News from Thailand – February 1, 2015
This page contains a selection from the Thai news. We list headlines from major news sources including: Bangkok Post, The Nation, ThaiPBS, MCOT, etc.
There is a web link behind the news items. When you click on it you can read the full article at the English source.
News from Thailand – February 1, 2015
The Nation opens today with the article by US chargé d'affaires Patrick Murphy was invited by Thailand's Foreign Affairs Committee to comment on Deputy Secretary Daniel Russel's comment that Yingluck's impeachment was "politically motivated." This statement by Russell is the junta shot down the wrong throat. Murphy must also explain whether the rumor is correct that embassy employees wanted to speak or have spoken to red shirt leaders. Kitti Wasinont, vice-chairman of the committee thinks such a meeting is detrimental to the current political situation in Thailand. She does add that the existing relationship between Thailand and the US is not under pressure: http://goo.gl/HO8AR6
– In The Nation further attention is paid to a Thai film that won a prize at the Rotterdam film festival. Thai filmmaker Jakrawal Nilthamrong has won a Tiger Award plus a cash prize of €15.000 with his film 'Vanishing Point'. The Tiger Award is an incentive prize for starting filmmakers. The movie of Jakrawal is about two completely different men who each change their lives in their own way: http://goo.gl/0Re1KM
– An accident involving a pick-up truck left three dead and two injured. The pickup went off the road on Saturday afternoon as the occupants were on their way to Doi Inthanon in Chiang Mai: http://t.co/Fj9qmrhLQf
– A depressed Chinese tourist (46) tried to commit suicide on Phuket by cutting her own throat with a kitchen knife: http://t.co/aBAmngDnus
– Burglars on Phuket target expat homes. On January 10, three houses of expats were already visited by burglars, now it was hit again at a British expat (54). Money, a passport, credit card and an iPhone were stolen: http://t.co/2GDbafjz3t
– An American accused of kidnapping and extortion is fighting his extradition to Thailand. The suspect would have a business conflict with another American who lives on Phuket and has ties to high-ranking Thai: http://t.co/AOSdOZwvED
– Yesterday a fire broke out in a locomotive of the luxury Eastern Oriental Express (see photo). The train had 200 tourists on board, but no one was injured. The fire started shortly after the train left Kanchanaburi station: http://t.co/9OGm2keVyW
– You can read more current news on the Twitter feed of Thailandblog.nl: twitter.com/thailand_blog
U.S. Chargé d'affaires Patrick Murphy has been "invited" (political phrase for "call on") by the Thai Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee to "explain" the remark by Deputy Secretary Daniel Russell (of the US) that the impeachment of Yingluck is 'politically motivated'.
Of course Yingluck's impeachment is politically motivated. After all, a politician cannot be prosecuted for political decisions. Yingluck came to power through "democratic" elections. This power has been undemocratically taken from her by the military. Without a formal impeachment she cannot be tried and without a trial she cannot be excluded from politics and/or elections. For the military it is a divide and rule policy, so Yingluck should be impeached so that she can be tried (by junta-willing judges) and by barring political activity she is not an immediate threat to the junta. But that will not allay the dissatisfaction among the population. It is an illusion of the junta that by silencing Yingluck the opposition can be silenced. AMAZING THAILAND!
In Thailand it is an open secret that the Americans draw the Shinawatra card. After all, there are parallel interests.
Trouwens wat de Amerikanen doen is een inmenging in de binnenlandse politiek van een ander land. Is trouwens (en terecht) bij de Junta leider in het verkeerde keelgat geschoten. De Amerikanen beseffen nog niet dat hun politieke en economische invloed in Azie, niet veel belang meer heeft. Voor Thailand zijn trouwens hun banden met de Asean partners veel belangrijker, en van die partners heeft niemand negatieve geuit op de Coup.
Also China; Z. Korea and Japan did not either . By the way, this week Prayuth is leaving for Japan, where he is very welcome.
Dear Henry,
What then is the public secret on which the Americans draw the Shinawatra card?
So what are those parallel interests?
Such statements must be properly substantiated.
How to “meddle in the internal politics of another country?
In my opinion, Daniel Russel's remark falls under freedom of expression in a democratic constitutional state. I agree with you that political interference from another country in general should not happen. General, but there are many, many exceptions.
