Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 24)

Re: Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 17)

Postby behappyalways » Tue Nov 06, 2018 1:41 pm

Thailand’s Rap Against Dictatorship
http://www.newmandala.org/thailands-rap ... tatorship/
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Re: Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 17)

Postby behappyalways » Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:41 pm

A royal pain

As the army and politicians bicker, Thailand’s king amasses more power
He appoints generals, patriarchs and executives, and disposes of crown property as he pleases

IT HAPPENED IN the dead of night, without warning. In late December security forces showed up with a crane at a crossroads in Bangkok and whisked away the monument that stood there. No one admitted to knowing who had ordered the removal, or why. Police stopped an activist from filming it.

The memorial itself, which marked the defeat in 1933 of putschists hoping to turn Thailand back into a royal dictatorship, has vanished. It is the second monument to constitutional monarchy to disappear under the military junta that has run Thailand since 2014: in 2017 a plaque celebrating the abolition of absolute monarchy in 1932 was mysteriously replaced with one extolling loyalty to the king.

The current king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, has been on the throne for two years. He has unnerved his 69m subjects from the start. When his father, King Bhumibol, died in 2016, he refused to take the throne for nine weeks—despite having waited for it for decades.

The delay was intended as a mark of respect, but it was also a way of signalling to the military junta that runs the country that he was determined to make his own decisions. It was only this week that a date was set for his coronation: May 4th.

King Vajiralongkorn spends most of his time abroad, in a sumptuous residence near Munich. He even insisted on tweaking the new constitution, after it had already been approved in a referendum, to make it easier to reign from a distance.

King Bhumibol was on the throne for 70 years. Partly because of his clear devotion to the job, and partly because military regimes inculcated respect for the monarchy as a way of bolstering their own legitimacy, he was widely revered.

Official adulation for the monarchy endures, but in private King Vajiralongkorn is widely reviled. His personal life is messy: he has churned through a series of consorts, disowning children and even imprisoning relatives of one jilted partner.

He has firm ideas about the decorum he should be shown—the picture above shows the prime minister prostrating himself before him—but little sense of the respect he might owe anyone else: his cosseted poodle, elevated to the rank of Air Chief Marshal, used to jump up onto tables to drink from the glasses of visiting dignitaries.

The tedious tasks expected of Thai monarchs, such as cutting ribbons and doling out university degrees, he palms off on his more popular sister.

Writing about such things in Thailand is dangerous. The country’s fierce lèse-majesté law promises between three and 15 years in prison for insulting “the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent”.

In practice, it has been used to suppress anything that could be construed as damaging to the monarchy, whether true or not, including novels that feature venal princes and academic research that casts doubt on the glorious deeds of the kings of yore.

As his critics are cowed, the king has focused on accumulating personal power. In 2017 the government gave him full control of the Crown Property Bureau (CPB), an agency that has managed royal land and investments for decades and whose holdings are thought to be worth more than $40bn.

In 2018 the CPB announced that all its assets would henceforth be considered the king’s personal property (he did, however, agree to pay taxes on them). That makes the king the biggest shareholder in Thailand’s third-biggest bank and one of its biggest industrial conglomerates, among other firms.

With the help of the CPB the king is reshaping an area of central Bangkok adjacent to the main royal palace. The bureau declined to renew the lease of the city’s oldest horse-racing track, the Royal Turf Club, leading to its closure in September after 102 years.

An 80-year-old zoo next door closed the same month. The fate of two nearby universities that are also royal tenants remains uncertain. The CPB has not revealed the purpose of the upheaval; Thais assume the king just wants an even bigger palace.

King Vajiralongkorn has also put his stamp on the privy council, a body which has a role in naming the heir to the throne, among other things. It once contained individuals who opposed his becoming king at all. Now it is stuffed with loyal military men.

The royal court is ruled with “iron discipline”, according to one local businessman. Leaks about the king’s disturbing conduct have dried up. Some former favourites have found themselves in prison. Hangers-on who traded on their royal connections have been shown the door.

