THAILAND ELECTION 2018 MAGATHREAD!!

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C-Euro: Mar 20, 2010; Soiled Meat

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

https://twitter.com/KhaosodEnglish/status/1156098694137016320?s=19

bump because lmao vajiralongkorn is bringing back consorts (ie old school polygamy)

lol it's good to be king I guess

# ? Aug 2, 2019 04:27

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# ? May 4, 2024 05:01

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/29/death-sentences-upheld-in-thai-backpacker-case-zaw-lin-wai-phyo-hannah-witheridge-david-miller

theyre going to execute the two burmese migrants who they pinned the koh tao murders on

https://twitter.com/zenjournalist/status/1166289612454711296

monarchies own

# ? Aug 29, 2019 15:18

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

https://twitter.com/KhaosodEnglish/status/1156098694137016320?s=19

bump because lmao vajiralongkorn is bringing back consorts (ie old school polygamy)

update on this:

https://twitter.com/zenjournalist/status/1213085057927262208

# ? Jan 3, 2020 14:13

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

so long story short is the royalist junta stole the election this thread was about, and then over the course of the next two years banned the New Future Party which is overwhelming supported by thai youth for not being nice enough to the king, and now this is happening

https://twitter.com/zenjournalist/status/1307688459365224448

https://twitter.com/zenjournalist/status/1307688506249142272

https://twitter.com/zenjournalist/status/1307688566684876800

these protests are also directly anti-monarchy, which is vastly more radical than the red shirts were a decade ago.

# ? Sep 20, 2020 22:08

mila kunis: Jun 10, 2011

heard thailand's getting spicy

# ? Oct 14, 2020 06:33

Ramrod Hotshot: May 30, 2003

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

https://twitter.com/zenjournalist/status/1307688566684876800

ahaha that owns

Something about this particular political crisis seems to me like such a throwback to an earlier era. Thailand has a military junta reminiscent of those in the 20th century paired with a hedonistic and powerful monarchy reminiscent of the 19th or earlier. And the protest movement kind of reminds me of the color revolutions from ten or 20 years ago, but Thailand's political institutions are so reactionary that even a liberal revolution would be a marked improvement.

Meanwhile the rest of the world has moved on to neo-fascist governments led by civilians.

# ? Oct 15, 2020 05:40

Lawman 0: Aug 17, 2010

That's loving crazy Shenji

# ? Oct 15, 2020 06:05

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

mila kunis posted:

heard thailand's getting spicy

the loving royal family's motorcade got swamped by protestors lol

https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow/status/1316534827198238720

might not seem like much but a few years ago absolutely unthinkable. when the king was driving down the road everyone went to their knees, because you must be lower than the king. they used to shutdown the BTS skytrain system when the kings motorcade was driving around, causing massive traffic, because you couldnt have people above the king. lotta people guessing they drove the motorcade through protests on purpose to cause this confrontation and excuse for crackdown.

todays supposed to be even bigger protests, govs basically declared martial law again using this as an excuse

https://twitter.com/zenjournalist/status/1316616813623619585

https://twitter.com/Teirrabyte/status/1316610265996124162

https://twitter.com/_hominy/status/1316575565046923264?s=20

https://twitter.com/PravitR/status/1316583554952773632

Sheng-Ji Yang has issued a correction as of 07:15 on Oct 15, 2020

# ? Oct 15, 2020 07:11

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

https://twitter.com/zenjournalist/status/1316691451498188803?s=19

https://twitter.com/KhaosodEnglish/status/1316674646670860288?s=19

# ? Oct 15, 2020 23:24

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

https://twitter.com/uuumaamii/status/1317078828787793926?s=19

# ? Oct 16, 2020 16:51

Grapplejack: Nov 27, 2007

I get the feeling that a lot of governments are very mad that China let their protestors come up with these protest tactics and let western media amplify it

# ? Oct 16, 2020 16:53

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

https://twitter.com/jgesilva/status/1317136652532240385?s=19

# ? Oct 16, 2020 17:28

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

sheng-ji why are those two tweets so heavily ratio'd

# ? Oct 16, 2020 17:35

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

i say swears online posted:

sheng-ji why are those two tweets so heavily ratio'd

idk ive noticed this on a lot of thai twitter stuff they retweet the poo poo out of it without liking it

# ? Oct 16, 2020 18:16

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

that makes sense, maybe "retweets aren't endorsements" is thai legal precedent

# ? Oct 16, 2020 18:19

Ramrod Hotshot: May 30, 2003

is there a good biographical podcast or article about Vajiralongkorn? I've heard dribs and drabs about what an epic failson he is, but it would be great to have it all in one place.

