robaus

I have seriously tried googling: Abhisit PDRC reforms. But I can’t find any concrete examples of a single reform. About a week ago I got onto a Thai pro PDRC site (can’t find it now) with some reforms mentioned. I obviously had to use Google Translate to view. It was still all vague...of course that could be the fault of the translation. Please could you explain in simple but concrete terms what the reforms are, or point me in the direction of a site where they are explained Are they: .. rules to exclude certain politicians .. realignment of electoral boundaries ..set quotas of unelected politicians in the Senate or Parliament ..anti corruption/vote buying measures ..some form of proportional representation, along the lines of Australia, Israel, Netherlands, Spain, Canada http://en.wikipedia...._representation Almost 30 people have died so far...for what? Give us a clue.

>> Suthep Thaugsuban, secretary general of the People's Democratic Reform Committee, announced today if not enough people come out to join his rallies to pressure the 24 remaining ministers to resign by May 26, he will surrender to police on the following day. He said if over one million people do not come out to support his campaign, he would stop the fight on May 27. ...Ah, there’s his Get Out Of Jail free card. The bloke’s had more “final all out†performances than Sinatra. >> On Monday, the demonstrators will be dispatched to various ministries or the residences of remaining ministers to demand them to submit their resignations. Suthep said the people would hound the 24 remaining ministers wherever they go to demand them to resign. He would welcome tips from the public about the whereabouts of the ministers. ...This is obviously where McCain, Palin, and Romney went wrong...they should’ve got the NRA to lay siege to Obama and Biden’s homes until they withdrew their candidacy.

So tell us what you want... the old money feudally lording over the peasants again, or a more egalitarian Thai society? I think the time is ripe for a 3rd party to arise, promising and delivering to city and country folks alike for the good of Thailand. May only make small inroads first time around, but empowered voters will gradually sit up and take notice... and maybe the other parties currently at each other’s throats will too.

Make sure you have 2 inches by 2 inches photos. (Check!) I thought I had dotted all the i's etc but the bastards caught me on that last one....but they happened to have an expensive photo machine outside the office for your convenience. I am full bottle on India travel ...been there many times from Kashmir to the tip of Cape Comorin. If you need any advice, PM me.

...The man’s chutzpah knows no bounds. Hello Sulky Suthep!..err if you want to act on behalf of the masses, why don’t you first try asking them what they want... I think it’s called a national election. It seems pretty straightforward constitutionally. Since the authority of the caretaker Cabinet remains intact, call an election at the earliest date possible required by the King’s approval...looks like August now. The candidates can register online. Call out the army and police in force to do what they should have been doing in February..protecting polling booths and voters. Deal severely with anyone who commits insurrection and disrupts the polls. And if the yellow shirts want to boycott the election, then fuck ‘em.

Well, that’s a start to running a valid election. Makes the yellow shirt thugs’ job easier...all they have to do now is beat up and intimidate decent Thai citizens who simply want to vote.

You may not be aware, Flash, but beneath the disguise of being a super patriot who loves only what's best for Thailand ...and his wallet..is the leader of the yellow shirts, as seen by our wily undercover photographer in Phuket recently. Back in yellow shirts: Suthep Thaugsban rallies the troops last night. Photo Bangkok Post - See more at: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-pdrc-members-prepare-to-join-d-day-in-bangkok-46030.php#sthash.9W5Lyfm2.dpuf http://www.thephuket...ngkok-46030.php

Sorry..it was a typo...yellow shits.

The Perth consulate takes two business days to issue visa. I don't want to leave it till the last minutes in case of the unforeseen, so I get visa 2 weeks before I leave. She writes on visa both entries must be activated 3 months from issue date. The clock is already ticking... get visa 2 weeks before I leave + 2 months 1st entry = just 2 weeks left to travel other places I enjoy...Nepal, India, Philippines, Cambodia..before I have to dash back to Thailand before the original 3 months activation expiry kicks in. There must be quite a few other long term travellers touring SE Asia in the same boat. Maybe I should try one of the other consulates in Aus or the embassy in Canberra. See if they will give me 6 months to use the 2 * 60 day entries. Such is life!

