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A Thai foreign ministry officialhas accused Thaksin of using passports issued under the name "Takki Shinegra" to avoid extradition, and today Thaksin has denied it. As I debated which side was lying, I realized that I had no idea, the reason being that both sides have a reputation of creatively relating incidents to the news media. In fact, as I think back on many politicians here in Thailand, I'm hardpressed to name a politician who I trust to tell the truth. This suggests two possibilities. 1) Only dishonest people enter Thai politics. 2) Success in Thai politics depends on polticians embellishing the truth on a regular basis.
I find it interesting how nobody in Thai politics seems to talk about the actual issues. Why are the Yellow Shirts and the Thai government so against Thaksin? The answer used to be corruption and suppression of the press. But if that is true, why has nothing changed? The current government is performing at roughly the same level of corruption and suppression as Thaksin's government, but nobody is talking about that. As near as I can tell, the current government is afraid of the majority of Thailand using their right to vote. Thaksin taught the poor people living outside of Bangkok that if they got involved, they could get a better deal. There's no question why they support him. The only question is why no other politicians haven't courted these people.
Two complaints of lese majeste have just been filed with the Dusit police department. What makes these cases interesting is that the incident occured outside of Thailand, and one of the defendants is a foreign national. The case in question concerns the Asia Magazine interview of Thaksin, heavily reported in the local papers. Thaksin immediately stated that the words attributed to him are misleading and taken out of context, and the title of the story is incorrect. The Abhisit government has banned the original article as well as the full transcripts, but there are Thai versions floating around. The charges revolve around the reported article without corrections.
Does the Thai court have authority to charge A Thai citizen for comments made outside Thailand, and can they charge a foreign national for comments made outside Thailand? The ramifications are vast.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit has made some questionable public statements.
"Thaksin should put the country's interests ahead of his own and not hurt its relations with neighbouring countries."
This statement suggests that Thaksin is compromising Thailand by taking a position overseas. If Thai people take jobs overseas, are they also compromising Thailand?
"Thaksin must review his stance in accepting [a position as] economic adviser to Cambodia because he knew all information as he had headed the government when Thailand signed the Memorandum of Understanding over the maritime overlapping zone."
I would assume both Thailand and Cambodia entered the agreement with their eyes open. Is there some deep dark secret that is not publicly known about this agreement?
"Thaksin is a Thai, he should be sensitive and not blame the government."
"Which government will ... allow its justice system to be questioned?"
These two statements are especially poignant. I would expect all governments to be open and allow public criticism of its decisions. The justice system is not above the law. It interprets the law. As such, its decisions should be questioned in public debate forums. When the government can no longer be questioned by its citizens, then no one is free.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2009/11/08/politics/Conflicts-could-hurt-Thai-role-in-Asean-301160 88.html
Districts in 5 southern provinces have been declared disaster zones. The provinces affected are Narathiwat, Satun, Trang, Songkhla and Phatthalung.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has appointed former Thai PM Thaksin to be his economic advisor. Thailand has said that they will request extraditionof Thaksin from Cambodia for corruption, but Hun Sen has said that Thaksin's sentence was politically motivated, and as such it would not cooperate. The Thai government has changed its official position concerning Thaksin in Cambodua from being nothing more than a consolation for Thaksin to being an insult. The latest words are that Hun Sen is meddling in Thailand's internal affairs. As a result, Thai PM Abhisit has recalled the Thai ambassador to Cambodia and will review all of its cooperation agreements with the country. In a separate action, Hun Sen also announced that Cambodia would increase its military budget by $300 million to provide added protection on the Thai-Cambodian border, but he said that this was unrelated. The result will be that international eyes will be focused on Thailand's internal problems more, with a less favorable view of Thailand in both the issue of Thaksin and Preah Vihear. While the Thai government may still have enough support to operate, there will be increasing pressure on them to make compromises on both issues.
Klong Toei market has been the site of clashes for many months. But now the police have decided to double the number of officers on duty. Could this be a signal that the end is near, at any cost?
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2009/11/04/national/300-police-posted-at-Klong-Toei-market-to-keep -the-30115816.html
Rakesh Saxena, accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the failed Bangkok Bank of Commerce, is finally returning to Thailand to face a trial. His extradition trial in Canada finally ruled in Thailand's favor on the eve of its expiration due to the statute of limitations.
