HM the King: Be prepared for crucial verdict

Post by **The understudy** » Thu May 31, 2007 3:11 am

Hi there Y'all
Well I Congratulate the Democrats in their Win of their case and an "Au revoir" to the Thai Rak Thai Party.
The Timing was really carefully chosen by the interim Govt, and CNS cause today is Makha Bucha Day and all people will go and Pray @ their local Temples rather comming out and Demonstrate. I hope people will relfect on things and will come together and jumpstart the reconciliation process and learn from This Chapter of Thai History and mve Thailand forward.
As for the Thai Rak Thai Party which it's former leader and Prime minister Mr. T had build in late 1990's and later shaped as wishes best, The Party reached it's peak in 2004 which it has won a dominating power over the opposition. I believe that Mr. T surcome to the purest form of Greed which lead to cronyism on the grandest scale Thailand had never seen which ultimately lead to the his downfall and today the downfall of his party. This proves the long known phrase of the western world which says: "What goes up must come down the harder the better!!!"
Yeahhh Pete the Dmocrats won 1:0 in overtime It's great to see rightoesness prevails!!!

Your's The understudy!!!

Post by **STEVE G** » Thu May 31, 2007 3:17 am

prcscct wrote:
STEVE G wrote:Pete, I can't help feeling that this is going to cause a big problem. They have created a potentially explosive situation now, having just banned the party which still obtained a majority in elections.
I have a tendency to agree. Today (Thursday) is a Thai Buddhist holiday. Everyone will be off and many going to Wats around the country. It is meant to be a day of peace for all or Thailand and Thai people. Again, I think this was well planned out to make the announcement the day before this holiday.

A part of this judgement mentioned TRT bribing an election offical to do something with voter registration records. If things like that happened, I scratch my head if TRT did indeed win the large majorities they bragged about, or if something magical happened with the ballots? If the election commission head and his staff were in TRT's pocket, nothing can be ruled out. Pete :cheers:

I'm absolutely certain that irregularities occurred, after all in what Asian election do they not? But from what Iâ€™ve seen in rural areas of Thailand, TRT definitely had a huge amount of support and my feeling is that they would still have won the vote.
Of course the ruling junta could be running scared of the fact that if TRT remained and won the next election, they could immediately overturn everything they have done and throw them in court for holding the coup, which was after all unconstitutional by definition.

Post by **gooze** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:56 am

Steve G is 100% right. Hope this is the end although unfortunatly its probably only the beginning. If Mrs G attitude has anything to go by I dont think this is going to go down to well with the rural Thais.

Post by **Norseman** » Thu May 31, 2007 9:44 am

If Steve is right we are back to square 1 again, as usual.
Not a big surprise but very predictable.

Post by **lomuamart** » Thu May 31, 2007 10:38 am

My question would be who are the Thais going to be able to vote for, come December?
I know that the remnants of TRT can reform themselves legally into another party - with the exception of those members disqualified from standing for 5 years - but will Thailand have much of a choice?
Seems to me that they won't have, but I'm not too well up on any other parties that could make a difference. Certainly, my wife was stumped by that question a minute ago. She's a Dem anyway, so I don't think she cares too much.

Post by **buksida** » Thu May 31, 2007 1:23 pm

The corrupt, election rigging TRT party has been disbanded and rightly so. Lets hope there is a way forward for a new Democrat party that can get Thailand back on its feet by improving education, promoting tourism, industry and foreign investment as no effort was made by TRT to do so. The quicker the junta step down and hold elections the better.

The rural Thais (the only supporters of TRT) will be disappointed to lose their election time handouts however the future of the country lies in globalization and competition on an international scale with Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia - Thais have potential, let them use it and let Thailand compete with the likes of India for outsourcing and not just rely on farming rice and remaining a peasant dominated agrarian society.

Post by **The understudy** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:35 pm

[quote="buksida"]The corrupt, election rigging TRT party has been disbanded and rightly so. Lets hope there is a way forward for a new Democrat party that can get Thailand back on its feet by improving education, promoting tourism, industry and foreign investment as no effort was made by TRT to do so. The quicker the junta step down and hold elections the better.

The rural Thais (the only supporters of TRT) will be disappointed to lose their election time handouts however the future of the country lies in globalization and competition on an international scale with Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia - Thais have potential, let them use it and let Thailand compete with the likes of India for outsourcing and not just rely on farming rice and remaining a peasant dominated agrarian society.[/quote]

Good Morning from Germany!!!

You are absolutely right Buksi
The quicker the Junta step down the Better. Now we Thais have gain some grounds back from our neighboring countries which had been taking advatage of political crisis for a long time.
Furthermore will be interesting to see if the Democrats can pass a measure without spending exsessive time going through diffrent comittees to make that measure perfect and passable, like what happened in the 1990's.

