Some minor quibble: “Russia C130” ? I don’t think that’s right. But whatever.
The religious angles of the ongoing saga is very interesting and has not be discussed much. What’s missing here is the role (whether active /passive) of Dharmakaya sect. The sect is pro-Thaksin, obviously. The acting supreme patriach that Thaksin promoted is said to be sympathizer/protector of the sect. IIRC, the Dharmakaya abbot is supposed to be defrocked but the matter get shoved onto a backburner or something like that. There’s also the group called Yuwasangha (young monks) with a very militant/ anti-PAD website. There’s also a large gathering of monks at Sanam Luang that antagonizes the early PAD protest. Just bits of details that I’m reminded of, upon reading this article.
All in all, though, I think the religious angles is mostly tactical maneuverings by both sides, to galvanize support/ open new avenues for attack, etc. Neither side strike me as particularly religious/ spiritual. I suspect they both didn’t give a damn about religions.
Actually, the courts could not hold him accountable in accordance with the law as it had existed even in the Democrat days – unless you want to change the law which post-2006 coup-makers and their friends want to do to achieve their ends.
I used to live in Mayland in Perth twenty years ago. It was a tough suburb then because of a large population of Aboriginals, like Redfern in Sydney. One thing I learned hard way was WA cops were real brute compared to the cops in Sydney. I still have tons of relatives in Perth. They said Mayland is a yuppy suburb now and Morley even has a huge shopping mall now.
No job then and I was on dole full time and hanging around with them black fellas I picked up a few Aussie slangs there. I think I used to hear and read a lot about you in papers and suddenly it hits me last night you were the the most notorious guy in Perth then, If I remember correctly. Or I am confusing you with that brothers framed for the big gold heist?
I read that chapter “The Lost Tunnels” from your book on your site. It was a particularly good one. My father was in BIA with the japs during second world war and they stashed away so many weapons and ammo in the jungle tunnels like you described in that chapter. We still had a couple of rusting lee-enfield 303 gathering dust in the basement of our house in delta.
Is your time in big bad house also in your book too? I’m thinking of buying your book now!
Readers may also wish to check alternative media sites such as:
“Thai E-News (Hi Thaksin)” and “Nocoup.org” both of which were blocked from time to time during the coup years by the coup’s well paid web censors. Much of this is in Thai but there are some English bits.
A couple of quick points: Sondhi’s hate campaign against Thaksin continues as the story teller spins day in day out on his ASTV. TRT’s former PTV, managed by a warrior friend from Sanam Luang demo days in 2007 and now Deputy Gov Spokesman Natthiwut Saikua, got their license taken away because of its associations with Thaksin, while Sondhi’s ASTV which is (not coincidently) PAD’s centre stage electronic platform continued untouched to scream irrational abuse at former PM Thaksin and…lese-majesty (though Sondhi walks free while poor Da Torpido says the same thing on her radio program but is currently in jail). I stayed in a forest monastery in Northeast Thailand with a key coup-maker in 2005 and know for a fact that the coup was planned sixteen months beforehand and indeed even further back. The whole thing was well orchestrated under Prem’s hand.
I just cannot leave the web site without adding a comment. BTW, I am a more Social thinker rather than a Political one.
I am a Burmese who hates Military regime from my guts. I simply hate them for their injustice towards Burmese citizines, for their selfishness and for their cold heart.
Yet, regarding the main issue in this reality, I still think their generations still deserve the Aus education.
Let me quote this one from the web.
“Getting them up close and personal to the disgust that their parents generate among thinking Australians may encourage some self reflection.”
Well…….though it is hopeless to open up the eyes and the hearts of their brutel parents, it is still hopeful to those who have not been practised to cruelty.
Let them EXPERIENCE the prosperity of other countries, Let them THINK, Let them REFLECT, and Let them MAKE A CHAGE.
Remember, not all are “like-father-like-son” for neither all your personalities nor your thinkings are Genetic, they can be greatly influenced by the Environment you are in.
At the same time, we cannot allow them just to have only PRIMARY EDUCATION LEVEL as their parents do.
In addition, I can never accept that “WE-Burmese” do not deserve the Aus AID only because we are under Military Regime.
What’s the point here? What has going on? Where has Mr. Rudd farsighted vision gone?
Come On! We need you more than others do!
