Thai Democracy

In his article “The charmer making a mess of his country” Richard Lloyd Parry says - “After the latest pro-Thaksin Government was forced from power by a court ruling last year, they (Abhisit's Democrats) formed a Government by jumping into bed not only with PAD supporters, but even former Thaksin cronies, under the watchful supervision of the army. Mr Abhisit might argue that these were political compromises necessary so that a decent man could finally get his hands on the levers of government. But in the three months since he became Prime Minister, he has come to look more like the puppet than the master of those who hoisted him to power.” So it’s probably worth mentioning that the main reason that Abhisit is starting to look like a puppet is that in spite of promises that PAD would pay for the cost of repairing the damage they caused to Government House it seems that they will no longer be required to pay and also it is rumoured that charges against the 21 PAD leaders will ultimately be dropped. The Abhisit Government is using exactly the same ruse as the army did during the PAD occupation of Government House, the subsequent PAD invasion of the National Security Centre and both major airports and saying that they are remaining neutral. Meanwhile strings are being pulled to make sure that PAD always escapes any consequences! Interestingly, the PAD supporters who complain that Abhisit is wasting too much money on Thaksin-like programs to help the poor fail to mention that PAD’s invasion of the main International airport cost the country far, far more and has since helped Thailand top the decline in tourism chart with a whopping great 26% fall. So if PAD aren’t going to pay anything how is Abhisit planning to make up the shortfall - well it seems he’s considering taxing the poor Thais who own a bit of land on which they grow rice – now if it were to be a tax on the rice they produce that would at least be fairer as Bangkok gets 3 crops a year but the poorer farmers to the North (who mainly support the redshirts) get only 1. However since most PAD supporters live in and around Bangkok I have a funny feeling that if the tax is implemented it will be by area not by produce and those that can hardly make ends meet now will be forced to sell their land and work for the people who buy it! http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/a...

The truth today - let's put it this way... the truth is that truth is a variable clay simply strong opinion - which come what may... is moulded to suit the needs of the day! It's biased to sway you - turn you away... from the truth of others and what they say. it depends on your status, ability to pay... on politics, location and to whom you pray It isn't the truth in any ABSOLUTE way... remember it's relative or it'll lead you astray! When I posted this earlier, as a comment on a piece by skunk, it never occurred to me that it might be seen as some sort of comment on “The Truth Today” a daily political presentation on Thai Tv. Later I began to worry that since I do post quite a few bits and pieces involving Thai politics I ought to stress that, in my opinion, “The Truth Today” is far superior to most such presentations! I have to say that Abhisit tends to get more blame than I think he deserves for the present political pickle and I feel that today’s attempt to censure him and several members of his government still fails to get to the heart of the problem. In my eyes it isn’t Abhisit, the Democrats or even PAD that should be answering questions on NBT (essentially the Thai version of the BBC) but the military leaders. Imagine it was the UK... Oh the joy of Paxman asking Anupong: Why was PAD allowed to invade and capture the National Security Centre without any action by the military? The security guards must have alerted the authorities that they were under attack – why was there no response? After capturing the facility and interrogating the guards the PAD eventually released the guards so surely then the authorities MUST have learned that top secret information was in the hands of the mob! Why then did the army still refuse to act? Since there is recent evidence that some of the PAD had been in contact with the plastic explosive C4 is it possible it came from a military source? What do you think is the role of the military in a modern Democracy? Is it simply to beat unwanted guests, steal their provisions and tow them out into the middle of the ocean to starve... or is it to do nothing while mobs interfere with government, invade the airports, steal top secret computer disks, act like terrorists and make Thailand into an international laughing stock? Is it to continually interfere in the political process, stage coups, remove prime ministers, install tame judiciary, introduce constitutions that are distinctly inferior to the ones they replace, ban political parties they don’t approve of, force political alliances by threatening further coups, protect from prosecution mobs that further military ends and bring into disrepute the whole judicial system and the mainstream media? Is this really your idea of remaining neutral?

I pretty much agree with you J. No-one is arguing that the people who got the world into the mess it is in were not intelligent – but intelligence, in itself, is no guarantee of rightness, or even competence, and often simple goodness leads to far better results. The danger with ’intelligent’ people is their tendency to hubris, a belief that they are superior and know better than ’ordinary’ people what is best for them – a sort of ’live as I say - not as I do' philosophy. Hence they can maintain, say, that the people of Iraq and Afghanistan should be grateful to the West for giving them Democracy... because they don’t have to live there! The history of Communism would seem to illustrate that the problem isn’t so much with the system you choose so much as with the people who implement it. In other words to paraphrase Marx ‘ Any system invented and administrated by man will contain the seeds of its own destruction!’ because it is in the nature of the few to find ways to abuse any system, for their personal gain, to the expense of the many. The only hope for a Benevolent Dictatorship would be if the 'dictator' was incorruptable and though this would be true were it to be God or Buddha it is very doubtful that anyone else, even those claiming to represent the incorruptable, could actually withstand the 'perks of power'. However, if we continue to allow materialistic moguls to act like the Earth is simply a collection of resources waiting to be exploited, and continue to give huge prizes to those who find new and faster ways to continue this exploitation, then we will all end up living in the hell that they create. Although I don't think that scientists, economists, politicians or any other collection of 'intelligent' people hold the answer to how best to proceed to make the World a better place, I can't see a collection of bickering priests doing a much better job. Now would be a very good time for God or Buddha to stop using intermediaries and intervene directly, but, failing that, maybe it's time to take a great leap of faith and for the people of the world to take the chance that a World Government, with all the attendant dangers of almost ultimate corruption, is worth the chance of actually saving the planet and uniting its people! Certainly a piecemeal solution is doomed to failure.

Barack Obama is demonstrating to the world what a Democrat leader should be doing as he continues to unite his people, adjust to the pressures of a changing world, reduce institutional corruption and show that he is a man who can be trusted and respected. Meanwhile Abhisit continues to demonstrate the opposite. Not really surprising since in Thailand the Democrats are much closer to the US Republicans although, of course, they wouldn’t admit it and represent much the same portion of the Thai political landscape as the yellow shirted PAD. In fact, unexpectedly, the Thai Democrats are quite like the old British Tory Party while the Red Shirted opposition is very much like old Labour. While Obama remains popular with most of his electorate Abhisit is very unpopular with his and in an effort to change this NBT has become a sort of Abhisit show with the Thai prime minister being televised everywhere he goes in the hope that his handsome looks and pleasant demeanour might manage to make him a bit more popular. The problem is that Abhisit has started to lose his looks and his face recently seems to resemble a bag of marbles. At first I thought his masters had forced him to suck several gob-stoppers at a time to stop him talking too much - in case he said something he actually believed in an unguarded moment - but I suppose it’s more likely that it is simply the pressure of having too many masters. If I were superstitious I might find myself believing that Abhisit is currently locked in a cellar somewhere and has been replaced by a “Pee” (a sort of Thai ghost/vampire/monster) and that the monster, losing its mimicking power under the bright TV lights constantly struggles not to revert to its true form. All the while the opposition is constantly ramping up the pressure, especially on the PAD element in the government, and much as there has been growing anger in the US over the AIG scandal here in Thailand there is growing anger over the government’s failure to punish PAD for its invasion of the international airport and the resulting catastrophic effects on many elements of the Thai economy. It is something of a mystery why PAD chose such an obviously self-destructive finale for their ‘protest’ especially since the ’intellectual’ element within PAD (which had been arguing ‘that the people were too stupid to know what was good for them’) must have been aware of exactly how dangerous and expensive such an action was in the face of public opinion and a growing World Economic Crisis... or, perhaps they simply weren’t quite as intelligent as they thought they were! With another opposition rally tomorrow (the 26th ) with 3,000 police and 5,000 army (yes, not neutral now) – maybe by then the prime minister will have finished his transformation and it will be apparent to all whether it is the face of a good man or a monster!

