Thaksin's youngest sister for PM

[cozza]

Steve, I never said the PT were vote buying. In all honesty, I truly believe that the majority up there would vote PT cash or no cash. Dont care, the people voted for Hitler too!

[sandman67]

What yet seems to be a PT landslide could soon be overturned.

The EC have over 250 cases of potential irregularity and fraud to decide on. Thats why the PT have strung together a coalition despite apparently not needing one.

PT have also apparently been caught paying off journalists in the Nation Group of papers to run front page favourable coverage of Yingyangs Palinesque campaign (avoid independant press and debate, use only carefully scripted noncommital answers to pre-approved questions, etc etc). Hence the fact she was page 1 every day on the Nation and its sister Thai press papers. That could lead to disbanding the PT and a 5 year ban for little miss Toxin.

The ricefield commie Tilda and her shabby crew of Noveau Maoist UDD drones are already demanding in harpy screeches for the Army and Abba to be prosecuted.....lets see how that pans out. The only R word they are interested in is Revenge.

Then of course there are the ineviatble massive street protests that will ensue once good little Sister No1 brings back Toxin in December as he keeps bragging about.

The fun and chaos is far from over.

She may well be the first female Thai PM, but she may well also be its shortest serving one as well.

[buksida]

I know for a fact that vote buying went on in certain parts of Prachuab province by PT, the Dems won this province, every one south of it and Bangkok comfortably, but lost on demographics - the majority of the population are in Issan, hence they get to choose who runs the country. I'd say PT deserves a chance but as mentioned before this will just cause a greater rift and more instability, especially if Toxin returns - the country is still very divided.

[caller]

This isn't going to be overturned.

Abhisit and his party has accepted it and so seeminly have the army. Any overturning would make last years protests seem like a picnic. Any such process would lead to such a massive loss of confidence in the Country that the cost would be immeasurable.

At the end of the day, what cannot be disguised is that every election in the last decade has been won by either Toxin, or those collectives that now form under the red-shirt banner. There's simply no getting away from that.

As Abhisit is such an urbane guy, he might do better to quit the Democrats and form a new centre ground party that can appeal to all sides, perhaps with on an anti-corruption ticket?

[Takiap]

http://news.yahoo.com/abhisit-resigns-p ... 05163.html

The most ineffective prime minister ever, a real sleaze ball.

If any Thai politician can be accused of being corrupt, fraudulent, dishonest, a crook, without scruples and prone to shady dealings, it is not Abhisit.

And that my friend, is something even the most die hard reds would have to agree with.

[margaretcarnes]

Steve, I never said the PT were vote buying. In all honesty, I truly believe that the majority up there would vote PT cash or no cash. Dont care, the people voted for Hitler too!

It's certainly an interesting time and yes - despite any wheeling and dealing on the part of village headmen up in the sticks I tend to agree there cozza.
It's a totally different feel politically up North. Last year I saw a red contingent in the CM lantern festival procession and they received a standing ovation from the crowds. People make no secret of their allegiance to Toxin - or maybe now it goes much deeper than the man.
Bribes or no bribes the majority of the population have spoken, and the majority are in the North. That's democracy at last. If some villagers can make a few baht by voting for who they would have voted for anyway then good on 'em.
It's a shame that Thailands first woman PM is there almost by default - although Toxin says he has been grooming her for years (and I guess he doesn't mean picking nits out of her hair.) And it's a shame if she is being used as his pawn. But the Reds aren't going to go away and it certainly looks as if Toxin will be back.
If he has any sense at all he will base himself up North and reconvene his supporters. What happens after that is anyones' guess of course, but I can still see a divided country looming.

[Takiap]

At the end of the day, what cannot be disguised is that every election in the last decade has been won by either Toxin, or those collectives that now form under the red-shirt banner. There's simply no getting away from that.

Yes, and every election since the 90's in my country has been won by the ANC who have successfully managed to turn it into the murder capital of the world, the AIDS capital of the world, and also the rape and child rape capital of the world. Yet the masses keep voting them in, which goes to show their priorities certainly don't include stability and future development. All I'm saying is that the masses are not always a reliable indication of where a country should be going. As another poster pointed out, Hitler also got the most votes.

