Thread: Thai elections 2011-Thai PM sets stage for tough election

Bangkok Post : PM urges voters to punish his enemies on polling day

PM urges voters to punish his enemies on polling day

• Published: 11/06/2011 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has appealed to voters in northern Bangkok to punish those who are vilifying him, by voting for Democrat Party candidates on July 3.

"Never mind if they want to smear me, because on July 3 the majority of people will punish those who slander me," said Mr Abhisit yesterday, referring to red shirt supporters who hound him almost everywhere he campaigns.

He urged his supporters to exercise patience, as he is doing, regardless of what others may do.

He said most people in the country wanted to see righteousness.

Mr Abhisit urged people to vote for both Democrat party-list candidates and constituency candidates if they wanted the country to move ahead.

He made his remarks while campaigning for five Democrat candidates running for office in northern Bangkok's five constituencies, which are strongholds of his rival Pheu Thai Party.

Joining Mr Abhisit were key party figures including Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, Bangkok election director Apirak Kosayodhin, and Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

The campaign rally at North Bangkok University's indoor stadium drew a crowd of around 2,000.

He said the Democrat Party had drawn up policies to systematically develop the northern part of Bangkok.

However, for its policies to materialise, the party needs support and feedback on the changes from residents, Mr Abhisit said.

During his administration, the Democrat-led government has worked tirelessly to solve problems which were not only caused by the global economic crisis, but also political conflicts within the country, he added.

Bangkok Post : Election 'won't heal divide in society'

Election 'won't heal divide in society'

Parties offer policies, but no vision to inspire

• Published: 11/06/2011 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Political conflict will persist after the July 3 election but will not be as violent as in past few years, veteran media professionals say.

"All parties talk about reconciliation but none of them has offered a road map on how to achieve reconciliation.

"Each party keeps setting conditions for other parties to meet, but none of them say how their party will make sacrifices for reconciliation," said Thepchai Yong, managing director of the Thai Public Broadcasting Corporation.

Based on these shortcomings, many analysts projected conflicts will continue after the election, Mr Thepchai told a seminar on the media's views on the country's post-poll future held by the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association yesterday.

He also said that no parties had explained what Thailand would be like in the future. They offered not a vision, only election promises, which were merely campaign tactics to win votes.

Mr Thepchai said he wished Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and the Pheu Thai Party's top list candidate Yingluck Shinawatra would say where, and how they would lead Thai society.

"I think that in this election people will base their choices on emotion rather than reasons because people are disputing who they will vote for and who they will not.

"In sum, it will be quite chaotic," Mr Thepchai said.

Analyst and commentator Veera Teeraphatranont said no party would win more than 250 House seats, or enough for a majority. He said the Democrat Party would bag up to 175 seats while the Pheu Thai Party would win up to 230 seats.

The Bhumjaithai Party will have up to 40 seats while Chartthaipattana and Chart Pattana Puea Pandin parties will be ready to form a coalition government with any party.

He did not rule out the possibility of the Matubhum Party, which is headed by Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, the leader of the Sept 19, 2006 coup, teaming up with the Pheu Thai Party of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was toppled in the putsch.

"If the Pheu Thai Party wins the lion's share of seats with at least 50 more than the Democrat Party, the Pheu Thai Party will certainly be the government. If the differential is smaller, it will depend on which party can gather more than 250 seats. A stable government will need at least 300 seats," Mr Veera said.

The opposition is expected to be strong and is likely to be active in performing a checks and balances role in the House of Representatives, he said.

Mr Veera said the political situation should be smooth for a few months after the election unless there is a hurry to work out an amnesty.

He was referring to an amnesty for fugitive Thaksin who was sentenced to a two-year jail term for corruption.

Meanwhile, Mr Veera said there was not much difference in the policies of each parties.

"They adopt similar policies, but different figures," he said.

Installing a new government would have very little impact on the economy, because it is largely influenced by outside factors rather than domestic factors, he said.

Speakers at the seminar predicted that conflicts would persist in society but they may not be as violent in past years.

They also expect governmental authorities to intervene more in the media.

So from this bundle of joy, no one seems to think things are likely to improve post-election.

Of note, to me anyway...

"Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha has given the green light to army officials to launch a war of words with the Pheu Thai Party's politicians who criticise the army's role.

At the same time, he has told high-ranking army officers he is ready to quit if the political pressure upon him becomes too great.

"Don't be worried. If they lambast me too much, pressure me too much, I'll just quit. I've already tried my best to do my job," an army source quoted Gen Prayuth as saying during the army's morning briefing session yesterday. "

So this is Prayuth not getting involved in politics....again....