The king’s authority over religious orders has also grown. In 2016 the government granted him the power to appoint members of the Sangha Supreme Council—in effect, Thai Buddhism’s governing body—and to choose the next chief monk, known as the Supreme Patriarch. He did so in 2017, elevating a respected monk from the smaller and more conservative of Thailand’s two main Buddhist orders.

The army, too, is receiving a royal makeover. The commander-in-chief appointed in September, Apirat Kongsompong, is the king’s man. Over the next two years he will supervise the relocation of a regiment and a battalion out of Bangkok, ostensibly to relieve crowding. Security in the city will fall instead to the elite Royal Guard Command, which is directly under the king’s control.

Many contend that it is the king who has pushed the army to hold the oft-delayed election that has at last been called for February 24th. This is not to suggest that the king is a democrat (his actions suggest anything but). Rather, the contest is likely to lead to a weak, chaotic government, which probably suits him well.

The constitution the army designed makes it hard for elected politicians to achieve a parliamentary majority. But even if the army retains power behind the scenes, it will have surrendered absolute authority. Either pro-army types or democrats would probably seek royal support to govern, strengthening the king’s position however the vote turns out.

Source: The Economist
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Re: Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 19)

Postby behappyalways » Fri Feb 08, 2019 6:52 pm

Princess Ubolratana: Thai royal to stand as PM candidate
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47167378
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Re: Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 19)

Postby behappyalways » Sat Feb 09, 2019 1:24 pm

Thailand's king condemns bid by sister to become PM
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47175604


behappyalways wrote:Princess Ubolratana: Thai royal to stand as PM candidate
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47167378
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Re: Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 19)

Postby behappyalways » Sun Feb 10, 2019 4:36 pm

A rebuke against a sister and the personalising of monarchical control
https://www.newmandala.org/a-rebuke-aga ... l-control/
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Re: Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 19)

Postby behappyalways » Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:12 pm

2019.02.16【文茜世界周報】掀大選漣漪 泰國烏汶叻公主宣布參選總理
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6hxA9M ... AU&index=7
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Re: Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 19)

Postby behappyalways » Wed Feb 20, 2019 8:37 am

【泰公主傳奇●專題】「貼地公主」曾拍大膽照 拍火災戲拒用替身
https://hk.news.appledaily.com/internat ... 0/59276814


【泰公主傳奇●專題】烏汶叻公主作風大膽 嫁平民後離婚 海嘯喪獨子
https://hk.news.appledaily.com/internat ... 0/59276732
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Re: Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 19)

Postby behappyalways » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:58 am

Thailand elections: Party that nominated Princess Ubolratana for PM dissolved
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47482040


月底大選 他信陣營受重創
提名公主參選 泰政黨遭解散
https://hk.news.appledaily.com/internat ... 8/20628460
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Re: Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 19)

Postby behappyalways » Sat Mar 16, 2019 2:02 pm

The deputy prime minister explained away a big collection of luxury watches last year, saying they were on loan from a conveniently deceased friend. :lol: :lol: :lol:

General decline
Thailand’s bogus election
The vote does not mark a return to democracy, but a new phase in military misrule

IT SHOULD BE a triumphant return. On March 24th Thai voters will elect a new parliament, putting an end to five years of direct military rule (see article). But the MPs they pick will have nowhere to meet.

King Vajiralongkorn has appropriated the old parliament building, which stands on royal property, for some unspecified purpose that, under the country’s harsh lèse-majesté laws, no one dares question. The military junta has yet to finish building a new parliament house.

Old-school Thais

That the newly chosen representatives of the Thai people will be homeless stands as a symbol for how hollow the election will be, and how contemptuous the generals are of democracy, even as they claim to be restoring it.

They have spent the past five years methodically rigging the system to ensure that the will of voters is thwarted, or at least fiercely circumscribed. In particular, they want to foil Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister, now in exile, whose supporters have won every election since 2001.

The result will be a travesty of democracy in a country that was once an inspiration for South-East Asia. It is bad news not only for the 69m Thais but also for the entire region.

Since ousting a government loyal to Mr Thaksin in a coup in 2014, the generals have imposed an interim constitution that grants them broad powers to quash “any act which undermines public peace and order or national security, the monarchy, national economics or administration of state affairs”.

