Thai PM Yingluck dissolves parliament and calls election

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has dissolved parliament and called an election after sustained protests in the capital, Bangkok.

All opposition MPs from parliament on Sunday, and protesters marched again on Government House.

Ms Yingluck won a huge majority in the last election in 2011.

But the protesters say her government is controlled by her brother, ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra, and have vowed to continue demonstrating.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25252795

[grantcart]

1. Great news.

We will see if Thaksin can repeat the unprecedented (and for Thailand that is a real accomplishment) vote buying in the North and Northeast.

My relatives (including a brother in law that was a classmate of the vermin Thaksin) say that the red shirts (which are not exactly the same group as the Phua Thai Party but have worked together) have started to turn against him.

Thaksin has fooled many by including populist promises in elections but like reactionary parties around the world (including the Republican party ) only give lip service to the promises and never institute the revenue needed for them (remember Bush?) only weakening the national government's ability to maintain services.

Thaksin's sins are:

1) After installed he used the police for systematic 'extra judicial killings'

http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/thailand

Under the previous elected government of Thai Rak Thai (Thai Love Thai) leader and media tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra (January 2001 -- September 2006), there were widespread violations of human rights in Thailand. During Thaksin’s first term (January 2001 -- January 2005), eighteen human rights defenders were assassinated and one was disappeared. Although arrests have been made for some of the murders, many of the cases remain unresolved. In February 2002, Thaksin's government launched a "War on Drugs," which involved the extrajudicial killings of over 2700 individuals who came under suspicion by police and other state agents of being involved in the drug trade.

2) Murder of Islamic boys and anti Islamic radicalism.

If you follow the tragedy in Burma with Buddhists murdering Muslims you will know that ultra nationalists in Buddhist countries can and will ignite riots that kill Muslims (Ghandi was killed by a nationalist Hindu). Thaksin made no secret of killing innocent Muslims as retribution against terrorist attacks (thereby playing into Al Queda's hands to create a civil war). Here is just one of these instances:

Hundreds of local people, mostly young men, were arrested. They were made to take off their shirts and lie on the ground. Their hands were tied behind their backs. Later that afternoon, they were thrown by soldiers into trucks to be taken to the Ingkayutthaboriharn army camp in the nearby province of Pattani. The prisoners were stacked five or six deep in the trucks, and by the time the trucks reached their destination five hours later, in the heat of the day, 78 men had died of suffocation.

3) Found guilty of corruption. Thaksin passed a law that allowed him to sell his communications company to Singapore.

The sale of Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings[edit]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sale_of_Shin_Corporation_to_Temasek_Holdings

On 23 January 2006, the Thai Telecommunication Act (2006) became effective, raising the limit on foreign holdings in telecom companies to 49%. The Act replaced the Telecom Business Law, which took effect in November 2001, and put the foreign investment cap at 25%. At the time, AIS was the only company that actually complied with this provision. Competitors DTAC and TA Orange were 40% owned by Norway’s Telenor and 49%-owned by France's Orange. Although the law was not retroactive, DTAC and TA Orange criticized the government for discriminating against foreign investors and urged it to increase the cap.[1]

On Monday January 23, 2006, the Shinawatra-family sold its remaining 49.6% stake in Shin Corporation, a leading Thai telecommunications company, to two nominees of Temasek Holdings (Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings). The Shinawatra and Damapong (Potjaman's maiden name) families netted about 73 billion baht (about $1.88 billion). Following Thai tax laws, they did not have to pay capital gains tax.

In an unrelated transaction, the two families had earlier not paid taxes when Thaksin transferred shares to his sister Yingluck Shinawatra and his wife, Potjaman Shinawatra, transferred shares to her brother Bannapoj Damapong. The tax exemption was granted on grounds that the transfer, at a par value of 10 baht, took place through the stock market.

Although the tax exemption was legal, the sale drew heavy criticism over Thaksin's ethics on the grounds that Shin Corp, a dominant player in Thailand's information technology sector, would be sold to an investment arm of the Government of Singapore.

