Appreciate you making the distinction – thanks (though, as it happens, I agree 100%).
One really has to wonder just who the [cough] “graciously conceding leader” was actually speaking for on Sunday night. Presumably just the ones who agreed with him – and not for anyone who disagreed or felt like changing their mind? Where is he hiding this time?
If this does proceed to PT dissolution and him U-turning back into the PM’s office, just what growing and ruinous chaos will he be presiding over? And how long before that chaos triggers a coup or – maybe more likely – Article 7 action?
I am unimpressed with this discussion because of its lack of specifics.
As I see it the most glaring women’s issue is the lack of the right of a woman to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, very much the result of the male chauvinist Buddhist religion. Second to this is perhaps the outrageous procedure women who have a miscarriage or manage to have a legal abortion must suffer as recently exposed in the Bangkok Post.
Where do the Feminists stand on these issues and how have they been lobbying the parties to the election and Ms Yngluck?
If there is a problem here surely the Democrats arranging a coa;ition with Newin Chitchob must be guilty of similar offenses…remember the hugs, the roses and the tears…they should be banned for the tacky front page photo alone
The Democrat Party is the party of losers. They need to disband themselves. Phuea Thai needs to disband the Royal Thai Army’s so-called Election Commission. It is really the Civilian Government Dissolution Commission.
If they try to make this stick there surely will be a civil war in Thailand. How else will the Thai people ever gain control of their government with the corrupt Royal Thai Army, its ‘Election Commission’, the Kourts, and the Amaat all in league against them?
The losers in the Democrat Party need just to give it up, need to learn to lose.
The Bangkok Post quotes a member of the Democrat legal team, Wirat Kallayasiri, as saying, “Article 97 of the constitution clearly states that executives from any disbanded party are prohibited from being involved with any other party during the suspension period” (see: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/election/246108/democrats-seek-p-thai-dissolution).
I’m confused. The reference to Article 97 of the Constitution seems odd. According to the widely promulgated translation, which I have on file (http://www.asianlii.org/th/legis/const/2007/1.html), Section 97, simply says:
“The preparation of the lists of candidates prepared by a political party for the election of the members of the House of Representatives on a proportional basis shall be as follows:
(1) the lists of candidates for each constituency shall consist of candidates in equal number of members of the House of Representatives to be elected on a proportional basis in each constituency and placed in numerical order and shall be submitted to the Election Commission before the date an application for candidacy in an election on the constituency basis commences;(2) candidates under (1) shall not be candidates in an election both on the constituency basis and on proportional basis of any political party and, in preparing the list of candidates, regard shall be had to opportunity and approximate proportion between women and men.”
As some idiot, relatively recent expat, am I missing something here?
Whatever, the newly elected government does have window of opportunity, if it dares to use it. Remember what happened after the 2006 coup? The junta quickly introduced an Interim Constitution, which gave immunity (Article 37) to the coup leaders for their act of treason. I can hardly wait to hear the reactions of those members and supporters of the Democrat Party who were closely associated with the coup (Prayuth, Prawit etc etc) if the new Government under Yingluck decides to let themselves off the hook by fiddling with the later permanent Charter, which was rail-roaded into existence by the junta following a highly mischievous referendum process.
Looks like maybe the Dems are trying to “walk back” this dumb move – Korbsak and Buranaj are both pointing out that it’s coming from just one Dem MP – albeit he’s “head of the legal team”.
On the other hand, it only takes one to make the complaint. And it’s really difficult to imagine Abhisit taking very long declining the opportunity to grab power…. “Oh, no really I couldn’t – but well, if you insist. Rule of Law and all that, ho-ho-ho…..”
It’s all about building, maintaining and imposing the Thai Cult of Personality on the huddled masses, whether in the Muslim South, the Isan NorthEast or the Thai-Chinese in Bangkok.
I think it is true to point out that almost all Cults of personality throughout history have come to an end at some point, often with the statues coming down and the endless portraits defaced.
The Democrats through countless years of experience at losing elections and the popular vote have become the masters of government through the sleazy backdoor.
Not to suggest that Pheua Thai is honest of course, but they did actually win the election…yet again. Hard to see how Abbhisit thinks usurping government again will give him any credibility or will bring any stability to the country.
In Thailand there is an attempt at having the ‘rule of law’. One of the downsides of this is we have, like America, far too many lawyers involved in politics. This will just be the first of many complaints the various political parties will throw at each other. There are bound to be some PT inspired ones against the rump of the Bhun Jai, who are probably some of the most corrupt people around.
Andrew already has Thida leading the mob to burn the Bastille. In reality, even just looking at worse case scenarios, we still end up with a pro-Thaksin majority in parliament. For me it’s good to see politicians being reminded that they have to operate inside the law. (Mind you I suspect the Chonburi members of the new coalition maybe have solutions to political problems outside the law.)
Everything you say about Gen Akkara fits with my positive experiences. and I have had numerous talks with him over the years. I can’t see that I criticized him at all in this article for doing his job -quite the reverse. But that’s not the point of my essay. The fact is that over the past 2 years in his absence the army in the south has failed in its public relations endeavours. The fact is that he does the job better than any of his previous replacements since he left in 2008. He was called back this year precisely because of his abilities and because of this major vacuum in army public relations.
