Democrat Party: When you can't win elections at the polling booth

The Democrat Party's legal expert yesterday filed a petition with the Election Commission (EC) asking it to recommend that the Constitution Court dissolve the Pheu Thai Party for allowing banned politicians to take part in its election campaign.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Democrat-seeks-Pheu-Thai-dissolution-30159882.html

The outgoing ruling party asked the Election Commission to recommend that the rival Puea Thai Party, which won the July 3 general election, be disbanded on the grounds that banned politicians were involved in its election campaign.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/246108/

Corruption at its worst: Democrats using Public Purse to Promote Party Propaganda

The Nation


As chairman of the publicity team, it was PM's Office Minister Satit Wongnongtaey who decided to publicise the government's performance on the premier's birthday. In other words, Abhisit will be telling the public what they have gained from his government so far, and what they should expect in the future.

A performance report will be released on August 3 along with the launch of a month-long publicity campaign. One of the highlights of this campaign will be the free 15-year compulsory education that the government has implemented nationwide. The campaign will be publicised on newspapers, billboards, community radio stations and two books that will be distributed widely.

About 10,000 copies of the first book, "Six Months, 100 Measures, 10 Million Happiness", will be handed out to media, MPs and senators. As for the second book - an easy-to-read version titled "Stories from the Fence: Thai People's Happiness is the Government's Goal" - about 200,000 copies will be printed and distributed to the public through village funds, school libraries, universities and government banks.

Satit also boasted about the sufficiency community project, which includes community-initiated, community-run development funds.

During its six months in office, this government has already set up relief programmes for nine groups of people and business affected by the economic downturn, including senior citizens, workers, farmers, the poor and small- and medium-sized enterprises. As part of the five-measure relief package, some 35 million people have benefited from free electricity and 12 million people have been receiving free water supply.

Still, despite all this work, the Democrats may have forgotten that they are part of a coalition. Clearly, all the achievements being advertised seem to have come from Democrats. In fact, a minister from a coalition party was even heard mumbling that maybe this campaign should be called the "Democrat Party's achievements".


Is this even legal? The Democrats are using public money and public agencies to promote their own political agenda. Even if it is legal, it surely isn't ethical.

The Democrat Party apparatus is in full swing. They have the ISOC fascist propaganda in full swing, they have the state media and most of the private sector media in their pocket, and now they are using the power of their offices and state institutions to promote party activities.

And they still can't beat Thaksin who is languishing in a foreign country in exile!

Bangkok Pundit has blogged on the recent polls.

Democrats Live by the Sword of the PAD, Now Die by the Tactics of the PAD

Bloomberg:

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Massed ranks of Thai police failed to clear a path through anti-government demonstrators who are blocking parliament and preventing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva from delivering his policy address for a second day.

“The police may be able to open the way today, they will only use shields,” Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said in an interview with Channel 3 television. “The country is in urgent need of a functioning government.”

The blockade by thousands of red-shirted backers of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra presents Abhisit, 44, with his first dilemma since being voted by lawmakers into office on Dec. 15. Abhisit has vowed not to use violence to disperse the crowds, who are demanding that he quit and call immediate elections.

“The prime minister ordered us not to use force, such as tear gas,” Suthep said, adding that the policy address, which is required by the constitution, may again be delayed until tomorrow. “Negotiation has completely failed,” he said.

---

The pro-Thaksin demonstrators -- estimated at 9,000 by police -- laid siege to parliament yesterday, saying they would allow lawmakers to pass through only on foot. Still, Chai Chidchob, the parliamentary speaker, said that walking into the building presented an unacceptable security risk.

Abhisit’s policy address, which will contain details of his government’s planned program, must be presented by Jan. 7, the Bangkok Post reported today, without citing anyone. The government may ask for an extension to that deadline, it said.

Abhisit, leader of the Democrat Party, became prime minister after the former ruling pro-Thaksin People Power Party, or PPP, was disbanded earlier this month by the courts. Two pro- Thaksin administrations this year were hounded by yellow-shirted protesters from the so-called People’s Alliance for Democracy, which occupied the prime minister’s office and then Bangkok’s main airports.