The transaction was done via several holding companies, including Cypress Holdings, Kularb Kaew, and Cedar Holdings. Cypress Holdings, a unit of Temasek, owned 49% of the shares of Kularb Kaew, but had 90% of the voting rights. Kularb Kaew owned 41.1% of Cedar Holdings. Cedar Holdings held a 54.54% stake in Shin Corp. Indirectly, Kularb Kaew also directly owned another 22.4% of Shin Corp.[2]

He was found guilty of corruption and some of his assets were seized. In the past the courts could be bribed but remarkably this time the courts have held firm. Thaksin has fled the country to avoid jail

Legal charges[edit]

Thaksin's diplomatic passport was revoked on 31 December 2006 after the junta accused him of engaging in political activities while in exile. Thai embassies were ordered not to facilitate his travels.

A junta-appointed Assets Examination Committee froze Thaksin's assets and attempted to bring charges against him. The AEC was criticized for being stacked with anti-Thaksin appointees. At one point, AEC Secretary Kaewsan Atibodhi claimed that "evidence and witnesses are useless", when an AEC panel recommended legal action without hearing 300 witnesses or considering 100 additional pieces of evidence.[148] The AEC froze Thaksin's assets

In January 2007, Financial Institutions Development Fund complied with an Assets Examination Committee request to file a charge against Thaksin and his wife over their purchase of four 772 million baht plots of land from the FIDF in 2003. The charge was based on alleged violation of Article 100 of the National Counter Corruption Act, which prohibits government officials and their spouses from entering into or having interests in contracts made with state agencies under their authority.

The Assets Examination Committee also accused Thaksin of issuing an unlawful cabinet resolution approving the spending of state funds to buy rubber saplings.

In March 2007, the Office of the Attorney-General charged Thaksin's wife and brother-in-law with conspiring to evade taxes of 546 million baht (US$15.6 million) in a 1997 transfer of Shin Corp shares.

The Assets Examination Committee found Thaksin guilty of malfeasance for obstructing competition by imposing an excise tax on telecom operators. Thaksin's Cabinet had approved the relevant executive decree in 2003.

Yingluck is a Palin type stooge with no previous experience that was elected with unprecedented vote buying in the North and Northeast. Even for the Red Shirts and Thaksin supporters she is an embarrassing nit wit.

Their government has done nothing for the people but promoted inflationary schemes that have decimated the middle and poor.

The worst crime committed by Thaksin is creating the kind of hardcore bitter partisanship that has only briefly existed before (i.e.1976). Always before battling parties would find common cause and join coalitions after bitter divisions. Thaksin's agenda is to get control of the government, get the $ 2 billion back and make Thailand into a Republic that he can rule like an old fashioned strong man.

Thaksin is very clever in using reformist and populist slogans to deceive people. For those that think this is simply a division between Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts you should know that Red Shirts espouse the same basic ultra nationalism of the Tea Party. The Yellow Shirts started a grass roots reformist anti corruption movement in 1994. For a time the Yellow Shirts tried to reform politics within the political system. When it was found to be impossible they left party politics and now are a social movement that doesn't back any political party or candidate for Prime Minister (although most Yellow Shirts support Democrats - they are the only non corporate party in Thailand).

Thaksin entered politics as a Yellow Shirt but when they left politics he created his own rent a mob party.

[Jesus Malverde]

3. Lets face it, Thaskin threatened the existing corrupt power structure.

The rise of extra judicial killings was largely in response to fighting the amphetamine scourge these corrupt officials had allowed to infest the country.

If you have a problem with how the thai military carries out counter insurgency operations then you should look closer to home because they are trained, armed and emboldened by the United States.

The real problem in Thailand is that it is ruled by the buffoon king who maintains the country in poverty and corruption.

[grantcart]

4. Lol, you are certainly aware that Thaksin (you mispelled his name) had significant

increases in his personal wealth while he was Deputy Superintendent of the Police and Chiang Mai, where he is from was the world center of Heroin trade that prospered at the same time key Police officers accumulated enormous wealth.

I can't understand any progressive accepting the principal of extra judicial killings. As always the killings did give cover so that private scores could be settled including the murder of 19 human rights activists.