Anyway, why don't we wait and see if PT can in fact make a difference, and to be honest, I sure hope they can. Watching little kids spitting their dummies out has become rather tedious.

[hhfarang]

I was reading all the election results news and opinion this morning and this opinion piece struck me as particularly poignant. One thing that shook me about the article is that with a few word changes it could have been written about my own country as politics over the past two decades have turned it into a divisive nation where people don't just hate politicians, but also seem to hate supporters of the opposing party with a vitriol not seen since our civil war.

The election is over but the hatred remains
By The Nation

It's time for ordinary Thais to take reconciliation into their own hands

The much-anticipated election has passed and "the people have spoken". The biggest problem, however, remains unsolved, and it has nothing to do with how to have a workable government, or how to handle the potentially explosive issue of "amnesty", or how the Thai military should behave. Thailand remains divided, and not between Abhisit Vejjajiva and Thaksin Shinawatra or between Sondhi Limthongkul and whomever is his enemy-of-the-moment. The division is between Thai people, the real casualties of the years-old political war, and it remains nowhere near solution.

The election outcome is one thing. Every poll is supposed to reflect splits in opinion on welfare, economy, ideology, etc. But not every election has people flocking to polling stations with hatred in their hearts. Again, it's one thing if they hate politicians, but it's another if they hate those voting for "the other side".

We are a strife-torn nation. Thai people have been hating each other for political reasons, and this is simply sad. Not everyone is hateful, and there are plenty who are able to feel love for the "other colours", but the scale of citizen-against-citizen revulsion is a marked phenomenon. Check out the web boards or social media networks. There is enough material in them to break our hearts.

Hatred has taken away many things, and one of them is the ability to be true to ourselves. "Double standards" have spread from the political sphere to ordinary Thais, who condemn violence only when "the other side" commits it, who deplore "injustice" only when their camp suffers, and who will turn a blind eye to "corruption" if it involves their adored politicians. We go about our business doing two things - accusing others of being hypocritical while ignoring our own hypocrisy.

Can this be stopped?

True "reconciliation" cannot come from any one political side, whose ultimate interests may even be threatened if Thais start to love one another again.

Our nation can only get back to normal when Thais truly accept their compatriots' difference of opinion as a human right and a natural part of a diverse society. The division was started by politicians, but reconciliation will have to come from the real people. The "fighting elephants" spun the hatred and nearly tore the country apart, and we simply cannot trust them to heal the wounds. If we do, the healing will only go as far as it suits them.

It will not be easy. The rival camps have spent years recruiting people to their sides. The line between "This is just ideological difference, so it's no big deal" and "We have to squash the enemies" has always been blurred. The people of Thailand have been poisoned and they will have to find their own antidote. We simply can't expect any good cure from those responsible for our sickness in the first place.

We need to look around and de-politicise our relationships, friendships and other connections with fellow Thais. Let the politicians continue to drum up their own "reconciliation" programmes, but we must know that no new law or propaganda can fix the broken ties between families or friends. "Reaching out" is always a nice phrase to use, but it means nothing if no one really acts on it.

People talk about lost years, lost lives and lost property. The ultimate casualty of this war is lost love, the bonding that made Thailand so warm and harmonious. It will take time to rebuild what once existed so naturally.

Politics is accountable for the destruction, so while the general election was part of the ongoing effort to restore the old Land of Smiles, the whole work cannot be left to the political side.

We have done our job politically by casting our votes yesterday, so, to prevent that going to waste, we must take the real first step toward reconciliation.


-- The Nation 2011-07-04

[sandman67]

As another poster pointed out, Hitler also got the most votes.

Hitler Myths 101:

Adolf Hitler, and his NSDAP never won an election under the democratic system. The best achieved under the pre Riechstag fire system was second place...twice.

After the burning of the Riechstag the NSDAP first fiddled the next election by lies, threat and electoral fraud, cobbled togather a sham coalition, then after that effectively banned all real political opposition....its bloody easy to "win" elections in a totalitarian regime when you are the only real runner.

