Postbag: Lock up the lot of them

Postbag

Published: 18 Dec 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Re: ''Ex-PM hardly brave to face charge'' (Postbag, Dec 16). Dom Dunn misses the mark by a wide margin when he blames former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva for the violence and the loss of 91 lives in downtown Bangkok. Thaksin could have called off the red shirt mobs numerous times and saved their lives before the military cracked down, but as usual, he did not do that, for selfish reasons. Indeed, human life has always been cheap for Thaksin. As for the charge that other means could have been used to clear the mob, I presume Mr Dunn meant the largely pro-Thaksin police force. Of course, being the Thaksinistas that they were, their presence was essentially useless. Their bias ultimately cost lives as well.

The red shirt leaders should have taken the offer of elections a few months later than they wanted, rather than stubbornly insisting on their own time frame. These leaders and their hubris are also to blame for loss of life.

As someone who personally witnessed red-shirt vandalism, arson and other mayhem during that time, I can say the average red shirt was calling down retribution on himself, either by committing crimes or tolerating crime within red shirt ranks. So please do not beatify the red shirt mob, Mr Dunn.

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uberbraun
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Discussion 6 : 18 Dec 2012 at 22.246
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Ringmaster is sounding very much like domdunn.

Burin: the problem is that the PTP do NOT want the democrats to have any input on the charter change or the referendum. So we are stalled, even before we get out the starting gate.
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domdunnn
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Discussion 5 : 18 Dec 2012 at 12.565
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CM phillips

Nowhere in my letter do I blame AV for the loss of lives etc, I simply say that he has to explain his actions.

I do not say that TS is not culpable in the drugs war, I say that no evidence has been produced making a link, not the same thing.
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rontorre
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Discussion 4 : 18 Dec 2012 at 08.224
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ringmaster, I agree, the election offer was juast a ruse. Abhisit has always changed his mind and about faced on many other things, which he did in that case, he kept back trackiing on things he said, a true master of the "Texas side step" and the"Arizona About Face".
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Renaissance
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Discussion 3 : 18 Dec 2012 at 07.003
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I think that PT will use the same methods for the Referendum as it did in the elections except this time it has a better structure to influence the rural people. It has spent a lot of time and money, using populist schemes, to create networks of influential helpers for this situation. The Kamnan & PooYaiBahn Association belongs to Thaksin. The Red Shirt Federation is spreading rapidly. The rural people will be told how to vote, taken to the voting stations, and no doubt also given a present for their cooperation. Thaksin isn't bothered by Khun Burin's democratic niceties. The Referendum is just a clever part of Thaksin's strategy to get home.
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aussiedoug
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Discussion 2 : 18 Dec 2012 at 06.272
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Stalin, and the rest of his mob, who were always going to help the poor peasantry after they got into power is a good parallel for Thaksin and his cronies. They are all getting richer from the public purse, Thailand has the governemnt it elected, by fair means or foul, and has to grin and bear it until they grow up as a nation and vote them out.
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ringmaster
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Discussion 1 : 18 Dec 2012 at 05.141
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In C.M. Phillips "perfect world" Yingluck would never have been elected PM. Evidently his utopia has the majority of Thai people passively accepting coups and the PMs selected for them by the military. He prefers that the Thai people just stay home and accept their lot in life. Anything goes wrong and it's all Thaksin's fault. As for the early election offer... Was the cost so high that it was worth ordering the military to gun down innocent civilians? Think: did the Democrats really want to have an election that they would certainly lose?
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Postbag: Lock up the lot of them | Bangkok Post: opinion