Thanks, Historicus. That is a fair point. Interestingly, however, in the past year or so Anand has berated a number of official and semi-official American visitors to Thailand for Washington’s failure to be as engaged with and appreciative of the region as is Beijing. Nothing extraordinary there, but the almost venomous tone and sheer contempt for his American interlocutors that have marked these tirades have led some of those interlocutors to wonder if Anand was not losing it. On the other hand, as a key hireling at Saha Union, he knows where his interests lie in today’s Asian political economy …
While we are on the topic of Anand, well, the foreign press blew it again, it seems, at that awful man’s recent FCCT appearance. Anand Panyarachun should NOT EVER be allowed to appear in public without being asked about the 1991 disappearance of labor leader Thanong Pho-an. His long-term failure to address that matter is an open scandal … Then again, as Bunchu Rotchansathian said on the eve of the March 1992 elections, Anand “rap chai ro. so. cho. dai di mak” (served the NPKC [the junta of the time] very well). Suppressing Thai labor–even through assassination–was part of the NPKC agenda, after all …
Word on the street (well, at least what I heard from the somtom lady on the corner) was that the public opinion was turning against the coup leaders (mostly due to their miserable economic record) and Thaksin’s popularity seems to be returning. While their appears to be no reliable polling done in the country (ABAC polls grossly over represent the urban population), the PPP (TRT in disguise) seems to have a good chance of winning an outright majority if the upcoming elections (military dictatorships have a very poor record of holding free and fair elections) reflect the actual will of the people. If the PPP wins an absolute majority, there could be little doubt that Thaksin would return in triumph, something the coup leaders are deathly afraid of. As we get closer to “election” time, the possibility of another coup to once again stop an election from going forth (The last coup was not about corruption, it was about stopping the election which Thaksin was obviously going to win) appears to be a possibility. History teaches us military dictators (even those pulling the strings of the public puppets) do not easily give up power. As an observer, it as all fascinating, as a long-term resident without a guaranteed stream of income outside the country, it is all unsettling.
I continue to be amazed by the outsiders who seem to know nothing of the empirical and anecdotal evidence of what happens to countries under a military dictatorship and continue to support rule by the gun as opposed to rule by the ballot box. About a week before the coup, I assigned a class here in Thailand to read a journal article about military dictatorships in Nigeria to give an example of qualitative research methodology. It was eerie going over the assignment after the coup. Same justifications, same techniques, same propaganda, same gullible people believing in the propaganda. Studies consistently show military takeovers are correlated with future unrest, violence, economic stagnation and repressions of freedom. So far, the military dictatorship here in Thailand fits the international pattern. What has the coup given to the people of Thailand (of those of us living on the Thai economy)? Repression, economic stagnation, increases in violence, especially in the deep south, increased corruption (even the “fine” for traffic violations by the police has increased and brothels are increasing springing up in residential neighborhoods in BKK), and a continuation of the political division. How do those who
Even if he is the King’s dog, I’m not sure he would be given the personal pronoun for people.
Is he also Khon TongDaeng? Nope, he’s Maa TongDaeng.
The thai script provided by “Bangkok Pundit” varies between
р╕Чр╕нр╕Зр╣Бр╕Фр╕З and р╕Др╕╕р╕Ур╕Чр╕нр╕Зр╣Бр╕Фр╕З…. I hope the equation between Thai people and a stray mutt hasn’t been made, it’s a big call.
There’s a lot of use of the word “real world”, “reality”, “realist” – I think the notion of a one ‘objective’ reality, ‘one truth’ that applies across times and cultures is a double-edged sword.
It’s also too easy to make statements like “hypocrisy of the majority of Thai academics” on the issue of “song mai ao” or branding my views as “intellectually disingenuous “argument”” – I don’t have much to say against that because I understand where you are coming from as I live and work in a Western society. I am use to it and I get it a lot – I’ve always tried my best to explain the ‘Thai’ worldview/version of ‘realtiy but I find it very hard.
Just to add to the notion of ‘hypocrisy’, I will admit that – apart from cheering for my favourite PL team, Liverpool, I also have a soft-spot for Manchester City (and I’m no fan of PMThaksin as a prime minister!)!!!
