Some New Mandala readers will be interested to learn that two United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship leaders will be speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand on Wednesday. The details are:
Democracy and Patronage in Thailand, a talk by Jakrapob Penkair and Ajarn Worapol Promigbatur followed by a discussion (8:00 pm)
The energetic Jakrapob Penkair, writer and journalist, television personality, former spokesman and deputy secretary general to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has in more recent months been coordinator and spokesman for the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). Joining Jakrapob Penkair will be Ajarn Worapol Promigabutr, of the faculty of sociology and anthropology, Thammasat University – and also a coordinator for the UDD.
I expect that reports based on what is said at this event will become available later in the week.
5 responses so far ↓
1 nganadeeleg // Aug 27, 2007 at 11:06 pm
I wonder what Republican thinks of the FCCT now?
Last night: “If you choose to host Palace propagandists giving eulogies about the king can this be taken to mean that the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand supports royalist dictatorship?”
2 observer // Aug 28, 2007 at 6:12 pm
I am planning to go. Will report back on Thursday morning, Thai time.
3 udd fan // Aug 31, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Thaksin mulled government in exile
(dpa) – Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra seriously considered setting up a government in exile after he was toppled by a military coup last year, a close aide to the deposed premier has revealed.
“Right after the coup of September 19, 2006, we planned to launch a government in exile but a telephone call from Bangkok changed all that,” Jakrapob Penkair, a former deputy chief of staff to premier Thaksin, told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand Wednesday night.
Thaksin, Thailand’s controversial populist prime minister between 2001 to 2006, was deposed by a coup while he was in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly.
He was reportedly shocked by the Thai military’s political blitzkrieg against him and initially attempted to block the coup by declaring a state of emergency in a Thai TV broadcast that was quickly taken off the air.
The deposed premier at that point seriously considered setting up a government in exile at the United Nations in New York, according to Jakrapob, who was a government spokesman under Thaksin’s first administration.
“It was not him who came up with the idea of a government in exile,” said Jakrapob. “It came from some of us, including me.”
Jakrapob claimed that Thaksin’s loyalists informally approached several countries to see if they would endorse a government in exile “and they said they would.”
But Thaksin nixed the notion after he received a telephone call from a mysterious person in Bangkok, whom Jakrapob refused to name, and flew to London where he has remained in self-exile since.
“When the crucial decision came, even he made the decision based on the patronage system,” Jakrapob told correspondents in a prepared speech on “democracy versus patronage” in Thailand.
4 Jako // Apr 1, 2008 at 5:16 am
A Police Lt. Col. Watanasak has filed a lese majeste complaint against Jakrapob Penkair arising out of statements Jakrapob made to the FCCT…It was related to a comparison he made regarding democracy and the patronage system in Thailand. Jakrapob is quoted as denying saying offending the monarchy and has no intention to do so.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Jakapob
5 An update on Jakrapob Penkair and alleged insults to the king // May 29, 2008 at 11:11 pm
[...] coverage of Jakrapob and his current legal troubles is available here and [...]
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