But what possible justification do you have for the murder of 78 Muslim teenagers?

For the record the extra judiciary murders were carried out by police who are not trained by the US.

For the record Thais have their own counter insurgency operations that basically defeated the communists by avoiding armed conflict.

http://links.org.au/node/1247

The 1980s marked the end of an era of party oriented revolutionary struggle. Another era commenced which, on the contrary, was characterised by the disappearance of political parties with leftist roots. Unlike in places such as the Philippines, the crisis of the CPT did not give way to a pluralist left, but to the disappearance of the political left. This contrast could be understood in part by the new policy of counterinsurrection implemented in Thailand under the government of General Prem Tinsulanonda. The government offered individual amnesty to CPT members and negotiated the grouped return of guerilla units into newly established villages.

For the record the King does not rule Thailand. Over the decades he has removed the Monarchy from direct involvement in the government. During the 70s he refused to nominate a Prime Minister or Finance Minister and forced the political parties to stand on their own. He is currently an elderly man basically on his death bed. For the last 3 decades he has been a voice against materialism, for self sufficiency, and always urging the government to take policies to avoid violence and nurture reconciliation.

In fact the strategy to not fight with the Communist Party of Thailand but offer them land and amnesty came from the King. General Prem serves as Chairman of the Privy Council.

So lets sum up

You are wrong about

1) Thaksin's name and character
2) The evil of extra judicial killings
3) Thai military involvement in the extra judicial killings
4) The role of the US in Thailand's very successful non violent counter insurgency programs
5) The contribution of the King to the body politic

But you have provided the perfect juxtaposition.

In 1970s while their neighbors were threatened and overcome by violent insurgencies Thailand follows the US's strategy to kill first and creates the disastrous events of October 6, 1976 Massacre. Generals sympathetic to the King, Kriangsak and Prem move to restore Democracy and negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Communist insurgency.

Thaksin becomes Prime Minister and authorizes the murder to counter the Amphetamine insurgency and uses murder to fight the Jihadists who have infiltrated the long simmering separatist movements.

The government has fallen for only one reason: They had only one real policy, Amnesty for the convicted criminal Thaksin. It is universally unpopular, even among the Red Shirts and even though they had an absolute majority in Parliament could not achieve into law.

[Jesus Malverde]

7. You sound well informed.

and I like your style.

Have you read this, consider it reliable?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Thailand_insurgency

thanks!

[grantcart]

8. Thank you. I spent 20 years there. I was involved in both government and business there

My first wife was an American educated Thai and my current wife of 32 years is from Chieng Mai, and I have passed the government equivalency test for written and spoken Thai at the 8th grade level.

I am the first to state that I don't really know what is going on in Thailand, because even the Thais don't know what is really going on.

For example people say 'the Army wants this', but it doesn't make any sense. A family might have an officer in the Army, Police, own a bank and have interests in 3 businesses. That family will be a center of influence that goes beyond any of the individual institutions.

I remember talking to the head of a government agency and I told him I needed help with another agency and he kindly wrote down the persons' name (a woman) and told me she would help me but to not use his name. I asked why and he said it was his ex wife, but that she would be helpful to me if I didn't disclose that I knew him. It gets very complicated.

Thaksin's biggest sin isn't the extrajudicial killings, that is simply easy for Americans to understand. His biggest sin is his arrogance in putting his interests against the Thai family. This is something that the Thais find very distasteful. He is causing the country to choose sides in a deeply partisan way, and he is doing it by paying people off, and that is salt into the wounds.

The link you refer is actually one of the ones I quoted from in my reply above (re: killing of Muslims) item # 2.

You might find this story interesting:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/384012/protest-fever-spreads-into-red-provinces

[Jesus Malverde]

10. Very good stuff thank you!...nt

[hedgehog]

5. Thank you for providing this background information!

[iandhr]

2. Not sure who the good guys are here.

If Thaksin did extra judicial killings and if the protesters want an unelected council to rule?

[grantcart]

6. they don't want an unelected council to rule

They want democratic elections where masse of poor folks in the North and Northeast don't sell their votes for $ 100 per vote.


