What do you guys think about this coming election?
I dont heard any good policy from any parties ,what I heard from the media is more on the set up the party and the candidate move to other politicalparty. Kinda sick.

No more Prachathiphat party plzzzz!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzoPxs5Xn5I...feature=related

Amen to the candidate for the next PM

How come the party of Thaksin won so much support in this election?

Does this mean the people no longer support the Royal - military coup??

How come the party of Thaksin won so much support in this election?

Does this mean the people no longer support the Royal - military coup??

so who is the next PM?

In some what even Democrat win it also hard for them ,to deal w economic down fall. Whoever Thai goverment they all have hard time.
But the concern is what if this goverment is form to clean up Thaksin case ,in stead. Kinda un acceptable.

ok thx for the clarification..

i think u mustn't forget that the economic problems that Thaksin administration wrought on the economy was also exacerbated by the mis-steps committed by the junta backed government after his downfall.

so, definitely, Thailand's got to have a good economic maestro at its helm, but one that doesn't necessarily look inward in the interest of the coterie of royal supporters... and forget the plight of the rural areas. The populist schemes that Thaksin implemented such as the credit schemes and debt moratoriums. Altho they may look bad in the macro economic sphere, but in terms of the empowerment of the rural folks, don't u think it's a good thing in the long run? I mean if there was an accountable government in place, wouldn't such schemes help to uplift the rural poor up north?

From the few articles that i've read about Thai politics, when TRT party was in power, the governement was most effective run in history of Thailand. Wasnt Thailand debt free after he took power? I believe the world is watching Thailand closely because if democracy is a success there, it could spread to other SEA contries such as Burma, Laos and Vietnam even China too.

What contribute to household debt? was it his economic policy? it tells me that people spend more money than make that what it sounds like to me.

I think you guys are so close to having a real democracy in Thailand so i hope you guys dont abandon it now. In a real democracy you have to compromise and not everyone is going to get what they want.

You also have take into consderation that Thailand of today is vastly different from 30 yrs ago. You guys have alot of economic and military ties to the west so when you have internal political problems, the west will also try to get involved.

are you teaching me about what real democracy is? ROFL. In democratic country, a country leader doesn't remove diesel price subsidy, one of the most important economic fuel, just because he overspent the annual budget. He needs the kind of reason like er...war, famine, or maybe weird cataclysm that I never heard befelt upon Thailand. Stop fooling yourself in trying to tell other people what real democracy is, you 3 year old.

are you teaching me about what real democracy is? ROFL. In democratic country, a country leader doesn't remove diesel price subsidy, one of the most important economic fuel, just because he overspent the annual budget. He needs the kind of reason like er...war, famine, or maybe weird cataclysm that I never heard befelt upon Thailand. Stop fooling yourself in trying to tell other people what real democracy is, you 3 year old.

Yokie, i asked some you thai members on another thread already about what the definition of democracy is and nobody seemed to be able to give me one. I grew up here in America most of my life, you dont think i have any credibilty to talk about democracy you being the one living in a country that dont even know what it is yet. Explain to this 3 year old what a democracy is, please?

Werent you the one that said that the poor people in the northern region and Isaan shouldnt vote because they too uneducated to understand politics?

uhm..no I have never said anything like that. I may at times criticize the northerners and northeasterners for the fact that they would sell their voting right to the corrupt politicians, but I would never say that they shouldn't be allowed to vote. Although if you dig down into american history, back in 1800 only the rich and highly educated americans were allowed the voting right. Maybe america weren't as democratic as it is now. Maybe it's because wealth and resource allocation weren't distributed as equally as it is now. I don't farking know because I am thai, and not a farking american. But amerca was like that in the past, and it's that kind of past that leads america to be the forerunner of democracy in the world today.

For me, a country is truely democratic when people not only take their own interest but the country best interest into their consideration. If a country is led by people who only think of themselves, then sooner or sooner the country will break down. If you dont know what i'm talking about, go read about Prisoner's Dilemma in wikipedia.

are you teaching me about what real democracy is? ROFL. In democratic country, a country leader doesn't remove diesel price subsidy, one of the most important economic fuel, just because he overspent the annual budget.

Democracy here in the US is not cheap.

most working people have to pay about between 30-40%, i guestimating here, of their pay checks to the governement. Then we have property taxes and sales taxes to deal with and on top of that we pay various fees for for our automobiles. Now that isnt bad compares to what people in Canada and Europe where they pay about 50%.

As for the budget, alot of the tax money goes to military defense, social security( retirement fund for the elder and disabled), healthcare for the poor and elderly, education, roads and highway, assistance for the poor and on and on. But i think those are pretty much the big ticket items that i've mentioned.

Whe the goverment here promised to get us something new, it uaually means that they'll either raise taxes and fees or cut other programs to reallocate the money.