Your's the understudy!!!

Post by **Kraka's Dad** » Thu May 31, 2007 4:58 pm

BBC today.
Thai ex-PM banned from politics

Mr Thaksin and his party still enjoy huge popularity in Thailand
Thailand's ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and 110 other senior party officials have been banned from political office for five years.
The Constitutional Tribunal also ordered Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party to be dissolved after finding it guilty of violating electoral laws.

Judges ruled that two members had bribed smaller parties to influence the result of elections in April 2006.

Mr Thaksin was later removed in a military coup, accused of corruption.

'Too harsh'

The verdicts were announced in a heavily guarded courtroom in the capital, Bangkok, after hours of suspense.

It's an unexpected ruling and we are disappointed by the verdict - it's too harsh on Thai Rak Thai

Ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra

"All of the Thai Rak Thai party executives at the time the wrongdoing was committed will be subject to the ban.

"Even if they quit later, they cannot escape the guilt," said one of the nine judges involved in the ruling.

Mr Thaksin resigned as party leader days after he was overthrown in the military coup in September. He now lives in exile in London.

A lawyer for the former prime minister told Reuters news agency he was "disappointed" by the verdict.

"It's too harsh on Thai Rak Thai," said Noppadon Pattama.

The BBC's Andrew Harding in Bangkok says the decision to punish the entire party is sure to provoke anger in Thailand.

Thai Rak Thai officials have promised to respect the verdict, and those who can will no doubt try to form a new party to compete in elections, our correspondent says.

An interim government, installed by military leaders that led the coup, has promised a new constitution and elections before the end of 2007.

Rise and fall

The capital is reported to be relatively calm. But thousands of soldiers are on alert in case of unrest following the verdicts.

Thousands of soldiers are on alert in case of unrest after the verdicts
Interim Prime Minister Gen Surayud Chulanont, who was installed after Mr Thaksin's overthrow, has said he would issue an emergency decree if necessary.

Earlier, the same court found Thailand's oldest party, the Democratic Party, not guilty of six charges of election fraud.

The court ruled that it had not maligned the Thai Rak Thai party during last year's election campaign, and thus would not be forced to disband.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the wealthy founder of a telecommunications empire, set up the Thai Rak Thai (Thai Loves Thai) party in 1998, and its rapid emergence transformed Thai politics.

He swept into power in 2001, and became the first prime minister in Thailand's history to lead an elected government through a full four-year term in office.

Eighteen months later he was out of office after a military coup, accused of corruption and abuse of power.

Post by **PeteC** » Thu May 31, 2007 6:24 pm

I received an SMS from Bangkok Post some hours ago which quoted Thaksin saying from London....I humbly accept the verdict and ask that all Thai's do the same....... Not an exact quote but close to what it said. This could go a long way in calming things here. Pete

Post by **lomuamart** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:27 pm

I asked the question earlier on today and honestly, I don't know the answer. But, I'll try again.
Does anyone know a political party other than The Democrats who could possibly give the Thai people an alternative come December?
Maybe they'll be told that they don't need one? But that would be a stony road to follow to democracy.
I'm having difficulty in seeing this verdict actually opening up anything other than another "one party state". Steve G's comment a few days ago about the "balance" of a verdict being to expel the leaders of TRT, but let the party remain, was always one I could understand.
Don't get me wrong. I loathed Thaksin and TRT, but the decision hasn't exactly paved the democratic route with "gold", IMHO.
Time will tell and I hope I'm wrong.

Post by **PeteC** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:34 pm

Here's some references. No idea who comes in #2 after the Democrats now. I'm pretty sure something new will be formed by TRT under a different name and with people not banned, but with the same TRT philosophy. Pete

http://www.parliament.go.th/files/politi/d02.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_po ... n_Thailand

Post by **buksida** » Thu May 31, 2007 9:25 pm

Read this article lomu, it seems the junta may have some political ambitions of their own. I wouldn't be surprised if they did form a party after their brief foray into politics:

http://www.huahinafterdark.com/forum/th ... t6446.html

Post by **lomuamart** » Thu May 31, 2007 10:01 pm

Thanks.
I've read that a bit closer. It does make sense.
However, for the Thais - will it make any difference? Other than one power stuggle over another?
I hope so and that the Thais can move on.

Post by **Jockey** » Thu May 31, 2007 10:29 pm

The TRT controlled the Police. Now the Army are in control. In reality, the two main parties who go against each other, no matter their name are either represented by the POLICE or the ARMY.

Post by **lomuamart** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:12 am

Jockey wrote:The TRT controlled the Police. Now the Army are in control. In reality, the two main parties who go against each other, no matter their name are either represented by the POLICE or the ARMY.

True.
I've got a bigger gun than you - and I happen to know someone who knows...
Boring.