The key issue now is that the current government has pursued one issue beyond all others:

Amnesty for Thaksin.

Background here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaksin_Shinawatra_$1.88_billion_deal_controversy

Amnesty for Thaksin is the only issue:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Amnesty-for-Thaksin-is-root-of-the-political-crisi-30184435.html

This article is from 18 months ago.

For the last year and a half Thais and friends of Thailand have watched while all attempts to buy off the court and the Democrats have failed and the rule of law has, amazingly, been allowed to stand.

People should understand that the protesters are not united behind any other party or leader, simply that the criminal Thaksin should not receive amnesty.

[iandhr]

9. NY Times today

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/world/asia/thailand-protests.html?hp

The protesters, who have massed tens of thousands of people in Bangkok in their campaign to banish Ms. Yingluck and her powerful family from the country, have demanded that she relinquish her post in favor of a royally appointed caretaker government.

"royally appointed"


The proposal by antigovernment protesters to bypass the Constitution and set up an unelected council to run the country has been widely interpreted in Thailand as an attempt by Mr. Thaksin’s critics to avoid another stinging loss in the February elections.

e.g. people who aren't elected

I don't know that much of Thai politics. I have read about corruption by Thanksin.

But this article shows the protesters questionable commitment to democracy.

[grantcart]

11. No the protesters are the ones who are committed to Democracy.

The proposal by the protesters is so that an independent body unrelated to the government be in charge of the elections.

What ignited the demonstrations?

For the last year this government has pursued a single policy: Amnesty for Thaksin and return of the $ 2 billion that the courts have ceased.

There are a number of reform police investigators and prosecutors who were well known in the country at the time that Yingluck took over the government. All of these lost their jobs and all of the ongoing criminal prosecutions against Thaksin were stopped. A couple visibly switched sides. The people have no trust in this government because they have seen them undermine the rule of law every step of the way.

So I ask again what caused the mass protests?

The Pheu Thai party announced that they would not follow the ruling of the Thai Supreme Court that found that there effort to steal back the $ 2 billion that the government got back would not be followed:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Pheu-Thai-blasts-court-30220284.html

Ruling party says verdict blocking charter amendment on senators a virtual coup d'etat; coalition to push for impeachment of five judges who voted bill as unconstitutional

A constitutional crisis is brewing after the Pheu Thai Party strongly lashed out against the charter court's ruling, saying the court's action was tantamount to a coup d'etat.

Pheu Thai's legal adviser, Chusak Sirinil, said the ruling coalition parties were preparing to file two charges against five court judges who ruled that the charter amendment was unconstitutional, for violation of the Constitution's Articles 157 and 112 (interference and violation of the King's power).

The ruling, which killed the bill, was announced while the law is pending royal endorsement.

While the issue of the court's authority to rule on the case is being hotly debated, on the other front, anti-government groups have started their campaign to oust the government. Five impeachment petitions have been submitted to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), which will be combined into a single case. Named in the petitions are House speaker, Senate speaker and 312 other parliamentarians related to the charter amendment.

In a three-point statement, Pheu Thai said the court's ruling was an interference in the affairs of parliamentarians, and as such was like a coup against the mandate of the people. The statement was issued a day after the Constitutional Court ruled that the charter amendment bill regarding senator selection, endorsed by 312 parliamentarians, was unconstitutional.

So the people have risen up against a political gang that refuses to follow the rule of law, and they don't want the government that is so brazenly corrupt and uses violence to achieve its goals to be in charge during the election.

How bad is it?

The army refuses to support the government, the police invited the 'occupying protesters' to take over their own police stations, 312 independent parliamentarians and every single Senator has opposed them.

Now the Chamber of Commerce has endorsed reform and the need for addressing social inequality.

Thaksin's idiot stooge Yingluck gained power (having never participated in any public activities) with wholesale vote buying in the poor provinces. It is exactly the same as the Koch brothers buying influence in the poor areas of Kentucky, Mississippi, and other rural areas who then turn around and through holding power control the election process. Except as far as I know the Koch brothers didn't actually engage in wholesale direct corruption and killing thousands in extra judicial killings.

