Charupong's comments upset PM

COMMENTARY

Published: 4 Feb 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

'Silence is golden". So goes the timeless old adage. Unfortunately though, Charupong Ruangsuwan, the interior minister and de jure Pheu Thai Party leader, appeared to have forgotten this bit of wisdom when he recently talked to The New York Times correspondent in Bangkok, Thomas Fuller, for an article about Thai politics and the role of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the government of his sister, Ms Yingluck.

Whether it was just a slip of the tongue or just pure innocence, Mr Charupong said something he should not have said in the first place, especially to a foreign journalist.

The following is one of Mr Charupong's quotes as it appeared in The New York Times article dated Jan 29 under the headline "In Thailand, Power Comes With Help From Skype":

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Renaissance
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Discussion 7 : 04 Feb 2013 at 07.047
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What I can't understand is this. If you have 100's of billions of Baht with billions rolling in each day or week, why would you want to lead a life full of stress in which people are calling you all the time for solutions and decisions? The stress will only shorten your life and you can't take the money with you when you die anyway. Why not use the money to help mankind, relax, and be happy? Perhaps I will understand better when I have my first 100 billion baht.
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facts_only
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Discussion 6 : 04 Feb 2013 at 06.516
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Does the author believe that voters would vote differently if they knew that Thaksin was the leader of his own party?
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Renaissance
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Discussion 5 : 04 Feb 2013 at 06.515
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The truth always comes out eventually, however hard one tries to lie and cover it up. It's a shame that the politicians and their cronies can't show the public, whom they are supposed to be serving, even just a modicum of respect once in a while by telling the truth even just now and again.
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felixqui
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Discussion 4 : 04 Feb 2013 at 06.354
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Silence is certainly golden for despots - just look at all those blasphemy laws to enforce it in the despotic East; it is also a guaranteed path to stagnation and stultification on every topic where enforced, as both suppressive Big Brother and his censoring nemeses well know.
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bkposter
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Discussion 3 : 04 Feb 2013 at 06.353
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Veera
I hope you won't be one sided in your reporting, and omit telling that the Times also said that the TS conviction was a politically motivated action.
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oldexp
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Discussion 2 : 04 Feb 2013 at 04.572
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Some Thai once tried to explain me the culture of "loosing face" in Thailand.
When he came to "even you know someone is lying it would be considered this someone is "loosing face" if you expose his lies"
So please NYT, stop publishing such embarrassing stories.
We don't want to miss her nice face in her reconciling appearances in the news.
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felixqui
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Discussion 1 : 04 Feb 2013 at 03.311
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Silence might be golden; it is a certain path to ignorance on every topic where enforced, as both Big Brother and his nemeses well known.
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Charupong's comments upset PM | Bangkok Post: opinion