Nov 2. The House of Representatives voted 310-0 in the early hours of the morning to pass the amnesty bill, with four abstentions.
Nov 11. After 12 hours of debate, the Senate rejected the amnesty bill by 140 votes to 0.
If you took the trouble to actually read my article, Khun “notdisappointed”, rather than just assume you know what it says, you would discover that one of the main themes of the analysis is that Thaksin is motivated primarily by self-interest and is using the Red Shirt movement to advance his own personal agenda. I back this up with a large amount of documentary evidence, including a leaked cable on Thaksin trying to open backchannel negotiations with Prem and the royalist elite during April 2009. I even include a video of Thaksin singing “My Way”, and trust me, it is by no means flattering. And I explain how Thaksin’s plans fit in with the royal succession.
But I guess it would be too much trouble to actually read what I have to say before pontificating about it. Far easier just to cling to your ignorance and prejudices.
The Phu Nam Ron crossing is now an official international crossing for all nationalities since Aug 28 and can be used for overland travel between Bangkok and Dawei, and then up to Yangon, Myawady, Mandalay, even Muse on the Chinese border (I have been to all these places except Dawei). Last year things may have looked different, but from now on Myanmar will likely open even more border crossings. It has to, given that the country has been closed off to the world for too long.
Police forces around the world are there as an official arm of the state. Throughout the histories of police forces one major thread is evident. When workers organise together to better their conditions of employment capitalism is worried of their profits being reduced. As every country is capitalist, this includes China, all police forces are deployed to protect the interests of the state and capitalism. The brutality of police forces depends on 2 major issues. The nature of the state’s involvement in corruption and how well the police are actually trained. The more state corruption the more violent methods are employed to crush workers unity by a poorly paid and poorly disciplined police force.
Thanks for that. I hadn’t seen that before. There’s some interesting stuff in the Thailand section, as well as the editorials.
Seems to hit at both the government and the Democrats. I read some of the older material and they seem to be calling things fairly accurately.
What you clipped above is from a much longer article that I thought explained things and raised some interesting issues before concluding as you clipped. Quite succinct those three paragraphs above.
I saw they highlighted the changing aspect of the protests last week also.
Some interesting features on labour and education with lots of facts and figures too. Much appreciated.
It’s easy to criticise and take the moral high-ground from afar. That the Democrats haven’t won an election in Thailand ever either indicates a poorly defined electoral boundary system or that their policies are out of step with the majority of people.
I think you and most people have totally missed the point of the rice pledging scheme.
Flawed it may be, but it was introduced to assist the lowest income earners in Thailand society and further the push to the country becoming an industrialised middle-class economy. That it needs a thorough investigation is without question.
It won’t be the first or last good idea that is poorly implemented in Thailand or anywhere else.
“Sustained path to true democracy”? That’s an interesting way of describing the shooting to death of unarmed protesters, journalists, and civilians.
“And in any case, I don’t think that democracy under thjaksin and puea thai best serves the interest of the real majority of Thais.”
It’s irrelevant what you think, if you are not a Thai citizen and entitled to vote. But it sure sounds a lot better to me than returning power to the King and letting a whole bunch of public servants and palace officials take over.
Unless you earnestly believe an 85-year-old man recuperating from a long illness has the energy, interest in time of taking on what would be a mammoth job if it was done properly. The last I heard the prime minister of Thailand is automatically the holder of the chair of more than 300 committees.
On Nov 12th, some of my wife’s friends, who motorcycle riders, gathered together some money and asked my wife to drive them down to the Chiang Mai 700 year stadium for a UDD rally. she went to a staging area in Chiang Dao, and they gave her a red flag, and a parking lot gate sticker with the name of the local Chiang Mai PT PM on it, that is all that was given by them.