We are just ruled under unfortunate military regime, yet, remember that we are not all militaries.
We are just ruled under unfortunate military regime, yet, remember that we still in the list of the Third-World countries.
We are just unfortunate enough to belong to “Bangladish or Bhutan”, yet we still belongs to Burma.
Aren’t we deserve the equal opportunity too?
There are also (non-military) many prospective good leaders in Burma, who are hungry for the chances.
Don’t we need (non-military) HIGHLY-EDUCATED burmese young generations, just in case, there are_ like-father-like-son inherited INHUMANE leaders, who you cannot proclude from your expensive universities? How will we make a challange to those HIGHLY-EDUCATED, INHUMANE leaders, if we do not have enough HIGHLY-EDUCATED Burmese Young Generations who cannot mainly effort your expensive education, unless your Scholarship.
Don’t we need the same level of education if we want to make a Challange? Who will listen our Voices attentively in these days if we do not hold a degree from a Country like YOU, Oz?
It is out of the question that those Wealthy Military will surely buy the degrees for their children from the Wealthy Countries like you.
So, I will insist that since YOU cannot stop the Military’s sons-and-daughter naurished from your Advanced Education, should not YOU invites more talanted, prospective and non-wealthy ordinary Burmese students to get the same nourish from YOU, if YOU really want to see the Bright Future of Burma.
Humbly, We need YOUR HELP to step out from gap and won’t it be a dignity to You to make such a POSITIVE CHANGE.
May there be Justice and let the Judged rules the Nations!
It took a long time for Thaksin and Thailand to believe that he would not walk off scot free under the PPP.
Its too early to tell whether his fall from grace will have any lasting effects as a lesson for would-be corrupt Thai politicians, or on the confidence of the Thai public – many of whom seem to believe that money is the ultimate guarantor of power and influence and that democracy is mainly a mechanism for channelling funds to cronies – in the democratic system of government.
One thing that strikes me is that how the Surayud government, a short phenomonen of little over a year, may come out of this period of history looking quite good.
Castigated by the media by the Thai media for its economic conservatism and its seeming inertia (particularly in comparison with the dynamism of the Thaksin megaproject era) and by many common people who grumbled about the “sedikit mai di”, Surayud may in time be seen as a great embodiment of the Clint Eastwood admonition that “a man’s got to know his limitations”.
It appears that Surayud set himself a few non-negotiable objectives; draft a new constitution, hold new elections within a year, and set in train a fair and objective legal process to investigate the allegations of corruption. He focussed on these tasks and little else, other than restoring Thailand’s image internationally and dismantling a few of the more questionable Thaksin populist economic schemes. He weathered much criticism about having done little to freeze Thaksin’s wealth or to ensure that a conviction would occur within the lifetime of his government. It appears that he maintained a considerable distance from General Sonthi and the National Security Council, more than they would have liked. And in the end, he got the job done, in only a little more time than the foreign governments would have liked.
He has faded quickly into the obscurity, but in choosing to concentrate on doing a few things very well, his impact on future Thai politics and history may be disproportionate.
A Washington Post Columnist in the Aug 16 Sunday Post is similarly shocked and, at the same time, substantially threatened. Her greatest concerns appear to be the unconscionable lip-synching of a real, attractive child with the words of an off-stage unattractive child and the despotism inherent in getting all those drummers to line up that precisely for that long a time. The message seems to be that we should fear a country with that sort of raw will power coupled with that kind of disregard for integrity and a preference for the cute over the substantial. Shocking indeed.
Yes, jaw jaw not war war, until we all go blue in the face and all the cows come home. Carry on the junta, sitting pretty on its throne, ruling by whim and keeping everyone under the boot. Just hunky-dory. Haven’t we done ‘engagement and dialogue’ to death or rather the junta gone through the motions for the umpteenth time?
Let me quote something from the independent “Asia Sentinel” in 2007/in case some of you dont know, or maybe dont want to know??