Thaksin mulled government in exile
(dpa) – Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra seriously considered setting up a government in exile after he was toppled by a military coup last year, a close aide to the deposed premier has revealed.
“Right after the coup of September 19, 2006, we planned to launch a government in exile but a telephone call from Bangkok changed all that,” Jakrapob Penkair, a former deputy chief of staff to premier Thaksin, told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand Wednesday night.
Thaksin, Thailand’s controversial populist prime minister between 2001 to 2006, was deposed by a coup while he was in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly.
He was reportedly shocked by the Thai military’s political blitzkrieg against him and initially attempted to block the coup by declaring a state of emergency in a Thai TV broadcast that was quickly taken off the air.
The deposed premier at that point seriously considered setting up a government in exile at the United Nations in New York, according to Jakrapob, who was a government spokesman under Thaksin’s first administration.
“It was not him who came up with the idea of a government in exile,” said Jakrapob. “It came from some of us, including me.”
Jakrapob claimed that Thaksin’s loyalists informally approached several countries to see if they would endorse a government in exile “and they said they would.”
But Thaksin nixed the notion after he received a telephone call from a mysterious person in Bangkok, whom Jakrapob refused to name, and flew to London where he has remained in self-exile since.
“When the crucial decision came, even he made the decision based on the patronage system,” Jakrapob told correspondents in a prepared speech on “democracy versus patronage” in Thailand.
From talks and problems, all road seem to lead to clash between Prem, institutional monarchy, and Dem vs TRT.
If only the most important question were ask and answer:
“Does Prem and institutional monarchy really represent the king?”
If not, then they are clear parties that subvert democracy and undermind king’s delegation of authority.
If yes, then people should be content to live under semi-monarchy system or risk their own French revolution.
All you academics and development theorists and practitioners can now write your papers with the benefits of the King’s profound wisdom, and we look forward to hearing your papers at the up-coming ICTS.
[Despite his usual incoherence this was an interesting and significant speech in other ways. Will try to post a comment when I can.]
Bangkok Pundit’s summary seems to agree with what I heard. The story about the relationship with the judge is correct with Jakrapop booming the word homosexual.
Jon Fernquest: Good post, but the fact that you knew about all those ‘local’ events does tend to suggest that the information gets out irrespective of whether or not it is reported in the media.
Unfortunately a lot of other nonsensical ‘information’ also gets spread, so I agree it would be better if the facts were reported, but I wonder what’s the mortality rate of brave reporters in Thailand?
Republican boils it down to this:
– If you do not support Thaksin & TRT, you are supporting royalist military dictatorship, and there is no middle ground.
So Thaksin was as good as it gets and we have to settle for that?
What nonsense, Republican!
One day you are gloating about the success of Thaksin’s brilliant, far sighted, strategic master plan, and the next day you are bemoaning the fact that he is a victim of academics who failed to support him in his greatest hour of need.
You should save some of your vitriol for Thaksin for blowing it, and for those TRT politicians who failed to moderate Thaksin’s worst excesses. (Oh, I forgot, he didn’t blow it – it all part of his grand plan)
You also don’t seem to mind PM Thaksin using nominees, maids, tax havens, and compliant tax officials to avoid taxes, as well as policy corruption to enrich his family businesses, but you do seem to get quite hung up about the CPB fortune.
To help you deal with your anger, I suggest you start thinking of the CPB as state wealth rather than private wealth. Would you feel the same way about a branch of government having such reserves?
Historicus: IMO that Jakrapob tape is hardly a smoking gun.
‘Direct influence’ or ‘guiding hand’ ?
Further extracts from Anand’s speech:
“As a constitutional monarch, however, His Majesty possesses three discretionary powers: “the right to be consulted, the right to encourage and the right to warn”. Under normal circumstances, he exercises these prerogatives through private audiences he grants to the prime minister of the day. In a constitutional monarchy, His Majesty does have formal powers and responsibilities under constitutional provisions. In exercising this function, he is ever conscious of his non-political role. All bills approved by the National Assembly are to be presented to His Majesty for signature. This is not just a formality, as His Majesty retains discretionary power to withhold his assent temporarily. In private consultations with the prime minister, His Majesty’s observations, be they “encouraging” or “warning”, provide an important input for the head of government to re-evaluate the government’s position and direction. His Majesty’s response to the issues raised by the prime minister is consistently advisory in nature and non-judgmental in politics. He adheres strictly to the letter and spirit of the constitution. His Majesty has also been through a few crises in our political history. His handling of the events produced results which in turn brought about tranquillity and normality to the Kingdom.