In case you don’t know, that stadium was built for the SEA Games several years back when Chiang Mai was host City. It is quite large, I do not know the capacity. My wife told me that the stands were packed, the field was packed, there were people on the roof, people on the fence, people out in the parking lot that could not fit in, and also people sitting on cars out on the road. I have been unable to find any info on that rally, the one the night before in Kon Kaen, or the one at , where was it, Samut Prakan? the 13th. My usual news sources are NM, BP, both the blog and the Post, where I can usually find info and links, but not this week, everything has been bout the fools occupying the same area that they complained so loudly about another group occupying three and four years ago.
My theory, based on a long standing analysis of New Mandala, is as follows. Finding itself struggling after the flow of Thaksin’s largess has dried up, New Mandala is seeking to re-insert itself into the Thai political process in order to boost its value in advance of a likely sale to Singapore. The origins of this are complex, but revealing. New Mandala is run by the ANU in Canberra. Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn spent time studying in Canberra. He was actually photographed visiting ANU on at least one occasion. Rumour has it that he had a private lunch with a Miss MacGregor Marshall, but reports of a long-lost, and very embittered, love child have never been confirmed. I digress. What sort of deal was transacted back in Canberra in the 70s is locked up in heavily restricted archives but, rest assured, it is no coincidence that New Mandala was launched on June 2006, that is 06/2006. Note that 6+6 = 12. Take away the stray 2 and you get 10!! Rama 10!! Following its launch, New Mandala became a platform for the exchange of coded messages between Prem, Thaksin, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Camilla Parker Bowles. Beneath a thinly disguised veneer of pseudo academic waffle and red propaganda, astute readers have detected a plot to re-establish Phra Viharn as the centre of a new southeast Asian kingdom –a new mandala – ruled over by … guess who. Key figures in this new pantheon of power will be Ronald McDonald, Nong Jar, Lhong (the lost wolf of Chiang Mai) and, of course, Ladda Tangsupachai. Clearly, this new configuration of power is destabilising for the established elite. The reaction has been furious. The mysterious and original “man in black”, Bangkok Pundit, has been spotted mobilising expats through Thailand, urging them to abandon their online pseudonyms, stop repeating the same thing endlessly and actually express a new opinion. Nick Nostitz, known to be a pseudonym for the shadowy Okas Tepalakul, is said to be preparing a photo essay so long it will crash the New Mandala server. Backing up Nostitz, a prominent Singapore blogger has threatened to write a 698,763 word opinion piece revealing, once and for all, the truth behind New Mandala’s perfidy. How New Mandala will react is highly unpredictable. One theory has it that it will attempt to bring back a long disgraced, but immensely popular, figure who has been in cyberspace exile for several years – Les Abbey. Even more alarming is the prospect that New Mandala is cultivating an alliance with an entity so powerful that it can only be referred to in public discourse as “the institution” – The Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand. Whatever happens, it will gradually become clear that New Mandala is the invisible hand behind recent turmoil and that its naked quest for self-aggrandisement can only be halted by the most massive grass roots protests the Democrats have ever been able to mobilise – at least 1500 people!
Kheang Un of Northern Illinois University has a review of Aid Dependence in Cambodia in the most recent issue of Contemporary Southeast Asia (Vol. 35, no.2), too. He concludes with this criticism (in a review that’s otherwise full of praise):
The book does, however, have a few shortcomings. First, as far as the Cambodian case is concerned, the book touches on familiar issues – corruption, weak governance, weak rule of law and the lack of genuine democracy – that have already been thoroughly analysed by other Cambodian scholars. The author’s recommendations include standard phrases – such as “greater government-donor coordination and oversight”, “to align national and international interests”, “government ownership” and “harder measures against corruption” – which read like conventional consultancy reports. The author states: “The role of aid and donors has been limited in explaining the success or failures observed” (p. 84). This statement leads to the second shortcoming: although the author highlights that other factors such as colonialism, the impact of the Khmer Rouge and the absence of social capital might have contributed to governance problems, he does not offer adequate elaboration of those points to weigh their impact on weak governance and Cambodia’s shallow democracy.
via the establishmentpost:
quote :
if, however, Thai society recognizes that the original goal of the protests has been achieved and the blanket amnesty bill defeated by people on both sides of the political color divide joining together with a combined voice, albeit for different reasons, to bring about a policy change, the democratic process and political empowerment of the Thai people has taken a giant step forward.
