Protests (December update)

Well now playmates its been a long time since I posted but I've been back hear from the beginning of December so I thought I give yous all my update specially as some people no names have hijacked my previous thread for there own vendetttas.

As you know Thailand has now had happiness restored and there is no need for protests any more.

There are some important differences between my last post on protests in April and now:
* Before the Army sat on its hands and refused to support the elected government while various rednecks protested without end and distrupted normal life in Bangkok. Now the Army is the unelected government and expects everyone else to sit on there hands and especially not to make the boy scout salute nor read certain books and eat sandwiches in public.

* Before the rednecks protested about the wicked economic policies of the nasty nasty Mrs Yingluck because those policies would line the pockets of her Red Shirt supporters and maybe bankrupt the nation. Now the Army has announced their support SORRY re-launched those same policies because those policies will line the pockets of thier Yellow Shirt supporters and maybe bankrupt the nation but more importantly be enormously valuable to the shareholders of Siam Cement who will remain nameless.

* Before elections were a bad thing because the majority kept re-electing the Shinawatras. Now elections aka. opinion polls are a good thing because the ones run by the Armys pet pollsters show that possibly even a majority of those asked support the Army's rule.

Under the Army's happy rule GDP growth is not expected to exceed 1% or as someone from the government has been quoted eg. Bangkok Post yesterday "is so small I cant measure it". But everyones happy especially the banks who been lending with there ears back to whoever wants to borrwo for new cars and condos and anything else and now find there struggling to pay back the loan. Lots of empty shops especially in new office blocks near where Im staying and of course the whole Roibinsons complex on the corner of Silom and Rama IV rmemeber the boys you could pick up in Dairy Queen and McDonalds its all boarded up with brown paper no sign of life.

But everybodys HAPPY oh so HAPPY

[Oliver]

Do you remember the Sunday school hymn "All things bright and beautiful"?
One verse disappeared from the hymn books in the 50s but would suit today's Thailand and its idiotic generals....

The rich man in his castle
The poor man at his gate
God made them, high and lowly
And ordered their estate.

While it seems there is a god, She's not very bright according to this news story http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 1418796380 (http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1418796380)

[marti]

Well, it's now Christmas time in Bangkok and it has cooled off a bit. Hopefully we will see more cool weather and less of the oppressing heat. No chance of snow but that's life.

I didn't realise quite how precarious the political situation is in Thailand until I learned of the Generalissimo's statement that the reason Thais should be most happy this week is that Pa Kettle's bowel movements have returned to normal.

Posters are, I'm sure, familiar with Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado and particularly the chorus that runs:
Yet A is happy!
Oh, so happy!
Laughing, Ha! ha!
Chaffing, Ha! ha!
Nectar quaffing, Ha! ha! ha!

I hum it every time I hear of the Generalissimo's campaign to restore happiness to Thailand. He and his gang encourage the regular publication of the results of opinion polls. If he wanted a genuine opinion poll he could hold a general election, but I see one of his underlings has told the US (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/23/us-thailand-politics-idUSKBN0K10OC20141223) that February 2016 is now "the earliest date". (That presumably is based on the outcome of Ol' Man River's I'm tired of livin', and afraid of dyin'.)

But are Thai opinion polls worth anything? No, according to Asian Correspondent (http://asiancorrespondent.com/124068/on-happiness-and-thai-opinion-polls-after-the-military-coup/).

Be careful what you wear playmates your shirt colour can get you into big big trouble apparently some bird is asking people to wear a black shirt in memory of some naughtiness of the previous government so they have asked that she be charged with insulting the king http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politic ... t-academic (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/451801/democrats-seek-libel-suit-against-red-shirt-academic) and apparently someone was taken out and shot for insulting some royal dog the other day probably called it a bitch or something.

It must be very frustrating for someone like lego (and there are many like him in the ex-pat community) who, as white men know far far better than these little brown people among whom they live how they should be governed, to read today's editorial in the Bangkok Post, entitled "Voting is the only way (http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/452766/voting-is-the-only-way)". Heavens, don't these little brown people understand that democracy (you know, the style of government that nurtured these knowledgeable white men) is merely a chimera (meaning: to describe anything composed of very disparate parts, or perceived as wildly imaginative, implausible). It's a synonym for an a447 in case you didn't know.

[a447]

Still hurting, eh?

Time heals everything, Kommie, even the acute embarrassment sustained when falling from a great height.

lol

There's an interesting article on elections in SE Asia (http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2015/02/19/southeast-asian-elections-worst-in-the-world/) that's well worth reading in full. Here's the relevant extract about elections in Thailand
Elections remain deeply controversial in Thailand. Despite the proliferation of party bans, institutional engineering, and the politicization of courts, popular sentiment seems strongly in favor of electoral democracy, as election results and turnout since 2001 have shown. Yet, there is a non-negligible and politically powerful minority that rejects elections outright. This coalition argues that politicians are corrupt, and voters easily bought and too ignorant to be able to distinguish between good and bad politicians. While making reference to the concept of electoral integrity, this discourse seems not to match well with the evidence collected through the PEI expertsтАЩ evaluations. The results of the PEI survey suggest that elections in Thailand are by and large well-administered in the technical aspects. Election fraud, vote buying or other forms of manipulation seem to be less problematic and on par with other countries in the region. The PEI experts identified the opposition movementтАЩs intimidation campaign, and the electoral authoritiesтАЩ fainthearted enforcement of the law (electoral authorities тАУ Thailand: 47, global mean: 69), as the main problems.

[fountainhall]

Elections remain deeply controversial in Thailand. Despite the proliferation of party bans, institutional engineering, and the politicization of courts, popular sentiment seems strongly in favor of electoral democracy, as election results and turnout since 2001 have shown.

Whilst not disagreeing with most of that full quote, it's surely somewhat superfluous to say that popular sentiment is strongly in favour of democracy partly as evidenced by the "turnout since 2001". By law voting in Thailand is compulsory, although what the penalties are for not voting seem obscure.

[Up2U]

Elections remain deeply controversial in Thailand. Despite the proliferation of party bans, institutional engineering, and the politicization of courts, popular sentiment seems strongly in favor of electoral democracy, as election results and turnout since 2001 have shown.

Whilst not disagreeing with most of that full quote, it's surely somewhat superfluous to say that popular sentiment is strongly in favour of democracy partly as evidenced by the "turnout since 2001". By law voting in Thailand is compulsory, although what the penalties are for not voting seem obscure.
Compulsory voting is not enforced. Boycotting elections is a strategy used by political parties as witnessed by the last election in 2014 where the election and over 20 million votes were invalidated. It is a true statement that Thai voters have turned out in record numbers since 2001.

By law voting in Thailand is compulsory, although what the penalties are for not voting seem obscure.By law prostitution is illegal in Thailand. Oh, and the dog really did eat my homework.