Is Thailand ready for a democracy?

dude, you don't live here. People, ton of people have thought of the solution before to get voted from the poor. But in reality, it has nothing to with policy maker or promised deals that were given to the poor. Most of the local politicians here have people who will vote for them no matter what. Even before an election, they already knew how much vote they are gonna get from the people at hand. The indiscrepancy, the undetermined factors are from people who have average income, because they can't be bought with little money. Do you know what kind of hobbies local politicians here do in thailand? They spend almost entire day and almost every single day to go to marriage or funeral ceremonies. They would either give the man and wife the wedding money or make a promise to the widows they would be helping them in every way they can. This is the way of Thailand, and it's been done for generations. It's almost like a general knowledge that is if you wanna be elected a prime minister, you reach out for the local politicians, you don't and would never be able to reach out for the people. If someone of the opposing side sees you do it, you would be threathen first and killed off later. And I mean it literally. It has nothing to do with poor people from north and northeast and average income people in central thailand fighting one another like you seem to think it is. Even in central thailand, local bangkok politicians have people under control who would go to vote for them regardless of anything. But the reason they didn't win is because the undetermined factors here in bangkok are greater.

That sounds pretty hopeless from you post, Yokie.I hope all Thai people dont think like you. What have you learned during your time here in the US to take back to your country to make it better?

So if all the politicians are corrupt, including the ones from the party that you support, why make a big fuzz about who gets elected?

In the country like US or Australia this federal idea wouldnt be a problem. However ,the problem on the Thailand rural area is the local politician. Once it come to the local politic as you seen in present "Or Bor Tor" อบต
1) The local mafia who enter to the local politic to gain his power ,without caring on the region benefit. Its happen in Thailand right now as you know.
2) The local politician who care only small benefit and do what ever to win the vote.
3) The local politician who use the local people support to negotiate with the justice system once they done wrong.

Well the goverment has to think about prevent these things before decentralized. Its long way to go ,I guest if Thailand able to implement federal system ,or some things look similar
With the current political situation ,the most possible time that decentralize would effect is in the next 15 years.

1. first because samak sundaravej the newly elected prime minister said that he would pardon all the crimes thaksin has made. He said if you elect samak, you get Thaksin. He sees himself as Thaksin's nominee, and doesn't mind to show it to the public. Thaksin was summoned by the court and has been refused to show up to fight against his charges saying he thinks the country was under dictatorship rule. And he refused to be judged by the court under dictatorship. He would come back only if his nominee samak sundaravej is elected prime minister. Do you need to have an american education to see through this piece of $hit?

2. I know that people feel hopeless, and I'm not ashame to say I feel hopeless about the current situation. but what do you want me to do? What you think the public can do about it?

3. because generally when corrupt politicians got caught, they usually either surrender the money or resign and never to show their faces in the public ever again. Thaksin is something of the opposite. He lied, cheated, got caught, and refused to accept the consequences. His action renders the public to feel hopeless about the justice system. Why do anybody need to live a clean life when the country's leader do something against the laws and can get away with it?

4. I am not the only person thinking this way. You seem to ignore other people's opinion around here unless they are not being so nice to you. here read aeroforce opnion about local politics.
http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?...t&p=3421874

1/ judge yokie wanabe, Thaksin has not found guilty yet, as for now he's innocent like a white paper. Majority of people voted for PPP, and Thaksin, so it pretty much tell you of how they feel. Thaksin will be back somewhere around April, 2008 to fight against his charges. people power, people power don't you see.

2/ some bangkokian feel hopeless, but not the rest of the country. Are you planing to support another coup ??

3/ judge yokie wanabe, let me repeat. Thaksin is accusing of corruption, kiledl the innocents, didn't make bangkokian happy, didn't admit of wrong doing. As for now, he's innocent buddy. If the minority group like you want to impose your belief on the majority; then you should start a coup, and name yourself the Dictator yokie of bangkoking.

4/ you're the minority thinker, over half of the population support PPP and thaksin, and that's the fact. true, true.

Blah blah, Talk all you want, but the fact is the country is no longer ruled by the coup. And Thaksin is no where to face the charge against him in the court. He even sent his wife to come to Thailand to face her own charges before himself. That tells me how much of a coward he is. oh sorry for talking poorly of your papa. Some innocent man he is for escaping court indictment.

You just proved my point judge yokie wanabe. His children will face trial, wife then himself. don't you see the logic ?????

Yokie, put yourslef in taksin's shoes for a minute, if you go to trial while the coup leader is in power you could possibly be put to death or wait til the political climate is calm then go back, which would you prefer? i you were smart, you would wait til later.

Have you not been reading the news that he was coming back in april?

I just dont know why they hate Taksin so bad for some of alleged little corruption that they think he committed but fail to give him credit for alot of the goods he's brought to the country. From what they've told us, the country is full of corruption anyway but the difference is Taksin wasnt part of the political elites so corruption case against him is made up to be bigger than necessary. Imagine if the US was to do criminal investigation of George Bush, they would've found that he misled the country in unnecessary war that cost the country $$trillion and cost over atleast 200,000-300,000 lives of US soldiers and Iragi civilians.