I began this as an email to a friend but I decided to post it on here... well, why not :O) I laughed for hours today as I watched the recordings of yesterday's Red Shirt Bangkok rally on TV. The authorities had decided to block the rally with huge police trucks and a wall of containers filled with sand... it didn't work as the demonstrators used brute force to move the trucks (which as far as I know had no steering wheels) by swaying them from side to side and turning them and then simply pushing them in the direction they wanted to move them - adjusting their course with more occasional rocking... it was simply amazing to see. The containers were more difficult but the demonstrators had brought a mobile crane (which splits into two) disguised as carnival floats and upon assembling it they picked the containers up and dropped them into the canal. All the time this was happening the leaders were telling jokes and whooping as they orchestrated everything via PA's. The several thousand police eventually joined in the spirit and realising that their blockade was breached moved dozens of other trucks and allowed the protesters through before agreeing to leave the area themselves - marching through the protesters, laughing as they went, while the good humoured Red ralliers, also laughing, cheered, clapped and thanked them for their help. I had watched the live broadcast from the rally last night as I was worried that the 6,000 troops might cause trouble but it seemed that the authorities had forgotten to make arrangements to feed the troops and so the Red Shirts shared their rice etc. with the troops and that eased the tension. It was amazing to see how similar the Red Rally was to the old fashioned Labour Party, flat cap orators and all :O) It made me realise just how much we have lost with New Labour's slick approach losing the down to earth, common people's power party feeling. Certainly there was a sense of pride, passion, fun, duty and commitment that maybe Obama could equal but no party in the UK could hope to immitate let alone match! In a strange way even though we were only watching it on TV it still, somehow, managed to make us feel like we were part of something important, a struggle for justice, a fight for Democracy, the little guys against the system, the people making a stand against corruption and that system's blatant contempt for them and their rights. I don't know why but, for me, Obama inspires hope that the world can change, that the people are sick of those who care only for themselves and use their power and position to prosper with little but contempt for those whose shoulders they stand on. Thailand's tens of thousands of red-shirted ralliers fighting for their rights is part of the same process - of the attempt to reduce the power of the privileged few and give a bit more to the people. It was very heartwarming to see that UK and US banners were blowing in the breeze alongside the Thai ones and realise that, like me, many people who are not Thai but identify with their struggle to regain true Democracy were willing to do their bit to support the Thai people in their time of need!

Was The Invasion of Suvarnabhumi Airport A Deliberate Ploy To Distract Attention From The Dissolution Of The People's Government? Ever since PAD made the crazy decision to lay siege to the Thai International airport I have wondered what on earth they had hoped to achieve by damaging the export industry, the tourist industry and international relations... how could such a destructive act benefit anyone? Well, if we bear in mind that PAD is not a political party but a pressure group, representing an untidy alliance of mostly privileged elitists, that probably came into being with the single aim of bringing down Thaksin Shinawatra and later added the goal of changing the People’s Constitution in an attempt to remove what had been termed ‘the tyranny of the majority’ and strengthen the power of the elite... At the time of the invasion of Suvarnabhumi Airport the PAD was protesting because although it had succeeded in bring down Thaksin (whose government had been brought down by the simple expedient of a bloodless coup) and replacing the People’s Charter with a new one penned by the military, things had not gone to plan. After using the new constitution to dissolve the Thai Rak Thai party and ban most of their MP from politics for 5 years and, EVENTUALLY, returning power to the people – the people promptly elected a government that was essentially a watered down version of Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai party. The new PM, Samack, was promptly dismissed for appearing on a TV cooking show, disheartened but not defeated the new government chose Thaksin’s brother-in-law, Somchai, to be the new PM. This really annoyed the PAD who, convinced it was all part of a plot to bring Thaksin back to power, invaded the PM’s enclosure, lay siege to the National Security Centre and paid people to pose in front of their ASTV cameras to make it seem like it was a simply a party in the park. Meanwhile, since the changes to constitution had been so successful in bringing down the Thai Rak Thai party it was decided to use the same excuse again to dissolve Somchai’s government. Under the new constitution all that is required to ban the principle members of the party leadership is to find one member guilty of an attempted election fraud and all the rest are then guilty by association! So, the 3 parties that formed the coalition government were accused of each having a member that had committed electoral fraud. Of course this might have been seen as persecution, or even corruption, by those who didn’t believe that every group of people who supported Thaksin had at least one desperate person who, not happy with the overwhelming support they already had, was willing to chance everything by trying to fraudulently make that support seem slightly stronger. So, it could be that PAD decided to leave their nice, cozy, nest in the Government enclosure and lay siege on the airports to distract attention from the critical decision as to whether the 3 parties were, each, guilty of election fraud and could therefore be dissolved. Certainly, the court’s decision not to hear witnesses would have raised a lot more eyebrows were it not for the distraction of the Suvarnabhumi siege and it was with a great sense of relief that most people greeted the news that the government had been dissolved and that PAD was ending its protest! *************************************************** The Constitution Court filed a complaint on Wednesday (March 25th) with police alleging that Pheu Thai Party MP Visaradee Techathirawat was guilty of defaming the court during the no-confidence debate last week by implying that the decision to ban many members of the then Government (People’s Power Party) was part of a systematic persecution of her (then) party. Chaowana Traimas, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Constitution Court, told a press conference that Visaradee’s statement had misled the people causing them to misunderstand and hate the court, and thus she violated Article 198 and Article 136 of the Criminal Code. This set me thinking that it was a very unfair complaint as many, many, others have said the same thing... Checking it seems that Visaradee’s mistake was to make her statement on prime time TV. However, TO BE FAIR, it does seem that she has a case: recently the Thai Supreme Court rejected the request of the Election Commission to give red cards to two Pheu Thai Party MPs – they found that the Election Commission’s witnesses had provided unconvincing statements, and FAILED to prove that the two had bought votes and committed election frauds. Now, if you remember, the court that was trying the Government Dissolution Case, in its hurry to reach a decision, decided not to hear evidence from the witnesses... Perhaps because their evidence was no more convincing than that of the Election Commission’s more recent witnesses! Now, normally, a lot more fuss would have been raised about such a dangerous legal precedent and one wonders if the plan from the outset was to use PAD as a blind to make the people think it was okay to reach a decision without hearing the witnesses and without due deliberation, on the very day that PAD had promised that it would all be over! ************************************************ Yesterday (Saturday) former Thai prime minister Surayud Chulanont rejected allegations by Thaksin Shinawatra that he was a key plotter of the 2006 coup. Surayud admitted that he did meet certain senior judges a few months before the coup but said "It is insensible that I discussed plotting a coup with judges. I would be more sensible if I discussed it with military commanders" Well, after all, how could judges bring down a government ;O) **************************************************** I can't help but think that Thailand is on the verge of a crisis as the 'system' responds to Thaksin's allegations and people are increasingly being forced to take sides. I have to say that I feel sorry for Abhisit who I am inclined to believe is essentially a good man in a very bad position. I originally included a couple of links to mainstream Thai media but removed them after I became increasingly alarmed at how biased they were becoming against the red ralliers. Eventually it occurred to me that since PAD was essentially a media invention which thrived despite being based on the lie of their name (THEY WERE NOT a People’s Alliance and they were CERTAINLY NOT FOR DEMOCRACY) then they could only have thrived with the complicity of the mainstream media. This might explain why most people outside Thailand quickly realised that PAD was a lie but so many Thai’s were taken in. ************************************************************ Well, predictably the situation is deteriorating in Bangkok as the system ‘gears up’ for an attempt to clear the ralliers from around Government House... or at least threatens to. It seems that the very same people that screamed blue murder about the police decision to attempt to move PAD protestors - PAD blocked the Somchai government from entering its emegency headquarters in Don Muang airport (where it had moved after being blocked by PAD from entering Government House) and blamed the resulting violent confrontation on PM Somchai - have now mysteriously changed their opinion about the use of force. However the police have just donated 100,000 Baht to the red shirt fund so it's pretty obvious that they would rather not get involved in a confrontation with the Red rally. It also seems very unfair that while if you wear a Yellow shirt you can stay for as long as they like in the Government enclosure (they spent about 3 months stopping the government, and more or less anyone non-yellow, from entering) but if you wear a red shirt you can only stay the weekend :O) People should think back, remember the PAD as it screamed accusations that Somchai was a murderer, that the police were murderers and remember the terrible running battles screened on the headline news throughout the world. While, I’m sure that there will be no similar accusations against Abhisit and his government should the police decide to attempt to clear the crowd, I am also sure there would be inevitable injuries and possibly deaths and surely the decision to risk these consequences is no less dangerous now than it was then! If it was a deadly mistake then... surely it would be an even deadlier mistake to repeat it! Fortunately cooler heads have prevailed and, at least for the moment, non violent means are being used in an to attempt to reach an agreement that the protesters can stay a bit longer if they don't impede government access and cool the music (don’t use their Public Address during working hours).