However, every cloud and all that...he may quit!

Next part...

"Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has appealed to voters in northern Bangkok to punish those who are vilifying him, by voting for Democrat Party candidates on July 3.

"Never mind if they want to smear me, because on July 3 the majority of people will punish those who slander me," said Mr Abhisit yesterday, referring to red shirt supporters who hound him almost everywhere he campaigns.

He urged his supporters to exercise patience, as he is doing, regardless of what others may do."

Sad to say for Mark, but it is looking increasingly likely that he will be the one punished by the voters. There are reasons for that...I wonder if he is aware of them....

"Exercise patience", is that a euphemism for undertaking an uninspiring and lacklustre campaign?

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha has given the green light to army officials to launch a war of words with the Pheu Thai Party's politicians who criticise the army's role.

Demonstrating yet again his understanding of not involving the military in politics .

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Murder is messy...witnesses, bodies to deal with, accountability etc (although that isn't such a big problem here it seems). Far easier to silence your opponents by issuing threats and wrapping them up in litigation.

So far the preferred method for silencing opponents seems to be shooting them in the streets, jailing them on terrorist charges, shutting down their radio and TV stations, banning their publications, blocking their websites, and locking them up by the hundreds on LM charges.

While airport occupations and Government house sackings are OK

Originally Posted by Calgary

PM urges voters to punish his enemies on polling day quote BKK. Post

So now many Thai citizens are not only terrorists, they are also his enemies.

Someone is sounding very besieged.

Compare the above to what I heard some older ladies inquiring when "Y" was going to rally in this area, "When is our daughter coming to visit?"

Originally Posted by DrB0b

So far the preferred method for silencing opponents seems to be shooting them in the streets, jailing them on terrorist charges, shutting down their radio and TV stations, banning their publications, blocking their websites, and locking them up by the hundreds on LM charges.

I don't know, how do you call people who are calling for the burning of a capital, entertaining hate speech, and developing an underground armed force ?

I guess you are the kind of liberals who think that "free market" and "freedom of expression" shouldn't be restrained on any pretense, even when it involves hate and violence.

Are you an anarchist by any chance ?

^

I don't know, how do you call people who are calling for the burning of a capital

We call them the military or the PAD....your choice.

entertaining hate speech

Or more accurately, exposing the Amart

developing an underground armed force ?

As opposed to having an above-ground armed force with 91 kills to their credit

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Murder is messy...witnesses, bodies to deal with, accountability etc (although that isn't such a big problem here it seems). Far easier to silence your opponents by issuing threats and wrapping them up in litigation.

So far the preferred method for silencing opponents seems to be shooting them in the streets, jailing them on jumped-up terrorism charges, shutting down their radio and TV stations, banning their publications, blocking their websites, and locking them up by the hundreds on LM charges.

Of course, to a 'neutral' observer like yourself a few threats of legal action from PT would be a much more serious issue.

Oh, goalposts moved....shocker. Making conclusions from what i wrote, that I didn't, shocker. You just can't stick a point can you.

Wrong is wrong, right? Or is it okay for Pheu Thai to stoop to such tactics, because the Dem's are worse...

Interesting logic there Bobby. As that is what you seem to be clearly suggesting.

Yes, the Dem's have proven themselves to be awful, but by the looks of things Pheu Thai are going to be pretty bad too. What a choice, eh?

Ah, but we should only condemn the Dem's, as they are worse than Pheu Thai. Ignoring the lies/deceit/manipulation of Pheu Thai is justified because the Dem's are worse...

So we get rid of the appalling Dem's and then we have the pretty bloody bad Pheu Thai instead. But we mustn't criticise, as they aren't as bad as the Dem's, right?

Profound.

But wrong is wrong, right?

Originally Posted by Calgary

^

I don't know, how do you call people who are calling for the burning of a capital

We call them the military or the PAD....your choice.

Really? Evidence for this please.

Bangkok Post : Sanan: We must stop

Sanan: We must stop ‘outside power’

• Published: 11/06/2011 at 10:47 AM
• Online news:

All political parties must join hands to prevent outside power from interfering in politics, particularly in the forming of the next government, Chartthaipattana chief advisor Sanan Kachornprasart said on Saturday.

He said this while campaigning for votes to help his party’s MP candidates in the northtern province of Tak this morning.

Maj Gen Sanan was responding to reporters’ question about the reports that an outside parliamentary system power would intervene in the formation of the next administration after the July 3 election to remain in control of power.

“This is the reason why I have called for a national reconciliation. Without reconciliation, the so-called outside power would step in to continue controlling power in the country for several years.