The Democrats have nobody to blame but themselves. They have no credibility. They could have taken a strong stand against the illegal tactics of the PAD. Instead, they used the thuggish PAD tactics, the courts and the behind the scenes persuasiveness of the army to come to power. Now, they think the Reds should roll over for them, because they are cute Democrats with beautiful English accents and foreign degrees. Typical elitist mentality.

Funny, when Abhisit was in the opposition, he called for a dissolution of parliament to end the impasse. I doubt you will be hearing that from Abhisit now.

I don't think the Reds will hold out though. They don't have the deep pockets of the army, the bureaucracy, the big banks, Bangkok Chinese capitalists and other royalist higher ups to sustain their movement. And they certainly won't have the shameless propagandists at The Nation rooting for them. I'm sure they have a month's worth of "mob paid by Thaksin" columns already in the works.

Sopon was his typical hysterical lying self today.

New Kooky Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya Calls Shutting Airport Down "a lot of fun"

Bangkok airport protests were fun, says Thailand's new foreign minister


Telegraph

More than 350, 000 travellers were stranded three weeks ago when a few thousand demonstrators from the ultraroyalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) stormed the airport. Investor confidence has been badly shaken and analysts say that lost tourism business could cost 1 million jobs.

But Mr Kasit told an audience of astonished diplomats and foreign journalists on Friday that the protests were "a lot of fun".

"The food was excellent, the music was excellent," he explained.

Stranding hundreds of thousands of foreigners and Thais was excellent. Causing billions of baht of damage to the Thai economy was excellent. Illegally trying to overthrow the government and getting the foreign ministry in return was excellent.

---

Many observers believe that the PAD was able to conduct its protest with impunity, and help topple an electorally popular administration, because it enjoys backing from powerful anti-Thaksin elements in the army and the royal palace.

The army is responsible for airport security but did nothing to prevent demonstrators from hijacking one of Asia's most important aviation hubs.

It is widely reported that senior army figures were instrumental in persuading MPs to switch sides to the new coalition. Asked what role the army played in bringing his party to power Mr Kasit said, "I don't know".

The new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has promised to bring the PAD to justice. Yet, besides his pick for foreign minister being a prominent supporter of the group, one of PAD's top leaders is a prominent MP in Abhisit's Democrat party.

Marky Mark by his actions is proving what a phony he is to the entire world. In terms of a corrupt cabinet, business as usual. In terms of taking orders from above, busines as usual.

Dr Pasuk Phongpaicit of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn university said, "It can't be denied that the PAD was instrumental in bringing the Democrats to government. So I think we are going to be disappointed with what this government will do about enforcing the rule of law with respect to the PAD and its activities." Foreign Minister Kasit berated Western diplomats and the foreign media for not being more sympathetic to the PAD's cause.

No shit.

I can't believe this idiot will be the face of Thailand to the world.

TC is right. This cabinet is a horror show. Abhisit is a joke, a liar, and a prisoner.

Democrats and the PAD

Bloomberg:

Korn, the prime minister’s former classmate at Oxford University, becomes part of a cabinet lineup that reflects their Democrat Party’s links with violent demonstrators who seized the airports in a bid to oust the former ruling party. Abhisit, elected prime minister in a parliamentary vote on Dec. 15, gave about half the 36 cabinet seats to smaller coalition partners who account for 31 percent of seats in his five-party government.

It will be “extremely difficult” for the Democrat Party to disassociate from the People’s Alliance for Democracy, which led a 193-day campaign to oust the former government comprised of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s allies, said Chris Baker, a Bangkok-based political analyst.

Anti-Thaksin Struggle

“The People’s Alliance is given immunity to do many things,” he said. “They think they can run riot, and they will.”

Along with Abhisit, Korn visited protesters after they seized the prime minister’s office in August, referring to them as “heroes” in a local newspaper column. Calling himself “a PAD sympathizer,” Korn wrote that the demonstrators were “pure in their beliefs” and called their actions “the seed of true democracy.”

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, a former ambassador to the U.S., spoke on the People’s Alliance stage at Suvarnabhumi Airport during the eight-day seizure, and his wife provided food and medical supplies to protesters. He said the economic damage from the airport closure was “Thaksin’s and the government’s fault.”

