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Nirmal Ghosh
Thailand Correspondent
LIVE: Abhisit wins Thai PM vote
December 15, 2008 Monday, 01:02 PM
Nirmal Ghosh blogs on the ground outside Parliament House.
In Bangkok 11 am: Minutes after Abhisit Vejjajiva won the vote & became 27th Prime Minister of Thailand the few hundred red shirts outside the gates flew into a frustrated rage, crashing yellow street barriers against the gates of parliament and hurling debris at police inside the fence. MPs began exiting in cars thru a side gate at 11.30pm and cars were pelted with chunks of concrete as police struggled 2 clear a path. 11.50 am: It's lucky there are not more red shirts here. They are looking into cars to see who is in it and non-Puea Thai MPs are being mobbed, cars kicked and thumped, a big chunk of concrete crashed thru the rear window of 1 vehicle as it sped away. 1.00 pm: Puea Thai MPs are being given free passage. They have windows down and waving. Nasty attacks on non-puea thai -road littered with broken glass in the melee. 1.12 pm: A lot of the red shirts are women. Many of them are screaming and weeping hysterically. Police have reinforced and now form phalanx around the side gate to shield departing MPs. 1.38 pm: Red shirts now calling upon each other to gather at Sanam Luang. This is an outpouring of rage. Many motorcycle drivers using their Horns to make a racket. Men throwing pictures of Abhisit on the road and stamping on them. Still just short of around 500-odd though. We will have to wait and see what transpires at Sanam Luang. 1.40pm: The red shirts outside Parliament were giving free rides on motorcycles and taxis to anyone who wanted to go to Sanam Luang. But it is a hot day out there, and our gutsy intern Lee Xin En reports that the red shirts are sitting in the shade of the trees that fringe the sprawling ground. For Nirmal's full story, read tomorrow's edition of The Straits Times. Tags: politics, thailand 
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Andy:
So Thaksin's no angel. What you have written however reveals your self-centredness, it's simply a complaint about you rich people in Bangkok having to bear the burden of the tax write-offs.
You conveniently ignore PAD's thuggery that has hurt the whole nation.
You decry Thaksin's populist policies. Have you SEEN the grinding poverty of the Northeast? Poor rural people are struggling under the burdens of exploitative banks and crippling interest, corrupt officials, poor soil, and their poverty and lack of education, not to mention self-inflicted problems like alcoholism.
And you blather on about Bangkok taxpayers. How can rural farmers afford to pay taxes? That's precisely what progressive taxation is for: to redistribute wealth to where it is needed.
What makes you think you are the only one who knows anything about Thailand, Andy?
To Andy. You have brought up an EXCELLENT example of the differences between rich and poor, class and caste when you cited the Bumipturas of Malaysia comparing it with the Thai current political crisis, and I fully agree with your views on why many are frustrated over Thaksinomics, and if I were in that position, I might also feel frustrated myself. However, my opinion is that what the PAD did to get this message across is totally wrong, by which I mean rioting and storming the airport. I myself do not agree with what the Red Shirts are doing as well, but that's another matter altogether.
IF the current Abhisit government is a fair one and I sincerely hope it will be because the whole world is watching, then I would expect PAD's leaders to be punished not for their patriotism, but for how they chose to show it. In ancient China, when a rouge Emporer is assasinated and thereby enabling the throne to be given to good Emporer , this new Emporer will still sentence the assasin to death because the fact is he still committed treason, abeit for the best of reasons and intentions.
To Sean: Fully agree with you! The Thais have a very different view of democracy as compared to others in Asia. In Japan, if any minister are involved in a scandal, they would immediately resign to make way for other deserving ones. In Singapore, corruption is practically unheard of from government servants. In Malaysia, one of the worst ones... expected corruption but ranked behind Thailand. Fugitive Thaksin had his chance to make Thailand a better country but he blew when he got too greedy. As for Samak, he is definitely not qualified (non-Thais should have followed closely on he carried himself and talk to others i.e. just like an uneducated meat-butcher in the market). Somchai was too timid and waited for instructions from his wife (fugitive Thaksin's sister) and Thaksin for any actions. Sad to say but it was very true that the Thaksin regime brings nothing but anger from honest and hard-working tax-paying Thais due to his populist policies. Try asking a Malaysian Chinese what does he thinks of the Malays bumiputera status which was supposed to bring up the standard of living for the Malays many years ago and until today... no end in sight. If you can understand this feeling of being taken for a ride, then you should be able to understand the feelings of those who opposed Thaksin
To Andy, no need to be use harsh tones or strong words like "babbling",. Your outburst probably stems from your frustration that there are many out there who criticise without any real substance, and I can understand that.
My observations from what transpired is not to side any faction, be it Yellow Shirts or the Red Shirts. Any form of unrest against the political establishment using strong arm tactics such as what the PAD cannot be justified. The Red Shirts' violence after Abhisit was voted in was also not unexpected. Whichever side wins the other will not be happy. So the question comes down to pure economics. Who has powerful backing who wins. I will not comment on your allegations of Thaksin or his people or his administration's wrongdoings because I was not there to witness these alleged wrongdoings. But for you to lambast PPP or TRT or even the new PT parties mean you believe that the Democrats are clean as white sheets. This surely cannot be true. While I accept that there were vote buying and also I believe you and your wife were attempted to be bribed, you cannot honestly say the other parties didn't do the same. The probably did it on a similar scale in some other ways.
I am not saying you are wrong in your views, but I would urge you not to be too subjective in such analysis or else both of us or even others will be tempted to go into no value added self serving arguments based on our own subjective beliefs and convictions.
To Sean: What sort of democracy are you babbling about? A government voted into power by majority (bought votes - trust me that it did happened coz my wife and her villagers were offered THB500 per vote by TRT and PPP). When an elected government becomes corrupted and lacks accountability, they will have to go! Just like an employee of a company... don't tell me that this employee who had passed with flying colors during interview and was corrupted while in employment deserves to be in the company any longer! Worst still, he still claims he has done no wrong despite the fact that he had siphoned off millions from the company he was working for. If you were the shareholders of this company, tell me what you would have done to this man??? My guess is that you would have him arrested and sacked from the company not to mention a press release warning others of his antics! This exactly what Thaksin did to Thailand
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