QUOTE
‘The 2006 constitution empowers the same anti-Thaksin bureaucrats, judges, soldiers and royalists that tinkered with and rewrote the law for political gain, leading many voters to tire of an elitist power struggle that is heavy on buzz words like “democracy” and “human rights” but light on any tangible steps to make them a reality. Even a cursory glance at the state of independent bodies now should give anti-Thaksin zealots who claim to love democracy cause for concern. The Election Commission just oversaw a referendum on a constitution that two of its five members helped to write and that allows them to maintain their jobs for the next six years. The National Counter Corruption Commission has taken a back seat to the Assets Examination Committee, a junta creation that froze Thaksin’s money on dubious legal grounds. A seven-member committee comprised mostly of judges will now appoint nearly half of the new 150-member Senate, which is tasked with overseeing independent agencies.
Indeed, most worrying is the judiciary itself. The troubles began in April 2006, when King Bhumibol Adulyadej made a speech telling judges “to solve the problem” stemming the political stalemate that had gripped the country since Thaksin initially dissolved Parliament in February 2006.
Since then, nearly every major court decision has been laced with political overtones, infuriating legal experts who fear the judiciary’s independence has been compromised. Moreover, the new constitution grants new powers to judges to appoint members to key independent bodies, giving them more powers outside the courtroom that threaten to undermine their objectivity.
The recent disclosure of taped conversations held last year between two judges and an unidentified bureaucrat reveals the extent to which Thailand’s judiciary skirted the law to void the boycotted April 2006 election and toss the previous election commissioners in jail. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), in conjunction with the Asian Human Rights Commission, has posted a transcript of the conversations on its website with the following caveat: “Although the authenticity of the recording had not been confirmed at time of going to print, it has not been denied.”
Jakrapob Penkair, a former Thaksin government spokesman now leading anti-coup demonstrations, aired the taped conversation at a public rally in May. Police are now seeking to bring charges against him under a coup group order that bans the airing of wiretapped conversations without authorization.
The most damning part of the conversation quotes Supreme Court Secretary Virat Chinvinijkul revealing that the courts had already agreed on a verdict before the cases ever went to trial, according to the ALRC transcript…
All of the major court decisions over the past year put political expediency ahead of justice. As if playing by a script, the courts nullified the April 2006 election, tossed the election commissioners in jail, dissolved the Thai Rak Thai party and banned its executives for five years.
Now the generals have issued arrest warrants for Thaksin and his wife Pojaman for conflict of interest for the 2003 purchase of a prime land plot (in what was a transparent tendering process on a piece of land that no one then wanted). More warrants are expected in the coming weeks…’ ENDQUOTE
Interestingly, it is the same persons selected by the military that control the judiciary and have secured extended positions who are currently pursuing the same causes initiated in 2006 by the military-Democrat Alliance and its fabricated story on former PM Thaksin. It is also jealousy and power; desire by Thaksin’s former business friends such as Sondhi Lim- an indebted wannabe tycoon. Sondhi had asked Thaksin to “bury” his debts under the table post-2007 crisis to which Thaksin correctly refused. The vendetta continues as the story teller spins his lies incessantly day in day out over the past four years to an audience made receptive by the coup’s (kor Mor Chor) propaganda machinery. This controls today most of the print and electronic media. Please keep an open mind.
To all of your loyal readers, this includes the enemy (SPDC and their stooges both in Burma as well as other parts of the global span), I wanted to break the GOOD news to everyone about my Karen National Liberation Army photo exhibit, which along with the photos (154 total), copies of both of my two books (Panama Echoes from a Revolution and War in Karen Country, the Arena magazine (July 2008 issue), story and other information that refers to the Karen fight for freedom, was entered into the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas, Wyoming and which was viewed by tens of thousands of visitors over this week was a great success!
My exhibit won the Blue Ribbon-First Prize!
I trust that the editor of this on-line journal will carry the forthcoming news stories of this so that you all can read of it.
I shall be sending New Mandala in the coming days photos of the exhibit and I trust that they will allow their readers a glimpse of my efforts to make the public aware of the Karen National Liberation Army and those members of the armed forces of the Republic of Kawthoolei (Yes, the REPUBLIC of KAWTHOOLEI).
I shall be forwarding the money that I won from entering this exhibit, to Jack Slade and I hope that he can put it to some good use in fighting the hated SPDC!
17 August 2008
I initially hesitated to get into the foray of what really, so to speak, went wrong n Thailand that has exposed, not caused, this political and social divisiveness, but feel the need to speak.
I doubt that any single person knows what happened or who made it happen, even those who were involved and responsible for it. But that very possibly many Thais, call them democrats or just people who have an independent mind and know what democracy means, have had enough of subversion of democracy and want to be out from under the yoke. Unfortunately, when you begin to define what the yoke is and what it does to Thai society, things get sensitive and people begin to counter-react.
