“Those who know less than me better shut up.”
That quote was attributed to Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra, responding to criticism that he is an autocratic leader soon after his party’s landslide victory in the general elections. His vanguard arguement that he is a champion of democracy: shut the fuck up. As you can see, he is ever the diplomat, the silky smooth, mature elder statesman.
In case you didn’t quite pick up on it. I was being a tad sarcastic. This puerile, hot-headed, ham-fisted thug of politician buys his way into a second victory in what is being labelled as the dirtiest campaign in Thailand’s storied history of uber-corrupt campaigns, and he has the chutzpah to claim that he is the pinnnacle of Thai democracy at its finest. Then again, this is the same guy who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, made his money through crony-capitalist-derived monopolies, and thinks he’s the greatest self-made man since Horatio Alger.
Fellow Metroblogger Scuba once told me a great quote about Wubya that I think is equally applicable to our PM: “He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.”
i voted ptp!
poor little phutipong. i voted for you i voted ptp!
poor little phutipong. i voted for you
Two words: Elective dictatorship.
I can’t really hold the voters in contempt for the TRT landslide victory. The outcome of this general election is not so much a stamp of support for TRT as it is show of overwhelming rejection for the relics of the “old guard” Democrats. We enlightened folks can criticize Thaksin all we want, but the Thais know their history. It’s either the promise of posterity under Thaksin, or back to status quo and the corrupted incompetence of the Democrats. At least with Thaksin, there’s a perception of progress. Against the background wails of the anti-Thaksin protests, the average Thai doesn’t think they’ve been presented with much of a choice. The true gladiators of democracy will always prefer the Arena and leave the political bickering within the halls of bureaucracy.
Perhaps Khun Apisit is the new breed of “young bloods” the Democrats need.
“He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.”
Doesn’t “rounding the bases” have to do with male bragging sexual exploits? Those lucky bastards. It takes a club and a packet of Ecstasy pills for me to claw my way to third…
(pathetically trying to inject some humor)
People voted. Someone got elected. Sounds all right to me. One tends to get the government you deserve. Think America. Why don’t you leave Thai politics to those that actually have an ounce of influence (read vote) to do something about it? Go back to your usual Thai-bashing, at least its not AS pathetic.
I do have the right to vote. I am a Thai citizen.
I just wish people didn’t allocate their votes based on the number of bills in the envelopes and the amount of booze they were plied with.
I just wish we had a balanced democracy, rather than a one party system where the PM didn’t flout the law and basic human rights at his whim.
And you’re right, we do get the government we deserve. We idolize a selfish, immature, materialistic, autocratic leader, and that’s the government and society and culture that we’ll get.
It never ceases to amaze me that people will assume that if you have an opinion and speak out, well, you can’t possibly be Thai. It really is that kind of thinking that will keep people like Thaksin in power.
The chips on some shoulders around here are huge.
We are lucky to have people like Paul, who can see further than their next meal and arn’t afraid to say what they think.
I’d vote for Paul any day! (even though I’m not Thai – really!)
WTF does chutzpuh mean?