Most people want honest PM - 97.6%

[wowpow]

Bangkok Post

AMPA SANTIMATANEDOL

"An overwhelming 97.6% of Bangkok residents want the next prime minister to be honest and dedicated to moral integrity, an Abac opinion survey has found.

Rating individually the desired qualities of the new prime minister, most agreed that honesty must come first, followed by strong leadership and decisiveness, and patience.

The survey found that 96.9% preferred a leader who is ready to make sacrifices while 96.6% wanted a well-rounded leader who is adept in economic, political, legal and social issues.

However, only 24% said they wanted a wealthy, successful businessman to become prime minister.

The pollsters took a random sample from 1,550 residents in Bangkok and suburban areas on Friday and Saturday.

Questioned on how they felt witnessing the concentration of troops stationed to keep the peace in Bangkok after the coup, 92.1% said they believed soldiers were dependable.

Also 89.1% said the presence of soldiers made them feel safe and secure.

However 24.9% said the presence of troops worried them, whereas 19.7% said they were shocked at the sight of the troops and 6.5% feared the soldiers.

Meanwhile, former senator Sophon Supapong said the new prime minister must possess true moral courage.

He said that in the past five years or so, the country has been set back by a crisis related to moral integrity, and the new leader must be capable of restoring it.

The economy does not present an urgent problem and so the new prime minister does not necessarily need a strong economic background.

"The new prime minister must re-institute justice and righteousness that people can rely on. The person must be well-received by society," the former senator said.

The Thai Journalists Association and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association yesterday issued a joint statement calling on the military junta to return power to the people as quickly as possible.

The two ethics regulatory bodies also urged the ruling council to guarantee freedom of expression for both the public and the media and allow people to participate in the drafting of a new charter. It must not try to meddle with the interim government to be set up, they said.

The Campaign for Popular Democracy called on the junta to urgently seize the assets of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and any ex-ministers found to have been involved in graft while in office."

Question. Would you like an honest Prime Minister or a crook.

The 97.6% wanting an honest guy is not surprising. The 2.4% worry me as does the dedication to moral integrity.

"An overwhelming 97.6% of Bangkok residents...
The pollsters took a random sample from 1,550 residents in Bangkok and suburban areas on Friday and Saturday.The headline is a bit misleading, perhaps? One could assume from the headline that "Most people IN THAILAND want honest PM..." when in fact the article is only talking about people in BKK and its suburbs.


However, only 24% said they wanted a wealthy, successful businessman to become prime minister.That seems to be a commentary on Thaskin. It's well known that Bangkokians tended to not support him. I wonder what the % would be upcountry.

Does this mean that more than 3% of the respondents indicated that they preferred a DISHONEST prime minister?

Does this mean that more than 3% of the respondents indicated that they preferred a DISHONEST prime minister?

It's the confused minority, you always get them. You should know, being their biggest fan.

No, dear. In my experience, it's usually the MAJORITY that's confused.

No, dear. In my experience, it's usually the MAJORITY that's confused.

This is not America, Oh NOoo, put on yer red shoes and dance the blues.

I'm talking about the majority who put Thaksin into power, and the majority who would have reelected him if the November elections had not been cancelled by the junta.

Now I thought we had been through all this before. Democracy is flawed Genyboyarse. Besides 83% supported the Coup, that sounds like a majority to me. But I dunno, the Americans might not think so, given how Bush won their elections. In all the excitement of the Coup celebrations I forgot to ask, is Bush still alive, I heard he had some kind of water born disease?

83% supported the coup...source? The junta-controlled media.

One hour before the coup, the majority of the population still supported Thaksin. One hour after, 83% supported his ouster. How dumb are, you, boy?

And does it not bother you that we'll be living under a military dictatorship, under martial law, with no civil liberties, freedoms, or protections, and no elected government, for the next at least one year? Freedom of speech? Due process? Freedom to gather in groups of more than 5? Freedom to criticize the country's leadership? All out the door. The cops don't even need a search warrant now if they want to burst into your apartment and have a look-see.

Better just hope you don't run afoul of the law anytime soon, because you could end up in a military prison with no charges, no trial, and no rights.

Trust me: this will all end in tears.

