Faustian Posted August 18, 2009 Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 "Don't cry for me Argentina" Ummmmm Ex-PM pleads with HM, teary over devoted red shirts By The Nation Published on August 18, 2009 Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, with tears in his eyes, pleaded with His Majesty the King to grant him royal amnesty and thanked his red-shirted supporters for submitting the petition on his behalf. During a video link-up, watched by thousands in Sanam Luang yesterday, he said: "I, Thaksin Shinawatra, and my family will be loyal to the King and the monarchy forever." More than 20,000 red shirts marched to the Grand Palace yesterday to submit the petition for clemency. Before the group started marching, they gathered in Sanam Luang to hear the song "Deeka Dub Thook Thang Paendin" (A Petition to End the Suffering of the Nation) blaring out of the speakers and listen to Thakin's address. The former PM, who has been on the run for about a year now, spoke from an undisclosed location abroad, and said that he was turning to His Majesty as a last resort. "We need to rely on His Majesty to bring back justice and peace to Thailand," he said. Wearing a red shirt, the colour favoured by his supporters, Thaksin said he hoped His Majesty would live a long, healthy life like Phra Anond, Buddha's close confidant who passed away at the age of 120, according to Buddhist belief. "We are here to inform the father of every Thai that we want to see unity and harmony. We want to see the return of right, freedom and dignity to Thailand. We want happiness return to the country through reconciliation," Thaksin said. He continued to be adamant that his conviction over the Ratchadaphisek land-purchase deal was "a joke". "It's funny how the owners, the buyers and the sellers were all acquitted, while I was the only one convicted," he said. Thaksin was sentenced last August to two years in jail after he was found guilty of abuse of power for allowing his wife to successfully bid on a plot of prime Bangkok property in a public auction in 2003. After completing his message, the tycoon turned around to bow before the portraits of Their Majesties, before leading a rendition of "Sadudee Maha Raja" (Love Live the Great King) and chanting "Long Live the King" three times. Once the petition was submitted, Thaksin returned on the link-up to announce that the event had brought tears to his eyes. He said his family was also touched by the fact that so many people loved him. Thaksin went on to thank the country's citizens for being merciful and for their moves to restore peace, unity and prosperity in the country. He said he had watched the petition being submitted on People's Channel. According to Thaksin, during one of his "around the world" trips, his plane was flying close to Thailand and his pilot asked if it was wise to enter Thai airspace because it could lead to a lot of trouble if there was ever a need for an emergency landing. Thaksin said he told the pilot |to fly through Thai airspace regardless. "During those 20 minutes I meditated. I prayed to all things holy and said that if I was really a bad person, I should not be allowed to return, but that if I was a truly honest person, then I should be able to come back," he said. "If I am given a chance to return, the first thing I will do is pay obeisance to you all," he said, adding |that he will wait for a miracle and hoped that peace would bring him victory. Natthawut Saikua, one of the organisers, then had the song "Chan Ja Klub Ma" (I Will Return) blaring from the speakers and asked Thaksin to sing along. Thaksin then declared he had always believed that he will return one day. "Although I'm being harassed, I will be patient and wait to return," he said, before he singing the royal anthem and chanted "Chai Yo" three times. The organisers then turned on the song about the petition to close the event, before the red shirts peacefully dispersed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted August 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 The Nations anal-ysis is.... Thaksin's cloying plea for clemency sounds shallow By Avudh Panananda The Nation Published on August 18, 2009 Under the backdrop of the red-shirt rally seeking a pardon for him, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra made an emotional plea - like a closing statement for his defence. But does he have a genuine case to begin with? Or even a cause to fight for? By using sugar-coated remarks, Thaksin portrayed himself as an undying royalist. Many see it an act of hypocrisy. The rally was billed as one of reverence but the way it was organised was clearly an attempt to involve the monarchy in the political struggle. For better or worse, Thaksin has shown his true colours in politicising the country's revered institution. The line has been crossed and time will reveal the consequences. Less than two months ago, the high drama of Thaksin's plight began with the launch of a signature campaign to seek a royal pardon. The petition was drafted to cite political injustice and double standards of law enforcement, both spawned by the 2006 coup, as grounds to seek a royal pardon for Thaksin. Some five million people reportedly signed the petition. Leading figures and legal pundits reminded the parties concerned about the pardon process- and so campaign organisers shrewdly re-branded the petition from seeking a royal pardon to voicing the people's suffering from injustice. Under court traditions and relevant laws, a pardon petition must be submitted by a convict or an immediate family member. But every Thai citizen is entitled to access the King to air a grievance. By accident or design, the wording of the petition was murky from the start, simplifying the reclassification of the campaign. If the organisers had insisted on seeking a royal pardon, then the Royal Palace might have suggested the petition be lodged with concerned authorities, such as the Justice Ministry and the Corrections Department. At yesterday's rally, the red shirts and Thaksin highlighted their campaign to redress the people's suffering. Not a word about pardon was mentioned although the core message of the petition remained the seeking of clemency on Thaksin's behalf. Thaksin grabbed the opportunity to equate his plight to that of the country's. He attributed his predicament to the seizure of power in 2006, which in turn brought about the people's suffering, as warranting a petition for royal intervention to rectify the situation. "His Majesty is the King for every Thai citizen and the only one who can redress the people's suffering," he said. He crafted his speech to identify with the poor, showcasing his achievements in meeting the people's aspirations. He said his success brought about his downfall because his opponents would have lost their vested interests with any advance of democracy. Because of his ousting, the people suffered. The political system went haywire and he became a victim of reprisal, he said. He claimed his opponents had tried to fault him for being disloyal to the monarchy, although he never wavered in his loyalty to Their Majesties. He also said the coup-triggered judicial review was unfair in convicting him. It was a joke for the buyer and the seller to win an acquittal - while he was penalised with a two-year jail term for giving spousal consent to seal the Ratchadaphisek land transaction, he said. He omitted to mention, however, that the sentencing was based on his wrongdoing committed as prime minister, wielding influence over the transaction. Regardless of Thaksin's well-scripted speech, the bottom line is: Thaksin is demanding the King intervene and rectify his ill-fortune. Even though he takes pride in his intellectual prowess, he appears to have overlooked no one can turn the clock back. He has fought and lost in the power struggle since 2006. And now he wants a rematch by invoking the monarchy to come to his rescue. As a self-proclaimed democracy advocate, he should have realised the impropriety of seeking a royal intervention in the political and judicial process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted August 18, 2009 Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 JC on a crutch!!! Someone get this guy laid and be done with it!