I am not a Jakrapob fan per se, but must state that what he said was not lese majeste, nor was that of Chotisak. Thais are falling over one another to claim the top “I am loyal” spot and cite anyone who has reservations, as they should, about the way the monarchy here is being ;run.’
The hypocrisy of the Thais, and the Thai nation, is proclaiming loyalty and love is evidenced in countless daily failures to live up to the honor and right-doing so often extolled by the king but not always practiced by members of the household and of society in general. At issue, which does inhibit legitimate social development, is the right to discuss the role of the monarchy, to comment on behavior of its members, to permit people to speak as they are entitled to speak and as they should be protected to speak.
I have said before that I strongly support the PAD in many ways, but recently faxed to them an objection in their citing of Chotisak as having committed lese majeste. He has not been officially charged nor convicted, and, to cite his actions as lese majeste in fact is probably defamation itself.
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Nation, religion and monarchy in the fight against Thaksin
Some minor quibble: “Russia C130” ? I don’t think that’s right. But whatever.
The religious angles of the ongoing saga is very interesting and has not be discussed much. What’s missing here is the role (whether active /passive) of Dharmakaya sect. The sect is pro-Thaksin, obviously. The acting supreme patriach that Thaksin promoted is said to be sympathizer/protector of the sect. IIRC, the Dharmakaya abbot is supposed to be defrocked but the matter get shoved onto a backburner or something like that. There’s also the group called Yuwasangha (young monks) with a very militant/ anti-PAD website. There’s also a large gathering of monks at Sanam Luang that antagonizes the early PAD protest. Just bits of details that I’m reminded of, upon reading this article.
All in all, though, I think the religious angles is mostly tactical maneuverings by both sides, to galvanize support/ open new avenues for attack, etc. Neither side strike me as particularly religious/ spiritual. I suspect they both didn’t give a damn about religions.
Nation, religion and monarchy in the fight against Thaksin
Well, I guess then ThaiCrisis can demonstrate the “right” way of doing it by “getting to the point” and put your real name and address there.
PAD and the Democrats will miss Thaksin
Actually, the courts could not hold him accountable in accordance with the law as it had existed even in the Democrat days – unless you want to change the law which post-2006 coup-makers and their friends want to do to achieve their ends.
PAD and the Democrats will miss Thaksin
Actually,
the troubles began years before 2006, when Thaksin corrupted the courts to allow him to skip jail for asset concealment.
It took the King to remind the courts that their duty is to do their job justly.
Robert Kaplan on Burma and American war-fighters
Hi Hla Oo,
yes that’s me. All my experiences are in the book. If you have a read you will see where I am coming from.
Robert Kaplan on Burma and American war-fighters
Hi Dave,
I used to live in Mayland in Perth twenty years ago. It was a tough suburb then because of a large population of Aboriginals, like Redfern in Sydney. One thing I learned hard way was WA cops were real brute compared to the cops in Sydney. I still have tons of relatives in Perth. They said Mayland is a yuppy suburb now and Morley even has a huge shopping mall now.
No job then and I was on dole full time and hanging around with them black fellas I picked up a few Aussie slangs there. I think I used to hear and read a lot about you in papers and suddenly it hits me last night you were the the most notorious guy in Perth then, If I remember correctly. Or I am confusing you with that brothers framed for the big gold heist?
I read that chapter “The Lost Tunnels” from your book on your site. It was a particularly good one. My father was in BIA with the japs during second world war and they stashed away so many weapons and ammo in the jungle tunnels like you described in that chapter. We still had a couple of rusting lee-enfield 303 gathering dust in the basement of our house in delta.
Is your time in big bad house also in your book too? I’m thinking of buying your book now!
Robert Kaplan on Burma and American war-fighters
Dear Hla Oo,
who is talking invasion? You simply are cementing what I have said in my previous comments. Please lose the aussie slang, doesn’t suit.