Yes yes, yudder yudder, you are still the confused minority, this is not that kind if coup, think out the box for one second. Abstract to the point of intelligence, the only people who are complaining are a handful of ex-Thaksin supporters most of his other supporters have let go already, immediately after the coup as you have already mentioned. You are just going to have to learn to love the Junta, and trust that what he says will happen, will happen, you have no other proof.

Students and lecturers...not your usual Thaksin supporters, hmm? It has started already, trust me.




FREE SPEECH CAMPAIGN
New political rally called to test CDRM

Students, lecturers say any arrests will show the coup leaders are not sincere

Students and university lecturers opposed to last week's coup will this afternoon defy the coup leaders again by staging an outdoor political discussion on the topic "Why we must resist the coup", on the lawn at Thammasat University at 5pm.

The decision to protest came despite the Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM) yesterday passing its 21st martial directive for all local political groups to stop all forms of assembly, adding that those violating the order faced swift penalties.

"We do not accept any of the CDRM's orders because they came to power through the barrel of a gun," said Uchaen Cheangsane, a member of Dome Daeng, a group of alumni and students of the university recently set up to oppose the September 19 putsch.

"If they arrest or harm us, we won't fight back, but it will show that their talk about political reform is not for real," said Uchaen.

About 50 protesters, mostly students from Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Mahidol, Ramkhamhaeng and Kasetsart universities and King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, are expected to take part in the civil disobedience act.

Chulalongkorn political science lecturer Kanokrat Lertchoosakul, who will be one of the four speakers, told The Nation: "As a political science lecturer my position is to protect the right and liberty of political expression.

"At present, the political views have been polarised into two. And there has been a systematic attempt at truth-making - to make people believe that this is the reality that we must accommodate and that a coup is the way of solving problems.

"My message is that there must be space for those who think differently."

"We want to tell society that not all are supportive of the coup, that there are voices against the coup-makers," said Thanaphol Eiwsakul, editor of alternative political magazine Fah Diew Kan, and another speaker at Thammasat.

Thanaphol said the protesters will not be seeking permission from university administrators because they believed the administrators are now under the power of the coup leaders.

Thammasat has been the site of many anti-dictator protests since 1973.

Some students who took part in the peaceful protest on Friday at Siam Centre said they felt let down by the Thai media.

The students said they felt betrayed because even most of the print media generally supported the coup and left no space for those who thought differently.

Rattasit Rakkiatwong, who joined the protest on Friday said he has had no media outlet to air his opposition.

"The [Thai] media has been one-sided but people who oppose it [the coup] don't have any channel to voice their opposition. What they did [by staging a coup] is barbaric."

One student protester claimed he was slapped round the ear on Friday by an unknown bystander.

Kengkij Kitiranglarp, a doctoral student at Chulalongkorn, said students at the university had formed a group called "Chula Students for Liberty" and would play host to another protest on Wednesday.

A website campaign started by historian Thongchai Winichakul on Friday, which aims to gather signatures from Thais and foreigners urging the coup leaders not to arrest any protesters, has so far attracted 775 signatures.

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas,

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

[Brad the Impala]

Students and lecturers...not your usual Thaksin supporters, hmm? It has started already, trust me.

FREE SPEECH CAMPAIGN
New political rally called to test CDRM


About 50 protesters, mostly students from Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Mahidol, Ramkhamhaeng and Kasetsart universities and King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, are expected to take part in the civil disobedience act.

"My message is that there must be space for those who think differently."


Some students who took part in the peaceful protest on Friday at Siam Centre said they felt let down by the Thai media. The students said they felt betrayed because even most of the print media generally supported the coup and left no space for those who thought differently.

Rattasit Rakkiatwong, who joined the protest on Friday said he has had no media outlet to air his opposition.


Subhatra Bhumiprabhas,

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation


I think that the fact that this article appeared in The Nation, rather undermines those fifty protesters who claim that there is no space for them in the media!

............ Freedom of speech? Due process? Freedom to gather in groups of more than 5? Freedom to criticize the country's leadership? All out the door. The cops don't even need a search warrant now if they want to burst into your apartment and have a look-see.