# ? Oct 16, 2020 19:07

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

Ramrod Hotshot posted:

is there a good biographical podcast or article about Vajiralongkorn? I've heard dribs and drabs about what an epic failson he is, but it would be great to have it all in one place.

excerpt from andrew macgregor marshalls book A Kingdom in Crisis, bit outdated now (published a few years before bhumibol died)

quote:

But, as always, intra-elite conflict and rivalry remained a highly destabilizing factor in Thai politics, despite the economic and sexual ties that wove the ruling class together. Feuding and squabbles even extended into Bhumibol�s immediate family, and by the 1970s the relationship between the king and queen had grown fractious. Much of the friction revolved around Vajiralongkorn. As the prince grew up, Bhumibol became increasingly dismayed by his son�s personality and behaviour, although Sirikit doted on her boy. Handley says that by the beginning of the 1970s, Vajiralongkorn �had become a disagreeable young man lacking any of the intellect, charm, curiosity, or diplomatic skills of his parents� and who �treated aides with little respect and women as objects, using his power to get them to sleep with him� (Handley, 2006a). When he turned 20 in 1972, Vajiralongkorn was formally designated heir to the throne. But he was already remarkably unpopular among Thais, who mocked and scorned him in private conversations. Far more admired was the prince�s younger sister Sirindhorn, an apparently amiable and unpretentious young woman whom many ordinary Thais adored.

Bhumibol and Sirikit were also divided over the appropriate political role of the palace. Both were firm believers in elite rule and a politically influential monarchy, but Bhumibol favoured a more consensual and subtle approach while the queen wanted aggressive action to crush their perceived enemies. Sirikit believed she was a reincarnation of the sixteenth-century Queen Suriyothai, who � according to legend � had ridden into battle on elephant back disguised as a man to defend her husband and save Ayutthaya. As semi-official royal biographer William Stevenson wrote:

Sirikit still returned in her dreams to what she believed was her earlier incarnation as a warrior queen. She consulted her own informants, who were full of stories about plots to bring down her husband. She shot at cardboard targets, saying bluntly that Buddha sanctioned the destruction of evil. Her targets represented live enemies� Photographs show her with lustrous black hair tied back, bracing herself against the sandbags, her long slim fingers supporting the rifle or curled around the trigger. She looks like a legendary Siamese woman warrior with a white ribbon around her head.

Marital discord in the palace and widespread contempt for Vajilongkorn fuelled the incendiary political atmosphere in Thailand in the mid-1970s and the explosion of violence in October 1976. The pretext for the Thammasat massacre was a play staged tragedy by students in the campus two days earlier � newspapers published front-page photographs of a mock hanging that was part of the drama, and rightists alleged it was intended to depict the execution of the crown prince, a claim those involved in the play have always denied (Thongchai, 2002). Whatever the truth, it was exploited by the far right to unleash an orgy of murder and brutality that shocked the world. Vajiralongkorn became more feared and hated than ever.

Widespread dread of the prospect that Vajiralongkorn could one day become king drew on historic fears of the terror wrought by violent monarchs, and the traditional belief that the world was on the brink of a dark age, or kaliyug. Many Thais came to believe that Vajiralongkorn�s reign would be this blighted era, and anxiety was stoked by an old prophecy that the monarchy would collapse after the ninth Chakri reign. After two decades of relentless royalist propaganda, it was widely assumed that the downfall of the monarchy would spell catastrophe for the country. The elite had particular reason for angst about Vajiralongkorn: unlike the generally pliable Bhumibol, whom they trusted to protect their interests and preserve the sacred aura of the monarchy, the crown prince was volatile and belligerent. They feared he could become a dangerous rogue monarch like Prasart Thong, one whose whims and rages could unravel generations of accumulated wealth and power for those unlucky enough to anger him. They were further scandalized and enraged by Vajiralongkorn�s habit of preying on their daughters. The prince became notorious for summoning attractive high-born young women to his palace. The extent to which it happened remains unknown, but it was a source of profound anger and anxiety among the elite, many of whom sent their daughters for education overseas to escape his attentions.

