Excerpt from Suthichai Yoon's:

Thai talk: PM's shocking confession: I used to be bad

The Nation

Reporters at Government House just let PM Surayud Chulanont off the hook too easily. They should have squeezed a full confession from the premier. This must be the first time that the "reluctant, gentleman prime minister" even remotely suggested that he wasn't such a good man after all.

How are we supposed to know if Surayud is good or not when The Nation has refused to do any investigative reports on him?

By the way, aren't Nation reporters covering GH? Suthichai is basically admitting that his own news operation sucks.

Was he admitting to some wrong deeds that had never come to light?

We will never know, will we, because Suthachai is a worthless editor who cares more about the spotlight than the actual profession of journalism.

Or was he simply reacting (with a touch of sarcasm) to the motion by a group of 26 legislators demanding to grill him on his overall performance and his personal ownership of Khao Yai Tiang - a piece of land in a hilly resort - whose acquisition might have been somewhat questionable?

Of course, The Nation never did an investigation into Surayud's assets. Just like it won't do any investigation into Sonthi's assets or the assets of any "unusually wealthy" general.

Or was he feeling somewhat vulnerable because at least eight of his Cabinet members have been found by the Assets Examination Committee to be holding more than 5 per cent of stocks in some private firms - raising the conflict of interest question (although this is technically not a violation under the new constitution).

Why is this idiot asking these questions when he should be providing the answers?

It's not clear who wants him out of office at this time - or who would take over the top executive post if he should decide to throw in the towel at the last minute just to confirm that he never wanted the position in the first place.

It is not clear because the worthless Thai media won't dare to ask these questions to the top political principles. Speculation, innuendo is all we get from the The Nation.

Of course, if you lend any credence to the conspiracy theory being bandied about, then you would cast a suspicious eye at Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the coup-leader, who quit on Monday as chairman of the Council of Security Council (CNS) before being named deputy premier the next day.

Why doesn't he name the conspiracy theorists so the audience can determine if their words have credibility?

It's too mind-boggling and far-fetched for me, but the conspiracy theorists have come up with the suggestion that Sonthi may want to ease out Surayud so he can oversee the December 23 election - his goal being to make sure that the old power clique led by ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra doesn't make a comeback through the electoral process.

Putting his flip flops on in the morning is probably too mind-boggling for Suthichai.

The story, of course, is fairly juicy. It's the kind of speculative stuff that keeps the rumour-mill busy. But you have to hear enough conspiracy stories to balance things out. Other gossip has it that the group of law-makers who are moving for a censure debate against PM Surayud (and presumably leaning towards Gen Sonthi) also wants to postpone the election date to allow the anti-Thaksin groups more time to fight the battle. You can't believe one story without pooh-poohing the other.

Is Suthichai a gossip columnist or an editor in chief of a major metropolitan media group?

Obviously, he has chosen to be a gossip columnist. But what else is new?