I always thought Korn was a douche bag, but it was expected that Abhisit's university buggering partner would get kicked upstairs after months of propagating for the PAD in the Bangkok Post.

What is more troubling is the choice of Kasit. I don't know how any foreign power can believe a word that comes out of his mouth. I don't know can he look anybody in the eye and truthfully say that the airport closure was "Thaksin's fault."

More on Kasit here.

Deconstructing Korn Chatikavanij: Shameless Liar

2009 budget in desperate need of overhaul


KORN CHATIKAVANIJ


Bangkok Post

Excerpt:

Politics was heading to a dead-end we Thais have become all too familiar with - and we were hoping that bringing the conflict into Parliament would help ease tensions.

We also felt that the government was veering dangerously towards the wrong direction and hopefully the debate would lead to changes that would allow for some semblance of order.

Up to the point of Khun Abhisit's telephone call we, and the Senators who had filed a separate motion, were being shunned by the government and hence feeling increasingly frustrated. Whilst the change of heart on the part of the government was a surprise, it was also welcome.

This debate was always going to be different. Previous no-confidence debates were ones that involved exposure of specific cases of corruption. Our lack of confidence in this government, however, had more to do with their complete neglect in the management of the economy. Crucially, we were also specifically worried about the cabinet resolution approving the agreement the Foreign Ministry had signed together with Cambodia regarding the request by the Cambodian government to file Khao Phra Viharn as a World Heritage Site.

The way the approval was requested has probable implications to our territorial and sovereignty claims over the temple and surrounding area. Furthermore, there were at least circumstantial reasons for us to believe that the Foreign Minister's decision-making could have had something to do with his previous role in serving Thaksin Shinawatra's personal interests.

Mr Thaksin is openly seeking business opportunities in Cambodia and the inexplicable position the Thai government has taken can only be understood in the context of collusion or utter incompetence.

The key now is how to backtrack away from the joint communique signed by Noppadon Pattama and supported by a cabinet resolution. We are in the process of seeking legal recourse, which hopefully will lead to the prevention of a possible loss of sovereignty.

It is a strange feeling for a public servant to actually be in defence of national territory - it all seems surreal and yet the implication of the government's action is real enough and, personally, I believe that if they remain intransigent, they will not be able to survive.

The Democrats just can't resist spouting right-wing lies and propaganda. Thailand is not losing any territory or sovereignty because of the joint communique. Neither the temple nor the territory belongs to Thailand.

The reserved rights argument is total and utter bullshit.

And what does Thaksin's business interests have to do with a temple that already belongs to Cambodia and will always belong to Cambodia? Nothing.

The fact that the Democrats have to resort to such outlandish propaganda really demonstrates their weakness as a party. Their party motto should be: When all else fails, wrap yourself in the flag and beat the drums of Bang Rajan.

It will replace their former party motto: Support military coups when you can't win elections party.

Censor Happy Democrats

List of 29 controversial websites

The Nation

Democrat assistant secretarygeneral MP Thepthai Senpong Tuesday revealed the 29 websites with content deemed harmful to the monarchy.

He said the first five listed websites were extremely damaging as they were aimed at toppling the monarchy. The other 24 websites were negligent in keep an eye on content and comments posted on their websites.

1. www.youtube.com/StopleseMajeste

2. www.2519me.com

3. http://hellosiam.blogspot.com

4.http://rukchard.blogspot.com

5. http://chakridynasty.googlepages.com

6. http://www.midnightuniv.org/

7. http://www.sameskybooks.org/

8. http://www.prachatai.com/05/th/home/

9. http://www.newskythailand.com

10.http://www.chupong.net/

11. http://www.sapaprachachon.blogspot.com/

12. http://www.pccthai.com/web2/

13. http://www.datopido.newsit.es/

14. http://www.serichon.com/

15. http://www.Sapaprachachon.org/index.thml

16. http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p73/nicolejung99/?

