Thread: Thailand : Reconciliation begins today

Originally Posted by Thaihome

If indeed this government does not represent the majority of the voters, then why are the people in the areas where their MP’s have left the PPP/PTP or where a party has joined a different coalition not up in arms about it? Why is there no move to impeach them?

them is big big blinkers .

Originally Posted by Mid

Originally Posted by Thaihome

If indeed this government does not represent the majority of the voters, then why are the people in the areas where their MP’s have left the PPP/PTP or where a party has joined a different coalition not up in arms about it? Why is there no move to impeach them?

them is big big blinkers .

And you and others are the ones wearing them. There is lots of evidence that majority of the Thai people are satisfied with the current government and are willing to wait for elections to express any other opinion they may have.
TH

there's a hole in the bucket , dear Lisa ....................

Government Targets Red Shirts with Harsh Law, Propaganda
Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, June 26, 2010 (IPS) - With the force of an emergency law behind it, the Thai government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is tightening the screws on an opposition protest movement that, if mishandled, could extract a heavy political price.

On Jun. 28, the powerful department of special investigations (DSI) will begin to question 83 individuals and companies named as the alleged funders of the protesters, known as the ‘red shirts’ for their signature protest colour, who had occupied iconic areas of Bangkok for over two months, till May 19.

The wide-ranging powers of the emergency law is pivotal to trace the flow of money linked to the red shirt movement, admits Tharit Pengdit, the DSI’s director-general, who plans to summon the clan of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, former cabinet ministers, retired senior military and police officers and leaders of the red shirts.

Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and lives in exile to avoid a jail term for corruption, served as the political godfather of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the now silenced red shirt movement that attracted tens of thousands of supporters drawn to pressure the Abhisit government to dissolve parliament and call for an early election.

Violent clashes between heavily armed Thai troops and an armed wing of the UDD in April and mid-May resulted in 88 deaths, 80 of whom were civilians, and the injury of some 1,800 people during the period when the troops were ordered to clear Bangkok’s streets.

The emergency law was first invoked in early April to deal with the red shirt dissidents in Bangkok and nearby provinces, and expanded weeks later to cover provinces in the rural, rice-growing provinces of north-east Thailand, where the UDD enjoys wide support.

"We want to make sure that the situation returns to normal. To do so, key security factors and concerns must be met," says Panitan Wattanayagorn, the government spokesman, in justifying the emergency law. "We are looking into the money used to support illegal activities, the use of media to create confrontation and the use of arms and weapons."

"The money trail the DSI is investigating is part of the security factors," he tells IPS. "The emergency law enables us to use many agencies to work together before all the cases are forwarded to the courts."

The emergency law, which has a three-month duration, has enabled the government to wage a lopsided propaganda war against the dissidents to ensure that the Abhisit administration’s version of events is reinforced in the mainstream media.

On the funding front, for instance, the government initially declared that the list of suspects responsible for providing assistance worth millions of dollars to the red shirts had 170 names of people and companies, before it was slashed to 83. Newspapers gleefully splashed these private banking details, made possible because the emergency decree overpowers other laws.

And to drive home the message that the red shirts were more interested in sowing violence on the streets of the Thai capital, 39 leading figures of the UDD have been detained on terrorism charges. Thaksin, in absentia, was slapped with a similar charge in accordance with the government’s narrative – that the red shirts have to shoulder the blame for torching at least 30 buildings and using weapons during the confrontation with the troops.

The red shirt media – built around a wide network of television stations, community radio stations, a clutch of magazines and websites – have been unable to counter this state propaganda drive with their customary bellicose rhetoric. Many have been muzzled by the emergency law, while other operators of the red shirt media admitted to IPS that they have been compelled to remain silent or risk being arrested.

"The emergency law is problematic. It does not allow for the freedom of the press," says Pitch Pongsawat, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. "The law has helped to create the image of the protesters as violent."

That the government is sticking to such a tough line while also promising to heal this South-east Asian kingdom’s political divide through a reconciliation initiative is leaving it open to charges that it is undermining its repeated claims of being a standard bearer of liberal democratic values.

Critics say that the 18-month-old Abhisit administration is proving what the red shirt protesters had said all along – that it was a military-backed administration reluctant to go to the polls to secure its legitimacy. The latter view stems from the role the country’s powerful army chief played in shaping a backroom deal in a military compound in December 2008 to ensure that Abhisit had an alliance of parties to secure a victory in a parliamentary vote.

The government is talking of reconciliation, but the country is witnessing a political transition since the crackdown that points to signs of an "authoritarian regime" emerging, says Chaturon Chaisaeng, a former cabinet minister in a Thaksin-led administration and a regular speaker at red shirt rallies. "There is a close alignment between the civilian government, the military, the elite and the mainstream media."

Even newspapers traditionally sympathetic to the Abhisit administration have begun to sound the alarm that the current use of the emergency laws – giving the military, police and the DSI extraordinary powers to target the red shirts – could prove counterproductive.

"To continue (with the emergency law) now that the (red shirt) rally has been dispersed only raises the question of whether the government wants to hold on to these extra powers simply to quell its ‘enemies’ and strengthen its political advantage," the English-language daily ‘Bangkok Post’ commented Friday in an editorial.