I notice that the same old PAD trick is being used yet again - portray anyone and everyone who is against them as a Thaksin thug and continually repeat the LIE that Thaksin is against the King! Since Thaksin has accused a couple of members of the Privy Council of being complicit in the coup that removed him as PM (and replaced the People’s Charter with a military inpired one) it is now being said that since the Privy Council is so close to the King that it is tantamount to an attack on the King himself... Surely what they are saying should make them liable under the Lese Masjeste law (they pretend to hold so dear) because if they are saying that the Privy Council actually represents the King (rather than simply advises him) then if it transpires that Prem and Surayud were involved (in the coup and later political manipulations) then it would imply that the King was too! Such suggestions have caused huge outcries in the past when they have been made by the Western press and have triggered Les Majeste with publication being banned in Thailand. Hmmm... Incidentally, Surayud has said he will not file suit against Panalop Pinmanee (former Internal Security Operations Commander) who made the charges accusing Surayud and Prem of being involved in the Sept 2006 coup that overthrew the democratic government. Surayud said today (Wednesday) that the public would consider all related information and decide for themselves whether he was behind the coup or not... I suppose he’s not too worried since his PAD pals stole all the records from the National Security Centre and wiped the remaining hard disks while they were holidaying in the Government Enclosure... Of course, it might just turn out that there were other copies - didn't Prem tell you to keep your big mouth shut Sarayud? :O) **************************************************** General Prem is prone to advising people to put Thailand first, duty before self-interest, and after due consideration I think he should take his own advice. If those who say that putting the Privy Council in a bad light puts the King in a bad light are correct then Prem and Surayud should surely resign from the Privy Council – at least until the accusations against them have been proved false! So come on Prem, demonstrate that your sense of duty is stronger than your ambition, that you don’t just pay lip service to patriotism and show that you love your king and country above all. Here's an interesting excerpt from what appears to be Prem's own website http://www.generalprem.com/news.html NB "AVM Prasit also said the petition submitted to Gen Prem was a personal plea for the elder statesman to help stop political meddling." Now who could have been behind this meddling ;O) Prem given more 'evidence of interference' WASSANA NANUAM Sept. 2, 2006 Two of the four senior military officers facing investigation after they petitioned Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda against alleged political meddling in this year's military reshuffle submitted additional documents to Gen Prem yesterday. The two who called on Gen Prem yesterday were Air Vice-Marshal Prasit Tananakin and AVM Surakit Jantasen. The other two petitioners are Lt-Gen Witsanu Prayunsorn and Rear Adm Itthichai Sripan. AVM Prasit said the documents submitted to Gen Prem yesterday contained the opinions of former election commissioners, academics and legal experts, all of whom agreed that once a royal decree calling a general election took effect, the caretaker government must consult the Election Commission (EC) prior to ordering appointments or transfers of senior state officials, including military officers, in an annual reshuffle. He said the government should heed the opinions of these legal experts, adding that he did not want to see this year's military reshuffle run into trouble like what happened to the government's bid to privatise the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, which was subsequently nullified by the Administrative Court. However, caretaker Defence Minister Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya yesterday said there was a cabinet resolution which exempted the reshuffle of senior military officers and public prosecutors from being subject to prior consultation with the EC. AVM Prasit also said the petition submitted to Gen Prem was a personal plea for the elder statesman to help stop political meddling. It was not a formal petition, he said. Gen Thammarak on Thursday ordered a disciplinary investigation of the four senior officers, accusing them of bypassing normal military procedure for petitioning against a superior officer outside their agency. ***************************************************** Yeah, yeah, I know it's all getting a bit boring but I feel that something big is about to break and all it needs is a little more prodding. Toward that end I've requested a bit of help and I thought it prudent to add this to show that in return I give my permission to use any or all of the above - except of course Jude's contribution which isn't mine.

