0		Veera, Sudarat, Chalerm

Have previously blogged on the public fight between Khunying Sudarat and Chalerm Yubamrung, but Veera in the Bangkok Post has an op-ed on the situation. Key excerpt:

The maverick MP was also unhappy with his rival group's attempt to pre-empt his wish of being nominated as the stand-in prime minister in the party's censure motion against the government in parliament. He said he merely aspired to assume the premiership for six months, to pave the way for the political comeback of deposed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra once the Democrat-led government is forced out of office after the no-confidence debate.

However, Mrs Sudrarat's faction seems to have another candidate in mind: the former commerce minister, Mingkwan Saengsuwan.

But Mr Chalerm himself is partly to blame, for his proposal to the party to carve up Bangkok's electoral constituencies into three zones, i.e. the northern and southern zones, and Thon Buri which he offered to manage himself. The rationale behind the proposal was that management of the constituencies would be more effective if handled by three groups of people instead of just one.

Mr Chalerm's proposal, which was eventually rejected by the party, was deemed by the Sudarat faction - which has dominated the party's electioneering in Bangkok from the very beginning - as an intrusion into their territory, a blatant act from an "outsider" which was totally unacceptable.

Almost a loner in the opposition party, it is quite natural for Mr Chalerm to woo support among some MPs, especially those formerly belonging to Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's New Aspiration Party, to form his own faction, called Ban Rim Klong, to increase their bargaining power within the party.

But his attempt appears to have run into a roadblock allegedly set up by Khunying Sudarat's group.

BP: Chalerm is aligned with MPs mainly outside of Bangkok, but is wanting to exert that influence inside Bangkok. We will have to see if this factional tension comes to a boil again....

	2		What, happening, red, shirt, land?

With the upcoming court case about Thaksin's assets some foreign reporters have gone to the Northeast. Nirmal Ghosh in the Straits Times:

"This is a call for democracy, and a message to the army not to interfere in politics," said Kwanchai Praipana, a regional red shirt leader in Udon Thani.

The message is for the army to remain neutral and not mount a coup, he said.

The military has denied splits within the force and rejected growing speculation of an impending military coup.

Last weekend, the UDD held consecutive rallies, gathering 100,000 in Khon Kaen and 50,000 people in Ubon Ratchathani. The rallies were largely unreported by the Bangkok-based mainstream media.

The pattern is similar to events last April. Huge rallies held in the red shirts' strongholds at that time were under-reported by the mainstream media, leaving many Thais in the capital shocked at the numbers who turned up at rallies held in Bangkok and Pattaya that month.

AFP:

Udon Thani province these "Red Shirts" are led by Kwanchai, a charismatic local celebrity. He estimates 300,000 people tune in to his "We Love Udon" radio show, which he insists is funded by local donations rather than Thaksin.

"All of you must be united and fight for democracy," Kwanchai tells callers to the programme, many of them farmers, who ring in to pledge moral and financial support. Even a Buddhist monk calls in to bless him.
...
"The poor feel strongly about the need for democracy, their right," Kwanchai tells AFP. "They want Thaksin back and they want to have an election."

During a rare break at the Udon radio headquarters -- also an office, kitchen and general gathering place for red-clad locals -- Kwanchai explains how village representatives meet there twice-monthly to discuss their goals.

BP: So what will happen this month? The red shirts may face difficulties in transporting people to Bangkok as the government has set up checkpoints thoughout the country as The Nation reports:

The deployment of thousands of troops started in provinces across the country yesterday ahead of the verdict in the assets-seizure case against fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the government spokesman said.

Panitan Wattanayagorn said close to 200 checkpoints would be set up in and around Bangkok - where about 5,000 troops (54 companies) will be based, particularly at "points of entry and exit", key state agencies, and transport networks.

	1	1	Democrat, spokesman, Red, shirts, dogs

UPDDATE: Trying to balance a fine line between new readers and those who closely follow Thai politics and trying to use simpler titles. Thepthai is not the Democrat Spokesman with a capital S. He is actually Democrat Party leader's personal spokesman - the party leader being Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Matichon quotes Thepthai, a Democrat spokesman, as stating that Thaksin has twittered about the conflicts between the reds and Thepthai states the conflict has arisen as Thaksin is trying to bring all the red shirts together. Thaksin is like the owner of a dog farm who gets dogs from different places and brings them together. One day the food runs out and he throws them a single bone and so that that there is barking is normal. However, if lots of bones are thrown then they will be quiet (พ.ต.ท. ทักษิณ กำลังทำตัวเป็นเจ้าของฟาร์มเลี้ยงสุนัข ที่ไปเอาสุนัขจากที่ต่าง ๆ มารวมกัน วันหนึ่งอาหารไม่พอ โยนเศษกระดูกให้อันเดียว ก็เลยกัดกันเป็นเรื่องธรรมดา แต่ถ้าโยนเศษกระดูกให้ทั่วถึงเสียงกัดกันก็จะเงียบไป).

