I feel so old...
... already thinking... "Look at the way the world is going today... my my ..."
Indeed, to use another well worn cliche: "It's a sad day for democracy"
I was following the results until I started feeling that something just wasn't right. Seriously. In Ratchatewi, for the first few hours of counting, it was a close battle between TRT and PTP. Very close... everytime the 'results so far' came up to Ratchatewi, the leader kept changing... until I went out for a smoke, came back, and discovered that all of a sudden TRT were ahead clearly by 600 (total voter turn-up in Ratchatewi was around 17,000 at the end). Then, after another ten minutes by 1,200. Then, another ten, and they were ahead by around 1,800. PTP kept growing at the same pace it had been earlier. And after that sudden increase, so did TRT.
Suspicious anyone?
It looks like, at some point, 1,800 TRT 'supporters' walked in en masse and voted around the same time, causing such a sharp rise in the difference between TRT votes and PTP votes within the space of 30 minutes, when counting went on all night.
So... 2,000 baht ($67AUD) for a vote, anyone?
I'm not, naturally, saying that other parties were particularly clean in their doings... but TRT can get away with being blatantly dirty.
What can I say? Thai voters don't seem to care about basic human rights (look at the zero tolerance drug policies and look at the way we are dealing with the two Islamic states in the South!) as long as they stand to somehow financially gain by voting a certain way!
I read The Nation, an 'independant' Thai newspaper, today, and the editor of that newspaper was expressing his distress at 'his colleagues' dismissal... Bangkok Post, which is owned by 'Central' removed the editor-in-chief from his position because they received a complaint from our PM's party. What happened? Well, he allowed to go into print an article that referred to an overseas article, which criticised his economics (a.k.a.'thaksinomics)... 'Central', naturally, is a business - and right now, offending 'our friendly powermonger' is probably not the wisest tactic.
Anyhow, I was inspired by a dear friend - who will read this and have a laugh - to post the following two pictures:
Could they be related???
Welcome to the new Thailand. Welcome to our dictatorship.
What worries me most is this: Education.
We all know who votes for TRT... for the most part.
What motivation does TRT have to educated the masses when it's only their uneducatedness that makes them vote for such populistic bastards. The levels of illiteracy in the provinces make them easy prey for a government (read:TRT) controlled media. So... like the US, like the UK, like Australia... Education is going DOWN.
Yeah... so politics... as always, the world is going to the dogs, as they say.
Indeed, to use another well worn cliche: "It's a sad day for democracy"
I was following the results until I started feeling that something just wasn't right. Seriously. In Ratchatewi, for the first few hours of counting, it was a close battle between TRT and PTP. Very close... everytime the 'results so far' came up to Ratchatewi, the leader kept changing... until I went out for a smoke, came back, and discovered that all of a sudden TRT were ahead clearly by 600 (total voter turn-up in Ratchatewi was around 17,000 at the end). Then, after another ten minutes by 1,200. Then, another ten, and they were ahead by around 1,800. PTP kept growing at the same pace it had been earlier. And after that sudden increase, so did TRT.
Suspicious anyone?
It looks like, at some point, 1,800 TRT 'supporters' walked in en masse and voted around the same time, causing such a sharp rise in the difference between TRT votes and PTP votes within the space of 30 minutes, when counting went on all night.
So... 2,000 baht ($67AUD) for a vote, anyone?
I'm not, naturally, saying that other parties were particularly clean in their doings... but TRT can get away with being blatantly dirty.
What can I say? Thai voters don't seem to care about basic human rights (look at the zero tolerance drug policies and look at the way we are dealing with the two Islamic states in the South!) as long as they stand to somehow financially gain by voting a certain way!
I read The Nation, an 'independant' Thai newspaper, today, and the editor of that newspaper was expressing his distress at 'his colleagues' dismissal... Bangkok Post, which is owned by 'Central' removed the editor-in-chief from his position because they received a complaint from our PM's party. What happened? Well, he allowed to go into print an article that referred to an overseas article, which criticised his economics (a.k.a.'thaksinomics)... 'Central', naturally, is a business - and right now, offending 'our friendly powermonger' is probably not the wisest tactic.
Anyhow, I was inspired by a dear friend - who will read this and have a laugh - to post the following two pictures:
Could they be related???
Welcome to the new Thailand. Welcome to our dictatorship.
What worries me most is this: Education.
We all know who votes for TRT... for the most part.
What motivation does TRT have to educated the masses when it's only their uneducatedness that makes them vote for such populistic bastards. The levels of illiteracy in the provinces make them easy prey for a government (read:TRT) controlled media. So... like the US, like the UK, like Australia... Education is going DOWN.
Yeah... so politics... as always, the world is going to the dogs, as they say.