Standing back for a while and trying to understand the players of the power game in Thailand it slowly becomes apparent that some cold, calculating, controlling, central character has being playing both sides against the middle! The head of a “secret society” that hides behind the king and uses Lèse-majesté to manipulate anyone who opposes it. However, it is becoming increasingly obvious that, in reality, this “secret society” is in fact, essentially, the will of a single individual who has almost become a king himself! Reading Sondhi’s speeches, for instance, shows that much of what he blamed on Thaksin was actually part of the same ‘’secret society’’ system that Thaksin too was fighting. Sondhi actually admitted that things became worse after Thaksin was removed from power by the coup but Sondhi’s hate was stronger than his insight and he allowed himself to be misled. In spite of the fact that Sondhi had been found guilty of purposely dividing the people into two camps, ‘for the King’ or ‘for Thaksin’ (Christmas 2007 Sondhi was given a jail sentence of three years for misleading the public into believing that he represented the king against Thaksin - who he (Sondhi) maintained was planning to get rid of the king and form a republic) Prem decided to have the King pardon Sondhi so that he could make use of Sondhi’s ASTV network and PAD connections as the recent election had not gone to plan and Thaksin supporters had formed a coalition government around the People’s Power Party. Now this is extremely hypocritical for a man who was constantly heard to say that the people should solve their differences yet, I maintain that, hypocrisy is the preferred armour for those who would deceive and resist the sword of truth! Almost 2 years ago to the day, Thailand's Council for National Security (CNS) said it was to take legal action against anti-coup protestors who planned to gather 100,000 signatures to support a petition to the King to remove Prem Tinsulanonda from president of the Privy Council. (Prem was appointed the head of the Privy Council of King Bhumibol Adulyadej In 1998). http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200704/03/eng20070403_363433.html It seems that the CNS (coup government) actions were not successful and a few months later they felt the need to nip round to Prem’s place and give him a bunch of flowers. http://nationmultimedia.com/2007/07/25/headlines/headlines_30042335.php Very kind and thoughtful of the coup government especially since Prem had stated to the media that he didn't agree with the coup! Well, we all know what has happened in the two years since Prem was last accused of meddling in politics. The divisions in Thai society grow, if it’s not the yellow shirt’s protesting then it’s the reds and despite all assurances to the contrary the army looks ever ready for another coup. Virtually the only thing that has remained constant through these troubled times has been Prem’s leadership of the Privy Council, changing governments hasn’t worked, army coups have just made things worse and Democracy rolls back rather than forward. So, surely whether I’m right or I’m wrong, Prem should resign from the Privy Council and demonstrate that he really does put the needs of Thailand and His Majesty the King above his own! As the Thai economy, like that of most of the world, is troubled by the financial crisis what Thailand needs is to unite behind a common leadership, it needs to rid itself of colour prejudice and find a way for the reds and yellows to unite giving Orange the colour of Buddha. I argue that this will never happen while Prem is in charge and that he should resign and the Privy Council should get a Spring clean and only then will Thailand start back along the road to recovery!

Suwicha Thakho wept yesterday upon learning of his 10 year sentence for violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code and the computer crime act by posting a picture (deemed insulting to the monarchy) on YouTube. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/14507/man-gets-10-years-for-insult... This is simply terrible! 10 years in jail away from his wife and 3 kids for posting a joke to YouTube! I can only hope that the YouTube community are organising some sort of appeal and maybe a quick whip round so some money can be sent to support Suvicha’s family for a while until his wife finds a job. Funny that they found him guilty of posing a threat to national security because I thought they didn't care about that... when PAD was partying in the Government enclosure a group of PAD "guards" broke into the National Security Centre and stole all the computer security disks but nobody cared about national security then – in fact, so far as I know, it’s never been mentioned again, except by me. Personally, I think it was probably a group of Prem’s army elite buddies that did it undercover of their paid yellow stooges but of course we’ll never know because members of the Privy Council are beyond reproach – must have been for the good of the country eh ;O) One last thought on this - a few weeks ago, a young Thai woman was arrested at work for allowing posts, that were deemed to be offensive, to reside on the message board of her works computer. She pointed out that she hadn't known they were there but she was charged never-the-less... so, do the Thai "powers that be" have the bottle to take on YouTube - of course not they'll just try to block it, they pick their fights. A quick appeal might see Suvicha out again in a couple of months so come on YouTube start emailing your anger to Abhisit and cancel you holiday in Thailand!!! With more trouble on the Thai/Cambodian border, a massive anti-government demonstration in Bangkok and doom and gloom on the economic front all of which Abhisit seems powerless to do anything about maybe getting the 34 year old Suvicha Thakhor out of jail is something he can do to restore his flagging public image – still he can’t ask his friend Prem to help since it might be deemed political. No doubt the Establishment is demonstrating just how dangerous it can be to risk lèse-majesté, even via a blog on a foriegn Internet site... while, currently, highlighting the notion that to attack the Privy Council is to attack the King and so, of course, risk lèse-majesté! The reasoning behind this notion being that the King chooses the members of the Privy Council and so if you attack one of them you are questioning the King's judgement... or so they say. I would say that since a very sizable proportion of the population think that Prem is being dishonest then HE puts the King's judgement in question or rather the King's faith in him. How can the people be expected to trust a Council that says it is above reproach and that it is a crime to doubt that? Surely it's just dogma. It implies that the King is incapable of making a mistake and that the people he chooses are incapable of changing - at least for the worse. However you look at it although the king is still revered His popularity has dropped substantially over the last year or two. Why? Because the majority of the people have been offended by the blatant bias toward PAD and against its opponents! The crazy decision to allow Sondhi to continue to split the people into two camps has inevitably weakened the position of the King. Surely anyone with half an eye could see that if you had a pressure group which said “join us if you love the king” then those who chose to oppose that pressure group would be made to feel that they didn’t love the King! The courts did see this and eventually around Christmas Day 2007 they convicted Sondhi L of using the Royal family as a means to further his own personal aims and sentenced him to 3 years. They should have used the lèse-majesté law as Sondhi was undoubtably bringing the King's name into disrepute by linking it with a dishonest campaign. Sondhi was already fighting a 2 year jail term for an earlier crime and so he should have been in jail in a flash. Now, correct me if I’m wrong but as I remember His Majesty the King, to everyone’s surprise, pardoned Sondhi on both charges. Now where was the good advice there? Was it being strangled by the hate of another man who hated Thaksin and his supporters? Use the link to Prem’s site... http://www.generalprem.com/news.html and look at the pic showing Prem’s face when he gets a wai from Thaksin – you'll find it above the title text:- "Thaksin Shinawatra gives Privy Council president Gen Prem Tinsulanonda a wai at the funeral rites for the mother of army commander Gen Anupong Paojinda Thursday night. It’s the first time the two have met since Sept 2006. —Bangkok Post - May 30, 2008." That should say it all. If the Privy Council don’t meddle in politics then they dictate policy and let's face it that's simply politics without an opposition. However you cut it the Privy Council are behind the heavy bias against the people and for the elite. You can argue they don't interfere in politics but that’s no more convincing than Anupong’s excuse of staying neutral and not doing anything about the airport sieges and the PAD breaking into the National Security Centre - that’s not non-interference it’s dereliction of duty! So who was holding the army back? When Abhisit took on the role of the new PM the King charged him "Make my people happy." but the only person who can do that is the King Himself. It’s not so much that the people no longer love the King but much more that they wonder if He still loves them. The King needs some new advisors who don't live in the past and aren't blinkered by old alliances and twisted by old hatreds... So come on you Prem – resign ad let some fresh air into the Privy Council and maybe the King will start getting some good advice for a change and finally the world will see PAD at last starting to reaping the consequences of the whirlwind they created! Back to lèse-majesté - if you can get 20 years for posting a tacky pic of the Royals on the Internet it will probably be 3,000 years for calling Prem a hypocrite :O) But you know, that's how hypocrites behave, they say "A bit of name calling doesn't bother me since it is not true." and then quietly let the dogs out. Later claiming that the chewed up bodies were trying to attack the King! The King is not involved in lèse-majesté which is actually taken care of by "angels" who scour the earth and the internet looking for anything which might be considered offensive or detremental to the Royal image. This maintains a kind of 'fence of fear' an invisible line around those who surround His Majesty the King and serves to severely punish all who dare to cross the line... Can't afford any holes in the Royal Force Field lest the truth about Prem leaks out :O) "In March 2006, a Thai criminal court cleared Supinya Klangnarong, a media rights activist, and the Thai Post, a popular local newspaper, of criminal defamation charges in a suit filed by Shin Corp., a major Thai company which was at the time the case was brought owned largely by the family of the then Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. Supinya had alleged that the Thaksin government had pursued policies which benefited Shin Corp. The verdict underlined the fundamental right of citizens and the press to express their opinions on matters of public concern and the legitimacy of public scrutiny and criticism of the operations of the State and its public officials." http://www.article19.org/speaking-out/asia-overview NB "The verdict underlined the fundamental right of citizens and the press to express their opinions on matters of public concern and the legitimacy of public scrutiny and criticism of the operations of the State and its public officials." Surely the Privy Council must be seen as part of the State and therefore subject to scrutiny and criticism... even those who don't agree that the Privy Council is part of the state must admit that its leadership IS a matter of Public Concern and therefore the people and the press have a Right to express their opinion!

