Wonderful news that surprises no one. The NLA also unanimously approved a budget with no debate that cuts funding for rural areas.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/4 ... y-voted-pm
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Wonderful news that surprises no one. The NLA also unanimously approved a budget with no debate that cuts funding for rural areas.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/4 ... y-voted-pm
Our Dear Leader has even less credibility than General Sisi in Egypt....at least there was a pretence of an election there, even if most Egyptians treated it with contempt. Thailand is a military dictatorship not a democracy and, as is usual in such systems as we know from the banana republics of the 20th century, the first victims are the dissenters and the second, the rural poor.
On the subject of dissent, I note that discussion of this topic is banned on Gaybutton. I can sympathise with GB's nervousness- after all , he actually lives under a military dictatorship- but isn't it disturbing that an expat feels so intimidated by the junta that runs his adopted country? What hope is there for ordinary Thais to express their views?
He has good reason to be cautious. The laws ( or arbitrary whims ) apply to him as well as to Thais.... as well as to foreigners! Try pissing them off and see what happens the next time you step off the plane at BKK.
We're not somehow immune to their power.... just because of the color of our passport or the color of our skin.
Gaybutton has had exactly the same attitude regarding forum posts that violate l├иse-majest├й or libel laws in Thailand for all of the years that the country was run by various democratically elected Thaksin related governments, as indeed have many other expat and Thai web forum owners or posters on social mediaQuote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
did you find expats and Thais feeling so intimidated then just as disturbing as it is now? or is it just your bias for one Dear Leader over another?
bkkguy
Not exactly; I wonder what the junta's response would be to a few thousand Red Shirts behaving like the Suthep mob did in Bangkok?
It's no use running away from the fact that Thailand is now a military dictatorship, whatever the perceived shortcomings of previous governments. There is imprisonment without trial, torture and media censorship on an unprecedented scale....and who believes that the junta will ever willingly allow free and fair elections?
And no, as I said in my post, I don't blame GB for being nervous. If my boyfriend weren't a Thai, I'd stay clear of the place entirely. Tourist boycotts would bring the junta to its senses....but I'm not holding my breath.
Do stop whining Oliver. Hundreds of thousands of Thais prayed and protested fervently for this moment, egged on by gullible farang who believed the propaganda the anti-Thaksin side was pumping out. Millions have been made happy. (Mind you the visa runners among the gullible farang are perhaps rethinking their enthusiasm for change, after all it was supposed only to impact the lowly Thais not the superior white man). What's a few dozen political prisoners when weighed against such overwhelming gains? Remember the saying "Red Shirt corruption bad, Yellow Shirt corruption good".
We saw Red Shirt mobs in Bangkok before, so we know exactly what the response was and don't need to speculate. In my opinion, the initial leniency shown back then was part of the problem, for if you let a mob entrench (literally) itself in the heart of your capital city, you'll ultimately need deadly force to expel them. That's exactly what happened in 2010, law enforcement was too lenient in the beginning and then weren't able to break up the occupation without bloodshed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver
The PDRC protests were much different, at least from my personal impressions: They didn't entrench themselves, they didn't intimidate people living or working in the areas they occupied, they didn't loot any shops and there was a street carnival atmosphere more than anything else. Without the cowardly grenade attacks on harmless protesters including little children, all this would have been a very peaceful affair, although "bad for business" because it did cause quite some inconvenience to many residents.
There won't be any tourist boycott and you know it. Even if the lies you're spreading were true, which they aren't, most people wouldn't give a damn as long as they can still go about their holiday unharmed. Most Thai people don't want democracy and their wish has been granted. Get over it.
Under any scenario a tourist boycott would first and foremost harm common people for obvious reasons.
"Most Thai people don't want democracy...."
You must live a very sheltered life... in Bangkok, I assume. I'm sure you are right about the pampered elite who fear that the "buffaloes" will demand to be treated as citizens, not as cheap labour. I can assure you that it's not true of the north. I recall much the same argument being used in the US during the Civil Rights days. Not to mention in the banana republics of Latin America. That's the problem with the poor and disadvantaged; they have a tendency to vote out of self-interest, unlike the blessed middle-classes who never think of themselves.
As for the Suthep mob, the crowd that I looked at in Lumpini and Silom included plenty of hired thugs whom I saw intimidating local people.
Really????? --- or are you making that up?Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver