Thai MPs are shameless

Recently we heard that the Daily Telegraph newspaper has published leaked documents showing how British MPs claimed from the public purse for everything from food and drink to maintenance work for a swimming pool, a tennis court and even a castle moat. When that news broke out, I talked to my sister that that MP will soon resign. True to form, Michael Martin, the speaker of the House of Commons announced his resignation.

“In order that unity can be maintained, I have decided that I will relinquish the office of speaker on Sunday June 21″ said Michael Martin, who resigned over an MPs’ expenses scandal which has plunged Britain into its worst political crisis for years and outraged voters. 

Another case which is still fresh in my memory is the case of Japan’s Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa who resigned, amid claims that he was drunk at a recent G7 meeting.

Looking back at the current affairs in Thailand where a first time MP from Bhumjaithai Party Chartchai Pookyaporn is asked to quit for failing to attend party meetings and join in other party activities, he initially seemed to have accepted the offer. I remember I said  “Wow if this is true, we can have write a new chapter in Thai politics”.  For me, it is difficult to see  any member of parliament to offer to quit  as he has everything to gain.

True to my expectation, he reversed his decision saying that he will not quit as deputy agriculture minister and will try to attend all party meetings and activities from now on. For Thai MP, once grabs the opportunity to sit in the parliament, you can not expect them to leave the seat unless you offer them something bigger. This might not be fair to a Democrat Minister who resigned earlier. But his case is rare and very special.

In Chartchai’s case, he may have a will to fight the party but Bhumjaithai Party leader Chavarat Charnvirakul insists he will replace Chartchai Pookyaporn as deputy agriculture and cooperatives minister despite his insistence on staying in the cabinet. The party annual assembly to be held on 21 May is an intersting event to watch: Can Chartchai survive in his struggle for power?

Kick boxing in the parliament is our norm

When there is a physical fight in the parliament, we often refer to an incident in the Taiwanese parliament where parliamentarians physically fought when they could not agree with each other. Last year, we witnessed the first round of PPP’s MP Karun Hosakul and Somkiat from Democrat Party. We felt embarrass and did not expect it to happen again.Yesterday, however, unexpectedly, we again witnessed the second round of kick boxing between MPs of Peua Thai and Democrat.

Is this our norm to fight physically when we can not agree with one another? We can not simply just talk thing through any more. It seems that parliamentarians do not have respect for the parliament. Why they are there then?

We often look down at Taiwanese parliamentarians in the past. Now it is the turn of others to look down at Thai parliamentarians. It is high time to gear towards reconciliation. Can the current government solve this problem? How can public be reassured that this embarrassing act of parliamentarians would not happen again and again. Do not allow people to feel that it is the norm, it is not.

Podcast dummy on new media – just for fun

Podcast Worskhop

When I attended the capacity building workshop in February this year, I proposed a podcast workshop instead of vcast and I wonder why I did that. I am now attending a workshop I proposed but to find out that it is not popular in a country I work in and wonder how I should go about it.

I think podcast is something that not many are intersted in because we like to see things while listening. Listening without visual tends not to keep people attention long, maximum would be about 10 min.

But what happen if we have an interesting topic and intersting peopleton our show. That could be something! The solution is likely to be then I start doing my first episode soon for my project and leave it for a while. Then check with friends if we should continue and just scrap it. Good solution?????

Assassination of Sondhi Limthongkul

While I was watching morning news, I saw short message “Sondhi Limthongkul is shot and his driver is seriously injured”. Almost 84 bullets fired to his car aimed for his life. It was in the center of Bangkok and it was seriously a blow to the police, the military and the government. Thailand is under Emergency decree and police and military are around the area, how could this happen?

That is not very important. What is important is whether or not this incidence will list the political conflict to another level, whether the level conflict will lead to a civil war as aimed by Thaksin and his RED supporters. It is my hope that the conflict will not expand and that the yellow would not feel threaten to stage a protest to counter urban terrorism of Thaksin and the terror RED.

To see pictures of the gun shot, please visit http://www.manager.co.th/Politics/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9520000043059