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Last night the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand hosted a discussion with Federico Ferrara (of Khi Kwai fame), Panitan Wattanayagorn and Suranand Vejjajiva.
Will Yaryan has written an interesting account of the event (via the Pundit). Comments from New Mandala readers who were in the audience would, of course, be very welcome. Sounds like it was a lively occasion.
It’s surprising that no-one here discussed the possibility of Issarn and Lanna seceding from the fascist construct “Thailand”.
As far as I can see – this is the only way to solve the current dilemma : break “Thailand” in two, or three, or four.
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Khun Panitan was asked how the Thai government plans to use the portion of Thaksin’s seized assets that are seized. He basically shrugged the question off.
Will the answer emerge from next week’s ruling? I’m not sure. But the judiciary/Abhisit government will need to supply an answer soon — more and more Thais will be wondering the same.
Anyone have any insight into this? $2.3 billion is no joke.
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Chris, your voice seem the only one discussing it. I need more convincing of this Issarn breakaway crisis.
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@Patrick
A reliable source has told me that much of the “frozen” assests have already been spent – around 50% – by men with guns, so that $2.3 million figure will be significantly reduced. The real question may be: What have those funds been spent on thus far?
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This was one of the liveliest events the FCCT had in a long time, and i thoroughly enjoyed the evening (even though i would have wished that Panitan would have stayed on and get out of his shell as government spokesman, and taken part in the later discussion).
I loved Frederico’s very provocative speech. Many great questions were asked to the panelists.
When do we get Sondhi L. and one of the Red Shirt leaders at the same panel? 😉
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Dangerous times and dangerous sentiments. Any talk of breakaway or secession is a non starter. There is far, far too much at stake, far, far too much too lose for those in control.
Thailand is a business, the majority of her people merely the worker pawns embroiled in the power plays of the established elite and those who are, apparently, urging democratic change.
Unfortunately, the key motive for all the key players, irrespective of their so-called politcal stripe, is not the welfare or development of the people and the country.
It’s all about personal gain, power and money. Some wish to preserve what they have, while the rest want more.
It’s simply too naive to think otherwise.
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chris beale #1 – I join Benny #3 in asking you to ‘piss or get off the pot’, as we say in Oz.
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Benny – the crisis has not yet reached this stage, but this is where it is heading. Michael – try to refrain from abuse.
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Khun Panitan is adept at shrugging questions off, using humour to deflect attention away from core questions.
One other question he ignored was when he was asked to justify his statement that if the military were called in they would be subject to “no scrutiny” (immediately corrected to “less scrutiny”) than the forces they were brought in to support.
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[…] is the text of my remarks at the FCCT on 18 February 2010, reconstructed from my notes and my memory. Because I wasn’t reading from […]
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[…] is the text of my remarks at the FCCT on 18 February 2010, reconstructed from my notes and my memory. Because I wasn’t reading from the notes (and […]
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