“If political parties join forces, the outside power would not be able to do anything. Politicians should carefully consider whether or not they should join forces to create national reconciliation,” he said.

Asked why the ‘outside power’ would step in to take control of power and would not let go its power in hands, Maj Gen Sanan said the outside power had learned a lesson from the post-September 2006 military coup situation.

“The coup makers had realised that it is useless to give power to other people after the coup. If politicians do not want any more coups, they should turn to join forces,” he said.

Asked about the possibility of forming a government in a military camp again, Maj Gen Sanan insisted that anyone who wants to go there can go, but I will not join them.

“All sides should join hands for moving toward the election. We will have clearer picture of the political situation after July 3 election,” he said.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

So we get rid of the appalling Dem's and then we have the pretty bloody bad Pheu Thai instead. But we mustn't criticise, as they aren't as bad as the Dem's, right?

Who is better or worse is not the point. Respecting the voter is. And while you do citisize the Abhisit govenment and claim neutrality for it, this is nothing like the contempt and bile you pour over the Puea Thai. And don't ask for sources. It pours out of your every post when you not only cut and past but add your comments.

I came across some useful entries at a Thai-language learning site that contain translations of the slogans/copy featuring on election posters from PT, Dems and Chuwit (Rak Prathet Thai). For those interested in what's being said by them to the Thai voters - as opposed to what the limited reporting says is being said - worth an explore, I think. Of course, no single source will provide a complete picture but at least these start to make up some of the deficit. There's a slide-show of representative texts/posters in each.

Promises, Promises: Part 1 – Peua Thai

Promises, Promises: Part 2 – Democrats

Promises, Promises: Part 3 – Rak Prathet Thai

Originally Posted by Takeovers

Respecting the voter is.

why ? they are a bunch of uneducated clueless monkeys, what make you think they deserve such a right without a fight or without the right to political ideology instead of the right to 500 THB ?

From the blog world.....


Amid fears of civil war and Thai Army threats, Abhisit has a very public breakdown | Asian Correspondent

By Andrew Spooner
Jun 11, 2011

Buried away on page three of the paper addition of this Saturday’s Bangkok Post (11/6/2011) is a tiny, half-a-paragraph story about the Thai Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejavijja attempting to use a 30 year-old motorcycle to transport him on the campaign trail. After travelling a short distance the vehicle broke down and Abhisit was left floundering trying to get the machine started again until. But with a shake of the head, he was forced to abandon this badly-managed PR stunt and walk away.

A more apt metaphor for the failing Democrat Party campaign is harder to find.

Almost everywhere Abhisit travels he is greeted by abuse, expletives and shouts for him to “get out.” People claiming to be former Democrat voters admonish him for his lack of investigation into the Bangkok Massacre of 2011, others show him bullet wounds from the Army’s brutal clampdown while yet more tell him he can’t even organise the proper sale of eggs (in 2010, in a highly controversial move, Abhisit’s government ordered that eggs be sold by weight not number).



Over the last few days I’ve travelled across parts of Thailand and throughout Bangkok and its suburbs. As you’d imagine the placards of each of the political parties adorn the roadsides, each attempting to outdo each other with clever messages and catching images.

Everywhere I’ve been Abhisit’s placards have been damaged, his face punched out or a message declaring “Tyrant!” scrawled over them. There have been some complaints that such vandalism is undemocratic but in a country that shot unarmed nurses and schoolboys just over a year ago such claims are both histrionic and misplaced. This is a tough election campaign in a country where anger over the events from the 2006 coup onwards is reaching boiling point. A few damaged placards is the least of Thailand’s worries.

Even in Bangkok, a city that according to the Democrat Party and their lackeys in the Thai press (particularly the Bangkok Post and The Nation) was burned by “terrorists”, Abhisit’s party are losing ground massively and may end up with a rump of MPs in the Thai capital. The Thaksin and Red Shirt-linked Pheau Thai Party, who have been repeatedly accused by the shrill, possessed voices of the far-right, coup-supporting minority of being “violent” and of “terrifying the local people”, are way ahead in the polls in Bangkok. It seems that many residents in the Thai capital are comfortable with a Shinawatra as PM (Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck is PTP’s lead candidate) and Red Shirt leaders (several of whom are at the top of PTP’s party list) in power. This might be because many of these residents witnessed with their own eyes the brutal murderous acts committed on their streets in April and May 2010 and no amount of false propaganda to the contrary is going to change their interpretation of what occurred.