In January 1977, pressured by the queen, who wanted to ensure her own branch of the royal family would predominate, Vajiralongkorn married Soamsawali, a cousin from Sirikit�s bloodline. The marriage was a disaster. The prince was regularly seen in the company of wealthy strongmen who made their fortunes in the nexus of crime, politics and business. Thais began to refer to him derisively as �Sia-O�, a combination of the word for a Chinese�Thai gangster and the sixth syllable of his royal title. Frustrated by his son�s behaviour, in December 1977 the king elevated Sirindhorn to the status of potential heir to the throne too. Officials characterized this as a precaution in case anything happened to Vajiralongkorn and claimed it did not cast the prince�s status into doubt, but it generated significant ambiguity, which still remains. Support for Sirindhorn to be the next monarch became remarkably widespread and surprisingly openly expressed. Although the palace succession law specified that only males could accede to the throne, Thai constitutions began specifying that a woman could be nominated as monarch � a clear sign that much of the elite preferred Sirindhorn too. By the 1980s there was intense mutual animosity between Vajiralongkorn and most of Thailand�s establishment, who wanted Bhumibol to remain on the throne as long as possible and overwhelmingly favoured Sirindhorn to be the next monarch when he died.

During 1978, the prince abandoned his wife and moved in with Yuwathida Pholprasert, a nightclub hostess and aspiring actress. Soamsawali bore Vajiralongkorn a daughter in late 1978, and in 1979 Yuwathida gave birth to a son, Vajiralongkorn�s first male heir. Over the next decade, Yuwathida was to bear him four more children. Sirikit remained the prince�s staunchest supporter, but used a visit to the United States in 1981 to publicly rebuke tragedy Vajiralongkorn for his womanizing, declaring at a news conference in Texas:

My son the crown prince is a little bit of a Don Juan. He is a good student, a good boy, but women find him interesting and he finds women even more interesting� If the people of Thailand do not approve of the behaviour of my son, then he would either have to change his behaviour or resign from the royal family. (Handley, 2006a)

But during the 1980s, the queen�s own behaviour was causing a worsening crisis. She had asserted herself as the dominant personality in the palace, and her unconcealed political activism was causing mounting discontent. �The Queen, her entourage of generals and a few civilian advisers are effectively governing Thailand today through regular dinners at which the King does not participate�, reported The Times (Watts, 1983). Meanwhile, Sirikit�s open infatuation with one of her military aides, Narongdej Nandha-phothidej, became increasingly embarrassing to the elite, and in 1984 he was sent to the United States as a military attach�. In May 1985, he died after a game of tennis. The official explanation was that the 38-year-old colonel had suffered a heart attack, but many Thais � including Sirikit herself � suspected something more sinister. Her very public grief over the colonel�s death spiralled into a breakdown, and at the end of 1985 she vanished from view for months (Handley, 2006a). With public disquiet growing, the royal couple�s youngest daughter, Princess Chulabhorn, was enlisted to calm anxiety in a televised interview:

We all work for his majesty because of our loyalty towards him. Nobody in our family wants popularity for themselves. Everybody is sharing the work and we work as a team� But again, there are people who say that our family is divided into two sides, which is not true at all. (McBeth, 1986)

In fact, it was all too true. The family was divided, and Bhumibol and Sirikit�s marriage was effectively over. They lived separate lives for the next two decades, a rival royal court of ultra-right-wing politics and all-night dinner dances developing around Sirikit.

As his marriage collapsed, Bhumibol shocked the nation on his 59th birthday in 1986 by hinting he would soon step aside to make way for Vajiralongkorn. As usual, he used oblique language to hint at his intentions, drawing on the water symbolism that had always been central to the theology of Thai kingship:

The water of the Chao Phraya must flow on, and the water that flows on will be replaced. In our lifetime, we just perform our duties. When we retire, somebody else will replace us� One cannot stick to a single task forever. One day we will grow old and die.