I was struck by the change in tone of the Bangkok Post’s reporting of the new lèse-majesté conviction since its original post yesterday. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/14507/man-gets-10-years-for-insult... It’s not difficult to see why... YouTube! It has since emerged that the material was posted on YouTube and YouTube is a subsidiary of Google and as such wields immense power on the Internet... So, my guess is that the Bangkok Post doesn’t want to mess with Google! YouTube has a huge membership and material that is defamatory is prohibited by YouTube’s terms of service. YouTube has previously stated: "We have strict rules on what's allowed, and a system that enables anyone who sees inappropriate content to report it to our 24/7 review team and have it dealt with promptly.” So wouldn’t that have been a more appropriate response than a 10 year jail sentence? Of course it may well be that only a flag-waving, fascist favoured, coup appointed, judiciary would actually find the material inappropriate, let alone a threat to Thailand’s National security... but time will tell! The Thai King is a great man and he doesn’t need these small minded fascist pouncing on every possible chance they get to demonstrate their power. Yes, the King will probably step in and pardon the poor blighter once the Privy Council deem he has suffered enough and that they have proved their point... that Thailand is extremely PC :O) Yet many of us still remember the haunting eyes of the poor Australian who had liked Thailand so much he took a job as an English teacher and ended up staying in the Bangkok Hilton for some trivial comment about the King’s son that he made in a book that sold some half-a-dozen copies. Bewildered and half-starved he was paraded in front of the TV cameras to remind one and all of the true power of lèse-majesté and those who enforce it! If they can be so blatent, make it so obvious by using a harmless foreign school teacher as an example to the world of how little they care for public opinion - what chance the Thais? These same people had already shown their contempt for world opinion by allowing the airports to be closed, tourists to be trapped for days and displaying a flagrant disregard for the elected government. Surely it is obvious now that PAD was simply a diversion, a way for the real power behind the throne to achieve its aims without being known. I’m sure, without a single shred of doubt that had the King told PAD to stop, at anytime, they would have stopped. So, we have to wonder why the King was willing to let His country firstly become a laughing stock and then the subject of world disapproval as terrorists laid siege to the International airport and caused many thousands of holidaymakers to be stranded in Bangkok. Let’s face it He would undoubtedly do whatever his advisors told Him was best for the country, regardless of His own personal opinion. So, who advises the King? Oh, of course it’s the Privy Council and they don’t interfere in politics... but, wait a minute, PAD was a pressure group not a political party so surely the Privy Council should have backed the government – if no politics were involved - oh, I see, it was simply favouritism, they looked so good in yellow! So come on Prem stop trying to hide behind lese majeste and answer your accusers! In the meantime if you’re worried you might fall foul of the fascists: just find someone you can trust outside Thailand, give them your password and get them to post your material – assuming it won’t be illegal in their country. Then you can truthfully argue that you didn't post it and that someone must have discovered your password. I'm assuming that the fascists can discover where an inappropriate post originated. In fact maybe YouTube could provide an Anon (faceless:o) facility to which ‘’sensitive’’ material could be sent and only displayed if was not found to be to inappropriate – bet that would prove popular :O) ***************************************************** Interesting piece, Chuck, but couldn’t quite catch the point – was it that he wasn’t a particularly nice bloke and so he probably deserved jail, or that he was a crap writer and better off in jail, or simply that he wanted locking up and got his wish? Harry did actually submit his book and ask if there would be any problems should he publish it – the authorities declined to answer. So far as I know, what Harry did say was something that many thousands of Thais had said but Harry published. In Thailand it’s not so much what you say as how easy it is to prove that you’ve said it. It’s also worth noticing that Suwicha Thakho was facing 20 years in jail if he didn’t plead guilty but only 10 if he did. If you were certain you were going to be found guilty which would you choose? By the way, Chuck, do you think they have spent Thaksin’s two billion (US) dollars and that explains all the crazy antics – anyway they recently borrowed that much from the IMF so maybe they can stump up now – if they have to :O) Incidentally, I thought it would be interesting to compare other articles on Crickey.com to see what sort of leanings it had - but it wouldn’t let me read any - are there any other articles I can read without joining? Found this powerful piece and it seemed to put it all into a perspective... http://www.abctales.com/node/510724

Fair enough Chuck but read this again. http://www.abctales.com/node/510724 I've never claimed he was glorious or a martyr simply that he was used as an example for political ends. If stupidity was a crime most of us would be ex-cons. However, Sondhi L wasn't guilty of being stupid he deliberately and calculatingly used the people's love of the King to futher his own ambition and yet even though he was sentenced to 3 years he never saw a day in jail! My point is simply that the terrible unfairness that is so apparent nowadays in Thailand is doing far more to change people's feeling for the King than a million silly slights of the Royal family ever could. The powers that be still think that the people are ignorant peasants and treat them as such - and this is simply pushing them into the arms of Thaksin. What's needed is a bit of love and understanding and some semblence of justice. PAD must pay - huge fines would do. Sondhi L is finally starting to wake up and smell the coffee. He realises he's been used and soon he'll realise he's been abused... then the truth will start to flow and heads will roll in high places!