PAD and the Democrats will miss Thaksin
A last riposte to this blog (sorry with spell-check on this time!) :
Just for another insight check out the following as alternative social and political comment to the Sondhi/PAD (& Democrat-former Khor Mor Chor Alliance) propaganda machine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_i5CljFpP8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRcj9WDo_lU
Readers may also wish to check alternative media sites such as:
“Thai E-News (Hi Thaksin)” and “Nocoup.org” both of which were blocked from time to time during the coup years by the coup’s well paid web censors. Much of this is in Thai but there are some English bits.
A couple of quick points: Sondhi’s hate campaign against Thaksin continues as the story teller spins day in day out on his ASTV. TRT’s former PTV, managed by a warrior friend from Sanam Luang demo days in 2007 and now Deputy Gov Spokesman Natthiwut Saikua, got their license taken away because of its associations with Thaksin, while Sondhi’s ASTV which is (not coincidently) PAD’s centre stage electronic platform continued untouched to scream irrational abuse at former PM Thaksin and…lese-majesty (though Sondhi walks free while poor Da Torpido says the same thing on her radio program but is currently in jail). I stayed in a forest monastery in Northeast Thailand with a key coup-maker in 2005 and know for a fact that the coup was planned sixteen months beforehand and indeed even further back. The whole thing was well orchestrated under Prem’s hand.
The Republic of Kawthoolei and Thomas Bleming
Was this exhibit set up between the hog calling booth and the pie eating contest? Were you in every photo? Holding an unloaded weapon?
You need to cease this nonsense.
Time for AusAID to rethink Burma
I just cannot leave the web site without adding a comment. BTW, I am a more Social thinker rather than a Political one.
I am a Burmese who hates Military regime from my guts. I simply hate them for their injustice towards Burmese citizines, for their selfishness and for their cold heart.
Yet, regarding the main issue in this reality, I still think their generations still deserve the Aus education.
Let me quote this one from the web.
“Getting them up close and personal to the disgust that their parents generate among thinking Australians may encourage some self reflection.”
Well…….though it is hopeless to open up the eyes and the hearts of their brutel parents, it is still hopeful to those who have not been practised to cruelty.
Let them EXPERIENCE the prosperity of other countries, Let them THINK, Let them REFLECT, and Let them MAKE A CHAGE.
Remember, not all are “like-father-like-son” for neither all your personalities nor your thinkings are Genetic, they can be greatly influenced by the Environment you are in.
At the same time, we cannot allow them just to have only PRIMARY EDUCATION LEVEL as their parents do.
In addition, I can never accept that “WE-Burmese” do not deserve the Aus AID only because we are under Military Regime.
What’s the point here? What has going on? Where has Mr. Rudd farsighted vision gone?
Come On! We need you more than others do!
We are just ruled under unfortunate military regime, yet, remember that we are not all militaries.
We are just ruled under unfortunate military regime, yet, remember that we still in the list of the Third-World countries.
We are just unfortunate enough to belong to “Bangladish or Bhutan”, yet we still belongs to Burma.
Aren’t we deserve the equal opportunity too?
There are also (non-military) many prospective good leaders in Burma, who are hungry for the chances.
Don’t we need (non-military) HIGHLY-EDUCATED burmese young generations, just in case, there are_ like-father-like-son inherited INHUMANE leaders, who you cannot proclude from your expensive universities? How will we make a challange to those HIGHLY-EDUCATED, INHUMANE leaders, if we do not have enough HIGHLY-EDUCATED Burmese Young Generations who cannot mainly effort your expensive education, unless your Scholarship.
Don’t we need the same level of education if we want to make a Challange? Who will listen our Voices attentively in these days if we do not hold a degree from a Country like YOU, Oz?
It is out of the question that those Wealthy Military will surely buy the degrees for their children from the Wealthy Countries like you.
So, I will insist that since YOU cannot stop the Military’s sons-and-daughter naurished from your Advanced Education, should not YOU invites more talanted, prospective and non-wealthy ordinary Burmese students to get the same nourish from YOU, if YOU really want to see the Bright Future of Burma.
Humbly, We need YOUR HELP to step out from gap and won’t it be a dignity to You to make such a POSITIVE CHANGE.
May there be Justice and let the Judged rules the Nations!
PAD and the Democrats will miss Thaksin
It took a long time for Thaksin and Thailand to believe that he would not walk off scot free under the PPP.
Its too early to tell whether his fall from grace will have any lasting effects as a lesson for would-be corrupt Thai politicians, or on the confidence of the Thai public – many of whom seem to believe that money is the ultimate guarantor of power and influence and that democracy is mainly a mechanism for channelling funds to cronies – in the democratic system of government.