Palace officials confirmed Bhumibol planned to retire to a monastery some time after he turned 60 � his fifth cycle birthday in Buddhist terms � and after another important anniversary in July 1988 when he would become the longest reigning monarch in Thai history. Tongnoi Tongyai, a semi-official spokesman for Bhumibol, set out the likely scenario:

The king will never abdicate, if by abdication you mean leaving his responsibilities behind and retiring� Once his majesty sees the crown prince reaching a more mature age and ready to take over all the royal functions, he may enter a monastery� It does not mean that he will remain a monk. The important thing is that he will continue to be there, behind the throne, and help his son solve any problems. (Handley, 1986a)

In September 1987, Vajiralongjorn was sent on a state visit to Japan. It was a chance to demonstrate he possessed the maturity and gravitas to become king. Given the stakes, things could hardly have turned out worse. The prince was enraged by several perceived insults, as the New York Times reported:

A Japanese chauffeur driving the Thai Prince�s car apparently stopped at a motorway tollbooth to relieve himself � Japanese officials say the man felt ill and had to be replaced. On other occasions, the Prince was said to have been given an inappropriate chair to sit on and to have been forced to reach down to the floor to pick up a cord to unveil a memorial. The prince came home three days earlier than scheduled, leaving a diplomatic crisis in his wake. (Crosette, 1987)

Bhumibol�s planned abdication made some sense in terms of the long-term preservation of the monarchy, but there was panic among much of the establishment. Sukhumband Paribatra, a senior member of the royal family whose status gave him some degree of protection, took the lead in publicly voicing elite fears. He explained the establishment�s worries in the Far Eastern Economic Review in January 1988:

Given the monarchy�s role in Thailand�s political and economic development, as well as its place in the hearts and minds of the populace, any uncertainty regarding the future of the monarch inevitably causes a great deal of apprehension. Doubts continue to be expressed, mostly in private but now increasingly in the open, about the crown prince�s capacity to evoke the kind of intense political loyalty from the people and the major domestic political groupings that his father is able to do. Doubts also persist as to whether the crown prince can match his father�s subtle and mediatory role in politics. (Sukhumband, 1988)

Behind the scenes other leading figures, particularly Prem, were also actively trying to sabotage the plan. Soon afterwards, palace officials spread word that Bhumibol would not be abdicating after all. No reason was ever given. The ruling class had succeeded in keeping Vajiralongkorn off the throne, for the moment at least.

It was an indication of where power really lay in Thailand � Bhumibol was officially venerated, but his ability to act independently of the elite was extremely limited. Socially isolated, and often seemingly adrift from reality, the king was a relatively weak figure in the �network monarchy� � just as most Thai monarchs had been throughout history. He was an ideal king for the ruling class � pliable, distant, but beloved by many ordinary people for his perceived goodness. The elite used the king�s sacred aura to legitimize their supremacy, and to convince inferiors in the network that their instructions were imbued with royal authority. Once �king�s men� like Prem managed to cloak themselves in royal barami, they had considerable latitude to use the network to advance their own interests. Nobody knows whether instructions genuinely come from the king. As the US embassy observed in a secret cable,

Many figures in the various circles attempt to appropriate the charisma of the King and prestige of the royal institution for their own purposes without any official remit, a process known in Thai as �ang barami.� � Even Thai relatively close to royal principals treat purported wishes conveyed by other royal associates with caution, given the tradition of self-serving �ang barami.� (09BANGKOK 2967)

During the 1990s, Vajiralongkorn�s antics continued to appal the establishment. In 1996, when Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto arrived for a summit, his 747 was blocked on the runway for twenty minutes, as it taxied towards the red carpet, by three F-5 fighter jets, one of them piloted by the prince. This was Vajiralongkorn�s revenge for the disrespect he believed he was shown during his visit to Japan nine years previously. A few months later, as Thailand prepared for Bhumibol�s Golden Jubilee, the crown prince caused a scandal that transfixed the nation, banishing his second wife Yuwathida from his palace and from Thailand. Besides the terrible publicity it attracted, tragedy Vajiralongkorn�s melodramatic marriage breakdown dealt a severe blow to his succession prospects, because he also disowned and expelled the four sons Yuwathida had borne him. The crown prince was left with no legitimate male heir.