Without His Majesty’s guiding hand, we would not be where we are today – a nation which has invariably demonstrated its inner strength, political resilience, social harmony and economic dynamism – a trait which has enabled the Thais to survive many a threat and misfortune in their long history”.
Col. Jeru as accuser, judge and part of the sentencing of Thaksin as well as adviser to misguided Thaksin supporters! But seriously, middle class – what is it? how big is it? Who do you mean? PAD supporters? Or is middle class a refrain for the opposite of the uneducated masses that you feel such disdain for? The middle class is such a broad term that it defies easy categorisation and is a way of speaking politically and avoiding real analysis of who did and did not support Thaksin. But we can probably agree that the middle class are contingent democrats at best.
As the junta is determined to crush the protest, and as marches provide an easy target for the army and hired gangs (speaks for itself) to crush upon, I would suggest a general strike.
I still fear that the soldiers had been so entirely indoctrinated and dehumanised that they even would shoot at their own relatives. I wish a kind of disobedience as we have seen at the fall of communism.
1. What exactly is Historicus getting at with his references to the Kenan Institute Asia?
2. I am a bit skeptical (though that skepticism may well be unjustified) about Thaksin’s connection to the Carlyle Group. Is there any specific information about the precise form of that connection?
3. The mysterious visit that George H. W. Bush made to the palace some time after the coup did in fact include a very sinister bit of private, profit-seeking errand-running. “Wireless Road” was apprised. Its people should be pestered to fess up. Of course, there have been more than enough cynicism and greed to go around in the Chakri-Thaksin confrontation of the past year and a half. And the foreign press–in slavish deference to “Thai sensitivities”–reports on almost none of it.
4. On the topic of greed, please note that the CPB has now finally made good on its threats to oust the historic Silom Club–founded by the king’s sometime coach at being Thai, Chao Phraya Sithammathibet–from its long-rented premises on Soi Si Wiang, between Surasak Road and Soi Pramuan in Bang Rak. A condo will replace it. The sad triumph of royal avarice over history and loyalty (and nice tennis courts).
5. I hear a rumor that, out of deference to the Thai embassy in Beijing, editors at China Radio International recently cut an interview in which the Thai monarchy and its place in the current political situation were touched on. How long ago was it that the PRC funded the CPT’s “Voice of the People of Thailand” as it broadcast calls to end Thailand’s feudal order from a location in Yunnan?
Seems to me, from Observer’s account, that Jakrapop is on substance abuse of some kind.
Thaksin sought to overthrow the patronage system? That is 5 yaa baa pills.
Thais are ‘forced’ to conform and ‘owned’ by the elite?? That is another 5 yaa baa pills. Speaking of being ‘owned’ . . was it not all those disgraceful TRT members who are servants to the Shinawatras to this day? After all Potjaman was footing nearly all the TRT expenses plus monthly stipends to TRT lieutenants. Now that is what I call patronage. Even now Jakrapop cannot even mildly criticize his paymaster Thaksin as ‘flawed’.
Jakrapop saying that Samak “was earlier a pawn in the patronage system he has broken free and now opposed it” must 12 yaa baa pills because even Samak confessed he was nominee, proxy, agent, butler to Thaksin so he can be PPP chief. What b.s.!
Jakrapop implying some future ‘clash of revolutionary proportions’ sound very bitterly like Republican. That is 7 yaa baa pills.
And finally Jakrapop now saying “he was pained by the drug related killings and that it was a challenge when he was the government spokesman” must have been 24 yaa baa pills for sheer hipocrisy!
Does anyone in TRT carry any credibility to the Thai people??? Seriously!
