Can Yingluck End Thailand's Chaos?

Written by A. Lin Neumann

Tuesday, 05 July 2011

What was the point again? Had the elites been paying attention, a lot of this mess could have been avoided If the reactions to Sunday’s stunning electoral win by Yingluck Shinawatra in Thailand’s general elections hold, perhaps the nation has finally found a way out of the mess created by the 2006 military coup that ousted her older brother, Thaksin Shinawatra. All sides, it seems so far, are willing to accept the Puea Thai party’s majority win. “I can assure that the military has no desire to stray out of its assigned roles,” General Prawit Wongsuwan, a former army chief close to the leaders involved in the 2006 coup, told Reuters. “The army accepts the election results.” This is a very good thing. Regardless of what one thinks of Thaksin, the one-time populist strongman pulling the Puea Thai strings from his exile perch in Dubai, even the Thai army and the royalist insiders who orchestrated the coup must see the futility of trying to battle the popular tide by now. A tycoon with a dismal human rights record and little regard for the niceties of independent media, courts or regulatory bodies, Thaksin redrew the map of Thai politics with his direct populist appeal to a rural population that had long been taken for granted by the establishment in Bangkok. Having learned his craft building a virtual mobile phone monopoly that saw nearly every Thai chipping a few baht a day into his corporate coffers, Thaksin knew something about marketing. With his background as a police officer and a strong regional business family from the northern city of Chiang Mai, he also knew something about raw power, which he wielded with a heavy hand in shooting drug dealers and sending the army into the restive southern Muslim provinces to enforce a get-tough policy that backfired. However, his strong-arming, coupled with pro-poor policies, was — and is — popular. Just how popular the past five years have shown as the state and the Bangkok royalist elite have failed miserably to put together a government that could win a victory at the polls, instead using the courts and the army to get their way. Now, finally, it appears that everybody has decided to calm down and accept the Thaksin reality after five years of pointless chaos. If the Thais had simply gazed south at Indonesia, they might have arrived at this conclusion before they sent the tanks into the streets on Sept. 19, 2006. Indonesia is a country where ethnic, religious and geographic divisions are taken seriously and have frequently threatened to upend the fragile ties that bind the nation together. There were fierce battles to hold the country together after independence in 1949 and the anti-communist bloodletting that followed the failed — and still murky — coup against Sukarno in 1965 proved how hideously wrong things could go when the guns are unleashed. In the aftermath of the ouster of former dictator Suharto in 1998, the country quickly frayed at the edges. It seemed that whole regions might break away or the army might step in or Islamic terrorism might run out of control. The Indonesians held it together, though. They quickly instituted broad political reforms, held a series of successful elections that kept the military at bay and gradually became accepted as an island of stability in the region. The country is now the most successful democracy in Southeast Asia while Thailand’s political reputation has plummeted. By contrast, the Philippines — having had a successful and understandable extra-legal ouster of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 — opted for no particularly good reason other than the anger of the Catholic church and the Makati elites to stage a de facto coup against Joseph Estrada in 2001. An inept, crooked and embarrassing drunk, Estrada was replaced for a decade by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whose government was accused of much more efficient corruption and massive human rights abuses. By contrast, Estrada would have been gone for good in 2004 had the elites kept their powder dry. That Thailand’s elites chose to follow the Philippine model and rid themselves of a presumed curse without the benefit of legal procedures sent the country into a tailspin that accomplished nothing. Now there are reports that the same people who organized the ouster of Thaksin are negotiating a way out of the dilemma and are willing to accept having his baby sister run the country. It seems possible Thaksin will be granted an amnesty from the corruption conviction that forced him to flee the country, and in exchange he and his allies will promise not to go after the Democrat Party and the army over the bloody crackdown on so-called Red Shirt protesters last year. Read more.

Ambiga: A Small Fish Wanting To Swim In A Big Pond

Hantu Laut

From Wikipedia...

Ambiga Sreenevasan is a lawyer who served as the President of the Malaysian Bar Council from 2007 to 2009.
In March 2009, Ambiga became one of the eight recipients of the 2009 Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award.^[1][2] In the ceremony, the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented:

“

Ambiga Sreenevasan, has a remarkable record of accomplishment in Malaysia. She has pursued judicial reform and good governance, she has stood up for religious tolerance, and she has been a resolute advocate of women’s equality and their full political participation. She is someone who is not only working in her own country, but whose influence is felt beyond the borders of Malaysia. And it is a great honor to recognize her and invite her to the podium.

Ambiga Sreenevasan has stood up for religious tolerance and was the lawyer for Lina Joy in her apostasy case. Ambiga has argued that Article 121(1A) of the Constitution of Malaysia does not deprive Muslims from equality and freedom of religion. Some conservative Muslim groups accuse her of disputing Syariah law.

Acting in her capacity as President of the Malaysian Bar Council, Ambiga accepted a memorandum on the formation of an inter-faith commission, which also made 14 demands. Ambiga further held a forum on Article 121(1A) concerning syariah law and the rights of Muslims for freedom of religion, despite objections from conservative Muslim groups.

May I ask what exactly has she done for this country other than stirring up racial, religious and political controversies to cause political instability. It's like Obama, who will have more blood on his hands being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize before he could even warm the seat at the Oval office, let alone made a mighty contribution to world peace.

I would say the same of the "Women Of Courage" award. Ambiga has done absolutely nothing for this nation or the world for that matter to deserve this little known award.The only real "woman of courage" in recent time is Aug San Suu-Kyii of Myanmar who has suffered severely under a draconian and evil regime.

Has the glorified "Women Of Courage" award designed by the then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice under the Bush administration got her head so swollen that she is prepared to bring political turmoil and unrest to her country to further enhance her glorified status acting as a stooge for the oppositions taking instructions from the oppositions the like of Anwar, PKR and PAS.

Anwar has openly declared that he is the real boss of Bersih when he says he can order Ambiga to call off the rally on 9th July if Najib can promise a clean, free and fair elections.

Both PKR and PAS are worried that their popularity with the Malay grassroots had gone downhill, which imperatively demand a huge political rally to boost the declining supports.

The demand for free and fair elections was just an excuse to fool the people.It's a prelude to the 13th General Elections which they knew they are going to lose taking over Putrajaya.

Bersih is not about free and fair election, it's all about Anwar, PKR and PAS and Ambiga is the designated tool to spearhead a civil movement to disrupt political stability in the country.

The Chinese based DAP is quite happy with their political progress and are not worried about their chance of making major breakthrough in the 13th GE and it's an undeniable fact big majority of Chinese supported DAP, who will win significant number of MP seats, but would fail to form the Federal government, which without any doubt to be dragged down by PKR and PAS lacklustre performance.

DAP is going to play a low-key role in the proposed Bersih rally because they are confident of winning more seats, particularly, in Chinese dominated areas. All talks that PAS new image has endeared the party to the Muslims grassroots is absolutely not true. Staunch Muslims and rural Malays  are reassessing PAS credibility after it discarded its Islamic badge for political expediency. It's association with DAP is also not helping it's reputation among the Umma Islamiyyah. 

However, PAS will do well in it's traditional state of Kelantan and elsewhere, wherever, DAP helps fill in the void.

Ambiga is a willing tool of the opposition doing their bidding and one small fish who dreamt of swimming in a big pond.

Another "Kerbau Dicucuk Hidung"

Hantu Laut

If I were the police give him the permit and see how many Sabahans would turn up for his Bersih rally.

Sabahans are peace loving and don't resort to such ugly behaviour, we still believe in democracy and the ballot box.We have changed government we don't like, at least three times, through the ballot box.

Bersih, is nothing but a fraud to cover a dirty political agenda.

Obviously, this hip-hop DJ wannabe politician is trying to use Bersih to promote his dwindling popularity.

Read here another "kerbau dicucuk hidung"

Malaysia’s Discontent

By Luke Hunt

In Kuala Lumpur, the authorities are apparently doing some shaping up. Street protests are planned for July 9 by 60 non-government organizations (NGOs) called Bersih, meaning ‘clean’ in Malaysia, amid alleged irregularities involving the nation’s electoral system.

Dubbed ‘Walk for Democracy,’ Bersih is calling for free and fair elections while promoting its constitutional right to freedom of assembly. This has already resulted in 70 arrests and accusations Bersih is plotting to overthrow the government and is spreading communist ideology.

The biggest risk, however, is that the rally is being hijacked by government-friendly and opposition forces, all threatening to join in the protest or march in support of their benefactors. This has prompted further warnings that the country’s stability is at stake.

Insiders say extremist elements within Malaysia’s Muslim community, in particular the Malay supremacy group Perkasa, are hoping to use the rally to inspire an Arab spring at home, mimicking uprisings in the Middle East. The opposition wants to prove it’s still a force to be reckoned with, while less ambitious Malays would simply like to register their discontent with the current government.

One Sarawakian politician went so far as to say: ‘It will bring about a situation where everyone will suffer. We only have to look at Middle East countries starting from Tunisia, Egypt and Syria.’

Speculation that an early election will be held has been ripe ever since Prime Minister Najib Razak ousted his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi a year after his weak showing in the 2008 poll.

In declining to quash rumours of a pending poll, Najib has fed a constantly turning mill that insists he needs his own poll to establish a political mandate, win back the two-thirds parliamentary majority lost by Badawi and take advantage of a relatively solid performing economy, which some fear is in decline.Read more.