Somsak's European adventure

COMMENTARY

Published: 23 Sep 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

It was honesty, pure and unadulterated, when parliament president Somsak Kiatsuranont shrugged off criticisms of his nine day, seven million baht, taxpayer-funded study trip to Europe with 39 media staff and close aides by saying that there was no hidden agenda.

There's no need for a hidden agenda. This is simply a time-honoured tradition.

When you are a phuyai in Thai society, which members of parliament are, you've earned the perks and privileges, even at the expense of taxpayers.

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ringmaster
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Discussion 39 : 24 Sep 2012 at 13.0939
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"Most reporters would not compromise on ethics"? You're kidding me, right?
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DONHUAN
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Discussion 38 : 23 Sep 2012 at 22.0138
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So what’s news; haven’t we heard enough of this sort of “discovery” about senior “public servants” who were suppose to be exemplary in their conducts. In a democratic society, beside the opposition parties, news media are duty bound to scrutinize political parties / public servants to ensure they serve the interests of the people. However, if there are too many embedded news people around, we often get sanitized version of their “misdeeds”.
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wakeup
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Discussion 37 : 23 Sep 2012 at 18.4337
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Sorry folks, the argument 'others do it too' doesn't shake out when your alleged political platform is anti-amart and social justice. PTP are a bunch of frauds claiming to be the "people's party" when in reality they are elitists themselves simply using gullible poor folks to propel their agenda forward.
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wakeup
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Discussion 36 : 23 Sep 2012 at 18.3736
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So after all this hand wringing about the horrible elitist Amart, all Peua Thai has turned into is a bunch of much more overt high rolling frauds, living the high life off of public funds while their still very dirt poor, uneducated followers rot in the sun every time the paymaster needs some PR support. How progressive!
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englishbob
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Discussion 35 : 23 Sep 2012 at 17.4035
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Disc32 DomDunn - "I wonder why the Bangkok Post didn't reveal the details of this trip when they were first sent to VV, it would have been a scoop."
And give Peua Thai a chance to pull the trip before it happened?
It's a scoop now, rather than rumour of a possible junket.

"It would be interesting to know if the Bangkok Post has ever allowed any of its journalists to accompany politicians on foreign study trips and if so which politicians were involved." is a very poor way of you trying to shift the stain of impropriety away from Peua Thai. Don't worry, though, I'm here to ensure we stay focussed on another of Peua Thai's shady deals.
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englishbob
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Discussion 34 : 23 Sep 2012 at 17.3534
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Disc25 - DomDunn - Rather than telling me how 'all governments do it' and how 'other people are corrupt' why not for ONE SINGLE SOLITARY occasion, condemn immoral behaviour?

Go on!! Try it! See if you can bring yourself to criticise one iota of Peua Thai's behaviour.
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mrexpat
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Discussion 33 : 23 Sep 2012 at 17.1733
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to comet disc 23.
Uk mps yes claimed money they shouldnt but they have been ordered to pay this back with some recieving criminal punishment! some however were legally right just morally wrong and also paid back.
Also the amount of money was NOTHING campared to the corruption in thailand so maybe you should go and research abit more before you try comparing the uk on a forum about thailand!
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domdunnn
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Discussion 32 : 23 Sep 2012 at 16.1732
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I wonder why the Bangkok Post didn't reveal the details of this trip when they were first sent to VV, it would have been a scoop.

It would be interesting to know if the Bangkok Post has ever allowed any of its journalists to accompany politicians on foreign study trips and if so which politicians were involved.
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khunbj
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Discussion 31 : 23 Sep 2012 at 14.3331
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D27 : There is no Gift Tax in Thailand .There is no wealth tax in Thailand. If you are MP then there is a limit to which amount you can receive in present, but can't remember the actual value, and of course the companies or institutions that the participants of the group belonged to may have specific rules for their employees as well that they have to adhere to.
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bennu
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Discussion 30 : 23 Sep 2012 at 14.2430
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Europe with its austerity measures (for the common people) is perhaps the more interesting destination for a study trip on spending in this context.
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