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Anand’s speech on “the People’s King”
Kenan, Anand, Thanong:
Thanks, Historicus. That is a fair point. Interestingly, however, in the past year or so Anand has berated a number of official and semi-official American visitors to Thailand for Washington’s failure to be as engaged with and appreciative of the region as is Beijing. Nothing extraordinary there, but the almost venomous tone and sheer contempt for his American interlocutors that have marked these tirades have led some of those interlocutors to wonder if Anand was not losing it. On the other hand, as a key hireling at Saha Union, he knows where his interests lie in today’s Asian political economy …
While we are on the topic of Anand, well, the foreign press blew it again, it seems, at that awful man’s recent FCCT appearance. Anand Panyarachun should NOT EVER be allowed to appear in public without being asked about the 1991 disappearance of labor leader Thanong Pho-an. His long-term failure to address that matter is an open scandal … Then again, as Bunchu Rotchansathian said on the eve of the March 1992 elections, Anand “rap chai ro. so. cho. dai di mak” (served the NPKC [the junta of the time] very well). Suppressing Thai labor–even through assassination–was part of the NPKC agenda, after all …
A loose cannon in the “war room”
Word on the street (well, at least what I heard from the somtom lady on the corner) was that the public opinion was turning against the coup leaders (mostly due to their miserable economic record) and Thaksin’s popularity seems to be returning. While their appears to be no reliable polling done in the country (ABAC polls grossly over represent the urban population), the PPP (TRT in disguise) seems to have a good chance of winning an outright majority if the upcoming elections (military dictatorships have a very poor record of holding free and fair elections) reflect the actual will of the people. If the PPP wins an absolute majority, there could be little doubt that Thaksin would return in triumph, something the coup leaders are deathly afraid of. As we get closer to “election” time, the possibility of another coup to once again stop an election from going forth (The last coup was not about corruption, it was about stopping the election which Thaksin was obviously going to win) appears to be a possibility. History teaches us military dictators (even those pulling the strings of the public puppets) do not easily give up power. As an observer, it as all fascinating, as a long-term resident without a guaranteed stream of income outside the country, it is all unsettling.
I continue to be amazed by the outsiders who seem to know nothing of the empirical and anecdotal evidence of what happens to countries under a military dictatorship and continue to support rule by the gun as opposed to rule by the ballot box. About a week before the coup, I assigned a class here in Thailand to read a journal article about military dictatorships in Nigeria to give an example of qualitative research methodology. It was eerie going over the assignment after the coup. Same justifications, same techniques, same propaganda, same gullible people believing in the propaganda. Studies consistently show military takeovers are correlated with future unrest, violence, economic stagnation and repressions of freedom. So far, the military dictatorship here in Thailand fits the international pattern. What has the coup given to the people of Thailand (of those of us living on the Thai economy)? Repression, economic stagnation, increases in violence, especially in the deep south, increased corruption (even the “fine” for traffic violations by the police has increased and brothels are increasing springing up in residential neighborhoods in BKK), and a continuation of the political division. How do those who
King denies royal rumour
Khun TongDaeng? I thought it was Maa TongDaeng?
Even if he is the King’s dog, I’m not sure he would be given the personal pronoun for people.
Is he also Khon TongDaeng? Nope, he’s Maa TongDaeng.
The thai script provided by “Bangkok Pundit” varies between
р╕Чр╕нр╕Зр╣Бр╕Фр╕З and р╕Др╕╕р╕Ур╕Чр╕нр╕Зр╣Бр╕Фр╕З…. I hope the equation between Thai people and a stray mutt hasn’t been made, it’s a big call.
Republican on Thailand after the coup
There’s a lot of use of the word “real world”, “reality”, “realist” – I think the notion of a one ‘objective’ reality, ‘one truth’ that applies across times and cultures is a double-edged sword.
It’s also too easy to make statements like “hypocrisy of the majority of Thai academics” on the issue of “song mai ao” or branding my views as “intellectually disingenuous “argument”” – I don’t have much to say against that because I understand where you are coming from as I live and work in a Western society. I am use to it and I get it a lot – I’ve always tried my best to explain the ‘Thai’ worldview/version of ‘realtiy but I find it very hard.
Just to add to the notion of ‘hypocrisy’, I will admit that – apart from cheering for my favourite PL team, Liverpool, I also have a soft-spot for Manchester City (and I’m no fan of PMThaksin as a prime minister!)!!!
Talk on “Democracy and Patronage in Thailand”
Thaksin mulled government in exile
(dpa) – Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra seriously considered setting up a government in exile after he was toppled by a military coup last year, a close aide to the deposed premier has revealed.