Better just hope you don't run afoul of the law anytime soon, because you could end up in a military prison with no charges, no trial, and no rights.



The way you are going on your are a prime candidate for an early visit and a stay at the junta's pleasure (that is, of course, if you live in the country). As you are not a citizen of the country why not just sit back and see what happens instead of publishing inflamatory statements which will have absolutely no effect whatsoever other than to vent your spleen.
Let those who are Thai citizens get on with sorting out their own destiny. The US's distorted version of democracy and of due process does not, thankfully, apply here - (just look at what democracy and due process is doing for the inhabitants of Guantanamo Bay).

... the Departrment of Homeland Security and the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp revisited. I think boygeenyus belonged to the "on every day in every way things are getting better and better" school of Thailand's "progress". This coup must be a bitter psychological blow to him, and I'm think some therapy is required

Students and lecturers...not your usual Thaksin supporters, hmm? It has started already, trust me.
The Nation

Bunch of Thaksin stirrers,yes you get them, even students and lecturers, watch America start threatening with human rights (guffaw guffaw) warnings, when they are all sitting with glum faces in the Bangkok Hilton. My heart bleeds. Might give them some time to think up some constructive additions to the constitution, that they have already been politely asked to submit.

... the Departrment of Homeland Security and the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp revisited. I think boygeenyus belonged to the "on every day in every way things are getting better and better" school of Thailand's "progress". This coup must be a bitter psychological blow to him, and I'm think some therapy is required

Amateur psychoanalysis, oh goodie! Well, try this one on for size, you old goat:

The sole thing you find admirable about Thailand, and the sole reason you spend so much time here, is the cheap price of getting your hairy old tongue up young boys' asshole. In fact, you are so filled with loathing during the 23.5 hours a day you DON'T have your tongue up some Thai boy's asshole, that it has turned you into a poisoned, bitter old man. The hatred has so curdled your brain that you secretly (or not-so-secretly) rejoice when tragedy befalls the Thai people, or especially the Thai nation. You chuckle and call it "schadenfreude".

So, what do you think?

[Smiles]

" ... The hatred has so curdled your brain that you secretly (or not-so-secretly) rejoice when tragedy befalls the Thai people, or especially the Thai nation. You chuckle and call it "schadenfreude". So, what do you think? ... "
Far for me to put words on another man's hairy(??) tongue, but I suspect the old goat would say something along the lines of: " ... I'm just in it for the laughs ... " So far at least our friend Herr Homintern has rarely strayed from that "weltangschauung" (as long as we're talking Deutsche).

Along those lines ... I've always had a vague picture in my mind of Homotern as a wrinkled old Don Rickles sort of lookalike. I wonder how close I am?


http://www.photodump.com/direct/sawatdee/donrickles.jpg

Cheers ...

Not too far off the mark, Smiles. BTW I'm afraid boygeenyus is on my ever-growing "list of idiots" who are permanently on {Ignore}. I only ever see what he writes when some poor innocent quotes him, or on that rare occasion where I've logged out and in a fit of masochism also read such other members of The Coalition of the Mindless as thaiquila, balziel, LMTU and the many renditions of Billy. I find it as amusing as always that some people expend their time bothering to respond to these clowns. On the other hand boygeenyus I regard as a real danger to members of this Board with his over-blown notions of Thailand and his Thailand right or wrong chauvinism - hence my comments sometimes about his "conversion to Siamism" - as in the phrase "more Catholic than the Pope". The piece you quote is typical

[Smiles]

" ... I'm afraid boygeenyus is on my ever-growing "list of idiots" who are permanently on {Ignore} ... "
And here I thought the two of you were fucking. :geek:

Cheers ....

Guess I hit too close to the bone, eh Homi?

Don Rickles does at least have some hair but Homitern is a bald as a bandicoot !!

He has also been declared by me, as a Coup Leader as an Anti Capitalist Anti Revoltionary Reactionary and is preaching anti-property rhetoric in another thread which does not augur well for the glorious new People's Project of Ocean I Tower that is to rise majestically at Jomtien Beach as a monument to the anti-Thaksin coup.

NB: the 3% who voted for dishonest Prime Minister consisted of Thaksin family members and cronies.