And then there is this: The protesters are not united behind any party or any other candidate, simply on getting rid of the corruption of Thaksin and Thaksin's attempt to trash the constitution and turn the country into a Republic. It is true that there aren't many alternatives to the Democrats, but that is only because Thaksin has been buying all of the minor party leaders and taking their traditional areas of influence. The Democrats traditionally done very well in the Central and Southern areas where vote buying doesn't happen. The people don't really have party loyalty however and if they feel the Democrats have not done well will support other candidates.

This isn't about one party against another, this is about one many trying to institute a personal strongman rule like they had in the 50's. Despite murder, corruption, and spending tens of millions the people have risen up and will not let them succeed.

[iandhr]

12. I feel like I am missing something here.

So there multiple protest groups with different agendas?

What does the NY Times mean by this?

"Demanded that she relinquish her post in favor of a royally appointed caretaker government."

"The proposal by antigovernment protesters to bypass the Constitution and set up an unelected council to run the country has been widely interpreted in Thailand as an attempt by Mr. Thaksin’s critics to avoid another stinging loss in the February elections.

[grantcart]

14. Thaksin is a convicted criminal who cannot return to the country.

The courts impounded $ 2 billion of his ill gotten assets (he used the government to pass bills that would benefit only his family in selling their communication company among other things).

His party was banned by the electoral commission along with over 100 of his colleagues for flagrant vote buying.

He leaves the country and install his dimwitted sister who has never had any public activity and pumps tens of millions into buying votes in the poor provinces.

There has been numerous protest groups with different agendas, some are competing political groups, some are Buddhist activists, and others are academics, etc. They hold only one thing in common: they cannot be bought out because all of the sell outs joined the criminal Yingluck government.

For the last 18 months this government has dropped all pretense of trying to pass legislation and has tried to pass an amnesty bill that will allow her brother to return and get his ill gotten money back.

surprisingly his blank checks couldn't buy the opposition Democrats and couldn't by the courts.

His ultimate goal is to establish a Republican government, install himself as President and have a one person rule.

Last month the Supreme Court ruled against his amnesty bill as unconstitutional, 312 respected independent parliamentarians, and all of the Senators rejected the amnesty.

Yingluck's Phua Thai Party then declared that the Supreme Court was illegal and was going to try and impeach all of the judges.

All of the opposition MPs have resigned.

Spontaneous demonstrators coalesced under a protest leader and astonishingly outwitted the government by holding occupy style demonstrations at ALL of the ministries, and by dispersing the demonstrators into multiple locations made it impossible for them to use force.

The Army announced that the would not move against the demonstrators.

The Police opened the barricades so that the demonstrators could enter the ministries and police headquarters.

All of the anti government demonstrators were peaceful and embraced the government workers and police.

Violence erupted when hard core Red Shirts confronted the demonstrators but were overwhelmed by spontaneous groups resulting in several deaths.

Red Shirts announced cancellation of all demonstrations.

Anti government demonstrations have now spread to the Red Shirt areas, up until now thought to be impossible.

Chamber of Commerce announces that the present government cannot stand, that the Amnesty is illegal and broad anti corruption reforms are needed.

The Crown Princess announced that she was sending Red Cross volunteers to assist any protesters who fell sick, a traditional method for the crown to show that the government no longer has any popular support and cannot expect the help of the military or police against the people.

The reason that the want a caretaker government to hold the elections is because this group has never followed the rule of law and has been involved in extra judicial murders, undermining honest police investigators, buying off minor party candidates, trying to undermine and do away with the Supreme Court. It would be like letting the Koch Brothers, the KKK and Michelle Bachmann count all the votes in the Congressional Elections.

In the past the King has appointed neutral technocrats in care taker governments and they have done quite well,

For example Prime Minister Anand was appointed as an interim Prime Minister and he was very effective in restoring Constitutional rule.

[iandhr]

15. Got it. Thanks for the info.

[iandhr]

13. Thanks for the info.

I always like to be educated on international developments.