“Right after the coup of September 19, 2006, we planned to launch a government in exile but a telephone call from Bangkok changed all that,” Jakrapob Penkair, a former deputy chief of staff to premier Thaksin, told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand Wednesday night.
Thaksin, Thailand’s controversial populist prime minister between 2001 to 2006, was deposed by a coup while he was in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly.
He was reportedly shocked by the Thai military’s political blitzkrieg against him and initially attempted to block the coup by declaring a state of emergency in a Thai TV broadcast that was quickly taken off the air.
The deposed premier at that point seriously considered setting up a government in exile at the United Nations in New York, according to Jakrapob, who was a government spokesman under Thaksin’s first administration.
“It was not him who came up with the idea of a government in exile,” said Jakrapob. “It came from some of us, including me.”
Jakrapob claimed that Thaksin’s loyalists informally approached several countries to see if they would endorse a government in exile “and they said they would.”
But Thaksin nixed the notion after he received a telephone call from a mysterious person in Bangkok, whom Jakrapob refused to name, and flew to London where he has remained in self-exile since.
“When the crucial decision came, even he made the decision based on the patronage system,” Jakrapob told correspondents in a prepared speech on “democracy versus patronage” in Thailand.
Republican on Thailand after the coup
From talks and problems, all road seem to lead to clash between Prem, institutional monarchy, and Dem vs TRT.
If only the most important question were ask and answer:
“Does Prem and institutional monarchy really represent the king?”
If not, then they are clear parties that subvert democracy and undermind king’s delegation of authority.
If yes, then people should be content to live under semi-monarchy system or risk their own French revolution.
So many if…
Anand’s speech on “the People’s King”
Suriyon Raiwa asks: What exactly is Historicus getting at with his references to the Kenan Institute Asia?
Nothing more than building the link between Anand and Kissinger as part of the background to Anand’s links into US corporate and government circles..
Republican on Thailand after the coup
“So all your outrage fall on our deaf ears gentlemen”
Exactly my point.
Anand’s speech on “the People’s King”
Genius and Wisdom of the King on Display Again:
“…р╣Ар╕ир╕гр╕йр╕Рр╕Бр╕┤р╕Ир╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕З р╕бр╕▒р╕Щр╣Др╕бр╣Ир╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕З р╕Др╕зр╕▓р╕бр╕Ир╕гр╕┤р╕Зр╕бр╕▒р╕Щр╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕З р╕Цр╣Йр╕▓р╣Ар╕гр╕▓р╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕З р╣Бр╕Хр╣Ир╕Хр╕▒р╕зр╣Ар╕гр╕▓р╣Др╕бр╣Ир╕вр╕нр╕бр╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕З р╕Чр╕╡р╣Ир╕бр╕▒р╕Щр╣Гр╕Кр╣Йр╣Др╕бр╣Ир╣Др╕Фр╣Й р╣Ар╕Юр╕гр╕▓р╕░р╕Др╕Щр╣Ар╕гр╕▓р╣Др╕бр╣Ир╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕З р╕Др╕зр╕▓р╕бр╕кр╕╕р╕Вр╕Цр╣Йр╕▓р╕Ир╕░р╕бр╕╡р╕нр╕вр╕╣р╣Ир╣Бр╕ер╣Йр╕з р╕Бр╣Зр╕Др╕╖р╕н р╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕Зр╕Щр╕▒р╣Ир╕Щр╣Ар╕нр╕З р╕Цр╣Йр╕▓р╕Др╕Щр╣Ар╕Вр╕▓р╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Вр╕▓р╕бр╕╡р╕Др╕зр╕▓р╕бр╕кр╕╕р╕В р╣Бр╕ер╕░р╣Ар╕гр╕▓р╕Бр╣Зр╕бр╕╡р╕Др╕зр╕▓р╕бр╕кр╕╕р╕В р╕Цр╣Йр╕▓р╕Др╕Щр╕нр╕вр╕▓р╕Бр╣Др╕Фр╣Йр╣Вр╕Щр╣Ир╕Щ р╕нр╕вр╕▓р╕Бр╣Др╕Фр╣Йр╕Щр╕╡р╣Ир╕бр╕▓р╕Б р╣Ар╕гр╕▓р╣Ар╕лр╣Зр╕Щр╣Бр╕ер╣Йр╕зр╕бр╕▒р╕Щр╣Др╕бр╣Ир╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕З р╣Ар╕гр╕▓р╕Бр╣Зр╣Др╕бр╣Ир╕бр╕╡р╕Др╕зр╕▓р╕бр╕кр╕╕р╕В р╣Бр╕Хр╣Ир╕Др╕зр╕▓р╕бр╕кр╕╕р╕Вр╕Вр╕нр╕Зр╕Др╕Щ р╣Бр╕кр╕Фр╕Зр╕нр╕нр╕Бр╕бр╕▓р╕Фр╣Йр╕зр╕вр╕Др╕зр╕▓р╕бр╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕З р╕кр╕│р╕Др╕▒р╕Нр╕Хр╕гр╕Зр╕Щр╕╡р╣Й р╣Гр╕лр╣Йр╕Чр╕│р╕Хр╕▒р╕зр╣Ар╕нр╕Зр╣Гр╕лр╣Йр╕Юр╕нр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕З…”