It's a bit of a worry when the Thai Air Force can't even protect their own base. Or do you think word might have come from on high that the air force guards should all have a tea break just as the yellow shirts broke in. I notice Suthep was right behind his troops...about 10 kms behind them! He didn't turn up till someone phoned to say the dirty work had been done. Smart move by PM I'd say.

>> The next judicial casualty could be acting PM Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan. The Election Commission (EC) has suggested it may ask the Constitutional Court to deliver a ruling on whether the acting premier has the authority to countersign a Royal Decree to set a new date for a general election. ...like asking the barber if you need a haircut. Both those organisations appointed by previous yellow shirt government and still in cahoots with their masters. EC itself set the date of July 20. Why ever could the current leader of the last elected government of the country not be able to ask the King to issue a royal decree for another date...so that the people can decide who they want to govern them? Isn't that how democracy is supposed to work? And if the “mystery reforms†referendum smacks of “yellow shirt†chicanery and Pheu Thai recommends its supporters to reject it, are we back to square one? With Pheu Thai in power for another year with reforms rejected? Here we go: Judicial Coup part II.

Things get curiouser and curiouser.

I agree with you, Flash...absolutely barbaric and mad.

In yer dreams, mate. Since the end of the Cold War there’s always got to be a bogey man. Here’s a little tip...if a mad mullah comes knocking on your door trying to convert you...just say “noâ€.

I’d call it pretty tacky journalism ...no link reference from the OP ...no source mentioned by Michael Yon ...no mention of it anywhere else on the net So in this hearsay rumour we are discussing as though it’s gospel, Michael Yon or his unnamed source can now read Taksin’s mind and infers he’s a psychopath without a thought for his supporters. What is this..the Joseph Goebbels School of Journalism?

You've got to ask "cui bono" ..to whose advantage would an escalation of the violence serve? Military steps in..new interim government established.

I am exactly in the position that Munch mentions. I don't work, and don't want to retire in Thailand, and I certainly don't want to marry a Thai...had a Thai de facto once, but she ran off with my best friend.."Whoever he is?" (Thanks for the joke,Tommy Cooper). A double entry 60 day tourist visa would do me fine, if only they'd make the activate by period 6 months from date of issue.

Som nam na for the stupid way Thais react to a problem. Target the main overstaying, illegally working nationalities, at the same time being more liberal towards the least offending nationalities, as Malaysia and Singapore do. Target workplaces. Make 2 month tourist, retirement and non immigrant O visas easier to obtain. Help not hinder visitors who want to be legit. Rather than forcing visitors down the visa run path, make money out of them! Charge them 3,000-5,000 baht for unlimited 2 month visa extensions at the local immigration office. Their coffers would be bulging with fees, sufficient to employ more clerical officers and illegal migrant enforcers. Instead there’s some bureaucratic joker in charge who thinks of the most stupid, petty way of throwing the baby out with the bath water. TIT

So if you buy a $250? Cambodian business visa valid for a year, as of 2015 you could technically come and go as you please into Thailand?? Wouldn't it be a wonderful way of giving Thai immi the finger...Cambodia gets all the money;Thailand gets all the punters gratis for whom they make it difficult to obtain a visa. TIT.

Thanks Flash but got em both on my list already. I wonder if those 2 poor buggers who died for the PDRC last night when asked for their final words would have whispered..."R.. r.. r.. reform" even though no-one knows what that is....a bit like God, Allah, Jehovah, Shiva, Ra, Zeus, John Frum... Maybe the profit [sic] Suthep will tell us one day. All very sad.

... add a few of these to your list too.. The Westboro Baptist Church http://www.godhatesfags.com/ The Peculiar Men of Essex The Apostolic Church Holiness Snake Handlers http://holiness-snak...dlers.webs.com/ http://en.wikipedia....Signs_Following http://en.wikipedia....iki/Freedomites who publicly burn their own money and parade in public nude, because the human skin, as God's creation, was more perfect than clothes I collect cults. I have thousands more, and I have hardly scratched the surface of Eastern religions. It fascinates me: I find it such a weird phenomenon that a Hindu who believes in 3,000 gods would murder a proselytizing Mormon missionary who believes the lost tribe of Israel settled in USA and their history was given to Joseph Smith by the Angel Moroni on golden tablets that later disappeared. And both 110% convinced that he is right and the other nutter wrong. All religion is a mental illness. For a real hoot try http://www.landoverbaptist.org/

