"Voice of Thaksin" launch on July 20

GMT +07:00

• E - Paper
• SMS
• Print Front Page
• Newswire
• Print subscription
• RSS

• news
• business
• opinion
• feature
• travel
• leisure
• entertainment
• auto
• life
• tech
• Job
• Forum
• Classifieds

Breakingnews » Breakingnews

Share your thoughts

For more candid, lengthy, conversational and open discussion between one another, use our Forum

Report objectionable comments click here. Include: discussion #, commenter name, comment date / time as it looks on the page. Example: discussion 15: 09/01/2009 at 10:00 AM.

• RicefieldRadio

  Discussion 10 : 15/07/2009 at 11:20 PM10

  wow - While I agree that education is poor in the North and Northeast you can't solely blame Thaksin for that. He was in power for only a short time in Thai Democratic history, no one before him had done anything either.
  
  You make one fatal mistake and equate education with ignorance, this is just not the case. You can have a doctorate but be ignorant and you can be a farmer and be brilliant. Education has little to do with IQ. What the lack of education does is not allow that brilliant farmer's kid to get a decent education, but allows the kid who has a father with a doctorate to pressure his kid through the Thai school system even to the point of paying off someone to fudge his marks. It's as much a case of situation than anything else.
  
  Until Thailand gets it's public schools up to an acceptable level nationwide nothing is going to change. That brilliant kid is going to be growing rice because the family situation just does not allow him to be educated, either because of money or because of time.
  
  What rural Thailand desperately wants is to have hope, to not be treated as second class citizens, hope for themselves and hope for their kids.
  
  What Thaksin gave to the Rural people (not negating what he took) was a sense of dignity and hope for their future as never before granted them by a politician and that's worth more than petty handouts to them, a lot more.

• wow

  Discussion 9 : 15/07/2009 at 04:07 PM9

  Ricefeild the people of the North and Northeast are profoundly uneducated and notoriously ignorant as a result. Education in Thailand overall is pitiful and this corrupt government, down all party lines, is a predictable result which falls in line with trends around the world.
  
  More education = less corruption. Education being actual vocational and skills oriented, not indoctrination.
  
  Thaksin shamelessly threw money at these people in a variety of ways ... welfare programs, 30 baht health care, topping off village funds, or just outright handing money to people is a superficial way to gain support without actually doing anything.
  
  Martin Luther King once said, "True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."
  
  Did Thaksin take Singapore, S. Korea, or Taiwan as examples of teaching people to feed themselves? What did Thaksin change? Nothing. He just saw a group of neglected, poor, and desperate people, and exploited them to get a foothold in Thai politics where he otherwise didn't stand a chance. He is yet another self-serving elitist, no different than the people he is fighting. If people can't see that, especially after all that's happened, they are dangerously ignorant.
  
  Just because people think Thaksin is working for them, doesn't make it fact. It just makes them suckers, my friend.

• supattana

  Discussion 8 : 15/07/2009 at 02:36 PM8

  It's pretty clear that it's not about democracy but THE FUGITIVE ON THE RUN. If he had been a smart PM,he would still be leading the country. But,unfortunately he turned allies into enemies along the way to achieve his greed for power and wealth. How people can still believe him is simply amazing. He cried about being robbed by the military coup,yet he was so willing to fly to Fiji,which is under military coup for business investments. How ironical!

• Supachok Chattanuchai

  Discussion 7 : 15/07/2009 at 03:32 AM7

  Dear Mr. Radio, it is true that there are many rural people that, for diverse reasons, have a favorable view of Thaksin. But I think what Khun Alex is saying is that the main reason people (close to Thaksin) stick with him stems from his money and/or the chance for advancement. And once either one evaporates, or better opportunities present themselves, or even that things get too rough -- they'll abandon him like rats off a sinking ship (Newin, and others before him).
  
  Thaksin’s nature is such that he chastises anyone who leaves, and quite naturally they fire back at him too (again, Newin is an example). The loss of influential support has been going on for years and will continue until the trickledown effect reaches a tipping point where the rural people turn against each other. However, brand “Thaksin” could (unfortunately) very well reinvent itself (go on a reality TV show, etc.)
  
  Supachok Chattanuchai

• dawin

  Discussion 6 : 15/07/2009 at 02:36 AM6

  I hope Thaksin rots in hell!!!
  
  He is the WORST thing that ever happened to Thailand!!

• RicefieldRadio

  Discussion 5 : 15/07/2009 at 01:06 AM5

  Alex Ruiz - If you actually had of gone out into the North and Northeast you would know that the line you are spouting is not correct, it's a line of spin you have swallowed. There are people who collect off Thaksin but the majority do not. If you actually talked to a cross section of the population in the North and Northeast, which is unlikely from your comment, you would find that the vast majority of those people truly support him for diverse reasons other than money.

• Peak

  Discussion 4 : 14/07/2009 at 10:56 PM4

  Al Capone really was a big man [in a negative sense] Against him Taksin was a criminal dwarf. However- not even 'Big AL'
  as he was called, was followed by such a heap of
  'rubble' who were willing to sacrifice almost everything to serve him.
  
  Thailand indeed is in a sorry state.
  Led by weak and obliging 'politicians' .

• Alex Ruiz

  Discussion 3 : 14/07/2009 at 09:21 PM3

  Those few people supporting Thaksin are doing so with his money. What Thaksin does not realize is that nobody likes him. Everyone likes his money and they are all grabbing at it. Thaksin is paying for all of this. Make no mistake. And he is paying for more. No one is willing to invest in his lost soul. He will be in the limelight for as long as his money last. After that he will wither like a flower in Fall and slowly die alone, in the desert, abandoned and forgotten by all who loved his money.

• prallo

  Discussion 2 : 14/07/2009 at 08:39 PM2

  @ TAN
  
  Thaksin was found guilty and rightly so !
  But still there are people following a criminal on the run. Unbelievable !

• TAN

  Discussion 1 : 14/07/2009 at 07:50 PM1

  Countries nearby is supporting Thaksin it's really showing that Thailand does not having a legitimate gov.