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THE election result thread


kamui

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One of my colleagues - a non-Thaksin supporter BTW - is from Issan. He told me that Thaksin did a little for the people of rural Issan, not very much ... BUT more than anyone had done before him. He bought them rather cheaply and more importantly managed to bond with them with his sort of folksy ways when he met them. (He is a wealthy city boy but can pretend to be a prole when it helps him.) Abhisit, with his years at Eton and Oxford, simply cannot relate to them very easily.

 

 

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I don't know of any farang being pro Thaksin. Some have sympathies for the red cause, however they also say they should cut their links to Thaksin before they can be taken seriously.

I am pretty sure that PT would have been marginalized if the foreign community would have been the electorate.

 

Still they have been able to win by a landslide if the exit polls can be believed. They achieved this victory without a proper program just with the slogan "Thaksin thinks, PT acts" and outrageous freebies, which will definitely bankrupt Thailand if only implemented in parts.

 

What does this tell us? The majority of rural voters are just not ready for a western style democracy and are easily manipulated due to insufficient education to look through Thaksin's plot.

 

It is a sad day for democracy and Thailand. I am afraid that this day isn't the end of Thailand's political crisis but rather the beginning of a new round of even worse turmoil.

 

 

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I don't know of any farang being pro Thaksin. Some have sympathies for the red cause, however they also say they should cut their links to Thaksin before they can be taken seriously.

I am pretty sure that PT would have been marginalized if the foreign community would have been the electorate.

 

Still they have been able to win by a landslide if the exit polls can be believed. They achieved this victory without a proper program just with the slogan "Thaksin thinks, PT acts" and outrageous freebies, which will definitely bankrupt Thailand if only implemented in parts.

 

What does this tell us? The majority of rural voters are just not ready for a western style democracy and are easily manipulated due to insufficient education to look through Thaksin's plot.

 

It is a sad day for democracy and Thailand. I am afraid that this day isn't the end of Thailand's political crisis but rather the beginning of a new round of even worse turmoil.

 

 

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The majority of Thai rural voters are nothing but stupid stubborn buffalo really. Well educated people in Bangkok will tell you that. But they know what it means to be in hock to banks and have agricultural prices dictated by companies like Charoen Pokphand one of whose directors happens to be Ahbisit's father. A lot of the small business folk aren't too crazy about Tesco Lotus either.

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It is a sad day for democracy and Thailand. I am afraid that this day isn't the end of Thailand's political crisis but rather the beginning of a new round of even worse turmoil.

 

 

I think this is a distorted Farang view.

 

First: for a working democracy all relevant groups need to participate on equal terms. I do not see that the old elite is really interested in democracy. The are only shades less corrupt than Mr. T. and his cronies.

 

Second: the electorate needs to be educated. The elite is not really interested in the education of the masses. Now they are educating/organizing themselves, using the new media and even using channels from outside Thailand. The old elite and the democrats wasted many years by doing nothing.

 

Third: it's a misunderstanding that the electorate always decides for right person.

Just have a look at California, the eights largest economy in the world. They just voted for a governor who had defrauded the country out of millions (billions?) of USD and who doesn't have any experience in politics and who now is despised by a large majority of the people even inside his own party...

 

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IMHO the New York Times sums it up very well:

 

Thais Back Ousted Prime Minister’s Party in Landslide

....

The vote had broader resonance as well, part of a rebalancing of Thailand’s hierarchical society that so far has played out in the streets, challenging the elite establishment and giving more voice to the poor.

 

“[color:red]This is a slap in the face to the establishment for what they’ve done since the military coup in 2006[/color],†said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University. “This is a new Thailand that they must learn to live with.â€

 

He added: “This whole election is all about the awakened voices. These people discovered that they can actually have access and be connected to the system.â€

...

NYT

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I don't know of any farang being pro Thaksin. Some have sympathies for the red cause, however they also say they should cut their links to Thaksin before they can be taken seriously.

I am pretty sure that PT would have been marginalized if the foreign community would have been the electorate.

 

Still they have been able to win by a landslide if the exit polls can be believed. They achieved this victory without a proper program just with the slogan "Thaksin thinks, PT acts" and outrageous freebies, which will definitely bankrupt Thailand if only implemented in parts.

 

What does this tell us? The majority of rural voters are just not ready for a western style democracy and are easily manipulated due to insufficient education to look through Thaksin's plot.

 

It is a sad day for democracy and Thailand. I am afraid that this day isn't the end of Thailand's political crisis but rather the beginning of a new round of even worse turmoil.

 

 

Agreed. In retrospect, the biggest mistake the military made was ousting Thaksin in the way they did. This has led him to an almost martyr-esque status with the rurals.

 

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I think this is a distorted Farang view.

 

First: for a working democracy all relevant groups need to participate on equal terms. I do not see that the old elite is really interested in democracy. The are only shades less corrupt than Mr. T. and his cronies.

 

So then tell me where Thaksin is interested in real democracy? Back in 2002 he famously sated that democracy isn't the goal but just a vehicle to reach his goal. True democrat huh?!

 

While the Abhisit government was a disappointment, I prefer it 100 times over Thaksin, Samak, Chalerm, or Somchai. In the first years of Thaksin's rule corruption rose by 30%.

 

Second: the electorate needs to be educated. The elite is not really interested in the education of the masses. Now they are educating/organizing themselves, using the new media and even using channels from outside Thailand. The old elite and the democrats wasted many years by doing nothing.

 

It has been Abhisit who gave them free education but that isn't what they want. They want money or gimmicks (e.g. mobiles, tablets...) which PT promised them. Just wonder who gonna pay all this?

 

Third: it's a misunderstanding that the electorate always decides for right person.

Just have a look at California, the eights largest economy in the world. They just voted for a governor who had defrauded the country out of millions (billions?) of USD and who doesn't have any experience in politics and who now is despised by a large majority of the people even inside his own party...

 

Fully agree and so they get the government they deserve. However, there is a difference between if an (mostly) educated electorate like in California makes a wrong choice or an electorate in Thailand who isn't even capable of understanding the evil schemes of Thaksin.

Therefore, I think Thailand (among other countries)isn't ready for western style democracy.

 

----

 

 

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Agreed. In retrospect, the biggest mistake the military made was ousting Thaksin in the way they did. This has led him to an almost martyr-esque status with the rurals.

 

They did it the "Thai way" and utterly failed because Thaksin did not play by these rules. They let him of the hook twice in the belief that he would accept his fate and live a quiet life in huge wealth abroad, like many other ousted PM before him did.

 

In the night of the coup my first thought has been how could they do it while Thaksin was abroad. If you do a coup to overthrow a tyrant you have to do it right. They had 5 years to silence him but they didn't. Now they and the middle/upper class of Thailand will have to pay the price.

 

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Reading the above posts, and I've slapped myself between the eyes after I read these words:

 

[color:brown]What would you rather have.........[/color]

It has just become clear to me (I'm a slow thinker), that our (collective) knowledge, critical analysis, common sense, purported adherence to selfless principles and other lofty and idealistic ways of looking at things, have no place here.

 

It really is about what most of the Thai people want.

 

And I've always said, if you're going to have a democracy, then the one with the most votes wins.

 

I just hope Takky, allows for the Sanuk trade to continue unabated.

 

Coss

 

 

 

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