One thing that strikes me is that how the Surayud government, a short phenomonen of little over a year, may come out of this period of history looking quite good.
Castigated by the media by the Thai media for its economic conservatism and its seeming inertia (particularly in comparison with the dynamism of the Thaksin megaproject era) and by many common people who grumbled about the “sedikit mai di”, Surayud may in time be seen as a great embodiment of the Clint Eastwood admonition that “a man’s got to know his limitations”.
It appears that Surayud set himself a few non-negotiable objectives; draft a new constitution, hold new elections within a year, and set in train a fair and objective legal process to investigate the allegations of corruption. He focussed on these tasks and little else, other than restoring Thailand’s image internationally and dismantling a few of the more questionable Thaksin populist economic schemes. He weathered much criticism about having done little to freeze Thaksin’s wealth or to ensure that a conviction would occur within the lifetime of his government. It appears that he maintained a considerable distance from General Sonthi and the National Security Council, more than they would have liked. And in the end, he got the job done, in only a little more time than the foreign governments would have liked.
He has faded quickly into the obscurity, but in choosing to concentrate on doing a few things very well, his impact on future Thai politics and history may be disproportionate.
Shock! Horror! China dresses non-ethnics as ethnics!
A Washington Post Columnist in the Aug 16 Sunday Post is similarly shocked and, at the same time, substantially threatened. Her greatest concerns appear to be the unconscionable lip-synching of a real, attractive child with the words of an off-stage unattractive child and the despotism inherent in getting all those drummers to line up that precisely for that long a time. The message seems to be that we should fear a country with that sort of raw will power coupled with that kind of disregard for integrity and a preference for the cute over the substantial. Shocking indeed.
Shrimp slavery?
Thanks Hla Oo for that insight.
Robert Kaplan on Burma and American war-fighters
Yes, jaw jaw not war war, until we all go blue in the face and all the cows come home. Carry on the junta, sitting pretty on its throne, ruling by whim and keeping everyone under the boot. Just hunky-dory. Haven’t we done ‘engagement and dialogue’ to death or rather the junta gone through the motions for the umpteenth time?
Robert Kaplan on Burma and American war-fighters
If everyone loves peace and democracy, Hla Oo, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
PAD and the Democrats will miss Thaksin
Let me quote something from the independent “Asia Sentinel” in 2007/in case some of you dont know, or maybe dont want to know??
QUOTE
‘The 2006 constitution empowers the same anti-Thaksin bureaucrats, judges, soldiers and royalists that tinkered with and rewrote the law for political gain, leading many voters to tire of an elitist power struggle that is heavy on buzz words like “democracy” and “human rights” but light on any tangible steps to make them a reality. Even a cursory glance at the state of independent bodies now should give anti-Thaksin zealots who claim to love democracy cause for concern. The Election Commission just oversaw a referendum on a constitution that two of its five members helped to write and that allows them to maintain their jobs for the next six years. The National Counter Corruption Commission has taken a back seat to the Assets Examination Committee, a junta creation that froze Thaksin’s money on dubious legal grounds. A seven-member committee comprised mostly of judges will now appoint nearly half of the new 150-member Senate, which is tasked with overseeing independent agencies.
Indeed, most worrying is the judiciary itself. The troubles began in April 2006, when King Bhumibol Adulyadej made a speech telling judges “to solve the problem” stemming the political stalemate that had gripped the country since Thaksin initially dissolved Parliament in February 2006.
Since then, nearly every major court decision has been laced with political overtones, infuriating legal experts who fear the judiciary’s independence has been compromised. Moreover, the new constitution grants new powers to judges to appoint members to key independent bodies, giving them more powers outside the courtroom that threaten to undermine their objectivity.
The recent disclosure of taped conversations held last year between two judges and an unidentified bureaucrat reveals the extent to which Thailand’s judiciary skirted the law to void the boycotted April 2006 election and toss the previous election commissioners in jail. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), in conjunction with the Asian Human Rights Commission, has posted a transcript of the conversations on its website with the following caveat: “Although the authenticity of the recording had not been confirmed at time of going to print, it has not been denied.”
