Brave Ladies

While Thaksin was visiting Silom area yesterday to promote his TRT party, a jeweller and the other shopkeepers pointed their fingers at him and shout...Thaksin F*ck Off

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e307/chuckwow/picweb.jpg

picture from bangkokbiznews

http://www.bangkokbiznews.com/2006/03/2 ... s_id=90217 (http://www.bangkokbiznews.com/2006/03/28/w001_90217.php?news_id=90217)

[orson]

does anyone know why the city folks are anti-thaksin. why are they so mad if he sold the shin group. doesn't he own it in the first place? is there any hard case of corruption against him?

The PAD are trying to play the "Thai nationalism" card by riling up Thais about the sell of Shin to foreigners. Thai = good; foreigner = bad. Of course, companies are bought and sold to foreign interests every single day. It's the flimsiest "charge" against him, if you ask me. He's got the makings of a dictator, for sure, but selling his own company to Temasek is the least of the problems. It's being used for its ugly nationalistic underpinnings.

[GWMinUS]

I am going to step in here, even though I am not Thai and do not live in Thailand.
From what I read on the Bangkok Post, the issue is the underhanded way Taksin transferred the assets of the Shin to his children, and then sold them to an investment company primarily own by the Singapore Government.
WOW, that was a long sentence.
Sure PAD is using this as a reason to call for Taksin to step down. But it is primarily a response to Thakisn's high-handed way of ruling Thailand and also the corruption he has permitted within his government.
Of course it is another City People vs. Country People issue.
My Thai friends from the countryside think he has done many good things and should remain as PM.
My friends in Bangkok want him out!!
And many do not care...
That is politics and that is Thailand.
My opinion,
A Farang

If you were here in Bangkok and you could see (and read) the anti-Thaksin banners, t-shirts, and posters, you would see that the main catch phrase is "kuu chart": selling the country. It is being made to look like Thaksin has sold "national assets" to foreigners. In fact, he has sold his company. No one picketed Bank of Asia when they sold out to Singaporeans, or DTAC, or any other company. The anti-Thaksin crowd is appealing to the ugliest, most basic anti-foreign sentiments to try to get Thaksin out. "Underhanded" or not, his sale was perfectly legal and normal.

Not that I like Thaksin, but there are far better reasons to want him out than selling his company to foreigners.

[bucknaway]

You guys think too much....

Thaksin's in power,
Thaksin changes bar closing time,
People feel it is more difficult for poor to make money with fewer hours.
Visitors change their drinking, spending and offing habits.
Visitors are more sober with their off's and spend less money on them.
Jewelers sell less gold, ladies get less tips and offs and complaints rise.

I am told Thaksin is good and bad but not good for poor.

All the other stuff.... I will believe it when a Thai tells me.

Thaksin's biggest supporters are the uneducated poor. His biggest critics are wealthy intellectuals.

Bar hours don't even register a blip on what's important to this country. But I guess I shouldn't expect very deep political thought from a self-confessed Bush fan...

[bucknaway]

so that is the rich in Bangkok protesting in the 10's of thousands?

The "relatively rich", by Thai standards. White collar people, teachers, shop owners, students.

[bucknaway]

Oh, so the very people my friend and I spoke of..... Go figure...

If you think those people are "the poor of Thailand", you've got a lot to learn about this country.

And as near and dear to your heart as it may be, there has not been a single discussion or mention by the opposition about bar opening hours. And longer opening hours do not figure into the Democrats' platform. It is a ZERO issue to all but pimps, prostitutes, bar owners, and sex tourists. So get over it.

[Davey612]

Ok, I'll add my 2 satays.

Thaksin is doing the same way as all savvy politicians do - get the mass of uneducated poor to support you by throwing a few token social programs here and there. Juan Peron did that in Argentina, any U.S. president do that with the farmers lobby, Fidel Castro did that in Cuba, etc, etc. Of course, the other side of the coin is to make them afraid of city folks because they'll take away all those few token programs if their candidate becomes elected. Hum, didn't chairman Mao do that in China?

But it is worse here. Thaksin doesn't really believe in those programs. He is not really a populist. It is just to buy him time to do what he wants - make his family (and hence, himself) richer. What most people feel unfair is the wholesale sale of a huge chunk of the backbone of the Thai enterprise system without any benefits being given back to the country. IMHO, the Shin corporation can be considered as the GE of Thailand. Can you imagine if a controlling shareholder of GE sells the whole GE to, well lets say, China, and then finds a way not to pay taxes to the IRS? I am sure the whole U.S. Congress would be up in arms.

Here Thaksin was able to sell through the use of his political power, more than a Billion Dollars of assets tax free. He may have been able to make it legal. But it stings. Even worse, the sale was to a foreign government (yes, yes, forget the bs that the Singaporean government is saying, it is a corporation wholly-owned by it). This is why that Bangkok shopowner is so angry.

Ok, back to regular programming.

Very good 612 your satay is spot on. Thaksin basically bought the rural vote, handing each town lumps of money. He is no more than a self serving arse hole.
On another note,though not entirely, isn't it a pleasure to see Bushes face on TV these days, how pathetic the mighty man looks,a shell of his former glory. What a sad reflection on the American voter. Florida and Ohio particularly.

I agree: Davey is spot on.

The rural voters are still in the feudal mindset. They don't care so much that a leader puts a billion dollars in his own pocket, as long as he kicks some down the line to them. In their view, this is far preferable to an honest politician who puts nothing in his own pocket, but also doesn't have anything to trickle down. They're not big on principles...all they care about is what scraps are being tossed their way. But, their votes are just as good as city city slickers with a few more brains in their head ... so what can you do?

