Stories worth reading

There are a few media stories currently available that are worthy of attention. PPT doesn’t have time to put each out in separate posts, so we are listing them here with brief comments, all from the Bangkok Post:

Impeaching Suthep

The new Speaker of the Senate Nikom Wairatchapanich has put the impeachment of Democrat Party MP, former deputy prime minister and signatory to sniper letters Suthep Thaugsuban on the senate agenda for Monday, Nikom’s very first day on the job. The charge from the National Anti-Corruption Commission is relatively minor, but these rules were set in place by those attacking pro-Thaksin Shinawatra parties, not thinking that silly rules will turn and bite them. PT would far prefer to see Suthep axed for his deliberate decisions to have anti-government protesters killed.

Suthep

More state blacklists

As is well known from the War on Drugs, when the state puts together lists of “suspects,” the so-called suspects need to be very, very frightened, for the state’s tendency, through the police and military, is simply to conduct extrajudicial killings or to lock people up, often without a shred of evidence. Hence, it is very scary to learn that lists

… including politicians, school heads and local religious leaders, have been named as part of the southern insurgency network in a newly launched army handbook…. The blacklisted names are listed in two books which together are called The Order of Battle…. The second handbook identifies the names of leaders and their forces in each village, tambon and district of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and in four districts of Songkhla. The 500-page book lists 9,692 people as being involved in the insurgency network.

The Army has such a poor record, regularly killing its own citizens, that such a list of names constitutes a serious threat to each and every one of these persons.

Prayuth

The magic wand

The GT200 story just won’t go away, mainly because the fools who purchased the useless things, often at inflated prices, and who continue to defend them (an example being Army boss General Prayuth Chan-ocha) are also trying to charge the sellers. Sure, the sellers were frauds, but what about the dopes who bought the supposedly magic toys. Maybe investigators should look at the incompetence amongst the so-called security agencies.

We want it all!

The cry of the rich as they such up all the wealth, land and other resources! While PPT is not convinced that the reporting in the Bangkok Post editorial is entirely accurate, the basic point holds. We noted this: “For juristic persons, the biggest land owner has more than 2.8 million rai…”. PPT thought readers might wonder if this owner was royal. It seems that this might not be the case. The chapter on the Crown Property Bureau in the semi-official King Bhumibol Adulyadej. A Life’s Work, states that the CPB holds 41,300 rai (p. 283). Could it be the armed forces? Or one of the big farmers like CP? If readers have any ideas, let us know.

Army good, protesters bad

Who could possibly be surprised when Thawil Pliensri defends the Army’s murderous assault on red shirt protesters in 2010. After all, Thawil was secretary-general of the National Security Council at the time of the sniper orders and secretary of the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situations set up by the Abhisit Vejjajiva government to crush the protests by the red shirts. He says that “the operation to retake areas in Bangkok occupied by the protesters was a legitimate one.” Of course he does. He claims that “[s]ome information has been distorted and tampered with,” but seems to provide no evidence. Ultra-royalists will believe him. He, like the Army boss, declares: “state officials who risked their lives to disperse unlawful protesters deserved praise and should not be accused of killing people.” What causes Thawil to defend murder with statements that are so ludicrous as to make him look like a lying fool is his fear that he may not enjoy the impunity that he currently enjoys.