How about doing something really radical ...the same as happens in every other democracy in the world.... follow the constitution and appoint someone from the party that actually won the last election and would have won the 2014 one too had not armed yellow shirt thugs disrupted it. Everyone seems to be ignoring the elephant in the room..the 48% of Thai people who voted for Pheu Thai as opposed to a minority of 35% who voted Democrat. It’s like the Republican party in the USA saying we don’t like President Obama because of his healthcare policies, so let’s get a group of judges and senators to sack him because he fired Gen. McChrystal, after his outspoken comments on Afghanistan. Now let’s fish around for some other dude to be president, while completely ignoring the constitution and Joe Biden or holding another election to find out what the people really want. Of course none of this scenario would even get to first base in the USA. But TIT. The yellow shirts could actually tell us what their mysterious pie in the sky reforms are and make them an election issue. The acting caretaker Prime Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisarn is already the de jure Prime Minister. An election date has been set. What’s the problem? ... oh I see it’s Sulking Suthep having a tantrum so we all have to run around like headless chooks trying to please him, while the Thai economy goes down the shit shoot.

There used to be a very friendly little consulate in Perth, Aus that gave me non immigrant O visas, when I showed the Aussie lady secretary my Pattaya condo title deeds. I have never worked in Thailand and never overstayed...only ever spent money there. Then the consul himself retired ..he was in his 70s I think. The consulate was closed for a couple of years. Now reopened...the new broom and jobsworth, a Thai woman, wouldn’t give me a non immigrant O. She said they are only available to applicants with a Thai partner. Is she correct? So I requested a double entry tourist visa. I genuinely wanted to visit some friends in Cambodia for a couple of weeks then return to Thailand. I got the visa but she advised to be careful about the dates because it was only valid for 3 months activation from date of issue. I pointed out very politely that in the past a single entry was valid for 3 months activation and a double entry should be valid for 6 months activation. She didn’t take too kindly to criticism, and wouldn’t extend activation period. Is she correct? So I had to cut my Cambodian visit by a week and just scraped in on the day to activate my second entry. If they want visitors to apply for full visas why make it so hard to obtain and use them? Of course we all know the next knee jerk move when tourist numbers fall will be free visas just like they did after protesters closed the airport. TIT.

>> Both sides of the political conflict should realise that they will never be able to completely defeat each other ... says who...except that the majority have done so 3 times already, and would have done so again in February except they have been disenfranchised and elections disrupted by armed yellow shirt gangs. >> but the country is suffering great damage ...and whose fault is that?...disrupting tourism by creating fear of armed conflict and closing airports and transport, draining international business confidence, disrupting the elected government from paying bills or establishing projects. OK enough of what everyone knows already. >> Prapun said the best solution would be to hold fresh elections under an agreement that the new administration carry out reforms and only stay for a short time. ..perhaps his suggestion has merit. But please can someone tell me what are these mysterious reforms that thousands are marching and dying for? I hope it’s not something as daft as “No-one with the name Shinawatra or anyone associated with them will ever be allowed to hold office.†That’s a ridiculous unenforceable non starter. If it’s gerrymandering election districts unfairly so that rural voters automatically have less chance of electing their candidates..that’s another non starter. If it’s seats reserved in parliament for a large chunk of un-elected members who can cock up what the elected majority want...another non starter. Any evidence of vote buying or bribery on both sides, means instant disqualification of that candidate. That ought to be obligatory anyway. If it’s something like proportional representation that would stand the scrutiny of expert international psephologists, well that could win back global confidence. In a fair democracy as it matures and Thailand becomes less of a feudal paternalism, perhaps a third major party would emerge that satisfies the interests of rural and city folks alike, and maybe make the other parties lift their game too. Can anyone give me a clue as to what these mysterious reforms are?? And what’s in it for both parties?

Just like the Boston Tea Party.....no taxation without representation. This time the Indians are dressed up as taxi drivers.