The End for Thailand’s Abhisit?

[kamui]

 

To me, it was disturbing the way he was aiming to obliterate all opposition and freedom of the press, and make changes to the constitution to get rid of checks against his own power. There've been corrupt people in Thai politics, but no one nearly as frightening as him. No one nearly as ambitious.

 

Do you think those men in black could have been operating as they did without his knowledge and consent? If you say yes, it means you think he's less ruthless than I do. If you say no, then ... well if that was done with his knowledge (I believe it was) it means he has no problem killing innocent people in order to get himself back in power. If you think that's ok, you have very different political beliefs than I do. We're talking about murder. It's still the same crime even if your motive is power. It's also still murder even if you don't care who it is that you kill. But I hope at least we agree that killing innocent people for your own personal goals is a different level than taking bribes or buying votes. But even before these killings, there were red flags all over the place about this guy. I think this is what the vast majority of his opponents find unacceptable in him.

 

IF Mr. T. comes back everything will become much more worse.

 

My prediction: T. with try to eliminate all those who faught against him, literally or by forcing them out of power. This also means that he will try to weak central institutions like the court of justice as much as possible - like he did with the anti corruption commission during his last reign.

If Mr. T. comes back to power this will be the end of the democracy in LOS. I guess he is already preparing for a corrupt, oligarch system like in Cambo...

 

 

 

[Hardy641]

If a Thaksin paid mob of a few thousand hools can bring down a democratic elected government, the end of Thai democracy is already there.

 

However, Thaksin won't come back because he is such a coward. He prefers to send his mob to do the job for him while sipping champagne in 5 star resort in Dubai.

If I am wrong and he dares to come back and claim back power, I am sure that the millions of Thais will be on the street. Except for the uneducated and corrupt cronies, he has not much supporters left; in Bangkok virtually none. Or why else only 6,000 Bangkokians turned up when he called for the march of millions. The majority of THailand won't tolerate another rule of Thaksin, especially as it would be worse than before as he will continue his personal vendetta against the everybody opposing him.

[shygye]

Thai democracy was killed by a military coup!

[kamui]

Thai democracy was killed by a military coup!

 

I tend to think that not a single event has/is bringing Thai democracy down. It's more an erosion which started with the election of T. *latest*.

[Coss]

Isn't Takky ill?

[Flashermac]

This is the PM who called a snap election with just 30 days to campaign, since it meant that the TRT MPs who were dissatisfied with him COULD NOT change parties and run for office. (One must belong to a party for 60 days to run on its ticket.) AND THAT IS WHY THE DEMOCRATS AND MOST OTHER PARTIES boycotted the election. They refused to legitimatise a rigged election by participating.

 

Furthermore, in the election previous to that Takky's folks in Bangkok had the VOTING BOOTHS TURNED AROUND TO ELIMINATE THE SECRET BALLOT.

 

But nah, don't blame anything on Takky. Blame it on the Dems. It's all their fault that the army staged a coup against a corrupt PM who tried to fix an election and had forced his own cousin on the army as their commander. (I worked with a retired colonel who told me no one in the army liked Takky's Shinawatre cousin, who was known for being rude to everyone. He claimed Takky's cousin would never have become #1 without Takjky's meddling. Takky also appointed his brother the head of the police.)

 

 

 

 

[Dumsoda]

Thai democracy was killed by a military coup!

 

 

Which coup exactly???

[Flashermac]

October 1976!

 

 

[Wallenda]

I wouldn't say his return would be the end of democracy -- I mean, when did it ever begin? I think what they have doesn't quite qualify as democracy. I'd call it the end of any chance of ever achieving healthy democracy.

 

It's baloney that 'western' democracy can't succeed in Thailand. First, it's not western it's international by now, just like football and pop music. Democracy has succeded very well in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, India and plenty more places in Asia. Thailand does seem to have a cultural learning disability, I'd say, but look how long it took democracies to take hold in Europe for example. Generations. Thailand still had feudalism as late as last century. They need to shed their peronality-cult addiction attitude toward politics, in general, and that goes for all sides.

 

In another time, Abhisit would have been a huge step forward. A non-corrupt PM? Unheard of. Absurd. But not with the starved wolf drooling over in Dubai it couldn't happen.

 

Julian, strangely silent. I think he's carefully contemplating his reply.

[Julian2]

This point seems to be widely ignored. Calling someone "the most corrupt" is as foolish as saying he's "the most white skinned" or "the most square headed" and matters about as much in Thai politics.

 

Guess I need to ask you the same question: do you want to see Thaksin back in office?

 

So am I understanding you correctly' date=' you don't think it matters if someone is corrupt or not?

 

It leads to the next question: what does matter?

[/quote']

I'd have Thaksin back if the yellow shirts would accept he was legally elected.

I live in the rural north and saw the results of his "populist" government. New stadiums, upgraded schools, scholarships...

Of course it matters if someone is corrupt, but corruption is endemic in Asian politics; we seem to forget though that Thaksin's crime was changing the law so he could sell HIS company without paying tax on it.

On 23 January 2006, the Shinawatra family sold their entire stake in Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings. The Shinawatra and Damapong families netted about 73 billion baht (about US$1.88 billion) tax-free from the sale, using a regulation that made individuals who sell shares on the stock exchange exempt from capital gains tax

Wiki.