New Mandala has received the following information from a reader in Thailand. When asked about the 2007 constitutional referendum, they replied:
In fact, if I were to comment publicly, technically speaking I would be breaking the law. We recently received a directive from the Commision for Higher Education passing on the guidelines approved by the Cabinet re. forbidding state employees, including university lecturers, from giving their opinion on the Constitution draft…Dark days right now. I think it’s a foregone conclusion that the Constitution will pass.
Any readers with further information on this issue are very welcome to get in contact with New Mandala.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Srithanonchai // Jul 28, 2007 at 1:45 am
Democratic referendum?
Former Thai Rak Thai MP’s house raided in Kamphaeng Phet
A combined unit of 20 soldiers and 10 policemen Friday conducted a search on a home of a former Thai Rak Thai MP in Kamphaeng Phet and seized materials for the anticharter campaign.
“The search was deemed necessary following a tipoff that Waipoj Apornrat used his home as a base to sway referendum votes to defeat the charter,” Maj Narongchai Charoenchai of the Fourth Infantry Division said.
“I allowed the search as proof that I harbour no illintentions,” Waipoj said.
Authorities took Tshirts, documents, banners and recorded speeches opposing the new constitution and encouraging a “vote no” in the August 19 referendum.
Waipoj expressed hope that the materials would be returned to him once they were found to have no malicious contents.
The Nation 27 July 2007..
P.S.: It seems that the powers-that-be, surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) including the ECT, have resolved that the MoI, kamnan, phu yai ban, TAO etc. organizing transportation for villagers to the polling stations on referendum day would NOT break any law or ethical principle.
2 Vichai N // Jul 28, 2007 at 3:08 am
Because the referendum will require the Thais to VOTE, and, because the TRT (or ex-TRT) party had honed vote-buying to state-of-the-art, perhaps Thaksin as Thailand’s premier ATM cash machine will be active again.
Grease money vs. dumb soldiers and rusty tanks.
That is not fair isn’t it?
3 Srithanonchai // Jul 28, 2007 at 9:57 pm
It is also a bit of a myth. Thaksin probably needed a lot less vote buying, especially in the elections of 2005, because voters wanted to reward him for his performance as prime minister anyway. Just compare the elections statistics of 2001 and 2005.
4 Vichai N // Jul 29, 2007 at 2:25 am
That’s easily explainable Srithanonchai.
When you are (Thaksin) about to embark on a mother of all Thai corruption spree, and a mother of all Thai tax evasion scam, and a mother of all coflicted Thai sale of the decade, you’d want to have a ‘landslide’ in your pocket for insurance.
Too bad for Thaksin his insurance expired when the rusty tanks and dumb soldiers got fed up with his divisive antics.
5 Post-royalist // Jul 29, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Srithanonchai’s assertion is supported by most reputable academic commentators and observers. Vichai, don’t you recall complaints that Thaksin had been devilishly clever by converting old-fashioned vote-buying into pork barrel-style policy? The latter was said (at the time) to have reduced the need for the former.
6 Srithanonchai // Jul 29, 2007 at 5:50 pm
This isn’t meant as an analysis, right, Vichai?
7 Vichai N // Jul 29, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Why Srithanonchai that was a conclusion and not an analysis.
You asked why it was necessary for Thaksin to buy his landslide at Y2005 election. Like I said because Thaksin knew he had all of those skeletons to protect . . . more ‘honest mistakes’ . . . and a big conflict of interest sale of the decade deal, Those tax-evasion cases too. Thaksin needed those landslides.
More importantly Thaksin must have realized that those extrajudicial killings he directed during his anti-drugs madness were ‘real skieletons’ that could literally hound him straight to jail. Thaksin needed to buy a much bigger landslide in Y2005 elections, no doubt about it.
8 Srithanonchai // Jul 30, 2007 at 12:47 am
Vichai, you seem to have an overabundance of conclusions…
9 Vichai N // Jul 30, 2007 at 2:26 am
Well explain to me Srithanonchai why Thaksin needed to buy another ‘landslide’ if it was not to protect and bury his ’skeletons’?
But I give you another of my ‘conclusion’ (or Srithanonchai’s polite term for b.s.). Thailand does NOT need a perfect constitution to keep its modernization and economy humming. Everytime Thailand got a ‘perfect’ constitution, some joker-megalomaniac a-la Thaksin or a-la Chavez, would opportunistically walk in to ruin the ‘mirage of perfection’ . . . and in effect ruin everything.
An ‘imperfect’ Thai constitution is exactly what Thailand needs. That keeps everyone on their toes . . . doing backdoor deals to preserve their vested interests while trying NOT to rock the fragile stability and peace of the Kingdom.
That means that in an imperfect Thai consitution, everybody is unhappy and discontentedd . . . and that is the way it should be. The Thai constitution should always be a ‘work-in-progress’ and never a completed masterpiece. Just as the Thai people should question their leaders and their motives constantly, so too should the Thai people keep asking probing questions about their work-in-progress Thai constitution.
10 Lleij Samuel Schwartz // Jul 30, 2007 at 4:20 am
Re Vichai No.9:
*blinking eyes astonishedly*
I agree with what you said 100 percent, especially in the last paragraph.
In other news: Hell is reporting daytime temperatures with lows of -10 F/ -23 C.
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