[From King’s speech 29th August 2007]
All you academics and development theorists and practitioners can now write your papers with the benefits of the King’s profound wisdom, and we look forward to hearing your papers at the up-coming ICTS.
[Despite his usual incoherence this was an interesting and significant speech in other ways. Will try to post a comment when I can.]
Republican on Thailand after the coup
I’ll try to add a bit more later.
Bangkok Pundit’s summary seems to agree with what I heard. The story about the relationship with the judge is correct with Jakrapop booming the word homosexual.
http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2007/08/jakrapob-at-fcct.html
I had heard months back from good sources that the call came from Surakiat who “betrayed” Thaksin. Why would Thaksin listen to Prem?
Republican on Thailand after the coup
Jon Fernquest: Good post, but the fact that you knew about all those ‘local’ events does tend to suggest that the information gets out irrespective of whether or not it is reported in the media.
Unfortunately a lot of other nonsensical ‘information’ also gets spread, so I agree it would be better if the facts were reported, but I wonder what’s the mortality rate of brave reporters in Thailand?
Republican on Thailand after the coup
Republican boils it down to this:
– If you do not support Thaksin & TRT, you are supporting royalist military dictatorship, and there is no middle ground.
So Thaksin was as good as it gets and we have to settle for that?
What nonsense, Republican!
One day you are gloating about the success of Thaksin’s brilliant, far sighted, strategic master plan, and the next day you are bemoaning the fact that he is a victim of academics who failed to support him in his greatest hour of need.
You should save some of your vitriol for Thaksin for blowing it, and for those TRT politicians who failed to moderate Thaksin’s worst excesses. (Oh, I forgot, he didn’t blow it – it all part of his grand plan)
You also don’t seem to mind PM Thaksin using nominees, maids, tax havens, and compliant tax officials to avoid taxes, as well as policy corruption to enrich his family businesses, but you do seem to get quite hung up about the CPB fortune.
To help you deal with your anger, I suggest you start thinking of the CPB as state wealth rather than private wealth. Would you feel the same way about a branch of government having such reserves?
Anand’s speech on “the People’s King”
Historicus: IMO that Jakrapob tape is hardly a smoking gun.
‘Direct influence’ or ‘guiding hand’ ?
Further extracts from Anand’s speech:
“As a constitutional monarch, however, His Majesty possesses three discretionary powers: “the right to be consulted, the right to encourage and the right to warn”. Under normal circumstances, he exercises these prerogatives through private audiences he grants to the prime minister of the day. In a constitutional monarchy, His Majesty does have formal powers and responsibilities under constitutional provisions. In exercising this function, he is ever conscious of his non-political role. All bills approved by the National Assembly are to be presented to His Majesty for signature. This is not just a formality, as His Majesty retains discretionary power to withhold his assent temporarily. In private consultations with the prime minister, His Majesty’s observations, be they “encouraging” or “warning”, provide an important input for the head of government to re-evaluate the government’s position and direction. His Majesty’s response to the issues raised by the prime minister is consistently advisory in nature and non-judgmental in politics. He adheres strictly to the letter and spirit of the constitution. His Majesty has also been through a few crises in our political history. His handling of the events produced results which in turn brought about tranquillity and normality to the Kingdom.
