CNN Interview: Samak

[TrongpaiExpat]

I just saw that CNN twat reporter Dan Rivers do a 30 min spot with Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. Samak's English is a little hard to understand but I think he said that Thaksin did not do anything wrong and was not corrupt; the military coup also did not do anything wrong either and that thing they call the Thammasat massacre of 1976 was really nothing, 46 students were not shot, just one unlucky guy died and he (Samak) had nothing to do with it.

Thai logic is alive and well.

edition.cnn.com/ASIA/talkasia/ (http://edition.cnn.com/ASIA/talkasia/)

Thais are just non linear thinkers. The creative thinkers. Their logic goes something like this. When ask how much 1+1 is the Thai response goes something like this. "Oh, that is two ones...two ones are eleven...what size shoe do you wear?...I like your shoes....I want new shoes.... You want to go shopping????....I'm hungry let's have some noodles on the way to.....where were we going, Soi 1 ????"

Thai logic is alive and wellAnd he's a politician to boot

Soi 10 Tom wrote :


Thais are just non linear thinkers. The creative thinkers.

You gave me money but not enough ! :clown:

[Hmmm]

that thing they call the Thammasat massacre of 1976 was really nothing, 46 students were not shot, just one unlucky guy died and he (Samak) had nothing to do with it.

For those not familiar with Samak's dubious past, Time did a piece on him prior to the election ...

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 12,00.html (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1696912,00.html)

Excerpt:
"While Samak now rails against the military and its ouster of Thaksin, he hasn't always been aligned against them. Thai society was deeply polarized between left and right when Indochina fell under communist rule in 1975. On the morning of Oct. 6, 1976, police and right-wing paramilitary mobs invaded Thammasat University, raping, lynching and burning alive scores of students who were demonstrating for greater civil liberties. A few hours later, the military staged a coup. Samak was then appointed interior minister in one of Thailand's most repressive governments. Leftists and students were hunted down and jailed. "I blame him," says Prof. Thientham Thiensirichai, a former student who fled to the jungles and is now a member of the Matchima political party, a smaller TRT splinter-party. "He is my enemy."

In May 1992, Bangkok's middle class rose up to demand that the then coup leader, Gen. Suchinda Krapayoon, resign. Suchinda had the army open fire, killing scores in what has come to be known as "Black May." Samak, who was deputy prime minister, called the demonstrators troublemakers and communists, and said it was acceptable for the government to shoot them. After the King intervened and democracy was restored, Samak still won a seat to parliament in Bangkok's military-dominated Dusit district. During the late 1990s, he and Thaksin served as cabinet ministers in the scandal-plagued government of Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa. Samak and Thaksin were publicly admonished by the King for arguing with each other rather than solving the capital's notorious traffic problems.

(He was) voted the most hated civilian in a newspaper poll after Black May ..."

...just wait 'till you get a load of this guy.

I've actually gone from being just annoyed at Thai politics to being downright worried about the future of this country.

As much as one loves Thailand, I'm afraid you get what you vote for, and Thais still have a long way to go before they come to terms with some of the evil politicians like Samak. We in the UK were gullible enough to keep voting the despicable Blair in, and USA did the same with Bush. It would take too long to write about just how bad this man Samak is so we will just have to wait to see the evil he gets up to. God help Thailand if the King dies and he's still in power.

[TrongpaiExpat]

I wonder how many of the bar boys from Issan ever heard of "Thammasat massacre of 1976"? or, how many Issan people give it much thought if they know about it.

TRT and PPP found out how to get elected. The Tambon heads and the village heads control the people and the votes. My BF family all voted PPP because the village head told them to. I was in Nong Khai a few months ago and the family was filling out some government survey. Everyone got together in a big group and copied from a master to fill in the correct answers.

That book that we should not even mention here, so I can get in without a proxy, has some interesting takes on what happen in 1976 in Chapter 14.

Sanook, I agree with what you say in many ways, but the reason people like the Brits kept voting in Blair, and indeed why the Thais voted for the PPP is the lack of clear alternatives. Look at the leadership of the Conservative Party in the last general elections - not exactly an appealing alternative to Blair's government who at the time was managing the economy very well. The same seems to go for the Democrat party in Thailand - a leader who clearly does not have the common touch and canot inspire the majority of the population the same way people like Samak can - the opposition party leader just doesnt have that affinity Samak has with the working classes and his appeal seems to be limited to the educated urban middle classes.

Addmittedly new to Thailand and the recent history; but I had never heard of the massacre of 1976. The travel books conveniently omit any reference and other history books were written before 1976.

Where can you easily find info about the massacre and an objective accounting of the facts?

Where can you easily find info about the massacre and an objective accounting of the facts?Hmmm. I wonder what results you'd get for typing "Thammasat massacre of 1976" into Google? Gosh, only 10 pages. How disappointing. Much easier to ask Forum members to do the sifting

[Hmmm]

Where can you easily find info about the massacre and an objective accounting of the facts?

Handley is now the required text:
http://www.amazon.com/King-Never-Smiles ... 86&sr=8-12 (http://www.amazon.com/King-Never-Smiles-Biography-Thailands/dp/0300106823/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202724686&sr=8-12)

Re Samak, it's now beginning to look like he may like the idea of hanging on to the PM-ship for the long run, instead of clearing the way for Thaksin's return - "The Puppet's Revolt" indeed...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/02 ... 064553.php (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/02/06/opinion/opinion_30064553.php)

[TrongpaiExpat]

The Nation today transcribed some of the Samak interview. Some of what he said was more confusing than a LMTU post but you get the general idea of where he is coming from and it is a little scary.

... it is a little scary.

A little??? For anyone interested, look up the details of the Thammasat massacre of 1976 inWikipedia, then click on some of the links to see who else of "influence" backed some of the groups involved and was directly involved with them (though not, in all fairness, in Thammasat). Between that, Samak, and the ever present military, the chances of a settled, democratic government in the long term do indeed look "scary"!

[TrongpaiExpat]

... it is a little scary.

A little??? For anyone interested, look up the details of the Thammasat massacre of 1976 inWikipedia, then click on some of the links to see who else of "influence" backed some of the groups involved and was directly involved with them (though not, in all fairness, in Thammasat). Between that, Samak, and the ever present military, the chances of a settled, democratic government in the long term do indeed look "scary"!

The Nation only transcribed part of the interview and the Thammasat incident was left out. I guess his statement about no one actually being shot was so far from reality that they did not have the nerve to print his lies.

I fault Dan Rivers for not calling him on the contradictions but if some western reporter did challenge him that reporter might get a free ride to the airport and that would be the last foreign press interview of the PM. Rivers wants remain in Bangkok as CNN's man on the spot.

If the PM scars you, wait until the new Interior Minister begins flexing his power but I'll save that for another post.

[TrongpaiExpat]

My apologies to the Nation, the rest of the interview including his comments about Thammasat was published today (Tue). I have not found an on-line transcript of the interview yet.

I don't know why they split the interview like that other than it was hard to transcribe given the PM's use of confusing syntax and strange word order. Some of it made no sense at all.

[Hmmm]

The Bangkok Post's editorial today comes down hard on Samak for his attempted whitewash of the 1976 massacre ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/130208_News/ ... news22.php (http://www.bangkokpost.com/130208_News/13Feb2008_news22.php)