Surayud asks farmers to stay at home

[ATMwalking]

Bangkok Post: Top Stories

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont unexpectedly flew to the Northeast a day early to try to persuade farmers not to travel to Bangkok for planned political protests.

Gen Surayud arrived in the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani on Sunday afternoon despite being earlier scheduled to go on Monday.

"My house is quite far from the airport. I don't want to get up too early. It is better to stay overnight in Ubon Ratchathani and begin to work very early," the PM said before leaving Don Muang International Airport.

The threat to return martial law could be more real than I thought. The PM has come out against martial law. Having a bunch of farmers messing up BKK could be enough of a reason for the Junta to crack down. I'm wondering what the end goal of the Junta is...to retain power past the planned Dec. elections?

[LivinLOS]

If I had to pin a tail on the particular donkey I would say they ARE trying to retain power but with the veneer of democracy..

My feelings are similar to how in asia theres many laws, which are totally ignored, the law doesnt matter as much as the enforcement.. Same in politics the figurehead of democracy is less important than those that hold the riegns of power and things are so endemically corrupt that the general public will never find out (how much outcry was there about new airport corruption last autumn.. How many billions did they say were stolen.. Who has been brought to justice ??).. Power can be retained, media spin will make others the scapegoat (I worry that 'farangs' could be one whipping boy all too easily), and the poor are kept subjugated.

Thailand has historically been ruled by the 'elite' families with a very small middle class and a huge poor population (49% of Thais work in agriculture making 9% of the countries GDP !! not good !!).. That started to change with Thaksin, or at least had appearances of it, and a new power base was being built.. The old guard didnt like that and IMO dont like the fact that farangs (tourism is 7% of GDP, almost as much as 49% of the country generates) dont go by thier rascist / class based structures.. All very destabilizing.

My hunch is they want to consolidate power back into the old guard hands.. Try a chinese like information and control system for the population through spin, and with the appearance of democracy keep the same players behind the scenes.

[ATMwalking]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

The old guard didnt like that and IMO dont like the fact that farangs (tourism is 7% of GDP, almost as much as 49% of the country generates) dont go by thier rascist / class based structures.. All very destabilizing.

I think that is a very interesting observation.

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

My hunch is they want to consolidate power back into the old guard hands.. Try a chinese like information and control system for the population through spin, and with the appearance of democracy keep the same players behind the scenes.

For sure there was some Taksin vs. Old Guard. He was making out like a bandit, not spreading it around, and giving some rise to the underclasses.

It is somewhat ironic that Farang (and their often farm girl significant others) and farmers have joined up to be the twin destabilizing factors to the old guard. Could be another reason behind the coup. They don't want average people to feel empowered. What if the protests did result in a peaceful resignation of squarehead and an immediate clean election? The average person maybe a little less willing to accept their limited poor life.

Status could be an equal evil to corruption. Did you know Central has a VIP parking section? It runs through every part of living here.

[K2]

Noting USD/THB (offshore) beginning to wobble - THB weaker by 0.5% this morning.