No policeman or soldier will carry firearms in their mission to keep order at government house during the planned red-shirted mass rally this Wednesday, says Government spokesperson. Now this made me unaccountably nervous until I remembered a dream I’d had last Christmas: A big circus full of people gathered to watch the tightrope walkers. A new sheriff was attempting to walk the high-wire toward the Governor’s box to pay his respects while some of the crowd threw banana skins that couldn't quite reach. The audience seemed to have three main groups, some dressed in yellow, some dressed in red, some dressed in orange, but there were also many others dressed as they liked. While all eyes were glued on the high-wire I was watching the crowd and I noticed a band of yellow shirts slip red shirts over the top of their yellow and merge in with the reds. Suddenly the yellow-reds pulled out guns and started firing into the air. Almost immediately the circus tent was invaded by a large cavalry detachment that rode down the reds. Then the Ring Master appeared from the shadows and declared martial law. Suddenly, a Golden light filled the tent and the clock started going backward... A big circus full of people gathered to watch the tightrope walkers. A new sheriff was attempting to walk the high-wire toward the Governor’s box to pay his respects while some of the crowd threw banana skins that couldn't quite reach. The audience seemed to have three main groups, some dressed in yellow, some dressed in orange, but mostly people dressed as they liked as they watched to see if the new sheriff could maintain his balance. Suddenly the clowns appeared and everyone began to relax and some even laughed... The sheriff hadn’t managed to get very far but at least he wasn’t swaying from side to side now. The time passed and soon it was over... Maybe it wasn’t a great circus but it could have been so much worse! http://www.abctales.com/story/mykle/snapshot-bangkok posted on December 28, 2008. ***************************************************** That dream had obviously been inspired by an earlier dream which is posted on a different forum: http://www.abctales.com/forum/2008/11/29/bangkok December 25, 2008 Strange that this dream blamed the town council as I'd never even heard of the Privy Council at that time! **************************************************** Update - I posted the above about 12 hours ago... since the UK is currently 6 hours behind Thailand that means about 18 hours before the time of this post which - if you look at the top of the post - is about 9.30AM. http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/139667/pad-may-intervene-on-wedn... The People's Alliance for Democracy looked to intervene, if violence breaks out during the planned mass rally of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) on Wednesday... They believed the anti-government demonstration on Wednesday would turn very violent. http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/139653/prem-thais-know-what-good... Gen Prem said on Sunday that he was not interested in Thaksin's phone-ins and accusations made against him. However, he said referring to people around His Majesty the King may damage the highly-respected institution in the future. ...on Wednesday, Gen Prem insisted he would stay at his Si Sao Thewes residence even though the red-shirt protesters may assemble in front of his house. He said he had not ordered officials to tighten security around the residence. The first of these "pad-may-intervene-on-wednesday" speaks for itself but the second "prem-thais-know-what-good-bad" is the one that the Reds should really think about. Why? Well his comment that "referring to people around His Majesty the King may damage the highly-respected institution in the future" is obviously a hint at lèse-majesté for those criticising the Privy Council, or an attempt to hint that those close to the King are almost part of the Royal family. However, the really important part is the bait 'I'll be home and I haven't ordered extra security!" So, DON'T FALL FOR IT REDS! Interesting that the article say he has NOT ORDERED OFFICIALS to tighten security because it shows he has the power to command those people that even the government can't -well, if it's a People's government ;O)

On second thought - the Reds should demand extra security for Prem because if PAD are going to put on red shirts over their yellow ones and cause trouble there is nowhere better that outside Prem's home!!! BE VERY CAREFULL RED! If you care about Thailand half as much as you claim Prem then announce that to avoid trouble you plan to stay with friends during the rally. Not a huge inconvenience for you but a great help to the security forces that have to protect you whether you order it or not! Come on Sondhi L, I KNOW you're reading this, it’s never too late to do the right thing! You know you don’t really fit in, that they never keep their promises and you’ll end up being thrown to the wolves once your part in PAD is played out! ***************************************************** The Bangkok Post has revealed that PAD is concerned that the UDD would lead the country into chaos by holding rallies!!! Is this the Ultimate in Hypocrisy from the people who recently laid siege to both airports and crippled the economy??? http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/14608/pad-plans-revolt-against-red... ***************************************************** I’ve been busy so I’ve only just noticed this: Coup-makers offer Thaksin bounty! http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/139785/coup-makers-offer-thaksin-b... Military officers and businessmen who backed the 2006 coup that unseated Thaksin Shinawatra have offered a bounty of one million baht for his arrest and return to Thailand. Words fail me!

Putting It In Perspective A few days ago I was walking through a park, along a path that runs beside a lake, and I smiled at an old lady coming in the opposite direction. “He’s going to squash you flat.” she said. I smiled somewhat bemused and then catching the look in her eyes I turned around to find a yellow steamroller flying toward me! The old lady was stood on a tiny bit of grass between the path and a fence around the lake and so, not wanting to crowd her, I decided to run down the path and head for a convenient exit. I presumed the steamroller would be following the path around the lake but, no, to my surprise it followed me, still going at top speed! I sidestepped and watched as the grey haired driver shot past, over the pavement, across the main road and on, to a path leading to another part of the park. What a crazy old man I thought. Too many years driving steamrollers had obviously affected his attitude and he had learned that everything would either simply get out of his way, or at the very least slow down to avoid him and let him past! What would have happened had I stumbled or fallen? He obviously didn’t care. It was his park and he wasn’t going to let me slow him down. Now, I could have become angry and gone home and penned a letter to the council but I suspected he was probably well connected and it would be pointless. I smiled because it seemed to me that Buddha was teaching me something, that the person who was steering the Yellows in Thailand was much the same as the steamroller driver. Someone who was so used to having the power and weight beneath him to flatten any obstacle that he no longer cared about rules and regulations. Someone so sure of himself and so secure in his job that he long since forgotten who he worked for - content with rolling around flattening bumps not realising that without people you don’t need paths. Someone who had forgotten that sometimes other people have the right of way, that the park belongs to the people and that the poor pedestrians who meander its path are the same people who, ultimately, pay his wages! Someone who had convinced himself that the people belong to the park and couldn’t accept the TRUTH - that the park belongs to the people! Sooner or later though, even steamrollers come up against obstacles they can’t flatten! Once people realise that steamrollers, like juggernauts, are at the mercy of their own inertia, have limited manoeuvrability and find it very difficult to stop or reverse, then they simply side-step. I felt sad as I watched the old fool roar (well, a racing rumble :O) off into the distance his blinkered vision missing the beauty all around, inevitably heading for a future collision that will undoubtedly seriously damage his Yellow vehicle and get him banned for life! **************************************************** I was saying to a friend the other day that I was very fond of the biblical idea of knowing a tree by its fruits but sometimes the fruit looks good and it’s only when it’s squeezed you realise that it was bad inside! Very surprised and deeply shocked by the recent catastrophic failure of their Snowball Solution, Prem and his pals have in turn surprised us with the delightful irony of being forced to display their hypocrisy for all to see. .. Now I’m sure I don’t need to tell most of you who Snowball is but here’s a quick reminder: In his short-lived time as a leader, Snowball actively works to change Animal Farm, and although not all of his ideas work very efficiently, he is shown to have genuinely good intentions. Despite his altruism, however, he has his faults, such as when he, like the other pigs, hoards the milk and windfallen apples. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_(Animal_Farm) The Snowball Solution was for the elite to get rid of Snowball and subsequently blame everything on him. Now we all know that their plan worked very well for a long time but they overplayed their hand with the recent PAD airport closure and finally people began to wonder if they were the cause rather than the cure. Things have deteriorated to such an extent that when I heard of the recent bounty on Snowball I was apt to joke - what? Not "Wanted dead or alive!" :O) So, as I said, we are now blessed with the delicious irony of Prem and his pals, finding their proximity to the King to be less and less useful as a shield, have finally resorted to using the King as a political weapon against Snowball AND HIS SUPPORTERS. Perhaps the most hypocritical aspect is that they are now saying almost exactly what Sondhi L was saying before (and, scandalously, after) he was given a 3 year jail sentence for saying it - and attempting to use the King to further their own, personal, political ends and purposes.