Without His Majesty’s guiding hand, we would not be where we are today – a nation which has invariably demonstrated its inner strength, political resilience, social harmony and economic dynamism – a trait which has enabled the Thais to survive many a threat and misfortune in their long history”.
Fuel and fire in Burma
[…] Mandala reports on the continuing protests against the fuel price rise in Myanmar. Share […]
Republican on Thailand after the coup
Col. Jeru as accuser, judge and part of the sentencing of Thaksin as well as adviser to misguided Thaksin supporters! But seriously, middle class – what is it? how big is it? Who do you mean? PAD supporters? Or is middle class a refrain for the opposite of the uneducated masses that you feel such disdain for? The middle class is such a broad term that it defies easy categorisation and is a way of speaking politically and avoiding real analysis of who did and did not support Thaksin. But we can probably agree that the middle class are contingent democrats at best.
Fuel and fire in Burma
As the junta is determined to crush the protest, and as marches provide an easy target for the army and hired gangs (speaks for itself) to crush upon, I would suggest a general strike.
I still fear that the soldiers had been so entirely indoctrinated and dehumanised that they even would shoot at their own relatives. I wish a kind of disobedience as we have seen at the fall of communism.
Republican on Thailand after the coup
Thank you, Observer, for the FCCT update.
More post on this will be highly appreciated.
Anand’s speech on “the People’s King”
1. What exactly is Historicus getting at with his references to the Kenan Institute Asia?
2. I am a bit skeptical (though that skepticism may well be unjustified) about Thaksin’s connection to the Carlyle Group. Is there any specific information about the precise form of that connection?
3. The mysterious visit that George H. W. Bush made to the palace some time after the coup did in fact include a very sinister bit of private, profit-seeking errand-running. “Wireless Road” was apprised. Its people should be pestered to fess up. Of course, there have been more than enough cynicism and greed to go around in the Chakri-Thaksin confrontation of the past year and a half. And the foreign press–in slavish deference to “Thai sensitivities”–reports on almost none of it.
4. On the topic of greed, please note that the CPB has now finally made good on its threats to oust the historic Silom Club–founded by the king’s sometime coach at being Thai, Chao Phraya Sithammathibet–from its long-rented premises on Soi Si Wiang, between Surasak Road and Soi Pramuan in Bang Rak. A condo will replace it. The sad triumph of royal avarice over history and loyalty (and nice tennis courts).
5. I hear a rumor that, out of deference to the Thai embassy in Beijing, editors at China Radio International recently cut an interview in which the Thai monarchy and its place in the current political situation were touched on. How long ago was it that the PRC funded the CPT’s “Voice of the People of Thailand” as it broadcast calls to end Thailand’s feudal order from a location in Yunnan?
Republican on Thailand after the coup
Seems to me, from Observer’s account, that Jakrapop is on substance abuse of some kind.
Thaksin sought to overthrow the patronage system? That is 5 yaa baa pills.
Thais are ‘forced’ to conform and ‘owned’ by the elite?? That is another 5 yaa baa pills. Speaking of being ‘owned’ . . was it not all those disgraceful TRT members who are servants to the Shinawatras to this day? After all Potjaman was footing nearly all the TRT expenses plus monthly stipends to TRT lieutenants. Now that is what I call patronage. Even now Jakrapop cannot even mildly criticize his paymaster Thaksin as ‘flawed’.
Jakrapop saying that Samak “was earlier a pawn in the patronage system he has broken free and now opposed it” must 12 yaa baa pills because even Samak confessed he was nominee, proxy, agent, butler to Thaksin so he can be PPP chief. What b.s.!
Jakrapop implying some future ‘clash of revolutionary proportions’ sound very bitterly like Republican. That is 7 yaa baa pills.
And finally Jakrapop now saying “he was pained by the drug related killings and that it was a challenge when he was the government spokesman” must have been 24 yaa baa pills for sheer hipocrisy!
Does anyone in TRT carry any credibility to the Thai people??? Seriously!
Republican on Thailand after the coup
Thanks very much for this first hand account.