Charchai Issasenarak said on Thursday.

"It is unbelievable that the oldest political party may be punished by dissolution because it unintionally made smaller-than-specified billboards which were, in fact, harder for voters to see," he said.

In the party dissolution case under the Constitution Court review, the EC contends the main coalition party violated its financial rules relating to campaign billboards.

Under the rules, the billboards paid by political party subsidies must have the specified size of 2.40 meters by 1.4 meters.

how ironic 29 million baht as against a 15,000 Bt expenses fee when they got Samak thrown out for a malicious cooking show
talk about come back and bite your own bum

[buksida]

Samak did a lot more than simply cook to get himself booted, the man was a fiend.

You seem to also forget the countless times that Thaksin sued the press for trying to print similar things about him.

Pot? Kettle?

Your memory lapses are getting tedious sarge, we know the Democrats are a bunch of crooks as we know the reds and yellows are, and the English language newspapers here don't deserve to grace my arse after a heavy download.

Tell us something new, your red rhetoric is boring.

[sargeant]

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on TV that he would hold public hearings for drafting law to prevent the media from being coming a tool to incite hatred and violence.

Abhisit was speaking on TV during his weekly programme, which was recorded Saturday and aired Sunday.

He said the media had been used to as political tools and used to incite hatred and violence and the practice so the problems must be tackled.

He said the government would draft a new law based on public hearings how to prevent the media from being used as tools for inciting violence.

He said the National Telecom and Broadcasting Commission must work closely with the media profession groups to prevent the abuses of media and to prevent government's interference in the media.

[STEVE G]

Beware of the reds - and keep your eyes on the yellows (Bangkok Post)

There will be House dissolution in September. A general election will be held on Nov 14. That's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's compromise. He has finally stepped up to put an end to the political crisis.

The coalition partners agree. The private sector applauds. The academics nod. And the international community supports this compromise. Even the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) has accepted the prime minister's road map towards reconciliation.

All that is left for the UDD is to set a date as to when they will vacate Ratchaprasong and their rally sites elsewhere in Bangkok. They were toying with the idea of May 5, Coronation Day, and then May 10 - but a final decision has yet to be made.

As for the rest of us, we just want this to end. But obviously somebody doesn't want it to end.

Early on Saturday morning, two policemen were killed and many others were wounded in grenade attacks and drive-by shootings in the Silom district. Already, fingers are being pointed at the usual suspects.

The first is, of course, the so-called militant wing of the UDD, who would stop at nothing to get total victory. After all, not all factions of the red shirts are happy with the road map, which is perhaps why they can't settle on a date to end their rally.

Prompong Nopalit, a spokesperson for the Puea Thai Party, has said there may be hidden agendas within the road map and there are still attempts at dispersing the red gathering, as well as intimidation of the media.

But to draw connections between that and the attacks on Saturday - without proof or evidence - would be reactionary and irresponsible. So let's not do that.

The second suspect is naturally the yellow shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

Critics have long worried that no matter which side wins in this current political struggle, the loser may not bow out gracefully.

After all, politics is never a pretty business, but an ugly one. Not to mention, there aren't only two sides in this conflict, there are three, at least.

The prime minister wouldn't have offered the Nov 14 compromise if he wasn't confident that the Democrat Party can win the general election in six months.

After all, over the past couple of weeks, through shuffling, transferring and appointing, many of the right people have been put in the right positions in the civil and police bureaucracies in the north and northeastern provinces of Thailand. That's the way politics goes.

The UDD and Puea Thai Party wouldn't have accepted the compromise if they weren't confident that they can win the general election in six months. After all, despite the shuffling, transferring and appointing by the government, the reds must be confident enough that they still have plenty of their own right people in the right positions. That's the way politics goes.

So that would leave one key player out in the cold: Sondhi Limthongkul of the yellow-shirt PAD and New Politics Party.

The PAD has a good reason to be against a house dissolution and an election in six months, to be unhappy with the road map. That good reason is: There's no way they can win.

