[Tlc] T-politics

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Excerpts from Taksin's recent video address forwarded from a member.
Thanks,
justin

Thaksin by video-link to meeting in the Chiang Mai 700th Anniversary Stadium, 20:00, 22 March 2009.

The video is available in two clips at:
http://www.matichon.co.th/mtc-flv-window.php?newsid=1237730397

The interesting part is on the first video clip, starting around minute 17:30, and running to the end. On the second, he talks about the economy, and rants. This translation below is not continuous. Some parts are not clear because of interference on the video-link. The numbers are the rough position on the recording.

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17:40
Remember in 2006, at the election we won by a landslide, 377 MPs in parliament. One day, my defense minister said to me, ‘I fear we’ll be tired. I heard from a journalist who said, the Democrat Party as an opposition is so weak, so few seats, the journalists will join together to act as the opposition. I was perplexed, why should journalists act as the opposition, their role is to tell the truth, what is right and what is wrong.

19:00
Later I heard from the son of a newspaper-owner, I asked why his father’s paper was bashing me, bashing the government. He said, ‘Can’t help you.’ A privy councilor dined with his father (I’ll say the name later) and said, claimed, the palace won’t have me anymore, wants me removed from the position.
I was perplexed. Then I was still prime minister. I did not know what was happening. Then there was news of attempts on my life, and finally the car bomb in August.
I heard later from General Panlop Pinmanee, who came to see me recently in China that in early 2006 he was called to meet General Surayud Chulanont at a house in a Sukumwit soi. General Surayud said he had been with two privy councilor to an audience with 901 [the king’s radio code] to inform that they would work for His Majesty because I was not loyal. How could I be disloyal? I believed this was a fabrication. Because out king is elevated, does not get involved in politics. So it was just a fabrication, made to deal with me….

21:30
Two attempts [on my life], but my fate was to survive them. Then the attempt to deal with me with the car bomb. General Panlop said he knew about it, and his subordinates were used, but he was not involved. Those who did it were the coup group.

22:00
Remember Ja Yak? Ja Yak told the police when I was still prime minister that if I didn’t die from the car bomb, there would be a coup, and if the coup was successful, the premier would be Surayud….

22:40
Remember, in October 2002, I moved General Surayud to be Supreme Commander. The reason was not because I was angry or had anything against General Surayud…. But the reason I moved him, never told before but today I must tell it, was not because he was a bad man. But when the Burma number 2, Mong Aye, who had not come to Thailand for a long time, I invited him, and took him for an audience with the king and queen on 18 April 2002. On 25 April the army used force without my knowledge, killing over 300 Burmese soldiers. All when I was trying to negotiate for his help over the drug issue…

24:15
So there were attempts to deal with me, by claiming I’m disloyal. Yet I am loyal over one million percent…. These people who sound off on the street, how can they be more loyal than me?

25:00
To overthrow a government that is very powerful, the easiest way, the barami of the king is the supreme thing for all Thai, so they allege disloyalty. This is the origin of the political turmoil down to today….

25:20
I became prime minister under the 1997 constitution, that I did not draft. The person who drafted it was Anand Panyarachun, and the concept or idea was laid down by Dr Prawase [Wasi]. Prawase said, politics in the past, governments were weak, the prime minister lacked the authority of a leader, because he was challenged all the time, making him unable to take decision over the country’s major problems. That was the background of the 1997 constitution. Later both Dr Prawase and Anand undermined my government which was a product of the 1997 constitution they drafted. They said I was too strong, had too much power….

27:30
I travel around the world, people say, in English, “Thailand is a joke.” They say Thailand is a joke, a joke in every way. The prime minister does a cooking show for a little money and gets thrown out of office.

28:00
The TRT party was dissolved because they decided to dissolve it. A group of the witnesses came to see one of my people. They said they were paid to give false witness. They begged my forgiveness….

29:05
This government they call the Drag-Eleven Government, to form the government they used the Constitutional Court to dissolve parties so they could pull away their MPs. Then the army forced groups to form the government. Though Pok [Anupong] denies it until today, Pok was involved to the hilt…

29:30
After General Panlop met General Surayuth, and they had talked about dealing with me, another four people came in. One was Pramote Nakhonthap, who invented the story (niyai) of the Finland Plot, a pack of lies. If challenged in court today, there would be no answer. He invented the whole story. There never were the words, Finland Plot…

30:40
After that, another three people came in. One was Ackaratorn [Chularat], president of the Administrative Court. Another is Charun Phakdithanakun. Another is Charnchai Likitjittha. This is what General Panlop told me. True or false, go and ask him. He said these three or four met together, and each accepted assignments to deal with me by alleging I was a disloyal premier.

31:50
At the time of the coup, news was released that I was behind, was the sponsor, of making the book The King Never Smiles, written by Paul Handley. A book I’d never seen. As soon as I knew, I immediately ordered Surakiat [Sathirathai], who is no longer with me, then a deputy prime minister, to meet Bush the father, who had close connections with Yale University that published the book, to appeal to them that there was a royal celebration in june, appeal for them not to release it yet. And they agreed. And later in April I met Bush the father and appealed to him myself. I also ordered Police-General Kowit Phuwanit [a mistake for Wattana?], then the police chief, to prevent the book entering Thailand….

I will speak out more and more clearly. I’m not angry. I pity the people.

36:00
After the 2006 election, there was pressure for the ECT commissioners to resign, until there were only three left. Those who resigned later told me, the people who pressured them to resign were Chamlong Srimuang and Surayud Chulanont. I was still prime minister, so I rushed to see General Surayud in the office of the Privy Council to ask what was going on, but he replied that he was not involved, he was a parachute trooper that didn’t kill his juniors, charge his seniors, or sell his friends.


______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu