I have no idea whether it’s accurate, but this report appeared on today (he, in turn, was quoting matichon.com).
Newin also met Abhisit and Suthep today and Matichon that Newin stated there were four “conditions”; (1) Wants the PM to protect the [royal] institution, (2) people in rural areas, who are the grass roots, have many troubles and the policies of the previous government helped these people, whether you call this populism or not. The poor want the new government to help them and want the new government to adopt populist policies, (3) want to see a democratic amendment to the constitution which everyone can accept, (4) enforce the law against all without exceptions.
The key people identified in the quote:
Newin was a member of the recently dissolved People’s Power Party which has been leading the government since the most recent election in December 2007. He has been leading a powerful party faction for the past several months which has become increasingly powerful. This week they seem to have broken away to offer support to a Democratic Party-led coalition government.
Abhisit is the leader of the Democratic Party and the most high profile member of the party. He is a likely candidate for Prime Minister if the Democrats succeed in forming a government.
Suthep is a powerful but somewhat more ‘behind the scenes’ part of the leadership of the Democratic Party. A recent article identified Abhisit as the “public face” of the Democrats but Suthep as the “real face” or “mastermind” of the party.
I have to say that based on news coverage of Newin over the past few months I had the feeling he was a real dickhead. Reading the quote above I’m prepared to fully re-evaluate that position. His four conditions seem to represent a thoughtful and reasoned position that would go a long way towards healing the deep rifts that currently exist in Thai society.
3 responses so far ↓
// Wednesday, 10 December 2008 at 1:03 pm |
According to the Bangkok Post Thaksin’s wife, Potjaman, tried to make several phone calls to Newin to arrange a meeting. He refused to take her calls. Then Thaksin himself called Newin and Newin was to have told Thaksin “Sir, everything is over.”
What he meant by that is that he had already decided to back the Democrats and that nothing Thaksin could say or promise was going to reverse his decision.
I only wonder what Thaksin’s next move is.
crocodilexp // Wednesday, 10 December 2008 at 3:35 pm |
This is just nice and empty talk to justify shafting his constituency…
(1) Nobody is threatening the institution (except the PAD itself, unwittingly — they did their best to drag the institution through the political mud, leading to unprecedented bad press and lack of birthday address).
(2) He wants to advance interests of people in rural areas by joining people who openly disdain them and want to gag them and curtail their rights.
(3) We saw how willing to compromise PAD is.
(4) In Thailand, this is funny. Law!? What is that?
I think what actually mattered to Newin condition (0) — the direct payout he can get from switching sides. Let’s hope he gets what he deserves in the next election… wait, there will be no next election, we’ll have “new politics” where people in power vote for themselves.
// Thursday, 11 December 2008 at 12:13 am |
Well, clearly I don’t agree with you, but let me offer a little of the ‘why’.
1. I see this as a simple motherhood statement. Putting in a ‘protecting the monarchy’ clause is simply standard stuff and can simply be ignored.
2. I think my point was that the idea of making such a venture contingent on advancing the interests of the people of Isaan is correct. In other words, as a condition of forming a government it’s the right thing to do. Whether it actually happens or not is another question entirely.
3. The current constitution is deeply flawed and needs to be amended or replaced. This is (in my view of the world) a simple fact of life. Again, you are focusing on the implementation of the idea rather than the idea itself. An amended constitution needs to be part of the government plan.
4. Fatuous comment from you. Law exists. It is not enforced equally. To insist that it must be is clearly correct.
My point is that #2, 3 and 4 are a very good foundation to build a platform on for any new government in Thailand. To say otherwise simply because it would be hard, or because it’s not the way it’s been done in the past is to practice ‘more of the same’ thinking; to simply accept that the country is flawed, will always be flawed and cannot be improved.
No government should have that attitude about it’s country. To improve Thailand, points #2,3 & 4 are essential.
Whether Newin, Abhisit or anyone else actually does these things is a whole separate issue. It might well be simply crap-propaganda to make his ‘defection’ sound publicly palatable, but if it is, it’s the correct crap-propaganda. (He may be an asshole, but he’s OUR asshole).
Again, I think these are the right principles for any government to move Thailand forward.