With a Bangkok Poll showing Prime Minister Yingluck’s popularity dropping by almost 34 per cent to just 26.7 per cent and 46.2 per cent of respondents saying they did not trust the government not to revive the blanket amnesty bill during its remaining term in office, PTP would be foolish to break its pledge, with much work needing to be done to restore the faith of the electorate if it is to repeat its 2011 electoral victory.
Rather than a three-day industry and country damaging shut-down, the Thai people should celebrate their victory with dignity and pride. Educators should point-blank reject the demand for school closures and send a clear message to the Democrat Party and protest leaders that a forced regime change by mob is not the Thailand of the 21st-century and not the morals and ethics they wish to instill in the Thai youth of today.
This morning in my drive down to the city, Chiang Mai, and back I go past several schools, and they are all open as usual, as well as all the government offices, and the police have their usual Monday gathering of money from Motorcyclist in front of Mae Rim and Chiang Dao City halls.
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Back to Thailand’s future
no shortage of buffalo-minds wherever you look?
Nov 2. The House of Representatives voted 310-0 in the early hours of the morning to pass the amnesty bill, with four abstentions.
Nov 11. After 12 hours of debate, the Senate rejected the amnesty bill by 140 votes to 0.
Malaysia’s madness
There was a time when those demanding for free and fair elections were painted as traitors and out to overthrow the government.
The New Straits Times offers an apology for groundless allegations.
Back to Thailand’s future
AMM
A businessman and politician is self-interested? Really? What a startling analysis. And journalists like yourself aren’t self-interested?
And a cable is not “evidence” it is hearsay and anecdote.
What is to be done in Thailand?
This is not a political crisis (by Thai standards).
“If rule of law is to survive in Thailand…” …surely you meant if it is to be established?
Show us your theories
I knew that.
Back to Thailand’s future
If you took the trouble to actually read my article, Khun “notdisappointed”, rather than just assume you know what it says, you would discover that one of the main themes of the analysis is that Thaksin is motivated primarily by self-interest and is using the Red Shirt movement to advance his own personal agenda. I back this up with a large amount of documentary evidence, including a leaked cable on Thaksin trying to open backchannel negotiations with Prem and the royalist elite during April 2009. I even include a video of Thaksin singing “My Way”, and trust me, it is by no means flattering. And I explain how Thaksin’s plans fit in with the royal succession.
But I guess it would be too much trouble to actually read what I have to say before pontificating about it. Far easier just to cling to your ignorance and prejudices.
The Company in Dawei
The Phu Nam Ron crossing is now an official international crossing for all nationalities since Aug 28 and can be used for overland travel between Bangkok and Dawei, and then up to Yangon, Myawady, Mandalay, even Muse on the Chinese border (I have been to all these places except Dawei). Last year things may have looked different, but from now on Myanmar will likely open even more border crossings. It has to, given that the country has been closed off to the world for too long.
Strikes, violence and modernity
Police forces around the world are there as an official arm of the state. Throughout the histories of police forces one major thread is evident. When workers organise together to better their conditions of employment capitalism is worried of their profits being reduced. As every country is capitalist, this includes China, all police forces are deployed to protect the interests of the state and capitalism. The brutality of police forces depends on 2 major issues. The nature of the state’s involvement in corruption and how well the police are actually trained. The more state corruption the more violent methods are employed to crush workers unity by a poorly paid and poorly disciplined police force.
What is to be done in Thailand?
Thanks for that. I hadn’t seen that before. There’s some interesting stuff in the Thailand section, as well as the editorials.
Seems to hit at both the government and the Democrats. I read some of the older material and they seem to be calling things fairly accurately.
What you clipped above is from a much longer article that I thought explained things and raised some interesting issues before concluding as you clipped. Quite succinct those three paragraphs above.
I saw they highlighted the changing aspect of the protests last week also.
Some interesting features on labour and education with lots of facts and figures too. Much appreciated.