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted August 19, 2009 Report Share Posted August 19, 2009 Why doesn't Thaksin become a monk. Then he can come back like Thanom Kittikachorn did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted August 19, 2009 Report Share Posted August 19, 2009 Bangkok Post 19 Aug 2009 Righting the wrongs of moving for a pardon by Paisal Sricharatchanya It seems almost everything that has been associated with or prompted by the Red Shirts' campaign to seek a royal pardon for the deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is wrong. For a start, the method by which it was undertaken contravenes the long-established guidelines governing such petitions, which normally call for the convicted criminal himself or close family relatives to be the rightful signatories. In this case, none of them is reportedly on the petition list. More disturbing is the unmistaken implication that the masterminds of the campaign are using the petition's signatories, some of whom might have signed in genuine good faith, to apply undue pressure on His Majesty the King to act on a highly politicised and controversial issue. This is most inappropriate to say the least because whether a royal pardon is granted or not, large sections of Thai society that are divided into pro- and anti-Thaksin camps are bound to be upset. And in the ensuing process, the honour and prestige of the monarchy could inevitably be undermined. This is not to mention that a pardon on convoluted grounds would make a mockery of the entire judicial system, and throw the long list of other pending cases against Thaksin into doubt. That said, the counter-petition campaign engineered by the blue shirts is also wrong. It is wrong because the campaign only serves to deepen the polarisation of an already sharply-divided society. Although it was done in the name of protecting the good graces of the monarchy, the blue shirts' campaign is wrought with the dangerous potential of provoking another confrontation with the red shirts - similar to the bloody clashes that culminated in the abrupt cancellation of the Asean Summit in Pattaya in April. For weeks, provincial governors, especially those in the North and Northeast, have been preoccupied with the barely-productive undertaking of coercing villagers to sign their names to the counter petition. The opposing camps ended up trying to outdo each other in their claimed numbers of signatures. The rest of the society has been watching anxiously and breathed a sigh of relief after the test of strength passed without any untoward incident. What a waste of time, effort and resources! The government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is at fault for having allowed this unpleasant episode to have come this far. It knew early on that the masterminds of the petition had consciously violated the rules and regulations and were probably harbouring some sinister motives. But there were no effective measures to nip it in the bud. For weeks, the deputy prime minister in charge of security affairs, Suthep Thaugsuban, paid lip service to the issue by saying the authorities were watching to see if the red shirts had done anything illegal. By the time the blue-shirt coalition partner Bhumjaithai mounted a counter move, the Red Shirts' campaign had picked up momentum. And when the government finally decided to act, it was too little and too late. The armed forces leadership, especially Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Anupong Paojinda, also cannot escape blame for failing to demonstrate the sort of decisive leadership that is required to deal with a serious matter like this. As the self-proclaimed ultimate protector of the nation, religion and the monarchy, the least the military top brass could have done was to send a strong public message to scuttle the petition campaign in its early days. But what we have heard from an otherwise powerful figure like Gen Anupong - carefully-worded comments that characterise his typical aloofness on virtually all contentious issues - has been disappointing to say the least. Now that the red shirts have succeeded in presenting their petition, the best the government can do now is to exercise damage control. The ramifications for the honour and prestige of the monarchy are worrying enough because the petition has raised hope and expectations among genuine Thaksin supporters that the ex-premier could indeed be pardoned. Such sentiments could turn sour - and the once unwavering reverence for the monarchy could be eroded as a result - if the petition is not acted upon by the King. Therefore, the government must see to it that the petition is put where it belongs. Going by the established legal criteria, which requires a convict to have served jail time and repented before qualifying for such a petition, the Justice Ministry can presumably recommend to the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary that the petition is illegal and hence should be dropped. His Majesty would then be spared the hassle of having to deliberate on this highly-charged political issue. But that certainly is not enough. The challenge is how to explain the delicate complexities of the entire episode to the masses in the North and Northeast who had signed the petition in support of Thaksin, to ensure they understand why the petition is being dropped. This calls for a concerted public-relations campaign involving no less than all the state-controlled mass media channels, not least the 200 or so military-run radios nationwide. At the very least, the government should aim to ensure that the honour and prestige of the monarchy is not further tarnished. --- Paisal Sricharatchanya is a former editor of the Bangkok Post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallenda Posted August 19, 2009 Report Share Posted August 19, 2009 Just wondering how I'd feel if I walked out on my porch and saw 10,000 chanting people in red shirts, video hookup of the fugitive crying to them, loudspeakers, etc etc. Is this how special requests are normally made? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTO Posted August 19, 2009 Report Share Posted August 19, 2009 "He's not the Mesiah - he's just a naughty boy" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted August 19, 2009 Report Share Posted August 19, 2009 ...and we know just the right person yo spank Mr. T...OK, CTO or maybe OH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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