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.

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"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.