I can imagine a few hotheads in the ranks advocating such moves as a result of hubris and pure spite, but it strikes me as incredible that, particularly in the light of the overwhelming vote that has just happened, some of the saner people (Whither Chuan? Whither Korn? Whither Abhisit himself?) would not have stamped on such crass behaviour. After all, this is the party that carries the banner of “democracy” in its title. Is there nobody there who has any grasp at all of principle that they are not prepared to subject to some grubby nit-picking exercise for the sake of supposed political advantage? Have they thought for a minute what this does for the image of the country they claim to love, let alone the party itself?
We were told to admire Abhisit’s “grace” in acnowledging defeat. It does not seem to count for much! Of course it could be that since he has resigned the party leadership and the rest of the executive has gone with him, that the party is now effectively rudderless and no one is in a position to take charge – hence plenty of scope for the idiots.
Not sure about what “win loyalty”really refers to. So far that has hardly been the strategy of the state. Loyalty is hardly ever won but rather demanded and punished if it isn’t forthcoming. When you win loyalty you do it through merit, meritorious behavior and a mix of moral and ethical administration, as well as legal in the international sense. I know the failure to do this is a global problem these days, but here in Thailand, where so much is promised, so much is pretended, so much is illusion…so much is missing!
This image appeared in the ‘random images’ field in the sidebar on the day that the Democrats asked the Election Commission to advise Constitutional Court to dissolve Pheu Thai.
The cynic in me thought something like this might occur on Monday. When it didn’t, the optomist inside thought the Democrats might have learned a lesson.
Surely their best chance of holding government for more than one term is to allow PT to govern and hope they govern poorly, no?
That’s normal ‘Democrat’ politiks at work. Nothing new. This is the party that shouted ‘Pridi kill the king’ in theaters. Used blank sheet of paper to discredit Banharn. I won’t expect any less from them.
Facebook 
Twitter 
Soundcloud 
Youtube 
Rss
National lunacy
c12
Appreciate you making the distinction – thanks (though, as it happens, I agree 100%).
One really has to wonder just who the [cough] “graciously conceding leader” was actually speaking for on Sunday night. Presumably just the ones who agreed with him – and not for anyone who disagreed or felt like changing their mind? Where is he hiding this time?
If this does proceed to PT dissolution and him U-turning back into the PM’s office, just what growing and ruinous chaos will he be presiding over? And how long before that chaos triggers a coup or – maybe more likely – Article 7 action?
Yingluck and Thailand’s women
I am unimpressed with this discussion because of its lack of specifics.
As I see it the most glaring women’s issue is the lack of the right of a woman to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, very much the result of the male chauvinist Buddhist religion. Second to this is perhaps the outrageous procedure women who have a miscarriage or manage to have a legal abortion must suffer as recently exposed in the Bangkok Post.
Where do the Feminists stand on these issues and how have they been lobbying the parties to the election and Ms Yngluck?
National lunacy
If there is a problem here surely the Democrats arranging a coa;ition with Newin Chitchob must be guilty of similar offenses…remember the hugs, the roses and the tears…they should be banned for the tacky front page photo alone
The army and the god king
For Thai Malay Muslims does their duty and loyalty to Allah conflict with incitements to revere and worship the Thai King as divine?
National lunacy
The Democrat Party is the party of losers. They need to disband themselves. Phuea Thai needs to disband the Royal Thai Army’s so-called Election Commission. It is really the Civilian Government Dissolution Commission.
If they try to make this stick there surely will be a civil war in Thailand. How else will the Thai people ever gain control of their government with the corrupt Royal Thai Army, its ‘Election Commission’, the Kourts, and the Amaat all in league against them?
The losers in the Democrat Party need just to give it up, need to learn to lose.
National lunacy
The Bangkok Post quotes a member of the Democrat legal team, Wirat Kallayasiri, as saying, “Article 97 of the constitution clearly states that executives from any disbanded party are prohibited from being involved with any other party during the suspension period” (see: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/election/246108/democrats-seek-p-thai-dissolution).
I’m confused. The reference to Article 97 of the Constitution seems odd. According to the widely promulgated translation, which I have on file (http://www.asianlii.org/th/legis/const/2007/1.html), Section 97, simply says:
“The preparation of the lists of candidates prepared by a political party for the election of the members of the House of Representatives on a proportional basis shall be as follows:
(1) the lists of candidates for each constituency shall consist of candidates in equal number of members of the House of Representatives to be elected on a proportional basis in each constituency and placed in numerical order and shall be submitted to the Election Commission before the date an application for candidacy in an election on the constituency basis commences;(2) candidates under (1) shall not be candidates in an election both on the constituency basis and on proportional basis of any political party and, in preparing the list of candidates, regard shall be had to opportunity and approximate proportion between women and men.”
As some idiot, relatively recent expat, am I missing something here?
