Looming crisis in Bkk

[PigDogg]

(Snick @ Jun. 22 2008,03:23) The fact that vote buying occurs and that it often occurs at the village level, with the village headman paid for ensuring the whole village votes one way, is well established.

And this "get out the vote" money also goes on in the good ole USA.

Happens quite a bit with pastors of black churches. And it must be happening elsewhere too.

[stogie bear]

Vote buying can be very creative. To even suggest that it doesn't happen in Thailand is a little naive. It's a global institution and I've been to political rallies that captivate the hearts and minds of the electorate with nothing more than a Coke, a plate of decent nosh and some flag waving rhetoric.

Good post, mardhi...

[Beavis]

(stogie bear @ Jun. 20 2008,20:54) It's also worth remembering that the problems and protests that Thais are currently experiencing are over entirely domestic matters. These will almost never affect farangs or other foreigners that carry on their normal lives, at least not in a violent or controversial way.

I agree...was in Bangkok (on my 1st visit) when Shinawatra was ousted. No problems with any Thais including military personnel. On the contrary, most of them offered helpful advice regarding travel, etc. I would have thought that any foreign visitors would be quite safe...unless they felt like 'spouting-off' on matters that don't really concern them.

[Guest]

good posts from both TTChang and Mardhi.
One just has to read the book " Thai Capital" to see how good Thaksin really is as a businessman.As already mentioned he entered the mobile phone area at just the right time as it was a virtual licensed duopoly.Whilst in power he prevented any form of competition, changed the laws to benefit him and his cronies and threw circuses at the poor in the Northeast to maintain his popularity.
He is the " invisible hand" behind the PPP and expects them to devote themselves to removing any tribunal,Court, public servant, that is engaged in bringing him to justice.Hence the feeling that the PPP have not been concentrating on the current turmoil in economic affairs around the World which are impacting on Thailand.
As for vote buying perhaps jadeite had best look at how many PPP have been yellow & red carded, for exaclty this, from the last election .
Also what else can be said about the Thaksin puppet Samak.
" only one person was killed in the 1974 demonstrations"
" the Burmese junta are good Buddhists"
Democracy in Thailand has a very long way to go before it comes close to any Western model and you can be assured that all the vested interests of the elite will be used to keep that from happening.

[jadeite]

I am just trying to point out the real story as best I know it just like every time people swear Nana is on the chopping block I play the devil's advocate all the while knowing it is not invulnerable.

Political double standards are a bit much. When 97% of a village votes for PPP everyone seems to instantly correlate that with shady dealings. There seem to be 3 such theories in this thread alone. But when the same thing happens the other way around in the muslim strongholds in the south where votes go 97% against the PPP then everyone just assumes that's normal because everyone hates the PPP. No one even questions bribes, cards, and village elder influence. That is a double standard.

Has anyone looked at the details of the yellow/red card given out at the elections (there weren't that many) or are you painting everyone with a totally corrupt brush just because of that? For instance, one PPP candidate was carded for giving a merit wreath to the funeral of the village elder. That is an example of how seriously election fraud is taken here. These cards are not an indication to me that votes are being bought on a wide scale, but rather that Thai standards are upheld to even stricter levels than some so called developed countries.

Now let's talk about the village elders "arranging" who everyone will vote for. I have no idea, but I would not be surprised at all if elders indeed throw their weight behind one candidate or another. But don't all sorts of influential people the world over do the exact same thing? It's not like they are in the voting booth looking over everyone's shoulder and taking notes.

I am not making it up that Thaksin is loved by millions of Thai's. Don't listen to me, just ask a few cabbies while you aren't doing anything. I know Thaksin did a lot wrong and has been at best a trouble maker after getting ousted, though since I seem to be the only foreigner in the world who knows anything favorable about him I'll leave his treacherous policies for others to point out. But don't take that to mean I am a Thaksin lover. I hope Thaksin gets nailed to the wall for everything illegal he did. Remember that he has been indicted and is in due process, give it a chance already. He has not been pardoned even though Samak could have. So much for his "puppet".

But I do sense most Thai's are not satisfied at all with Samak/PPP these days (and rightly so) and wouldn't be surprised to see them ousted next time around or even another coup if things get really bad.

Fresh off the presses of the Thai paper today. The ringleader of the protests going on now has been found to have taken 50 million baht out of his bank account coinciding with the protests. When asked about where the money went, the ringleader responded it was used for making merit. What does that do to speculation on how so many people are able to continually protest day and night while not working or taking care of their families? The anti-PPP protesters are paid to be there, who would have thought and now the smoking gun. But no, not so fast, the double standard comes into play again doesn't?

[rxpharm]

No double standard mentioned, Mardhi gave a good post about Thai politics - and most say ALL politicians have their own self-interest at heart before that of the people, and often at the nation's expense.

Thai politics is hard to understand other than the political "me first". That has held true for almost all Thai politicians - your comments that Thaksin was better than the rest didn't sound right, and now you have clarified your earlier posts.