You are apparently very junta-minded in that you believe that the challenged statement has rightly gone down the wrong way with the junta. It is also absurd to state without motivation that the Americans' political and economic influence in Asia no longer has much importance. Whatever the truth of that, which I deny, has nothing to do with the correctness of the statement. Is an American government member not allowed to express an opinion? We (you and I) also give our opinion, don't we?
The fact that a government in one of the ASEAN countries did not react negatively to the military coup is not only incorrect, but also says nothing about the legality of the coup.
Dear Henry .
To explain it one more time.
Thailand is not a democracy, and neither are most of the surrounding countries, including China.
But if relations between the USA and TH cooled to freezing point .
Then the relationship between Myanmar and the USA will only get better.
And where is the future, certainly also for tourism in Thailand or Myanmar.
We will know in a few years , but I will put my cards on Myanmar .
And why do the Americans draw the Shinawatra card ???
Waarom is Shinawatra nog steeds populair in vele delen delen van Thailand en niet alleen in het noorden .
Have you ever thought about that .
And why is that now so-called monk Suthep not in jail .
Just let them walk.
Thailand bestaat uit twee groepen die elkaar niet kunnen luchten of zien .
The yellow group of the ruling elite , and the red group of the flat ordinary people .
Once the genie actually comes out of the bottle , or maybe better said once it gets so hot in the cauldron that the lid flies off .
We zijn er nog lang niet , de echte strijd moet nog gestreden worden .
Jan Beute.
That there would have been no negative reactions from the ASEAN partners is not surprising, Henry. With members such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, Myanmar and Singapore – all with a completely authoritarian regime – there is actually no right to speak………
As an American chargé d'affaires you don't let yourself be called to account by someone who came to power in an undemocratic way. It doesn't surprise me that China has no problems with that. That has been a dictatorship for years. Maybe the next North Korea and then Putin.
Can they all get along well?
J Jordan.
Dear J. Jordan,
It is customary in diplomatic traffic for an ambassador to be summoned to explain certain events between two countries/governments. This is completely normal and desirable. It gives both countries the opportunity to express their views. It also has nothing to do with a government's political "preference".
De gelijklopende belangen zij vooal Geo politiek en militair , onder andere de Olie en gasvelden in de Golf of Siam, de verkoop van U-Tapao airbase. de geheime CIA operaties en gevangenissen. en er zijn er nog een paar waarover ik gezien de wetgeving niet kan over uitweiden.
Now I have never claimed that Thailand is a democracy. But that is not a country where a president can be elected by 12% of the electorate.
further wants to paraphrase a saying that is more than a thousand years old
Of the Americans, Lord, spare us.
Because I don't know of any country in the world with such meddlesomeness that has caused so much misery. So the Americans had better keep quiet and first clean up the dung heaps they caused.
If the parallel interests you mentioned are so important to the US, then apparently that does not prevent the US from criticizing the junta. So that couldn't have played a role.
Democracy takes many forms, but they have one thing in common: “free speech.” That does not exist under dictatorships.
I'm not US minded. I too see that under some presidents (such as Johnson, Nixon and Bush Jr.) the US took stupid, ill-considered military actions, the scope of which has been underestimated. Just look at Iraq as a great example. The first Gulf War (following the occupation of Kuwait) was justified, but that was the reason for my cousin's American husband to leave the US army. But that does not alter the fact that in some cases US military strength is needed, including for Europe and Asia. Just look at the former Yugoslavia. The fact that China never actually attacked Taiwan militarily is due to the military strength of the US. Often “meddling” from the US is enough to make certain rulers change their minds. That's the reality.
Thailand, under the junta, is straying from its fledgling democratic pace. The US has been critical of this since the day of the coup. The junta has made good intentions, but the facts are against it. Everything that the junta does not like is silenced. Martial law still exists. The constitution has been suspended, but laws that can be used to silence opponents have been left intact. Lèse majesté is used against opponents all the time and inappropriately. In fact, Thailand suffers from dictatorial censorship. And then governments of democratic countries should keep their mouths shut? It's not about Taksin, nor about Yingluck, it's about power, about divide and rule. In Thailand, the power lies with the military weapons, not the word.
Ik heb de Tweede Wereldoorlog niet meegemaakt. In mijn jonge jaren zei het mij niet zoveel. Maar naar de jaren verstreken werd ik steeds meer bewust van het feit dat zonder de VS ik niet in een democratie had kunnen leven.