What is to be done in Thailand?
It’s easy to criticise and take the moral high-ground from afar. That the Democrats haven’t won an election in Thailand ever either indicates a poorly defined electoral boundary system or that their policies are out of step with the majority of people.
I think you and most people have totally missed the point of the rice pledging scheme.
Flawed it may be, but it was introduced to assist the lowest income earners in Thailand society and further the push to the country becoming an industrialised middle-class economy. That it needs a thorough investigation is without question.
It won’t be the first or last good idea that is poorly implemented in Thailand or anywhere else.
“Sustained path to true democracy”? That’s an interesting way of describing the shooting to death of unarmed protesters, journalists, and civilians.
“And in any case, I don’t think that democracy under thjaksin and puea thai best serves the interest of the real majority of Thais.”
It’s irrelevant what you think, if you are not a Thai citizen and entitled to vote. But it sure sounds a lot better to me than returning power to the King and letting a whole bunch of public servants and palace officials take over.
Unless you earnestly believe an 85-year-old man recuperating from a long illness has the energy, interest in time of taking on what would be a mammoth job if it was done properly. The last I heard the prime minister of Thailand is automatically the holder of the chair of more than 300 committees.
The end of the Red Shirts?
On Nov 12th, some of my wife’s friends, who motorcycle riders, gathered together some money and asked my wife to drive them down to the Chiang Mai 700 year stadium for a UDD rally. she went to a staging area in Chiang Dao, and they gave her a red flag, and a parking lot gate sticker with the name of the local Chiang Mai PT PM on it, that is all that was given by them.
In case you don’t know, that stadium was built for the SEA Games several years back when Chiang Mai was host City. It is quite large, I do not know the capacity. My wife told me that the stands were packed, the field was packed, there were people on the roof, people on the fence, people out in the parking lot that could not fit in, and also people sitting on cars out on the road. I have been unable to find any info on that rally, the one the night before in Kon Kaen, or the one at , where was it, Samut Prakan? the 13th. My usual news sources are NM, BP, both the blog and the Post, where I can usually find info and links, but not this week, everything has been bout the fools occupying the same area that they complained so loudly about another group occupying three and four years ago.
Show us your theories
My theory, based on a long standing analysis of New Mandala, is as follows. Finding itself struggling after the flow of Thaksin’s largess has dried up, New Mandala is seeking to re-insert itself into the Thai political process in order to boost its value in advance of a likely sale to Singapore. The origins of this are complex, but revealing. New Mandala is run by the ANU in Canberra. Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn spent time studying in Canberra. He was actually photographed visiting ANU on at least one occasion. Rumour has it that he had a private lunch with a Miss MacGregor Marshall, but reports of a long-lost, and very embittered, love child have never been confirmed. I digress. What sort of deal was transacted back in Canberra in the 70s is locked up in heavily restricted archives but, rest assured, it is no coincidence that New Mandala was launched on June 2006, that is 06/2006. Note that 6+6 = 12. Take away the stray 2 and you get 10!! Rama 10!! Following its launch, New Mandala became a platform for the exchange of coded messages between Prem, Thaksin, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Camilla Parker Bowles. Beneath a thinly disguised veneer of pseudo academic waffle and red propaganda, astute readers have detected a plot to re-establish Phra Viharn as the centre of a new southeast Asian kingdom –a new mandala – ruled over by … guess who. Key figures in this new pantheon of power will be Ronald McDonald, Nong Jar, Lhong (the lost wolf of Chiang Mai) and, of course, Ladda Tangsupachai. Clearly, this new configuration of power is destabilising for the established elite. The reaction has been furious. The mysterious and original “man in black”, Bangkok Pundit, has been spotted mobilising expats through Thailand, urging them to abandon their online pseudonyms, stop repeating the same thing endlessly and actually express a new opinion. Nick Nostitz, known to be a pseudonym for the shadowy Okas Tepalakul, is said to be preparing a photo essay so long it will crash the New Mandala server. Backing up Nostitz, a prominent Singapore blogger has threatened to write a 698,763 word opinion piece revealing, once and for all, the truth behind New Mandala’s perfidy. How New Mandala will react is highly unpredictable. One theory has it that it will attempt to bring back a long disgraced, but immensely popular, figure who has been in cyberspace exile for several years – Les Abbey. Even more alarming is the prospect that New Mandala is cultivating an alliance with an entity so powerful that it can only be referred to in public discourse as “the institution” – The Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand. Whatever happens, it will gradually become clear that New Mandala is the invisible hand behind recent turmoil and that its naked quest for self-aggrandisement can only be halted by the most massive grass roots protests the Democrats have ever been able to mobilise – at least 1500 people!
