Coup 2014 !!!! : Military 'takes control' in Thailand

**rickschoppers** · 20-06-2014, 08:47 AM

^
So what kind of government would work well in Thailand?

**nidhogg** · 20-06-2014, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by leemo

Originally Posted by ericson2u

Police say Facebook posting to mobilise protests may lead to 7 years imprisonment
Police say Facebook posting to mobilise protests may lead to 7 years imprisonment | Prachatai English

Wed, 18/06/2014 - 16:40 | by prachatai
Assistant police chief Pol Lt-Gen Somyot Pumpanmuang said on Wednesday after meeting with the military that anyone who posts online to mobilise anti-coup protests can face up to seven years imprisonment

Pol Lt-Gen Somyot also warned that in doing so the person may violate Section 116 for inciting unrest. Regarding student activists who hand out sandwiches as symbolic protests, he said the police would consider whether the protesters have the intention to stage a political gathering of more than five persons.

He said the fact that the anti-coup protests have decreased is due to the efficient strategies of security officers, such as placing troops at BTS stations and important meeting points and employing plainclothes police officers. Taking photos of protesters and requesting cooperation from retailers nearby also contribute to this success.

I wonder how many thousands of people our glorious leaders are keeping employed to scour the www for dissent. Good job they don't know about TD, where honest people say what they feel.

I am not sure (but I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong!) that there is any prohibition in discussing the coup (and I am talking about Thailand rather than the board per se). The quoted section says "anyone who posts online to mobilise anti-coup protests" which is clearly a very different kettle of fish (hi thorny!).

**sabang** · 20-06-2014, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by leemo

but I do not disagree with Suthep et al that the majority of Thais are too fickle to be charged with the serious responsibility of electing their own leaders based on who pays them most or how the twigs and chicken bones landed

Then like most yellows, you live in the past. But what alternative model would you propose-a mafioso of self proclaimed 'goodfellas' promoting their clan cronies over the peoples will? Or the dominant army faction?

As for the present-
times have changed. As Bill Klausner has written extensively, the confined worlds of rural Thai villages that he knew in the 1950s, where spirits and officials were to be appeased and a traditional subsistence way of life was passed on from generation to generation with little change, has radically changed. Now villagers are plugged into the rest of the world via television, mobile phones, pick-up trucks, and family members spending time working at wage earning jobs in Bangkok. {neglected to mention social media, internet, tablets, iphones etc}

.. there has been impressive economic development in Thailand over recent decades, which has caused the lives of villagers to change immensely, giving them a sense of potential empowerment and a clearer sense of their rights and interests. Thailand is no longer a poor country, and Bangkok has become a wealthy and cosmopolitan city. But the political institutions of the country have not evolved with the economic and social progress.
Thoughts on Thailand’s Turmoil by James Stent | ZENJOURNALIST MIRROR

All you need to do now is call the citizens of Thailand 'monkeys', and you too can be a full blown yellow.

**pseudolus** · 20-06-2014, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

^
So what kind of government would work well in Thailand?

A benevolent dictator just long enough to improve the education in the country with the people able to think and question rather than passively accept being rammed up the wrong'un by the yellows and the reds.

**rickschoppers** · 20-06-2014, 09:27 AM

^
Not bad.

**thaimeme** · 20-06-2014, 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by pseudolus

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

^
So what kind of government would work well in Thailand?

A benevolent dictator just long enough to improve the education in the country with the people able to think and question rather than passively accept being rammed up the wrong'un by the yellows and the reds.

....yet, not question the benevolent dictator?

**sabang** · 20-06-2014, 09:47 AM

But, but, I thought the yellows absolutely hated Thaksins autocratic tendencies?

**pseudolus** · 20-06-2014, 10:07 AM

Originally Posted by thaimeme

....yet, not question the benevolent dictator?

A benevolent dictator would encourage this, surely?

Originally Posted by sabang

But, but, I thought the yellows absolutely hated Thaksins autocratic tendencies?

Come on, Sabang, I expect better than this of you. Who cares what the yellows or reds think. They are all the same. Difference faces, same actions and same desires - to be rich, the richest, the most powerful. A nice benevolent dictator to smash all their heads together, kick them into the street, remove their privileges and make them do a hard days works for their rice. Just what this place needs.

**Seekingasylum** · 20-06-2014, 10:20 AM

Sabang, the concept of autocracy, benign or otherwise, is one in which most Thai instinctively believe. Whereas in developed countries democracies resolve to representation of broad groups reaching consensus politics under a rule of law, the Thai simply see an election as a means of appointing what they hope is a " leader ".