If Prime Minister Abhisit sees out his term, which will end in January 2012, then two years would give the yellows time to campaign and gain support. They might actually have a chance. But six months? That's cutting it too short.

If the Democrats win in November, then it's a four-more-year wait for the New Politics Party. More importantly, the Democrats and the New Politics Party share a similar voting base _ the middle class _ so if the Democrats triumph in November, they will have strengthened their voting base and perhaps quite effectively shoved the New Politics Party into obscurity.

On the other hand, if Puea Thai wins in November, the New Politics people wouldn't even have to worry about being shoved into obscurity _ they will be buried in oblivion.

Caesar had Anthony. Nixon had Kissinger. Abhisit has Suthep. Thaksin has Jatuporn. And Sondhi has Major General Chamlong Srimuang, who has made the PAD's stance crystal clear.

He condemns the House dissolution and the early election, saying the compromise by the prime minister will destroy Thailand's reformation process and open the country up to a wave of terrorism. (How prophetic given Saturday morning's attack.) Not to mention, the prime minister's compromise will not be able to put a stop to movements attempting to topple the monarchy.

In offering the compromise, the PAD accuse the prime minister of being selfish, of saving himself and his administration at the expense of the country and that he cares not for the country.

The PAD demand the prime minister resign for his failures to deal decisively with the red-shirt UDD. Maj Gen Chamlong even goes so far as recommending military commanders declare martial law on their own, without seeking permission from the rightful government of Thailand.

Now those are harsh words, fighting words, and highly irresponsible words. But do any of them mean the PAD was responsible for the attacks on Saturday morning?

After all, if we have learned anything from history it's that neither the reds nor the yellows are above terrorist tactics.

The former stormed the Royal Cliff Hotel, burned buses in the streets of Bangkok and took Ratchaprasong district hostage. The latter stormed Government House and took Suvarnabhumi airport hostage.

But to draw connections between that and the attack on Saturday morning _ without proof or evidence _ would be reactionary and irresponsible. So let's not do that.

What it does mean is even if the government and the UDD are able to come to terms, even if the red shirts vacate Bangkok, even if the house dissolution and the election go smoothly, even if all that were to happen, it doesn't mean there will be peace in Thailand.

What it could possibly mean is that there will be another disgruntled colour on the march and wreaking a new round of havoc in the capital.

This, of course, is speculation into the future, but the tangled web of political intrigue is one that we have to monitor carefully.

It is better to be prepared for a worst case scenario.

For example, Dr Tul Sithisomwong, leader of the newly created multi-colour movement, said the house dissolution is too soon and will not solve any problems.

However with Dr Tul being a former PAD leader himself, there are suspicions that the multi-colours are simply the yellow shirts who are just hiding their yellow garments in the closet.

After all, so far they have followed pretty much the same game plan, step by step.

Many assume that in the past, and perhaps even the present, the yellow people of Thailand and the Abhisit supporters are one and the same. But with the PAD marking an X on the prime minister's forehead, it will be interesting to see how the one and the same will divide and separate.

At the end of the day, this has nothing to do with democracy; it's all about strategy in a power game. There may be a road map, but the map cuts through a jungle full of lions, tigers and bears. Oh my!

So beware of the reds, but don't take your eyes off the yellows. Be wary of the multi-colours and don't forget the greens will get a new army chief in September, and that will make things even more interesting.

And while Newin Chidchob's blues are pretty quiet, that doesn't mean they won't come into play. All of which is certainly having Thailand sing the blues.

[PeteC]

Interesting development. Who is the strong arm who will replace him? I think he resigned as the talk 'in house' may be getting too violent concerning what their party may do if the Red Shirts come out of this in some kind of power position. Pete


Sondhi resigns as New Politic Party leader

Sondhi Limthongkul resigned on Friday as New Politic Party leader and a party member.

Sondhi, owner of ASTV-Manager newspaper and founder of ASTV, said in his ASTV programme at 8.40pm that he would return to work as a journalist. The Nation