Three Takes on the Current Situation

[Flashermac]

My understanding is that the changes PAD proposes are only temporary ... until the trials of Mr T and his relatives are over and cannot be influenced by Mr T's cronies.

 

And how are PAD's proposals somehow worse than the PPP's attempts to rewrite the constitution to PROTECT Mr T and allow them to retain control?

 

 

 

[khun_khon_neua]

I assume you just used the fast reply and are really asking Mr. Gadfly these questions.

 

I have not heard that the PAD "new politics" was put forth as a short term proposal.

 

Personally, I think the PAD proposals are a lot BETTER for Thailand in the long term then the PPP attempts to change the constitution to get Thaksin not only off the hook, but back in direct power.

 

[samak]

PAD proposals better for Thailand?

are you really aware of their mindset?

[khun_khon_neua]

Yes, I am also well aware of why they have the popular support of the middle class.

[Gadfly]

Changes in Foreign Business Act and the compulsory license issues never actually came about did they?

 

This statment contains a good example of what is wrong with some many PAD apologists: it contains a distortion and an absolute falsehood - asserted in the form of a question.

 

First, I expressly said the changes to the FBA were proposed but highlighted them to make a point about the mindset of the Bangkok elite/militairy government we had. They pressed hard to enact laws that would require forigners who had legally established businesses in Thailand to divest their holdings. I think pressing for such a law says a great deal about the mindset of PAD and its supporters, and why foreigners should be very concerned about this group.

 

Second, compulsory license did come into effect, but your "question" makes it sound as though it didn't. Your confused on the facts. But the tramuas and stunts surrounding the compulsory licensing probably say more about the elite mindset. For example, the Thai Minister of Health publically threatening, at a meeting in Switzerland, to hold Western tourists hostages if drug companies withheld distribution of drugs because of compulsory licensing.

 

Threats to hold tourists hostage from a Minister of Health! This speaks volumnes about the very frightening mindset of PAD and those behind it.

[khun_khon_neua]

Yeah, you go on thinking this about the â??Bangkok Eliteâ? against the poor downtrodden rural people who just want to keep their "democratically" elected PPP government in place.

 

[Flashermac]

As I understand it, Mr T was taking Bangkok tax money and giving it to the north and northeast. Since the rich generally evade paying any taxes (until they get caught), this meant the urban middle class was seeing its tax money going to poor country folks. Now one can call that redistribution of the money, but it's hadly going to win Mr T and his cronies any friends amongst the urban middle classes.

 

Even one taxi driver criticised the T-man the other day. He said Thaksin did help the poor folks some, but with his unbelievable wealth he could have done a helluva lot more, if he really had wanted too.

 

 

 

p.s. I've never quite understood the Thai's concept of Buddhism. When I've pointed out the fortune Billy Gates has given to charities and asked why Thaksin never gave any, the typical Thai response is "Why should he?" So WTF EVER HAPPENED TO MAKING MERIT?

 

 

 

[khun_khon_neua]

It is a myth that the money went to â??poorâ? folks. It went to the same factions that have run the various provinces for generations in return for their support in parliament to approve spending the money. These people got a lot of money out of this, the â??folksâ? got some roads that cracked, water systems that are broken most of the time and a 30 baht medical system that almost bankrupted the local hospitals and allowed to you die anyway if it was anything serious.

 

This is the key exploitation that Thaksin used to corrupt the 1997 charter and which proves that even with a charter advertised as the â??peoplesâ? charter, a corrupt rich guy bent on giving himself almost unlimited power can use the feudal upcountry Thai political system to corrupt what appears on the surface to be a democratic system. It is only when you understand what actually happens when people vote upcountry and see how it is not democracy as we know it, can you understand what the PAD is trying to do.

 

[Gadfly]

It is a myth that the money went to â??poorâ? folks. It went to the same factions that have run the various provinces for generations in return for their support in parliament to approve spending the money. These people got a lot of money out of this, the â??folksâ? got some roads that cracked, water systems that are broken most of the time and a 30 baht medical system that almost bankrupted the local hospitals

 

I don't like Thaksin and his cronies either. Indeed, if you go back far enough on this board, you will see that I was extremely anti-Thaksin while others were much more, ah, how to put it, blind...ehr...charitable.

 

But I don't decide if Thaksin and TRT did a better job of representing the interests of people in Issan than other politicians. That decision is made by the people of Issan, albeit in less than perfect elections. But a less than perfection election is better than having the people of Bangkok decide what is best for Issan. That is the point.

 

And fundamentally, all of this is not really about Thaksin. It's about who should have a say in how Thailand is governed. PAD apparantly thinks they should have the final say. That is the problem.