The issue of royal succession was central to the promulgation of the reformist �People�s Constitution� of 1997. The two foremost proponents of reform, Anand Panyarachun and Prawase Wasi, were surprisingly explicit that a key motivation behind the new charter was the need to create a constitutional framework that could keep Vajiralongkorn in check. The new constitution was designed to allow the oligarchy to defend and preserve their exalted position and influence even if the crown prince became king. But most of the elite convinced themselves it would never happen. They thought that sooner or later he would so something so egregiously unacceptable it would ruin his succession prospects. They also believed that Bhumibol shared the widespread concern about his wayward son and would make Sirindhorn his heir instead at the opportune moment. The clearest signal of this was an extraordinary book by Canadian author William Stevenson, who spent several years in Bangkok after being enlisted by the king and granted unprecedented access to write a semi-official biography. The Revolutionary King was published in 1999 to derision from academics � it was riddled with basic errors and as a work of serious history was a risible failure. But as an insight into the mindset of the palace inner circle it was invaluable. Several passages hinted at the prince�s notoriety as a sexual predator:

�Why is he giving you the Evil Eye?� a lovely young member of the Royal Household Bureau asked me, when [Vajiralongkorn] presided over the casting of Buddha images. I suggested he was looking at her, not me. She shivered: �I hope not � it�s fatal for a woman.� � �Perfection was too much to ask from a boy who was Heir Apparent�, lamented an American-educated noblewoman. �Look at these pictures of him in court dress-up! If he had to submit to old customs, then he might as well go all the way, have all the women he wanted, and behave like the earlier kings.�

Towards the end of the book, Stevenson evokes an atmosphere of impending doom as Bhumibol�s reign approaches its end, and suggests the king favours Sirindhorn to succeed him:

�I cannot afford to die�, he joked. All he had worked toward would be in jeopardy the very moment it might seem that his life was running out. The Crown Prince would never allow Crown Princess Sirindhorn to inherit the throne. She had upset her mother long ago when she decided she would never marry. The question of how much longer the king had to live was endlessly debated. Those who planned to monopolise political power could not afford to ignore the future of the Crown Princess. Even if she remained a virgin and even if there was no chance of her bearing an heir to the throne, provision had been made by the king for her to succeed him. And a majority of the people were so devoted to her that they would readily welcome her as the next monarch, however startling an innovation this might be. (Stevenson, 1999)

In mid-2000, after passing two more milestones � his sixth cycle 72nd birthday and his overtaking of Rama I to become the oldest king in Thai history � Bhumibol made another attempt to retire. This time, instead of formally abdicating, he sought instead to take a step back from his royal duties. Leaving behind the smog and stifling intrigue of Bangkok, and escaping the company of constantly watchful courtiers and his estranged queen, he decamped to �Far from Worries� palace by the seaside in Hua Hin, where he hoped to spend the twilight of his life in relative peace.

# ? Oct 16, 2020 19:33

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

who knew making a monstrous failson untouchable would upset the populace after his dad was a mostly alright guy

# ? Oct 16, 2020 21:32

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

https://twitter.com/PravitR/status/1317361742586916870?s=19

shutting down the main public transport system of a city of 9 million people to own the libs

# ? Oct 17, 2020 08:30

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

bumping this thread to say that the junta held an actual election for some reason and has been absolutely crushed, with the leftwing successor to the New Future Party currently leading and Thaksin's party second. the juntas parties are 4th and 5th lmao.

# ? May 14, 2023 17:52

Horseshoe theory: Mar 7, 2005

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

bumping this thread to say that the junta held an actual election for some reason and has been absolutely crushed, with the leftwing successor to the New Future Party currently leading and Thaksin's party second. the juntas parties are 4th and 5th lmao.

Don't worry, they'll coup again in a few ~~months~~ weeks and be back in full control, no worries.

# ? May 14, 2023 17:53

Al-Saqr: Nov 11, 2007; One Day I Will Return To Your Side.