Jakrapob Penkair, a former Thaksin government spokesman now leading anti-coup demonstrations, aired the taped conversation at a public rally in May. Police are now seeking to bring charges against him under a coup group order that bans the airing of wiretapped conversations without authorization.
The most damning part of the conversation quotes Supreme Court Secretary Virat Chinvinijkul revealing that the courts had already agreed on a verdict before the cases ever went to trial, according to the ALRC transcript…
All of the major court decisions over the past year put political expediency ahead of justice. As if playing by a script, the courts nullified the April 2006 election, tossed the election commissioners in jail, dissolved the Thai Rak Thai party and banned its executives for five years.
Now the generals have issued arrest warrants for Thaksin and his wife Pojaman for conflict of interest for the 2003 purchase of a prime land plot (in what was a transparent tendering process on a piece of land that no one then wanted). More warrants are expected in the coming weeks…’ ENDQUOTE
Interestingly, it is the same persons selected by the military that control the judiciary and have secured extended positions who are currently pursuing the same causes initiated in 2006 by the military-Democrat Alliance and its fabricated story on former PM Thaksin. It is also jealousy and power; desire by Thaksin’s former business friends such as Sondhi Lim- an indebted wannabe tycoon. Sondhi had asked Thaksin to “bury” his debts under the table post-2007 crisis to which Thaksin correctly refused. The vendetta continues as the story teller spins his lies incessantly day in day out over the past four years to an audience made receptive by the coup’s (kor Mor Chor) propaganda machinery. This controls today most of the print and electronic media. Please keep an open mind.
Nation, religion and monarchy in the fight against Thaksin
Leaked sources indicate that Thaksin’s billions have been used by these same people taken out of his domestic bank accouts (at the time frozen)…
If true, that’s a big story – I look forward to hearing more from Jim or others.
Robert Kaplan on Burma and American war-fighters
Whatever!
The Republic of Kawthoolei and Thomas Bleming
To all of your loyal readers, this includes the enemy (SPDC and their stooges both in Burma as well as other parts of the global span), I wanted to break the GOOD news to everyone about my Karen National Liberation Army photo exhibit, which along with the photos (154 total), copies of both of my two books (Panama Echoes from a Revolution and War in Karen Country, the Arena magazine (July 2008 issue), story and other information that refers to the Karen fight for freedom, was entered into the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas, Wyoming and which was viewed by tens of thousands of visitors over this week was a great success!
My exhibit won the Blue Ribbon-First Prize!
I trust that the editor of this on-line journal will carry the forthcoming news stories of this so that you all can read of it.
I shall be sending New Mandala in the coming days photos of the exhibit and I trust that they will allow their readers a glimpse of my efforts to make the public aware of the Karen National Liberation Army and those members of the armed forces of the Republic of Kawthoolei (Yes, the REPUBLIC of KAWTHOOLEI).
I shall be forwarding the money that I won from entering this exhibit, to Jack Slade and I hope that he can put it to some good use in fighting the hated SPDC!
The Economist on politics in Thailand
17 August 2008
I initially hesitated to get into the foray of what really, so to speak, went wrong n Thailand that has exposed, not caused, this political and social divisiveness, but feel the need to speak.
I doubt that any single person knows what happened or who made it happen, even those who were involved and responsible for it. But that very possibly many Thais, call them democrats or just people who have an independent mind and know what democracy means, have had enough of subversion of democracy and want to be out from under the yoke. Unfortunately, when you begin to define what the yoke is and what it does to Thai society, things get sensitive and people begin to counter-react.
I am not a Jakrapob fan per se, but must state that what he said was not lese majeste, nor was that of Chotisak. Thais are falling over one another to claim the top “I am loyal” spot and cite anyone who has reservations, as they should, about the way the monarchy here is being ;run.’
The hypocrisy of the Thais, and the Thai nation, is proclaiming loyalty and love is evidenced in countless daily failures to live up to the honor and right-doing so often extolled by the king but not always practiced by members of the household and of society in general. At issue, which does inhibit legitimate social development, is the right to discuss the role of the monarchy, to comment on behavior of its members, to permit people to speak as they are entitled to speak and as they should be protected to speak.
I have said before that I strongly support the PAD in many ways, but recently faxed to them an objection in their citing of Chotisak as having committed lese majeste. He has not been officially charged nor convicted, and, to cite his actions as lese majeste in fact is probably defamation itself.