Review of Aid Dependence in Cambodia
Kheang Un of Northern Illinois University has a review of Aid Dependence in Cambodia in the most recent issue of Contemporary Southeast Asia (Vol. 35, no.2), too. He concludes with this criticism (in a review that’s otherwise full of praise):
The book does, however, have a few shortcomings. First, as far as the Cambodian case is concerned, the book touches on familiar issues – corruption, weak governance, weak rule of law and the lack of genuine democracy – that have already been thoroughly analysed by other Cambodian scholars. The author’s recommendations include standard phrases – such as “greater government-donor coordination and oversight”, “to align national and international interests”, “government ownership” and “harder measures against corruption” – which read like conventional consultancy reports. The author states: “The role of aid and donors has been limited in explaining the success or failures observed” (p. 84). This statement leads to the second shortcoming: although the author highlights that other factors such as colonialism, the impact of the Khmer Rouge and the absence of social capital might have contributed to governance problems, he does not offer adequate elaboration of those points to weigh their impact on weak governance and Cambodia’s shallow democracy.
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/contemporary_southeast_asia_a_journal_of_international_and_strategic_affairs/v035/35.2.un.html
Review of Gay is OK! A Christian Perspective
Christians = Followers of ALL Christ’s teachings.
Christ’s teachings at it most fundamental:
1)Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
2)Love your neighbor as yourself.
So why such long winded explanation/justification?
Show us your theories
I note that not one single person posited that the Democrats would dress up in blackshirts and start running around blowing whistles.
What is to be done in Thailand?
is long overdue – and also the right time
-could already be in the next legislature in government
Show us your theories
it seems now quite clear that the impunity comes to an end
– the reputation of the PT seems to be damaged
– but the real loser seems to be the DP which showed their true intentions – and experienced a defeat
What is to be done in Thailand?
via the establishmentpost:
quote :
if, however, Thai society recognizes that the original goal of the protests has been achieved and the blanket amnesty bill defeated by people on both sides of the political color divide joining together with a combined voice, albeit for different reasons, to bring about a policy change, the democratic process and political empowerment of the Thai people has taken a giant step forward.
With a Bangkok Poll showing Prime Minister Yingluck’s popularity dropping by almost 34 per cent to just 26.7 per cent and 46.2 per cent of respondents saying they did not trust the government not to revive the blanket amnesty bill during its remaining term in office, PTP would be foolish to break its pledge, with much work needing to be done to restore the faith of the electorate if it is to repeat its 2011 electoral victory.
Rather than a three-day industry and country damaging shut-down, the Thai people should celebrate their victory with dignity and pride. Educators should point-blank reject the demand for school closures and send a clear message to the Democrat Party and protest leaders that a forced regime change by mob is not the Thailand of the 21st-century and not the morals and ethics they wish to instill in the Thai youth of today.
http://www.establishmentpost.com/thailand-3-day-shutdown-call-a-betrayal-of-democracy/
What is to be done in Thailand?
A new party on the horizon.
Is this what we have all been waiting for?
http://www.prachatai.com/english/
What is to be done in Thailand?
This morning in my drive down to the city, Chiang Mai, and back I go past several schools, and they are all open as usual, as well as all the government offices, and the police have their usual Monday gathering of money from Motorcyclist in front of Mae Rim and Chiang Dao City halls.