Wow I cant believe the military lost a free and fair election!

# ? May 14, 2023 17:57

Zedhe Khoja: Nov 10, 2017; sürgünden selamlar
yıkıcılar ulusuna

hope to see a guillotine in action in my lifetime

# ? May 14, 2023 18:09

Al!: Apr 2, 2010

they should just shoot the royal family in a basement, romanov style, then theres no monarchy to restore

# ? May 14, 2023 18:12

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

i don't think there are any explicitly republican parties in thailand, even with the new shithead son. everyone loved the old king

# ? May 14, 2023 18:12

Zedhe Khoja: Nov 10, 2017; sürgünden selamlar
yıkıcılar ulusuna

what�s the likelihood we get a thai version of this video? I can�t imagine the Thai system will just shrug and let this happen.
https://youtu.be/r6lqE_MQv8o

# ? May 14, 2023 18:17

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

Zedhe Khoja posted:

what’s the likelihood we get a thai version of this video? I can’t imagine the Thai system will just shrug and let this happen.
https://youtu.be/r6lqE_MQv8o

more likely you will see a slow roll judicial coup. the very reactionary high courts love to ban parties & their leadership from ever running for elections again. if that triggers large protests then maybe another coup. however it usually takes years for the military to think its a good idea to try and run the government again, esp after a defeat like this. the military still also has a large chunk of the legislature guaranteed in their constitution, which will be the next big battle. the entire senate is entirely military appointed lol.

i say swears online posted:

i don't think there are any explicitly republican parties in thailand, even with the new shithead son. everyone loved the old king

the move forward party is the very unofficial and unspoken republican party, or at least reining in the monarchy party. obviously it cant say that in any direct or indirect way without being banned instantly, but its who all the protestors from years ago back & has been labeled as such by the old yellowshirts/junta etc. its victory is bad news for the monarchy.

Sheng-Ji Yang has issued a correction as of 19:02 on May 14, 2023

# ? May 14, 2023 18:53

lobster shirt: Jun 14, 2021

did they forget to rig the election or are they just counting on all 250 members of the senate being chosen by the military giving them enough control to keep their own guys in at prime minister

# ? May 15, 2023 00:45

HallelujahLee: May 3, 2009

they prob have more than enough power to influence the country just like they have always had, and if needed can always just coup again

# ? May 15, 2023 00:50

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

lobster shirt posted:

did they forget to rig the election or are they just counting on all 250 members of the senate being chosen by the military giving them enough control to keep their own guys in at prime minister

they're not the biggest riggers. they like to let a freely-elected gov't gently caress up and then step in

i guess the senate is still hosed? dunno about electoral changes in the last decade

# ? May 15, 2023 00:52

lobster shirt: Jun 14, 2021

yeah the senate is exclusively chosen by the military and unlike most parliamentary systems (i thikn?) they vote equally with the lower house to choose the PM. looking at those numbers i don't think the top two vote getters are going to be able to assume power lol.

# ? May 15, 2023 01:00

C-Euro: Mar 20, 2010; Soiled Meat

Sheng-Ji Yang posted:

bumping this thread to say that the junta held an actual election for some reason and has been absolutely crushed, with the leftwing successor to the New Future Party currently leading and Thaksin's party second. the juntas parties are 4th and 5th lmao.

Oh hey I was just talking to my wife's sister about this. She had to mail in a ballot as she's currently living with us and didn't think her vote was going to be counted lol.

# ? May 15, 2023 03:57

Sheng-Ji Yang: Mar 5, 2014

lobster shirt posted:

yeah the senate is exclusively chosen by the military and unlike most parliamentary systems (i thikn?) they vote equally with the lower house to choose the PM. looking at those numbers i don't think the top two vote getters are going to be able to assume power lol.

https://twitter.com/PravitR/status/1657991241735475201?t=GPP9GLKuo70QqFBxdpYrWA&s=19

# ? May 15, 2023 07:15

exmarx: Feb 18, 2012; The experience over the years
of nothing getting better
only worse.

lol

quote:

As reported by the Guardian, Pita told a Thai YouTube channel that his time studying in New Zealand �truly sparked his love for politics�. He said: �I got shipped to the middle of nowhere in New Zealand and there were three channels back then. Either you watch Australian soap operas, or you watch the debates in parliament.� While doing his homework, he said, he would listen to broadcasts of speeches by Jim Bolger, the National prime minister from 1990 to 1997.