Even with post fire ballot stuffing and strongarming the NSDAP got less than 50% of the vote.

Hitler and the NSDAP never won a majority in a free and fair election. Its a myth.

[Spitfire]

This is by no means over, just the start, PT etc have made a lot of promises to a lot of people and they (the voters) are already starting to ask about when stuff like the minimum wage will go up 40% and implementation of other such like promises.

They have a very hard job in front of them and this amnesty business for her brother is not as easily sorted out as some may think as the Democrats will bleat a lot and the army will have to be placated in a deal of some description for it to happen.

The people in the villages have voted for the PT because they remember the populist policies of Thaksin and will fully expect the reintroduction of these fairly soon, plus debt restructuring/cancellation.

IMO, very basically, I think the rural people have voted for the PT as they know that in 6 months or so they will be able to borrow even more money from the village government office (probably to the tune of about 30-40k baht) again. Not much political thinking going on in these villages really, just what's best for their pockets or to fit in with the crowd/village norm as being different/standing out would never do.

PT have an angry uneducated mob too keep happy and that's going to cost a lot of money.

We'll see..........

[Nereus]

Doesn't this photo reveal the true picture? Billy Big Ears and his shifty mate to the fore and grinning Yuk standing where she is told!

[Takiap]

Spitfire....you've summed it up perfectly. Ask the average red why they support Taksin and they almost always give the same answers. Namely, increased rubber prices, government loans, etc, etc, etc.

Put it this way, I don't think the average PT voter was too concerned about things like foreign investment, infrastructure (at least not in the cities), or any other complexities a government has to deal with.

Increasing minimum wage by 40% sounds great to the worker currently getting 200 baht per day, but it won't seem like such a great idea in a few months time when his not even getting 1 baht a day because his employer had to lay him off.

And, in order to finance all the wonderful things that are going to happen, the money has to come from somewhere. Unless I'm missing something here, the only way for the government to get their hand on more money would be by increasing taxes within a tax system which is already grossly unfair to many, given that only a small percentage of the population pay tax in the first place.

Of course the government could stop spending so much on the major cities, and just allow them to go into a steady rate of decline, but that's hardly in the interest of a country wanting to catch up with the rest of the world. And besides, all the politicians are Bangkok Elites themselves, even if the don't actually live there, so I can see them biting the hand that feeds them.

I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see PT uniting anyone, especially if big brother returns. Get the most votes is one thing, but getting the support of a nation is another thing altogether.

I also don't believe 100% that the generals have accepted the results. I think they have to a degree, but not entirely. Whether they stay out of it depends on how PT behaves. The bad thing is, if the military does at some point take over, the reds will go absolutely bloody mad, and to curb it, the military would have to use a lot more force than they've ever had to use before, meaning it could get really messy.

I certainly wouldn't want to be the defense minister in the new government.....lol. He or she will have to tread very lightly or else all hell will break loose.


Interesting times ahead.....

[Spitfire]

Gossip on Thai TV is already starting to say PT seem to be back-tracking a little already on some things like the minimum wage (only for specialised workers and not for all) and laptops for kids, which they say now is maybe only for P1 kids to start with.

Could be a case of 'Gop-luak-naai' for the red shirts maybe, ask your Mrs what it means and she'll probably laugh unless she's a serious red shirt.

It'll be interesting to see what happens indeed Takiap.

[OscarMike]

Thailand desperately needs a change of order at the top and a fresher way of doing things - bringing Thaksin back after his track record would not provide that change.

[dozer]

http://news.yahoo.com/abhisit-resigns-p ... 05163.html

The most ineffective prime minister ever, a real sleaze ball.

If any Thai politician can be accused of being corrupt, fraudulent, dishonest, a crook, without scruples and prone to shady dealings, it is not Abhisit.

And that my friend, is something even the most die hard reds would have to agree with.

He knows he is unelectable, but he was willing become a puppet of the Bangkok elite and military, that in my book makes him coorrupt, fraudulant, dishonest, a crook, without scruples and prone to shady dealings, ..........yes a sleaze ball.