17. http://www.weloveudon.net/

18. http://www.mvnews.net/home.php

19. http://www.cptradio.com/

20. http://www.thaipeoplevoice.org/

21. http://www.nationsiam.com/frontpage/Itemid,1/

22. http://www.arayachon.org/

23. http://www.siamreview.net/

24. http://www.warotah.blogspot.com/

25. http://www.killerpress.wordpress.com/

26. http://www.gunner2007.wordpress.com/

27. http://www.tltglobal.com/web/

28. http://thaijournalistdemocraticfront.com/

29.http://www.secondclass111.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

I think it is important to have this documented, so I am just republishing it in case they disappear into the web universe without a trace. Also, we can keep track of what is being censored by the government.

Deconstructing Tulsathit Taptim: Democrats, Party of Losers

PPP sympathy card working well despite Samak

Tulsathit Taptim

The Nation


Tulsie, in typical Nation fashion, has got the analysis all wrong in his column:


What has gone wrong for the Democrats, who, according to the survey, will win fewer than 130 seats? It's more about nothing having improved for them rather than the party making any mistakes. The situation now looks very much like when they lost a Bangkok gubernatorial election in the mid-1980s to Chamlong Srimuang, who elected to play a sympathy card and stuck with it to the very end to devastating effect.

It's fair to say that if the PPP's sympathy card will lead to a landslide success, it will be in spite of Samak, not because of him. His brutal outspokenness may be charming to some, but it's easier for arrogance to backfire. If the PPP wins the general election, only one conclusion can be drawn: Thaksin Shinawatra's clout and popularity remain impregnable. In many northeastern constituencies, it has been a clear-cut case of poor men campaigning to help their "champion".

From most polls and estimates so far, the PPP stands to sweep at least 170 seats. Optimistic projections raise the number up to the vicinity of 200. This means the Democrats require a very strong alliance with the other key players if they want to make Samak leader of the biggest opposition party in Thai history.

The problem, as far as the Democrats are concerned, is that a resounding PPP triumph will unshackle the likes of Banharn Silapa-acha. The Chart Thai leader will no longer be bound by the unspoken you-can't-support-Thaksin rule. Banharn may be condemned by some academics, but his constituents won't even care. On Monday, Samak gave this blatantly honest message to Banharn: "The Democrats won't give you the prime minister's post, and I won't, either. But will it be nicer to join someone who never dug up dirt on your ancestors?"

The best the Democrats can do is gun for a close runners-up spot, which will give them considerable legitimacy to compete with the PPP to become the core of the post-election coalition government.

And under current circumstances, it's a must for the Democrats to win impressively in the capital. If they lose to the PPP in Bangkok or merely edge Samak's party in the city, such legitimacy will simply be out of reach.

One may argue that attaching so much importance to how Bangkok votes is unfair. But the point here is that the Democrats don't have much to gain if they dominate the capital - but they have everything to lose otherwise. The PPP, on the other hand, has nothing to lose if it concedes the capital, but will have everything to gain if it manages to grab half of the cake.

Democrat insiders are saying that the most the party can withstand is letting the PPP win one-third of Bangkok seats. Anything more than that, and Thailand's oldest party most likely will have to sit in the opposition bloc once again.

1. This analysis is Soponesque in its idiocy. There is no way a party can win a landslide victory based upon the sympathy vote. I sure would love to read the polls that The Nation have done that have given him this crazy idea.

2. There is no way that more than half the Thai polity is uniform in a belief that they are voting for PPP because Thaksin is their champion. Again, I would love to read that poll.

3. You can't do serious political analysis based upon "well, the Democrats will lose, and it is all because of Thaksin populism."

4. Samak would have been a political nobody had it not been for the Democrats supporting him for governor of Bangkok back in 2001.

5. In the last senatorial elections, Samak won with an overwhelming landslide in Bangkok. Like him or not, he has a constituency outside of being a Thaksin lackey.

Let us be frank, shall we: The Democrat Party is a regional party. It is the party of the south. And it is the party of a handful of intellectuals in Bangkok. It has never been a majority party.

When has the Democrat Party ever been a serious competitor? Or a dominant political force?

The fact is that the Democrats have had the opportunity for a long time to do something different. They were in political exile for 6 years during the Thaksin administration.

What did they do? Boycott elections, complain, wring their hands, put Banyat into power.

While Thaksin was in power, they could have built relationships at the local level all over Thailand.