In a 2012 interview, Pita is quoted as saying he was �mischievous, smoking and fighting� at school in Thailand, prompting his father to send his then 12-year-old son �to study in New Zealand � to go away and be a good boy�. In a separate interview he complained that there wasn�t much to do in New Zealand, �only nature and sheep�, and that cigarettes could not be bought by those under 18. During his time in the Waikato, his �rowdy� side was tempered by tasks including �picking strawberries, delivering milk, cycling and delivering newspapers�.

He lived with a farming family near Hamilton, according to a speech he gave to the New Zealand Thai Centre in 2019. The role of television, and its shortage of options, in early 90s New Zealand, clearly left its imprint. �When I was a 12- and 13-year-old in New Zealand, they only had three TV channels,� he said. �I still remember watching prime minister Jim Bolger at that time debate in parliament. I also vividly remember that New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote in 1893.�

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/15-05-2023/how-nz-telly-and-jim-bolger-inspired-the-man-on-the-brink-of-becoming-thai-pm

# ? May 15, 2023 09:42

Weka: May 5, 2019; That child totally had it coming. Nobody should be able to be out at dusk except cars.

We liberalized some folks.

# ? May 15, 2023 11:56

StashAugustine: Mar 24, 2013; Do not trust in hope- it will betray you! Only faith and hatred sustain.

Look if you've still got a reactionary monarchy bourgeois liberals are an improvement

# ? May 15, 2023 13:01

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

https://apnews.com/article/thailand-election-results-prayuth-shinawatra-opposition-53a21e086749fe4f7fc7643f6781da46

quote:

Candidates are handicapped by constitutional rules crafted by the military government to restrain political parties with populist appeals from taking root and upending the long established conservative order.

The prime minister is elected by a joint session of the 500 members of the newly elected House and 250 senators, who were appointed by the military. The winner must secure at least 376 votes.

The Senate, a stalwart defender of the royalist order along with the army and the courts, voted unanimously for Prayuth in 2019, enabling him to overcome Pheu Thai�s first-place finish and form a coalition government.

There is a strong possibility that Pita will be seen as too radical by partner parties, and they will have to look for a more moderate candidate.

Pheu Thai�s Paetongtarn is the most popular choice of her party base. But her ties to her father Thaksin, with whom the military has never reconciled since ousting him in 2006, would make winning any support from the Senate difficult. One of Pheu Thai�s other candidates for prime minister, real estate magnate Srettha Thavisin, would stand a better chance in that case.

There are also fears the conservative elements in Thai politics would again employ what critics consider to be dirty tricks to keep a hold on power. Since Thaksin�s fall, they have repeatedly use the courts and so-called independent state agencies such as the Election Commission to repeatedly resort to controversial legal rulings to cripple or sink political threats from opponents. Such efforts would likely stir up vigorous street protests.

�Is the form of coalition that Pita proposed, with 309 seats, stable enough? In a democratic world, it�s the most stable. But in a world of half-dictatorship that has the Senate as an important variable, Move Forward must lever the Senate with the people�s voices,� Pinkaew Laungaramsri, a professor of anthropology at Chiang Mai University, said.

# ? May 15, 2023 15:38

Badger of Basra: Jul 26, 2007

is there actually a possibility the appointed senators wouldn�t just all vote as a bloc? seems crazy to me

# ? May 15, 2023 16:21

C-Euro: Mar 20, 2010; Soiled Meat

SJY is there any smoke to the rumor that my wife once mentioned in passing of Rama IX having his brother Rama VIII assassinated back in the day, or is that the Thai equivalent of a JFK assassination theory in the US?

# ? May 15, 2023 16:41

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# ? May 4, 2024 05:01

really queer Christmas: Apr 22, 2014

What opponents call "dirty tricks" such as election manipulations, coup de etats, and martial law

# ? May 15, 2023 16:57

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > THAILAND ELECTION 2018 MAGATHREAD!!

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