They have carted off critical journalists and awkward politicians to re-education camps. Simply sharing or “liking” commentary that the regime deems subversive has landed hapless netizens in prison.

Even the most veiled criticism of the monarchy—posting a BBC profile of the king, say, or making a snide remark about a mythical medieval princess—is considered a crime. And until December, all political gatherings involving more than five people were banned.

The junta’s main weapon, however, is the new constitution, which it pushed through in a referendum in 2016 after banning critics from campaigning against it. Even so, the generals could persuade only a third of eligible voters to endorse the document (barely half of them turned out to cast their ballot).

The constitution gives the junta the power to appoint all 250 members of the upper house. And it strengthens the proportional element of the voting system for the lower house, at the expense of Mr Thaksin’s main political vehicle, the Pheu Thai party.

It also says the prime minister does not have to be an MP, paving the way for Prayuth Chan-ocha, the junta leader who does not belong to any party, to remain in power. And it allows the general to impose a “20-year plan” to which all future governments will have to stick.

The manipulation has continued throughout the campaign. Politicians and parties at odds with the junta have found themselves in trouble with the courts or the Election Commission. Another party loyal to Mr Thaksin, Thai Raksa Chart, was banned outright.

The army chief has issued a writ for libel against the head of another party who, after being followed by soldiers wherever he went, complained of the shameful waste of taxpayers’ money. Campaigning on social media is restricted to anodyne posts about the parties’ policies and candidates’ biographies. Politicians fear that minor infringements of such rules will be used as an excuse for further disqualifications.

But all these strictures do not seem to bind Mr Prayuth and his allies. Before political gatherings were allowed again, he paraded around the country addressing huge crowds in sports stadiums. (These were not political gatherings—perish the thought—but “mobile cabinet meetings”.)

The Election Commission has ruled that he can campaign for a pro-military party, which has named him as its candidate for prime minister, even though government officials like him are supposed to be neutral in the election.

All this is intended to ensure that Mr Prayuth remains prime minister, despite his inertia and ineptitude. Under him, economic growth has slowed. Household debt has risen. According to Credit Suisse, a bank, Thailand has become the world’s most unequal country.

The richest 1% of its people own more than two-thirds of the country’s wealth. Corruption thrives. The deputy prime minister explained away a big collection of luxury watches last year, saying they were on loan from a conveniently deceased friend.

Worse is to come. The working-age population is shrinking as Thailand ages. Manufacturers are caught between low-wage countries, such as Vietnam, and China, with its vast industrial base. China also poses a problem diplomatically, in its attempts to enforce its territorial claims in the South China Sea, and more broadly to impose its will on its smaller, weaker neighbours.

Thailand’s civilian politicians have lots of ideas about how to tackle these problems. Future Forward, a new party which appeals to younger Thais, wants to end business monopolies, decentralise government and extend the welfare state. Mr Thaksin’s allies have made endless pledges to help the rural poor.

It is Mr Prayuth who, despite wielding almost unfettered power, seems lost for inspiration. The junta has promised to revive the economy by improving infrastructure, but few of its plans have come to fruition. The only thing the generals have to show for five years in office is a heavy-handed scheme to retain power.

That is a shame not just for Thailand, but also for the region, which has lost a role model. Thailand was the only country in South-East Asia to avoid being colonised, and the first to become a democracy, in 1932. It has been a staunch ally of America since the second world war.

It industrialised faster than the other big countries in the region, too. Many of its development schemes, such as a health-care programme for the poor introduced by Mr Thaksin almost 20 years ago, have been widely imitated.

Much of South-East Asia is plagued by the same problems as Thailand: slowing growth, ageing populations, wobbly democracies, inadequate social safety-nets, endemic corruption and the ever-present shadow of China. Thailand now offers a cautionary tale of how not to grapple with such challenges. Thais deserve much better—starting with a genuine election.

Source: The Economist
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Re: Thailand 03 (Jan 15 - Dec 19)

Postby behappyalways » Fri Mar 29, 2019 7:59 am

2019.03.23【文茜世界周報】泰愛黨被裁定解散 削弱戴克辛影響力?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8dz_8L ... dex=6&t=0s
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