They could have built think tanks, they could have thought long-term, they could have acted like a shadow government, they could have proposed alternatives to Thaksinocracy and Thaksinomics, they could have reconfigured their marketing strategy and field operations.

Instead, they said, "We are Democrats, we are cute, we are clever, and we won't change our losing strategy, because we are Democrats and entitled to power without having to earn it."

Hate Thaksin, love Thaksin or indifferent to Thaksin, that doesn't change the fact that Thaksin at least had a viable plan to transform the political landscape of Thailand.

He had a strategy other than "I am cute, smart and clever." Thaksin had a strategy and he put policies in place to win.

Some Thaksin haters will say, "Thaksin had lots of money. He could do what he wanted because he bought off every vote. The Democrats were not competitive because they refused to be corrupt."

Well, what I find interesting is that the Democrats never made the effort to bring to the public eye all of this corruption. They could have monitored the elections, exposed all the corruption, made sure that the elections were free and fair by putting party operatives in place to take pictures of all this vote buying and selling going on. They could have gone to the EC and the media. They could have used the checks and balances mechanisms under the 1997 Constitution to uncover Thaksin's corruption.

Politically, they could have presented a viable alternative vision to what was happening during the Thaksin years. In fact, they can still do that.

Instead, what did they do? Complain, wring their hands, boycott elections, and support a coup because they couldn't win.

Now, they are about to lose again, and the conventional wisdom is not that the Democrats are incompetent and have always been incompetent in running political campaigns, but rather PPP will win because of sympathy for Thaksin.

Maybe it is time that Tulie start analysing why the Democrats are always losing rather than make up some idiotic theory about sympathy for Thaksin.

Time Magazine: Is Abhisit Vejjajiva Thailand's Next Leader?

By Hannah Beech

Meet the idealist who may well become Thailand's next Prime Minister. As head of Thailand's oldest political party, the Democrats, Abhisit has emerged as an early front-runner in elections slated for December. Yet history has taken an ironic twist for the now 43-year-old politician. The upcoming polls are the handiwork of the very military whose overthrow spurred Abhisit's political passions more than three decades ago. After deposing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless army coup last September, Thailand's ruling junta promised to restore democracy by the end of this year. Now that the new constitution overseen by the generals has won a 58% approval rating in a referendum on Aug. 19, the junta appears committed to carrying out its pledge to hold elections by year's end. But Thaksin, who has been charged with corruption, is in exile, living mostly in London, while top members of his Thai Rak Thai Party have been banned from politics after a junta-appointed tribunal convicted them of electoral fraud in May. That leaves the Democrats in their strongest position since losing power to Thaksin back in 2001. Hardly a cocky politician, Abhisit is predicting success in December. "I believe that democracy will reward the Democrats," he says with a bashful grin.

link


Let's see: The Democrats couldn't win two elections last year: they boycotted the first election because they knew they would lose and then gleefully supported the the military coup before the election scheduled in October because they knew they would lose again.

Abhisit is a joke. He doesn't stand for democracy. He hates democracy and his record is clear on the subject. Not only that, as far as public policy goes, besides supporting boycotts, coups and conspiracy theories, I still don't know what the Democrat Party platform is.

My prediction is that unless the Democrats ally themselves with a general's party, which will have the full force of the state backing it, they will lose again.

Democrats New Policy Slogan Is "People Come First"-- Right After the Interests of Military And Their Campaign Contributors

Democrat: People come first

Bangkok Post

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva pledged Saturday to push forward several major party policies under a ''People Come First'' platform.

The Democrats are so original that they are recycling their campaign slogans from the past. Actually, they are stealing Bill Clinton's slogan from his 1992 presidential campaign, which was "Putting People First."

So far, I haven't heard what these "major party policies" are, but I am sure Nong Mark will be sure to outline them for us specifically. Let us look below.

During the annual party caucus, Mr. Abhisit pledged to help restore democratic rule by endorsing the newly-drafted constitution and urging eligible voters to go to the polls which his Democrat Party will contest.

How does Mark restore democratic rule by endorsing the military's constitution? I don't get it. One has to wonder if next time there is a government that the Democrats don't like and can't beat in legitimate elections, it will support democracy by boycotting the election again and then come out for a coup that overthrows the legitimate government, considering that is what underpinned its former "restoring democracy" policy.