His actions led to the collapse of BBC along with 50 other financial institutions and was instrumental in causing the 1997 financial crisis.
Thailand won't consider independence for the Southern states, but is considering autonomy.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/26/nation/20091026100634&sec=nation
A recent ABAC poll shows that more people prefer Thaksin (25.0%) to Abhisit (21.6%) to run the country.
But 90.8% did not want protesters to close streets as they faced hardships. So Thais are more concerned about traffic congestion than who runs the country.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/158081/poll-people-prefer-thaksin-as-pm
PM Vejjajiva is consulting with the PM of Sri Lanka to see if the method used to put down the Tamil Tigers can be used against the insurgents in the South. Sounds like a lot of bloodshed to me. Aren't politicans supposed to use negotiations to deal with problems?
For those of you not located in Thailand and trying to figure out what's going on, I'm sure you're confused by all the reports coming out. Those of us located in Thailand are also somewhat confused, but I'll summarize the events as I see them. The country is having a power struggle between the government leaders who took power in the coup of 2006 and the people who suport Thaksin, the former prime minister. Thaksin fled the country to avoid corruption charges--the charges are questionable at best--and is communicating with his followers at periodic rallies via Internet.
The leaders of the coup have had public elections, but Thaksin's supporters have won overwhelmingly, and so the coup leaders--and their yellow-shirt supporters--have had to use force to take back power. When the red-shirts--who support Thaksin--used similar tactics last Songkran festival (April 2009), there were some violent confrontations with the military. The coup leaders are using all their resources to make Thaksin look like an evil person, blaming every problem of the country on him. But the result is a sharp polarization of people in the country, because the coup leaders have failed to learn one of the things that Thaksin did correctly. Thaksin empowered the poor of the Isaan area with democratic principles. He provided them with the means to make more than a sub-poverty-level income. He taught them that if they exercise their right to vote instead of selling it to the highest bidder, they can have a say in the running of the country. The Abhisit government continuies to think of the Isaan people as "not ready for democracy." This attitude, prevelant in Bangkok power circles, is infuriating to the Isaan people. They want a say, and the Abhisit government wants to ignore them. Something has to give. Considering the poor of this country outnumber the rich, I think anyone can see what's going to happen. Either this government will allow public elections and accept that they have lost by the rules of democracy, or the government will become more and more like the government of Burma, ruling with the might of guns. It's only a matter of time.
Large oil and gas companiesp--both Thai and foreign--have thrown their influential support behinf the Puea Thai party, led by former Prime Minister Thaksin. They site the nationalistic policies of Abhisit and his government as preventing their exploration.
http://thaiintelligentnews.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/global-oil-giants-back-taksin/
The Thai government has proposed to allow student drivers at the railway engineering school and retired staff to stand in for striking train drivers. So, along with claims that the trains are unsafe, we have less qualified drivers.
The Abhisit government is feeling pressure from all sides. In the South, The train workers are stopping almost all North-South trains, saying the trains are not in proper service. In the capital, the Red-Shirts are gathering at Government House to protest another weekend. Some influential politicians have decided to join the UDD, the party of Thaksin's supporters. The stock market hiccupped amid rumors of the King's failing health. And even the Democrats have voiced objection to the proposed amendments to the Constitution. The government needs to address these issues quickly and efficiently. I expect the situation to get more critical before the sun returns.
The Puea Thai Party accused the government of only creating debts, and all projects are riddled with corruption reports. http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/156744/puea-thai-slams-pm-visit
The violence in the South seems to be getting worse. The reports of drive-by shootings are increasing. Is the South going to flare up? Should we brace for a revolution? While I think revolution may be a bit extreme, I'm starting to wonder whether the problems are being addressed properly by the current government.
Thailand is suffering from flooding as Parma remains in the area, pushing precipitation in both the North and South of Thailand. Earlier this morning, a train near Hua Hin derailed. At least 7 people were killed, and about 80 people injured. The tracks should be stopped for a day.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2009/10/04/national/North-and-South-reel-under-floods-30113698.html http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2009/10/05/national/Train-derails-in-Hua-Hin-killing-at-least-7-30 113775.html
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