I’m not sure what Red hopes to achieve with the demand to get rid of Abhisit but I can see the sense in the demand that Prem and his pals should resign from the Privy Council. Personally, I would have preferred that Red just rallied to show the depth of its support and used the increased press coverage to stress that THEY LOVE and SUPPORT the King and that it is Prem and his pals that have SPLIT the country and used the King as both a shield and a political weapon in their fight to remain in power! Still, I’m told that Bangkok is shut :O) However, there is NO DOUBT that the Circle Of Power that has split Thailand, that cosy cabal of corruption that surrounds and stifles the King and steers the country to ruin, must be broken and swept away so that true democracy can return and the people can be healed! The “Circle’s” destructive tactics and the constant use of its power and influence to divide (and so conquer) the people has brought Thailand to its knees. The King needs new advisors that will strive to heal the divisions in Thai society not increase them! Advisors who will stop blaming Thaksin or Reds or some other handy scapegoat and actually do something constructive! Maybe then, at last, the people will remember that they are ALL Thais, realise that they have been manipulated and deceived and can finally find a means of solving their differences, of steering their destiny together and of making the Land Of Smiles smile once more!!! CHOC DEE RED!

Could be you’re right about Abhisit, Chuck. Looks like Prem and his pals have refused to resign - what a surprise, and so Abhisit is simply trying to hang on by declaring tomorrow a national holiday and hoping it will all go away. Mind you, most people will want to go home for the Songkran festival so it will probably severely weaken the Red throng. In my eyes Red have just about done enough, they’ve made their point and it would be stupid to turn public opinion against themselves, as PAD did, by causing too much disruption. Having said that the sinister “Circle” remains unbroken and without the Red rally’s restraint it will be free to continue its poisonous practices unchallenged and to increase the pressure on the people via the media and the government. Hard decisions all round.

Not sure you're right about the funding, Chuck. Many of the bandits sold-out, like 'friend of newin', and swapped to the government side. Hence "Newin urges red-shirts to have second thought for joining rally." http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/30099806/Newin-urges-red-sh... Remember the feeding frenzy? I think a lot of the Red funding comes directly from the people, some from advertising and, no doubt, some from Thaksin.

Yes, perhaps a few get paid, who knows? Most of the Reds are just sick and tired of being abused and told they are too stupid to know what they want. They do know what they want but they don't know how else to get it other than by protests. They've tried playing by the rules but they are simply cheated by the Circle: with coups, banned political parties, allegations of being against the King and, perhaps, a pre-paid PM! I'd agree that Red aren't as unified as they were but in a good way, because at one time it was all about Thaksin and now, though he is important, it's about something a whole lot more important, freedom. The freedom to choose who will govern the country without the curruption of the Circle cheating them at every turn!

I’m not sure why you think I post elsewhere, Chuck, but I don’t. If anything of mine appears elsewhere I presume it will be because I gave permission for people to use anything I posted in this thread in anticipation of getting some help with translation, as I don’t read Thai. In the end no help was forth coming and I didn’t even get a reply. However, since the same thing happened with Capitol records I’m beginning to think that my emails get delivered as junk and are never read. Maybe they are junk :O) Anyway, I’ve stopped asking for help from people as I seem to get enough from above.

The Thai police are poised to arrest the leaders of the Red Shirt rally. Interesting, because despite the much worse behaviour of PAD, their leaders were never arrested - warrants were issued but the leaders stayed in their defended stronghold in the Government Enclosure. Eventually two of the core leaders went to the police to surrender, made some sort of deal and were released on bail, eventually, the rest of the core leadership did the same and, upon being released on bail, continued on to lay siege to the Bangkok International Airport. If I remember correctly Somchai, then Prime Minister, requested that the police arrest the PAD leaders for breaking their bail restrictions, but was fobbed off with some silly excuse like... the accused must sign the arrest form first. So it will be interesting to see how it goes when it’s Red instead of Yellow! Scandalously, the PAD leadership are still technically on bail and, in spite of various promises by the government to actually take PAD to task, very few people believe that there will be any justice so long as Prem is head of the Privy Council! Interestingly, here’s a report on the previous attempt to make Prem resign: http://rspas.anu.edu.au/rmap/newmandala/2008/08/12/revisiting-the-prem-c... What a difference between that and The Circle’s media generated outrage surrounding the police handling of the PAD protest. So, here we are again, with Red protesting outside Prem’s compound and the irony of the Circle’s own hypocrisy coming back to haunt them. The presence of foreign media forces The Circle’s response to the Reds to be much less confrontational as the eyes of the world watch to see how they respond! Found this wonderful quote from Jesus and updated it a bit:- Woe unto you, hypocrites! You pay lip service to the love of King and country but disregard matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: You are blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

This started out as a piece I was going to post on the 'Lying in a Good Cause thread' with the assertion that the most important part is convincing people that it IS a Good Cause in the first place! However, with the violence in Pattya (who ARE the Blue shirts?) the cancelling of the ASEAN meeting and the Thai media machine's predictable propaganda attacks on the Red shirts I thought it might be better posted here. Worth bearing in mind that PAD prevented the ASEAN summit when Somchai was PM and it was later postponed for several months when Somchai’s government was dissolved! *************************************************** Lies, damned lies, censorship and propaganda... *************************************************** "Webmasters are like librarians who decide what books get put on the shelves," said Chiranuch. "However, web-boards are like the library's corners, where people can discuss and share ideas on what they have read. Obviously, librarians cannot control what is and isn't said in those corners." http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/04/11/opinion/opinion_30100207.php ************************************************** "Tourism severely hit by UDD - Bangkok Post 11/04/2009 : The tourism sector has expressed concern over actions of the red-shirt movement, warning that tourism revenue this year could plummet at least 30 per cent." Well, that will be an extra 2 per cent on top of the 28 per cent caused by PAD then! **************************************************** The distant glimmer of truth through a yellow fog. For people who think they can recognise truth amongst lies I recommend this PAD page: http://antithaksin.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/somchai-has-become-ex-prime-... It blatantly highlights all the corruption surrounding the dissolving of the PPP government, including the scandalous decision not to have any further hearings (NOT to hear the witnesses) and it reminds us why the ASEAN Summit was postponed from the middle of December until March 2009. "The PPP legal representative in charge of the case, said the party had yesterday petitioned the court, opposing three of the nine Constitution Court judges as well as the court’s order not to have any further hearings. It also opposed the court’s rejection of a plea by People Power executives and members to defend themselves as individuals. 'The case cannot be closed [today] as the court must clear our petition first. It must prove that its judges do not have any bias against the PPP and clarify how its order was not against the Constitution. he said'." ***************************************************** This picture say it all. Protect the "King"! Why "KING" in quotation marks (do they mean Prem?:O) and from what? http://antithaksin.wordpress.com/2008/12/12/thai-fm-protest-economists-a... One final thought on all this: How was getting Somchai’s government dissolved going to save the King - well, benefit PAD's backers? At the time it was widely believed that some reincarnation of the PPP would form the next government. Makes you wonder if, like the date that the government would be dissolved, PAD knew beforehand that the Democrats would form the next government. If they did know it would suggest that the Friend Of Newin etc. had already sold out and that PAD’s part was played… the rest was simply window dressing.

