Comments

Hmmm, I do think that the history repeats itself in this election.
The nation’s biggest rivalry is happening once again for real. While every election in Indonesia is full of dirty schemes and backstabbing, in my opinion this one is really much intense than usual.

The popular Jokowi is pretty much reprising the role of a humble Hadiwijaya / Jaka Tingkir, while the ningrat and elitist Prabowo is playing the role of Arya Penangsang of Jipang. Behind Jokowi we have Megawati as Ratu Kalinyamat, the charming Queen of Jepara.

Well, maybe I’m wrong but at least it makes things more interesting nonetheless.

I have a feeling that Tom #5 is right. Prayuth is not likely to hand over the reins to a civilian administration for at least another 18-24 months, whatever foreigners say, and he is probably not going to trust Abhisit to handle things after that either. He is more hard line than that and the stakes are much higher than in 2006. There is not likely to be another “Baan Bangkae” cabinet of shiny arsed retired bureaucrats appointed by out-of-touch Prem twiddling their thumbs waiting for Thaksin to come back. Nor will Prayuth have the option to switch sides after the coup like Sonthi Bunyaratkalin. This is starting to look like a single minded effort to uproot the Thaksin regime once and for all with a determination to face the red shirt threat of civil war and separatism.

The army has failed against separatists in the South but that is a very different enemy that is very hard to identify and infiltrate, differentiated as it is by race, language and religion. They are also modeled on the structure of the FLN guerrillas against the French in Algeria – very small cells and tight control of information so that those captured and tortured can only reveal the name of one or two others and don’t know the names of their leaders. The red shirts will be relatively easy to infiltrate and only a few have the level of fanaticism of the Islamic insurgents in the South but by the same token military intelligence is also relatively easy to infiltrate and loyalty in the army will be questionable over a sustained campaign.

You’re being heavily down voted but you’re absolutely correct. I’ve lived in Thailand for more than 20 years and to anyone who has spent time here one can clearly see that it’s not as simple as new elections solving all problems. Society is very polarised at the moment, with extremists on both sides pulling a knot tighter and tighter as the peaceful majority in the middle sit by. Now the army has come in and told all parties to stop, easing a lot of pressure.

I read that Tarit Pengdit (DSI) and Nipat Thonglek (MoD) have both been moved to “inactive posts”. I wonder if they each have a case to take to the Supreme Administrative Court and, if so, whether the matter might not speedily be taken up by the NACC. Could that possibly lead to the dismissal of Gen. Prayuth and the other members of his NCPO? I suppose the result might hang on whether there is any obvious connection between the replacements and the replacements of the replacements on the one hand and the General and his colleagues on the other.

We are so appreciated that you are a group of democrecy in AU. We need your help to clean up the coup in our country. Please do all the things that yopu can.

Thanks & Best Regards
Thai people

He’ll squirm his way out of it, as he always does.

Symptoms of the above comment perhaps

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2637236/Thailand-junta-Please-change-soundtrack.html

Agreed. That said you could just as easily throw in fat profit as an accompaniment to every single stage. And I would. Coups obviously have never yet lead to anyone in government actually being punished for criminalty. Until that happens, any talk of democracy is a pipe dream. My chief argument against coups is that people like Chalerm spend a few days each time holed up in a luxury barracks being treated like royalty. and then they are let go to return to their same old criminal and anti-democratic ways Until there is a process that will upset that cozy little arrangement, nothing is ever going to change here. And ‘process’ most definitely does not mean ‘coup’

I have to agree with the negative comments above. Obviously it is a pipe dream and useless to write an open letter to a general steeped in the Thai culture of coup making, state murder and repression. He won’t listen or care. He’d probably prefer to throw this sorry lot in the clink. Far better to make a statement of opposition to another coup and express solidarity with those now being repressed and thrown in jail. Or maybe those who saw their votes trashed several times. Or those who see their laws trashed by the junta (again). Those academics could not possibly have thought of this, could they?

In The Economist of May 24th – 30th 2014 there appears a most revealing article about Thailand, and I am dying of curiosity to know whether this publication has been banned in Thailand.