[cottmann]

Ok, I'll add my 2 satays.

What an interesting concept - would they be chicken, beef or pork satays? I've had goat satay in Bali - satay kambing - lumps of grilled goat meat on a skewer.

The Thai coins are satang, by the way.

It is clear, Bucknaway and boygeenyus, who the protesters are - at least according to Sebastien Berger, the Bangkok correspondent of the UK News Telegraph, who claimed that: "Students, office workers and aesthetic (sic) lay Buddhists installed themselves in front of these temples (i.e., Siam Paragan, etc) to Mammon to listen to speeches and denunciations of Thaksin Shinawatra..." Obviously, it is Thailand's "beautiful people" who don't like Taksin! See www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml ... world.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/30/wthai30.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/03/30/ixworld.html)

Cottman, goat Satay is the best, marinaded in coriander powder and rich sweet soya then barbecued to perfection all caramelised and chewy, must be over hot coals or it looses all its flavour.

Cottman, goat Satay is the best, marinaded in coriander powder and rich sweet soya then barbecued to perfection all caramelised and chewy, must be over hot coals or it looses all its flavour.

You're kidding!

The goat almost wins out in Greek kebabs in my book too, but the pork can be more juicy. Something that's difficult to find in the Malay States.

MPR

BTW is the common theme of this thread "grilling"

[Dboy]

"Very good 612 your satay is spot on. Thaksin basically bought the rural vote, handing each town lumps of money. He is no more than a self serving arse hole.
On another note,though not entirely, isn't it a pleasure to see Bushes face on TV these days, how pathetic the mighty man looks,a shell of his former glory. What a sad reflection on the American voter. Florida and Ohio particularly."

Thankfully though, even the Rethuglicans have wised-up to the Bush Crime Family. His reign of terror has basically ended at this point. Would be rather difficult to sell anyone on another one of his "initiatives" . So all we have to do now is start working harder so we can pay off that $2 trillion debt he created (that's just the Iraq war debt).


Dboy





тАЬI want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good....

тАЬOur goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We donтАЩt want equal time. We donтАЩt want pluralism.тАЭ

тАФ Randell Terry
Prophet of The New Christianity

Go Ms Clinton, I suppose? Go lame duck president ! Go China!
Isn't Bush pathetic trying to muster, scrape the barrel type last minute support, with his "China is subsidising its industry" neo-republican force meat.
This is tipping a can of worms amongst the punters, I know but bring it on, all China has to do is to start selling off its 100's of billions of US treasury bonds.

This is tipping a can of worms amongst the punters, I know but bring it on, all China has to do is to start selling off its 100's of billions of US treasury bonds.

It is a two-edged sword. The debt owned by other countries is only good to them if the country that owes them is able to pay. If China sought to destroy the US economy, thn it would hurt itself as well - especially as long as they tie the yuan to the dollar.

[Aunty]

Ok, I'll add my 2 satays.

Thaksin is doing the same way as all savvy politicians do - get the mass of uneducated poor to support you by throwing a few token social programs here and there. Juan Peron did that in Argentina, any U.S. president do that with the farmers lobby, Fidel Castro did that in Cuba, etc, etc. Of course, the other side of the coin is to make them afraid of city folks because they'll take away all those few token programs if their candidate becomes elected. Hum, didn't chairman Mao do that in China?

But it is worse here. Thaksin doesn't really believe in those programs. He is not really a populist. It is just to buy him time to do what he wants - make his family (and hence, himself) richer. What most people feel unfair is the wholesale sale of a huge chunk of the backbone of the Thai enterprise system without any benefits being given back to the country. IMHO, the Shin corporation can be considered as the GE of Thailand. Can you imagine if a controlling shareholder of GE sells the whole GE to, well lets say, China, and then finds a way not to pay taxes to the IRS? I am sure the whole U.S. Congress would be up in arms.

Here Thaksin was able to sell through the use of his political power, more than a Billion Dollars of assets tax free. He may have been able to make it legal. But it stings. Even worse, the sale was to a foreign government (yes, yes, forget the bs that the Singaporean government is saying, it is a corporation wholly-owned by it). This is why that Bangkok shopowner is so angry.

Ok, back to regular programming.

Davey 612 has nailed it.

Hasn't the US Congress just gotten its knickers in a huge twist over the sale of P&O to Dubai interests? (Placing six US Ports under the ownership and control of a foreign Arab Govt. - Bush threatens his first veto, Dubai has to sell the ports etc etc.)

What's happening in Thailand is by no means unique as Davey 612 points out. Thaksin appears to have manipulated the sale of Shin in such a way as to line his own pockets at the expense of the Thai people. He is not a private businessmen, he is the Prime Minister of Thailand, and given where his loyalties should lie that stinks. Whatever happened to the notion that elected office holders of Govt. put their assets and business interests into the hands of independent trustees to avoid any hint of a conflict of interest between their personal wealth and the office they hold?

How's the Enron trials going?

Yes its a two-edged sword clawdaddy. But just watch what happens if the doodles slap on a blanket tariff for all Chinese goods. All those cheap products the Americans love so much all those cheap products that float the American economy the consumer machine. Now a huge amount of those products are American but made in China because labour is so cheap over there. Its a two edged sword thats for sure.

Luckily China also has a very healthy European and Asian market. Though you are right it is doubtful that they would cash in their US-dollar. As far as economic war goes and the Americans love a good war, the Chinese are holding the cards. The Euro could just suddenly become very interesting. France would get its way at last, just think of all those freedom fries.