I suspect that the Blue’s were just Prem’s bully boys wearing pro Aristocrat shirts (oops, sorry, pro Abhisit or Democrat shirts*) and are probably exactly the same people who attacked the Reds the first time they bothered Prem (dressed as commandoes that time I believe) and later wore yellow while they were the military core of PAD (People Against Democracy) and will probably wear Red if they can cause trouble for the real Reds by doing so! *Actually, I probably mean pro Elite T-shirts but it's not easy to know in Thailand where 'for' can mean 'against' and 'Democracy' can mean anything they want it to! Interestingly Newin has been accused of being behind the Blue Shirts since, allegedly, reporters saw Newin instructing the blue-shirts by phone not to let the red-shirts into the hotel area. Newin denied he is behind the blue-shirts and a police source verified “They were not just volunteers from Chon Buri; plain-clothes police and military officials were among them" So, is it Prems boys out for a quick jaunt who just happend to pal up with a few Chon buri taxi drivers to take them to the seaside for a dip:O) http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/04/12/politics/politics_30100298.php **************************************************** Things aren't looking good as a State of emergency is declared for Bangkok and it is claimed that police, soldiers and civil servants will help restore order - Abhisit will no doubt let his Deputy Suthep Thaugsuban take charge. I note that already gun shots have been heard inside the Interior Ministry and several police and protesters were injured. Let's hope that Prem doesn't use this as an excuse for yet another coup - they never help! I note that Sondhi L has been quoted as saying that he had no idea if Prem and Surayud were behind the last coup… "I don't see it as a disgrace, if they planned the coup. If they did they should just say yes, I did it because I wanted to rescue the country... But they didn't revolutionise democracy. They just took power from Thaksin's cronies and put it into their own hands. That's why they're speechless. It serves them right." Why did you work for them then Sondhi?

So what now? Abhisit has accused the protesters of breaking the law; he said that they blockaded different main roads, causing difficulties to the general public. Yet, if Abhisit had kept his promise and done something about Yellow, who did exactly the same and worse, then I have no doubt this wouldn’t have happened! What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Still, it’s not really fair to blame Abhisit since whatever he did would have been ‘wrong’. It just shows the continued dysfunction of the Thai system with too many factions pulling in different direction forcing the government to lurch from one crisis to the next. What Thailand needs is a fresh election and then, with luck, it can have a government that represents the voters and not this motley mix of gangsters, PAD and elitists whose only common interest seems to be the lust for power - and the loot that goes with it! Of course a new government will only help if the Elitists finally follow the King’s example and show some respect for Democracy and the Reds and Yellows realise that they need to forget the misunderstandings of the past. Almost all Thais say they love the King, yet like so many people who say they love God; they have a funny way of showing it. If you love your father you don’t hate your brothers and sisters! All fathers want a happy family yet, if they are good fathers, they try not to favour one child over another. I'm a farang, English, and I can tell you that, like so many others who visit your country, it was your love of the King, the law, and of each other that was so attractive. It let you smile however bad things were and it gave you a common bond. Don't be so quick to change to the ways of the West because it will simply lead to rampant materialism and ultimately the tyranny of public opinion steered by glib opportunists and megalomaniac media moguls. So, forget Thaksin, forget Sondhi, forget Yellow and Red and be Orange the colour of Buddha and be faithful children. REMEMBER THAT BUDDHISM IS THE MIDDLE WAY! Treasure Bhumibol Adulyadej not just because he is King Rama IX but because he is a great man and loves and treasures you! Yes, you want Democracy and you want a chance for the government you choose to actually be allowed to govern. You don’t need Thaksin and you certainly don’t need PAD to tell you how to vote but if Prem and his pals REALLY do care about King and Country then they should retire and let some new blood run through the veins of power in the Privy Council! Prem has had his fair crack of the whip and he has whipped the wrong horses. You don’t need a stronger army you need better leaders!

It's not looking good, with the press appearing to be setting the scene for yet another military coup while road blocks have been set-up around The Palace!

I’m relieved to hear that Justyn! I thought you were in Chiang Mai for some reason and I'm quite surprised to hear you live in Bangkok… Mind you I have spent some time on the outskirts and I quite liked it. I’ve never experienced Songkran in Bangkok but several times in Phuket where it’s quite restrained - well compared to Pattya where it seems to last for weeks and involves industrial strength water cannon. Coincidentally, I recently spent a couple of months in Jomtien fairly close to the conference site I believe. Can’t think why they chose that part of Pattya as although it was once the best beach in the area it is a bit of a tip now. Pity there isn't a suitable hotel on Koh Lan. Mind you, it’s probably that they just wanted somewhere that was well away from Walking Street so that those who wanted to go there wouldn’t be seen by those who might disapprove. Take care and choc dee crab.

I notice that the general trend among the Thai press is to blame the Red shirts for all the recent political problems and claim it is all down to Thaksin’s seventy five billion baht. Surprisingly, I agree. Of course their argument only really works if you have reason to believe that Thaksin won’t get his money back without a coup. I do believe that, and I think that this huge amount of money has been behind a lot of the things that have been crawling about in the corrupt cesspit that hides within the Establishment and eroding the peoples faith in the state and its laws. Since I’m not sure exactly what Thaksin has done to deserve his money being frozen (besides having so much of it) I thought maybe it was about time I checked into why he is always labelled as a fugitive. It seems that Thaksin’s wife noticed a piece of land that had been owned by three previous Prime Ministers and thought it would make a lovely present for her husband (and, no doubt, a healthy investment). I presume she must have had the land valued and offered slightly more than it was valued at in the hope of having the highest bid. As things turned out, hers was the highest bid and she got the land. Sometime later, Thaksin had made some powerful enemies and the state run enterprise which had sold the land was ordered to complain that it had been cheated. It seems that they had sold the land for less than half of what they had paid for it and someone needed a scapegoat. It should also be mentioned that they had needed the money to pay their bills. Now, I don’t read Thai so I’m finding it difficult to find out who the land was bought from in the first place - was it one of these ex-prime ministers, and was he paid much more than the land was worth? Anyway, it seems that Thaksin has been found guilty of signing a piece of paper that authorised his wife to bid for the land. It seems that since the land was being sold by a state run enterprise he was technically guilty of taking advantage of his position as PM. No-one actually seemed to suggest that he had taken advantage merely that the courts interpretation of the law was that it was illegal for Thaksin to allow his wife to bid for it. Result, a two year jail sentence. He didn't want to go to jail so he isn't in Thailand... hence fugitive. A desperate criminal indeed :O)

I think you must be refering to allegations that haven't been to court yet Chuck? As I pointed out in the post it was to explain why he is always labelled as a fugitive. I don't know why his money was frozen.

I'd say that you've hit the nail on the head Chuck. Sadly, knowing that won't help them do it.

I'm quite tired and it doesn't make that much difference to me to be honest Chuck... but thanks for the info I may look into it later. I only seem to defend Thaksin because I'm trying to add a bit of balance. I do favour the Reds as I think they have been quite badly treated over the last year or two but I'm not sure Thaksin is a good influence. I have to say that I would have preferred it if the Reds had celebrated their 'victory' in Pattya by going home and preparing for Songkran. Surely they must have realised that the Thai press would crucify them if they continued - I mean it was Easter :O) Red don't have the media clout and elite and establishment connections to swing public opinion to their side as the yellows did when their road blocks were challenged and people were hurt. As for the land case I just happened upon a PDF on the Nation website which contained most of the pertinent info surrounding the land case and I thought it might be interesting to share my take on it.