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
picture from bangkokbiznews
http://www.bangkokbiznews.com/2006/03/2 ... s_id=90217
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.
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.
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.
These are the good'ol days
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...
so that is the rich in Bangkok protesting in the 10's of thousands?
These are the good'ol days
The "relatively rich", by Thai standards. White collar people, teachers, shop owners, students.
Oh, so the very people my friend and I spoke of..... Go figure...
These are the good'ol days
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