BP: So if you were a red shirt, would you feel happy that the spokesman of the main government party refers to you as dogs? This kind of talk from Thepthai  (Abhisit's personal spokesman) and others in the party like Satit (PM Office's Minister), and Thawaorn (another vocal Minister) occurs very regularly. Thepthai thinks Thaksin stirring them, but Thaksin doesn't need to do much when the Democrat spokesman compares the red shirts to dogs. Now, you wonder why some of the rural supporters of Thaksin are angry when after being looked down upon by years, they are not compared to dogs.

 

	1		Kickback, rate

The Bangkok Post:

A multi-billion-baht convention centre planned for Phuket under the Thai Khem Khaeng investment programme has been stalled amid corruption allegations, according to Finance Ministry officials.

Designers and architects bidding for the project have allegedly been asked for kickbacks as high as 41% from state officials.

A total of 2.6 billion baht has been allocated to the project, with one educational institution awarded 100 million baht to develop designs for the new international centre.

But sources said that local politicians with interests in the project demanded kickbacks of as much as 45% for the contract. Final "tea money" payments were settled at 41 million baht, or 41%, for the deal.

BP: So what party are those local politicians from? From one certain party *cough* Democrats *cough* who dominate the South?

	1	1	Did, Abhisit, allow

The Nation in an editorial:

Thailand is either very smart or the silliest country in the world for allowing the international community, especially human rights organisations, to scrutinise its human rights record. In past weeks, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Commission for Jurists have taken Thailand to task for the country's human rights record as well as the use of its National Security Act. The verdict is quite clear: Thailand can do better than it has recently.

One wonders how many countries in the world, especially within Asean, would allow these organisations to dissect the government's legislation and practices to the tee. The latest report on Thai human rights by HRW was a good example of how a well-respected human rights advocacy group would like to see greater improvement of rights practices in Thailand. So, HRW came out with harsh criticism and lists of recommendations. It was a noble objective that the government under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva welcomed.

However, HRW overdid it in the press release attacking Thailand's human rights record, especially the government's response to political turmoil due to the polarisation of various political pressure groups.

Except for immature comments by Satit Wongnongtoey, who was upset with the judgement, Abhisit was not perturbed by the report, which he pledged to investigate further on alleged human rights violations here. It was only Abhisit's own ethics and belief in human rights that let such a hard personal attack on him pass. If previous governments had been involved, representatives of the HRW would have been expelled without doubt.

BP: This reads like Kavi for his absurd framing of the issue.

First, human rights organisations don't issue such reports because they are allowed to do so by the host country. They just issue such reports. If host country cooperation was necessary, do you think that Zimbabwe and Burma also allowed HRW to scrutinise their human rights records? The criticisim of Thailand was included in HRW's 612 page 2010 world report were over 90 countries and territories were criticised (PDF). It is almost if the writer uses "allow"
 to signify how generous Abhisit was compared with other governments.

Second, so Abhisit did not criticise the report himself, but his "minions" did as The Nation reports:

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said the government did not violate any laws. Foreign reporters just highlighted some points in the report, making the report biased.
...
Kasit said the timing of the report issuing was not an intention to prevent the government from issueing some particular laws to control rallies, as it was issued regularly at this time of the year.

Meanwhile Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Sennean said the world needs to know that Human Rights Watch can be biased.

"Objective of some NGOs is only to criticise the government. They can be lobbied or hired," Thaworn said without further elaboration.
...
PM's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtoey also said that the HRW has been given wrong information probably from pro-Thaksin groups.

"I doubt this because the information of the organisation is the same of the red shirts," Sathit said.

BP:This is three cabinet Ministers from a single news article but somehow this is seen as welcoming the report. 

Third, there was plenty of criticism of Thaksin by HRW (from memory resulting in similiar responses like Kasit, Satit, and Thaworn above) but the HRW representative in Thailand was not expelled.* In fact, the HRW representative in Thailand is Sunai Phasuk, who is Thai, so he could not be expelled anyway.

* Did Google to check, but don't remember in recent years a HRW representative being expelled in recent memory and well the HRW records for Thailand go back to 1990s and they would have surely mentioned it if it had happened.

	1		The, great, con

The Bangkok Post:

The GT200 devices are to undergo full, scientific testing, to determine unequivocally whether they can detect bombs, and explosive material in general.

Or maybe not.

Science and Technology Minister Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich, who has the power to send the GT200 through a series of thorough laboratory, technological and scientific testing by the best laboratories and scientists in the country, chose instead to set up a committee. She called it a ''panel of experts from 11 agencies,'' meaning everyone with a vested interest in the 1.2 million-baht gizmos will have a say.

BP: It is one thing to buy goods at inflated prices, but it is totally different thing to buy goods at inflated prices that do not work. Over 1 billion baht spent on goods worth nothing.* This counts as a great con.

*Technically, they could just recycle them and get say 10 baht each for them so it is incorrect to say they are worth nothing, but you get the point.