The military, which had staged last year's coup to oust former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, are bound to return to their barracks after democratic rule has returned to the country, the Democrat leader said.

This what the Democrats said after the 1991 coup and the 1997 Constitution was put into effect.

Mr. Abhisit said he did not believe the private sector should necessarily take care of the poor, but said the national economy will not improve unless the people's economy and well-being have been restored in the first place.

Now, if Nong Mark said this, he really is an idiot, but I think the problem is with the editing of this article rather than with what he said. If there is video of this speech, I would like to see it.

I have a couple questions: What is the people's economy and well-being? And what does that have to do with the national economy? Even for a politician, this language is particular weasly and incoherent.

In addition, Mr. Abhisit vowed to push for economic recovery so that the poor earn higher income, especially the farmers who have been feeding the world with their farm products and food.

How does this observation translate into public policy? Which policies would give farmers higher income? Thankfully, Mark didn't say "sufficiency economy" was the panacea for all of the farmer's problems. However, my feeling is that Mark will propose Thaksin-like "populist programs" and call it sufficiency economics.

Rural, poverty-stricken areas throughout the country should top government priorities for economic restoration projects, he said.

What does an economic restoration project look like?

The impoverished people should be entitled to optimum benefits from varied, cost-effective investment schemes while irrigation projects should be developed to cover wider farmland in remote areas than today and industries and service businesses should be strengthened.

Yes, more weasly political language that is meaningless.

Thailand's high logistics costs involving the transport of goods should be substantially reduced, he said. For instance, goods from the northeastern and southern regions of the country should have direct access to export markets, such as an Andaman Sea port for the South and a double railroad system for the Northeast.

I seriously doubt that Mark will go after the transportation and customs ministries, which are the two most corrupt departments in the Thai government, in order to reduce logistics costs.

I don't like to make predictions, but I am going to predict right now that transportation and customs will fall under the authority of coalition members who will have the king making power to make or break Abhisit's government. Ergo, he is not going to do anything about the high cost of logisitics and will turn a blind eye to his corrupt allies making corruption money off transportation projects. So, in the end, the problems will only get worse.

The Democrat leader said he will push for human resources and educational development projects and see to it that people in all parts of the country, especially those in the southernmost provinces, stop from harming one another and begin to co-exist in peace.

What human resources and education development projects? Is he going to go after the corrupt education ministry? Will he raise teacher's standards?

I love his last public policy proposal for the problems in the South. Do nothing significent and hope for the best.

One has to wonder how long Thailand will last with politicians who speak in flowery language, do nothing significant except look like big shots and sustain their big shot status, turn a blind eye to rampant corruption under their noses, and continue to allow the structural problems of the country to fester.


Addendum:

In the Bangkok Post, Abhisit is either a fool or a liar if he really said this:


At the first party gathering on Friday, Mr Abhisit said that Thailand had never experienced a worse political divide and worse economic crisis than it is now facing. And never ever was the country in need of a stable and resourceful leader who is ready to learn the lessons of past mistakes who is also ethical, he said.


Off the top of my head, I can name at least 5 different crises in Thai history that were worse than the current crisis.


1. Overthrow of the absolute monarchy when the People's Party hunted down the royalists and murdered them one by one. And this was during the Great Depression!!

2. World War 2

3. Assassination of King Ananda

4. The reign of Plaek

5. The reign of Sarit

6. The reign of Thanom/Prapat--73 crisis

7. 1976 crisis


I guess Mark didn't read much Thai history while studying in the UK.

Bangkok Post's In Print: A Thai Rath Writer's Take on the Democrat Party's Blatant Hypocrisy

In Print


KAMOL HENGKIETISAK


Bangkok Post


The Democrat party of old was known for its institution and ideals, noted a Thai Rath writer.

The Democrat reputation is not only due to its being oldest established party in the country, it was earned because of its periodical clashes with military dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. The party's founders had to fight hard to create an image that the Democrat party was synonymous with democracy. Whoever was against democracy, the Democrat party would oppose.

