Thaksin: ''I will not accept premiership'' (Thailand PM Resigns)

Bangkok Post ^ | April 4, 2006

[killjoy]

Thaksin: ''I will not accept premiership''

Caretaker prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced on TV pool Tuesday night at 8.30 p.m. that he will not accept premiership in the upcoming formation of the government after the election is completed.

He said he wants to keep peace in the country which is celebrating HM the King's 60 years on the throne.

He will remain caretaker prime minister until the new government is formed.

''I would like to thank 28 million people who came to the poll and the 16 million who voted for him and his Thai Rak Thai party,'' he said.

[killjoy]

It's official... Toxin will not be PM anymore.

[killjoy]

Toxin just announced he will step down.

[starbase]

Well it's about time. But you sure posted this fast, I literally just checked Google for a Thai update and wham, your story announced it before any other source! Way to go.

I kept feeling like he had to go, but he kept hanging in there. Nice to see the old shyster move on to a new gig.

[killjoy]

Well it's about time. But you sure posted this fast, I literally just checked Google for a Thai update and wham, your story announced it before any other source! Way to go.

I cheated. I have local news going in the other room. :)

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the meeting between Toxin and the King today.

[Killborn]

I guess he got bored. Could have sworn he was going to be in power until the next next Presidential election.

Hopefully some new blood will come in and help the country out.

[Dr. Marten]

Whoo hoo!

I was really hoping the King wouldn't have to get involved.

[GOP_1900AD]

The mob now rules Thailand, elections no longer matter.

[GOP_1900AD]

But it won't. No one in their right mind will want to try and get elected, knowing that some demogogue can start to slime them, incite the mob and undertake a bloodless coup d'etat.

[GOP_1900AD]

Nothing to celebrate about mob rule. What if it happened in the US or UK? Would you celebrate?

[GOP_1900AD]

This is a cautionary tale for the whole world. When the mob has more effective power than the political process, the beginning of trouble is near.

[LeoWindhorse]

so who will replace him?
I hear oinking and jostling at the trough .....

[Killborn]

Yeah, we kind of have a problem with coups and such. At least the Thai gov't has two advantages.

NO ONE takes on the King. Period.

We are more stable than France. :)

[starbase]

No one in their right mind will want to try and get elected, knowing that some demogogue can start to slime them, incite the mob and undertake a bloodless coup d'etat.

I would agree if it were any other culture, but Thai culture is unique in a number of ways. Specifically, the only culture as capable of consensus action as the Thais are the Japanese. Thais culture just does not have the scientific capacity that the Japanese show, maybe that will change in the future.

Otherwise there is a single-entity-body-politic psychology at play. That makes it more like a family arguing about which chicken to cook for dinner, than a philosophical indicator which would mean something very different elsewhere.

If you're not intimately familiar with the Thais, then everything I typed here must be difficult to understand.

[killjoy]

This is a cautionary tale for the whole world. When the mob has more effective power than the political process, the beginning of trouble is near.

Huh? What are you talking about? I am not sure if you are following what has been going on, but there was an election here in Thailand on Sunday and TRT got handed their pink slips in large numbers. It was obvious based off the election results that Toxin had no choice but to resign.

[Killborn]

Asians have a communal identity. Western individualsim is a novel concept and not as widely recognized in Asian culture. The well being of society comes before the individual.

[mfnorman]

and i was there while it happened. just got back early this morning from my trip to Thailand. took some pictures of my girlfriends grandparents voting up in the city of Chondan.

[expatguy]

I find it very strange that you would be celebrating Thaksin's ouster by the mob, the implications of which you will be seeing very soon.

The word out just today is that Thailand's military will now be moderating any future political protests. Something they have not done since 1992.

The rest of Southeast Asia are quite concerned with these dangerous developments in Thailand.

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[GOP_1900AD]

Mob rule has ruined Thailand and made it vulnerable to geopolitical domination by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. And that superhighway from Kunming to BKK is nearly completed .... total disaster.

[GOP_1900AD]

I am well familiar with Thai culture. There is more than that in play here.

[GOP_1900AD]

TRT technically won.