Thaksin had all the panoply of the autocratic leader's attributes but unfortunately transpired to be nothing more than a fraudulent, murderous incompetent whose propaganda far exceeded his ability to satisfy his megalomania.

The Thai have embraced this coup readily and why not. They have order now, a leader and as long as they can fill their rice bowls they won't give a toss if the autocracy helps itself to the cake once in a while.

They are natural fascists but in the context of their society that's quite normal.

**Seekingasylum** · 20-06-2014, 10:33 AM

Frankly, I have no idea what it is you are arguing here. What on earth has free will got to do with the Thai, their society and democracy? Have you forgotten this is a Buddhist state? Asians, particularly the Thai, have no interest in abstracts and cannot entertain them for long. One of the many reasons why they have no real culture beyond the folkloric and certainly why they have no social development beyond the feudal.

**rickschoppers** · 20-06-2014, 11:27 AM

At least one year before elections, minimum.

**Troy** · 20-06-2014, 11:36 AM

^ What if it ends up being a Greek style seven years or longer?

**rickschoppers** · 20-06-2014, 11:37 AM

^
I think I said minimum. More than likely longer, a lot longer.

**pseudolus** · 20-06-2014, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by thegent

What on earth has free will got to do with the Thai, their society and democracy?

About the same as it has to do with western democracy.....

**Seekingasylum** · 20-06-2014, 02:08 PM

That is simply not true. Clearly, you have no understanding of Thai society, it's cultural behaviors and the stratification within which it operates. Obligation, rank and function determines outcome, not " free will ".

**terry57** · 20-06-2014, 04:11 PM

Some one has been banned EH. 555555

**hillbilly** · 20-06-2014, 04:53 PM

This problem about corruption has raised it's ugly head in my family. The question was posed. If you were stopped by the Thai police would you pay or accept the ticket. Pay immediately was the answer as we do not want to waste our time.

Until this attitude stops nothing will change.

And this comes from an educated wife who attended many of the protest sites.

My wife's sister who is a goverment official is in charge of distributing the 30% overcharge.

The longer I live here, the less I know...

**Albert Shagnastier** · 20-06-2014, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by hillbilly

Pay immediately was the answer as we do not want to waste our time. Until this attitude stops nothing will change.

See, I think they're spot on, and your thinking is masochistic and strange. Why would you want to spend more time and effort than necessary on a fine?

Do you enjoy being inconvenienced and fined heavily?

**Butterfly** · 20-06-2014, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by pseudolus

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

^
So what kind of government would work well in Thailand?

A benevolent dictator just long enough to improve the education in the country with the people able to think and question rather than passively accept being rammed up the wrong'un by the yellows and the reds.

hence Thaksin support by the Yellow thugs in the early 2000

**Butterfly** · 20-06-2014, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by S Landreth

That’s hardly the case. She was secretary to the keeper of the keys (May E.U. a red shirt that has left the country). She knows where the bodies are buried (she kept the records of gunmen and payments made).

let's hope they will interrogate her and get all the gory details about what Thaksin has been doing behind closed doors

**Butterfly** · 20-06-2014, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by sabang

The day is coming, when the thai will take their own country back.

**Dandyhole** · 20-06-2014, 06:36 PM

No, still nothing in there yet comes anywhere near " self determination " for the thai people.

**thaimeme** · 20-06-2014, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by pseudolus

Originally Posted by thaimeme

....yet, not question the benevolent dictator?

A benevolent dictator would encourage this, surely?

Originally Posted by sabang

But, but, I thought the yellows absolutely hated Thaksins autocratic tendencies?

Come on, Sabang, I expect better than this of you. Who cares what the yellows or reds think. They are all the same. Difference faces, same actions and same desires - to be rich, the richest, the most powerful. A nice benevolent dictator to smash all their heads together, kick them into the street, remove their privileges and make them do a hard days works for their rice. Just what this place needs.

Why not revert back to an absolute?
Realistically, this might be quite favourable to the greater populous.
It's already in place anyway. Just make it "more" official.

**zygote1** · 20-06-2014, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by Troy

^ What if it ends up being a Greek style seven years or longer?

Hopefully we do not see the rise of radical groups who seek out and murder of political targets because that's what repression usually leads to. And hopefully, it does not create the selfishness that the Greek system created.

**thaimeme** · 20-06-2014, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by hillbilly

This problem about corruption has raised it's ugly head in my family. The question was posed. If you were stopped by the Thai police would you pay or accept the ticket. Pay immediately was the answer as we do not want to waste our time.

Until this attitude stops nothing will change.

And this comes from an educated wife who attended many of the protest sites.

My wife's sister who is a goverment official is in charge of distributing the 30% overcharge.

The longer I live here, the less I know...

Yep. Just when you think you've figured it all out....

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