Samak Dead

[carew66]

No mention of 1976 then? ** Crickets chirping **

 

Ah well...

[Flashermac]

Thais are usually forgiving - especially if you are famous.

 

Even so, Samak was basically likeable. He just wasn't very competent.

 

RIP, Uncle Samak. You often were fun watch.

 

 

 

 

 

[Flashermac]

Says the humble and compassionate Mr T. Shinawatra:

 

<< "Everything in the world is transient, as the Lord Buddha taught. [color:red]However, Thai politicians don't think about this and they think about power and their personal interests[/color] when the principle of being a politician is to sacrifice. >>

 

Is this the closest he has come to a confession of his true motivation?

 

 

 

 

[CTO]

I was wondering slightly if he'd been misquoted - odd thing to say.

 

Even odder is the coverage - very deep - surely they'd want to bury and forget him, but he's getting the whole treatment - interesting!

[Flashermac]

The PM the military appointed following the coup after the 1976 Thammasat Massacre was so far right that the Army had to replace him with someone else. I was quite surprised to see that ex-PM as the royal representative at a friend's wedding some 20+ years later. I hadn't heard his name mentioned in years, but there he was - smiling and shaking my hand.

 

 

 

[Flashermac]

Bangkok Post

25 Nov 2009

 

 

Feisty PM earned grudging respect

 

He spoke his mind and was quick to berate 'insolent' journalists, but Samak Sundaravej will be fondly remembered.

 

 

 

Former prime minister Samak Sundaravej had been both a friend and foe of political news reporters during his 40 years in politics.

 

Most reporters considered Mr Samak to be an outspoken and forthright politician who fearlessly spoke out on whatever was on his mind.

 

He was also notorious for using harsh and aggressive words with reporters. Heated arguments between Mr Samak and some reporters were common throughout the man's political career.

 

In one incident, Mr Samak told a reporter from an international news agency to "shut up". The reporter responded by saying: "You should shut up too".

 

Mr Samak, by then furious, said: "Why did you ask me then?"

 

The reporter responded with: "Why did you hold a press conference then?"

 

When he was the prime minister, he refused to answer questions about the internal affairs of the then People Power Party. He declined to answer and when a reporter kept asking him about it, he responded: "If I ask you did you have sex with anybody last night, will you answer me?"

 

The Bangkok Post's senior reporter Yuwadee Tunyasiri said she had been involved in heated arguments with Mr Samak on several occasions.

 

"But we were not enemies. We both just did our jobs," she said.

 

Mrs Yuwadee also praised Mr Samak for being straightforward and not telling lies about issues for which he had been responsible.

 

She said whenever Mr Samak did something, he always did his best. Saowaphak Pradapsaeng, a former TV news reporter, was well-liked by Mr Samak.

 

Ms Saowaphak said Mr Samak was a professional politician always sincere about his role. He had never been pretentious and was always straightforward.

 

Mr Samak began his political career as a member of the Bangkok Assembly in 1969. He later became a cabinet minister, the Bangkok governor and eventually prime minister.

 

Before entering politics, Mr Samak had been a journalist. He worked for Siam Rath newspaper and once wrote a book on the unscrupulous behaviour of people in the media.

 

After entering politics, Mr Samak continued to write as a columnist. His "Blue Corner" column in the defunct Thai-language Daily Mirror newspaper ran from 1978 to 1994.

 

Suwit Sutthiprapha, creative manager of Channel 9 television station and a former reporter of the Daily Mirror, was the last reporter to talk to Mr Samak before and after he flew to the United States to seek medical treatment for his liver cancer.

 

Mr Suwit said Mr Samak had asked him to be a good journalist who would not cause rifts among the people. Mr Samak told him the media should not bring conflicting parties together in a TV programme to see them quarreling.

 

Mr Suwit said apart from Mr Samak's straightforwardness, he was not a reserved or self-important politician. He was ready to take a simple meal with reporters whenever he had the chance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flashermac]

.

[Mentors]

i can remind me of his loud gesture during censure debates in the Parliament.

[ThaiHome]

Would like to clarify one important fact in the graphic. The 2006 elections were not “nullified†by the September coup. The king came out and declared the elections undemocratic and shortly thereafter the election was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court. New elections would have been held in October if the coup had not taken place. Probably with the same result.

 

Also, Samak was not spontaneously elected the leader of the PPP, he was personally selected by Taksin. The irony of him being the leader of a perceived populist political party was not lost on some people.

 

Nevertheless, he was an interesting character who was slated ignominy before Taksin pulled him out and back into the limelight. Some would say he did it for the contrast to himself and the fact that Samak would do whatever Taksin odered.

 

Was always interesting to watch his news conference and the verbal jousting in English he did with the foreign reporters. Was not a stupid person and was very quick.

TH

[Flashermac]

I thought Taksin died in 1782? Then again, Giles Ungpakorn doesn't know the difference either.