Whatever, the newly elected government does have window of opportunity, if it dares to use it. Remember what happened after the 2006 coup? The junta quickly introduced an Interim Constitution, which gave immunity (Article 37) to the coup leaders for their act of treason. I can hardly wait to hear the reactions of those members and supporters of the Democrat Party who were closely associated with the coup (Prayuth, Prawit etc etc) if the new Government under Yingluck decides to let themselves off the hook by fiddling with the later permanent Charter, which was rail-roaded into existence by the junta following a highly mischievous referendum process.
National lunacy
Yet more evidence of why the Democrat Party is continually rejected by the electorate.
National lunacy
Looks like maybe the Dems are trying to “walk back” this dumb move – Korbsak and Buranaj are both pointing out that it’s coming from just one Dem MP – albeit he’s “head of the legal team”.
On the other hand, it only takes one to make the complaint. And it’s really difficult to imagine Abhisit taking very long declining the opportunity to grab power…. “Oh, no really I couldn’t – but well, if you insist. Rule of Law and all that, ho-ho-ho…..”
The army and the god king
It’s all about building, maintaining and imposing the Thai Cult of Personality on the huddled masses, whether in the Muslim South, the Isan NorthEast or the Thai-Chinese in Bangkok.
I think it is true to point out that almost all Cults of personality throughout history have come to an end at some point, often with the statues coming down and the endless portraits defaced.
Regional voting
Interactive map of Thai election results:
http://mangomap.com/map/user/thai%20election%20results%202011
Thanks to Chris Baker for contributing his constituency boundary data.
National lunacy
The Democrats through countless years of experience at losing elections and the popular vote have become the masters of government through the sleazy backdoor.
Not to suggest that Pheua Thai is honest of course, but they did actually win the election…yet again. Hard to see how Abbhisit thinks usurping government again will give him any credibility or will bring any stability to the country.
National lunacy
In Thailand there is an attempt at having the ‘rule of law’. One of the downsides of this is we have, like America, far too many lawyers involved in politics. This will just be the first of many complaints the various political parties will throw at each other. There are bound to be some PT inspired ones against the rump of the Bhun Jai, who are probably some of the most corrupt people around.
Andrew already has Thida leading the mob to burn the Bastille. In reality, even just looking at worse case scenarios, we still end up with a pro-Thaksin majority in parliament. For me it’s good to see politicians being reminded that they have to operate inside the law. (Mind you I suspect the Chonburi members of the new coalition maybe have solutions to political problems outside the law.)
The army and the god king
The Muslims in the south – as are all Muslims – are strictly monotheistic. How does this play to that constituency?
National lunacy
There’ll be no winners if either of these pieces of lunacy get anywhere.
The army and the god king
Everything you say about Gen Akkara fits with my positive experiences. and I have had numerous talks with him over the years. I can’t see that I criticized him at all in this article for doing his job -quite the reverse. But that’s not the point of my essay. The fact is that over the past 2 years in his absence the army in the south has failed in its public relations endeavours. The fact is that he does the job better than any of his previous replacements since he left in 2008. He was called back this year precisely because of his abilities and because of this major vacuum in army public relations.
National lunacy
I can imagine a few hotheads in the ranks advocating such moves as a result of hubris and pure spite, but it strikes me as incredible that, particularly in the light of the overwhelming vote that has just happened, some of the saner people (Whither Chuan? Whither Korn? Whither Abhisit himself?) would not have stamped on such crass behaviour. After all, this is the party that carries the banner of “democracy” in its title. Is there nobody there who has any grasp at all of principle that they are not prepared to subject to some grubby nit-picking exercise for the sake of supposed political advantage? Have they thought for a minute what this does for the image of the country they claim to love, let alone the party itself?
We were told to admire Abhisit’s “grace” in acnowledging defeat. It does not seem to count for much! Of course it could be that since he has resigned the party leadership and the rest of the executive has gone with him, that the party is now effectively rudderless and no one is in a position to take charge – hence plenty of scope for the idiots.
The army and the god king
Not sure about what “win loyalty”really refers to. So far that has hardly been the strategy of the state. Loyalty is hardly ever won but rather demanded and punished if it isn’t forthcoming. When you win loyalty you do it through merit, meritorious behavior and a mix of moral and ethical administration, as well as legal in the international sense. I know the failure to do this is a global problem these days, but here in Thailand, where so much is promised, so much is pretended, so much is illusion…so much is missing!
How to get rid of a government
This image appeared in the ‘random images’ field in the sidebar on the day that the Democrats asked the Election Commission to advise Constitutional Court to dissolve Pheu Thai.
Poetic irony.
National lunacy
The cynic in me thought something like this might occur on Monday. When it didn’t, the optomist inside thought the Democrats might have learned a lesson.
Surely their best chance of holding government for more than one term is to allow PT to govern and hope they govern poorly, no?
National lunacy
That’s normal ‘Democrat’ politiks at work. Nothing new. This is the party that shouted ‘Pridi kill the king’ in theaters. Used blank sheet of paper to discredit Banharn. I won’t expect any less from them.