However, that was the past. The present Democrat party is a different animal, said the writer, judging by its reaction to the 19 September coup. It can be said that the Democrat party is little different from the Chart Thai party, which also voiced no opposition to the coup that toppled the Thaksin Shinawatra administration.

Council for National Security Chairman Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin said that 2-3 parties would form the next coalition government. It can be interpreted that the Democrat party will be one of those core parties after the upcoming general election in December.

Such remarks from the coup leader may be a reason why the Democrat party's attitude is friendly toward the CNS. This is normal, as it is human nature to consider self interests above ideals. Their coming to power would not be possible if the Thai Rak Thai party had not been dissolved.

Thai Rath then asked if the future Democrat party would still accept a military coup, the revoking of the constitution and the organisation of a general election under a junta's supervision?

Would the Democrat party accept the coup leader appointing an Assets Scrutiny Committee to probe the wealth of Democrat politicians, freezing the assets of the Democrat prime minister and his family, and issuing a decree that is retroactively enforceable?

Since the the Democrat party in the future may be the cause of divisiveness in the country, the future coup leaders may resort to legal means to dissolve the party and pave way for the future opposition parties to enter a new general election, giving no chance for the Democrat party to fight back.

Well, we know the Democrats could have never beat Thai Rak Thai legitimately, which is why they backed the coup.

The Democrat Party will always be a minority party, because its leadership is lazy and incompetent. Abhisit just wants to spout off vacuous statements about this and that without actually doing any policy formulation. The Democrats have had six years to prepare for competitive elections. What have they done differently? What does it stand for? The answer is nothing. The Democrats are a great opposition party and have some smart people in the mix, but they don't know how to govern.

Thai Rak Thai won elections because they had a comprehensive strategy to win that went beyond the traditional canvassing methods. Of all the Thaksin fans that I have talked to, the thing they liked about him the most was that he proposed something and he did it. Some of his policies were kooky and embarrassing, but at least he was a man of action. I can name at least five of Thai Rak Thais old policies and a couple of their campaign slogans. For the Dems, nothing comes to mind at all.

Apirak has been mayor of Bangkok for four years or so. And he is the Democrats highest elected leader. What has he done that has been impressive? Nothing. Bangkok still looks like and smells like the same old shithole. The quality of life certainly hasn't improved.

And I absolutely agree with the sentiments of this writer. If the Democrats were the ones who were ousted, they would be screaming bloody murder about the military. But, now, unfortunately, they have decided to collude with the generals in the name of political expediency because they are incapable of winning elections.

Democrats: We Support Overthrowing Thaksin Undemocratically, We Support Military Juntas, We Don't Support An Unelected PM

CONSTITUTION

CNS general backs law for unelected PM

The Nation

Sonthi denies interference as opposition lashes out at 'undemocratic' proposal

A Council for National Security (CNS) member yesterday backed the idea of leaving the option open in the new constitution for a non-elected person to become prime minister.

General Somjet Boonthanom, head of the CNS Secretariat, said he believed the proposal, raised during the constitution drafters' brainstorming session last week, was aimed at preventing a political deadlock similar to one ahead of last September's coup.

"This should be a good way out. The 1997 constitution provided no such exit and that led to a constitutional dead-end," the general said. "There were calls for a royally-appointed prime minister. And when there was really no way out, political changes by the military took place."

His viewpoint echoed the arguments by supporters of the proposal, which included Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) chairman Prasong Soonsiri.

Now, it makes sense that the generals would want an unelected prime minister to do their bidding.


But just like The Nation, the Democratic Party of Thailand can't resist to voice their hypocrisy as well.

Democrat Party spokesman Ongart Klampaiboon said yesterday that the public had struggled to have an elected PM, which had also led to bloodshed in May 1992.

"The spirit of the fight has continued and this proves that the power of people is above any other power. It is the most important democratic principle that the leader must be elected by the people and not those who have never offered themselves for public consideration," he said.

The Democrats are in bed with the junta, and will probably end up leading a coalition government with the junta's blessing, yet they deride the concept of an unelected prime minister. Isn't this the party that was calling for royal intervention to depose Thaksin and install an unelected PM at the height of the political crisis last year with the other so-called PAD democrats?