Lurking in the background of all this is the Thai Army. In the last few days the leader of this Army, General Prayuth has made extraordinary statements regarding the use of troops. He has threatened, using the paper thin pretext of the fight against the drugs trade, to flood parts of Bangkok with his battalions. It should be noted that many of the areas he wishes to “flood” are noted for their PTP and Red Shirt support. The good general has also admonished PTP directly, issuing direct threats against PTP leaders (apparently he told army leaders to “fire at will” at senior PTP figures – a very threatening metaphor to use) and refusing to meet the party’s head, Yingluck Shinawatra. For those who live in more democratic and functioning nations the image of the leader of the largest armed force in the country behaving like this is quite shocking. Yet, it is also very revealing. The Thai Army never suffer any consequences for their actions and get the unrelenting support from their key international allies and partners the USA.

Amid this is talk of “civil war” from other senior politicians and of a parliament so hamstrung by its absurd and pointless system of proportional representation that it looks unlikely that anyone will be able to form a stable, enduring government.

Predictions at this point in the game are useless. But what is certain is that as Abhisit’s disastrous 30 month rule comes to an end the nation is in a far worse position than when he took office. The broken down machine of his period in power has not only stalled, it has disintegrated beneath him and, unfortunately, this time, he won’t just be able to shake his head and walk away.


Coming in next few days - my take on the US Ambassador to Thailand, Kristie Kenney’s, “social medja” party interview with the UK’s new Ambassador to Thailand, Asif Ahmad, and another chat with Thailand’s acting Finance Minsiter Korn Chatikavanij.

Originally Posted by SteveCM

Everywhere I’ve been Abhisit’s placards have been damaged, his face punched out or a message declaring “Tyrant!” scrawled over them. There have been some complaints that such vandalism is undemocratic but in a country that shot unarmed nurses and schoolboys just over a year ago such claims are both histrionic and misplaced. This is a tough election campaign in a country where anger over the events from the 2006 coup onwards is reaching boiling point. A few damaged placards is the least of Thailand’s worries.

Could not agree more. But sure some will see it otherwise.

Originally Posted by Butterfly

how do you call people who are calling for the burning of a capital, entertaining hate speech, and developing an underground armed force ?

They're called figments of your imagination.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

You just can't stick a point can you.

Freudian slip?

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

But wrong is wrong, right

Only to children. Adults, most adults anyway, are capable of dealing with degrees of rightness and wrongness. You seem to have difficulty with the idea of proportionality so let me put it in terms even you may be capable of understanding. Stealing chocolate from a candy store and committing genocide are both wrong. One is more wrong than the other.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Yes, the Dem's have proven themselves to be awful, but by the looks of things Pheu Thai are going to be pretty bad too.

Here again you show your inability to deal with degrees of right and wrong or good and bad, or even the distinction between reality and fantasy. You say the democrats have shown themselves to be awful. You then follow this up saying that PT might be awful, apparently based on the fact that PT are threatening lawsuits against soldiers they accuse of interfering with their campaigning (which, if they were, (and from Prayuth's recent statements they may very well be) is an entirely appropriate reason to bring a lawsuit). You are comparing a fact with an hypothesis, and from there manufacturing entirely imaginary scenarios. That is not logic, it's not even induction or reason, it's sheer fantasy.

Absolutes are for children and the naive, your clinging to the idea of a black and white good or bad belongs in cowboy movies, not real life. That, and the weirdly hysterical tone of your posts, goes to show just how far out of your depth you are in these discussions. I'm beginning to believe that you now identify yourself with the authors of the cut and pastes you're so fond of and now think you're some sort of political pundit. I wonder if you'll ever realise how embarrassing and how shallow what you fondly believe to be your ideas are.

Originally Posted by SteveCM

Amid fears of civil war and Thai Army threats, Abhisit has a very public breakdown

ouch

suspect there is just a tad of midnight oil to be burnt .

Originally Posted by DrB0b

They're called figments of your imagination.

more like your imagination they didn't happen,

how are the magic mushrooms in CM ?

Bangkok Post : Poll: Green light for first female PM

Poll: Green light for first female PM

• Published: 11/06/2011 at 04:41 PM
• Online news: Politics

A total of 63.47% of the respondents said they would accept the first female prime minister of Thailand, NIDA Poll reported on Saturday.

NIDA Poll recently conducted a survey on “Female’s Role in Politics”, seeking opinion from 1,338 people of all careers nationwide.

It found that 75.94% of the respondents agreed that female and male have the same competence.

In the meantime, 22.77% of them thought that more female’s roles in politics would help reduce the problem of corruption, according to NIDA Poll.