(END)

ipsnews.net

the reds scums need to be crushed, society should have no tolerance for Fascism

got ya colors confused butters

ok I forgot the yellows, part of the same group before it was divided

The reds said they'd rally again when the emergency decree is lifted.

I suppose that a probationary period without the emergency decree may work.
If it doesn't, then little option is left other than to return to the decree status, immediately.

yes of course, people protesting under an abhisit/mugabe style regime is simply unacceptable and intollerable.

Is Abishit reconciled with his role when he ain't PM no more, i.e. the military drop him?
This is a possibility if the Dems get disbanded, right?

Originally Posted by Pol the Pot

Is Abishit reconciled with his role when he ain't PM no more, i.e. the military drop him?
This is a possibility if the Dems get disbanded, right?

Remember, the military take orders from their elders.

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

Originally Posted by Pol the Pot

Is Abishit reconciled with his role when he ain't PM no more, i.e. the military drop him?
This is a possibility if the Dems get disbanded, right?

Remember, the military take orders from their elders.

When it's convenient, can we agree on that?

In a way, I hope Abhisit stays PM a few years longer just to see what he can do.
He is the archetype perfect-politician that the Bangkok middle class have been
asking for since Thailand became a democracy. I remember first time
seeing him on TV when I was a kid in the early 1990s, many educated
Bangkok people were jerking off over him even back then.

I am very curious about how their great white hope will fare. Just give
him a chance.

Originally Posted by Mordechai

Just give
him a chance.

to do what? jerk the middle classes off back as a thank you?

Originally Posted by sabang

coalitions rather than absolute majorities, small weak and shifting political parties rather than strong, established ones

yes, the example of how representative democracy should work, and strangely you are opposed to it like any good red supporter

Originally Posted by sabang

A government that is, ultimately, subordinate to the Military

Originally Posted by sabang

Oh, and since they "came" to power I haven't heard a peep about liberalising foreign ownership of Thai property either

let's hope that never happens,

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

Originally Posted by Mordechai

Just give
him a chance.

to do what? jerk the middle classes off back as a thank you?

My theory is that like most Thais who go back to Thailand from overseas
with big ideas and a degree at a prestigious university, Abhisit will eventually
be made to look like a prized pig stuck in mud. If he isn't already. It will be
a lesson to the yellow shirt middle class fantasist's.

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Originally Posted by sabang

Oh, and since they "came" to power I haven't heard a peep about liberalising foreign ownership of Thai property either

let's hope that never happens,

You don't want property ownership to be part liberalised Bf?

Originally Posted by sabang

You don't want property ownership to be part liberalised Bf?

certainly not, having farangs be able to buy land here would be a disaster

I also support a tax on the rich who own too much land here,

Certainly foreigners married to Thais should be able to have joint ownership at a minimum..

At present, even a foreigner (married to a Thai) who has many kids here - evidently Thai citizens - is still barred from any right to joint ownership. Disgraceful xenophobia - but a Thai-Chin closing of the door (once they were established..of course) to avoid anyone else doing what they did..

Getting back to the subject of the opening post, the corrupt judicial system (which Abhisit is relying on to promote his pseudo law and order campaign), is as much as much an obstacle to democracy in Thailand as the military. The double standards dealt out by the judiciary are at the core of political and civil injustice which the disadvantaged majority are protesting about. It is clear that the judiciary is but another arm of the ruling class elite oligarchy with their own agenda to subvert democracy. I know the problem goes much wider than that with the police, political, military and civil leaders all corrupt, but what it all comes down to is an even more corrupt judiciary allowing these practices to go on. Without an unbiased justice system there is no watchdog to keep the other pillars of society in check. The whole social system becomes like one big Mafia organization with the strongest preying on the weak, --- which IMO is a pretty good analogy of where Thailand is today. Certainly a long way from the ideals of a democratic society.

Reconciliation will never be achieved under such draconian abuses and perversions of the justice system as Abhisit is perpetrating. In fact, it is primarily this very judicial bias and corruption that the masses are so enraged about.

Originally Posted by Panda

Getting back to the subject of the opening post, the corrupt judicial system (which Abhisit is relying on to promote his pseudo law and order campaign)

Just as much as Thaksin was relying on it, if not more so - thus, what is your point, except to find yet another opportunity to jab at Abhisit; particularly when you have been shown several times that he was lawfully installed, and that you have a woefully inadequate understanding of the Thai electoral system, which ThaiHome took the time to explain to you.

Your response: Silence.

Again, the glaring silence from you (Panda, sabang, etc...) whenever the question "How would you go about changing things?" or, "What are *YOU* doing about?" is asked, is only interrupted by the gurgling sounds of beer swills, and the squeaking sounds of your asses being adjusted on barstools...

Originally Posted by Panda

Reconciliation will never be achieved under such draconian abuses and perversions of the justice system as Abhisit is perpetrating. In fact, it is primarily this very judicial bias and corruption that the masses are so enraged about.

Thus are you saying that reconciliation is more likely to be achieved under draconian abuses and perversions of the justice system under Thaksin, because that's exactly what will be happening?

So, draconian abuses and perversions of the justice system are okay, and in support of democracy under Thaksin, but (as you claimed) draconian abuses and perversions of the justice system under Abhisit are terrible and in the way of achieving true democracy?