General Election Dec. '07

[GWR]

Cabinet declares Dec 24 be public holiday

(BangkokPost.com) - The cabinet declared on Tuesday that Dec 24 be a national holiday to encourage people living away from homes to return to take part in the Dec 23 general election.

Deputy Interior Minister Thirawut Butrsripoom said the government expected that this will help increase voter turnout.

The government hopes that turnout will be 70%.

Central bank will cooperate with commercial banks to announce to public that all the banks close on that day.

Link may expire:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_....php?id=123538

[GWR]

Not sure that 'working class' is really an appropriate construct here anyway!:

No clear party policies seen for working class
Published on November 17, 2007

Despite the seemingly endless choice of parties in the coming general election, labour experts say not one truly represents workers - either blue- or white-collar - and none has impressed them.

"They're not different and their policies to help workers are superficial," said labour expert Sakdina Chatrakul na Ayudhya. "Most major parties are neo-liberal and pay little interest to the labour sector. I don't see any party preparing a labour expert in their line-up to take the post of labour minister."

Labour researcher Bandit Thanachaisaettawut of the Arom Pongpangan Foundation agrees, though he thinks many parties could have policies that would please workers. "The Democrat Party is the only party that has forwarded me its labour policy outline," he said. "They may expand social security to cover workers in the non-formal sector and increase protection of women and children labourers."

However, Bandit remains sceptical. "I think many policies are about election campaigning and the chance of [the parties] following through after being elected are slim, especially if there isn't enough pressure."

What's more, Bandit says many labour policies promoted by parties are more social or populist policies.

Sakdina and Bandit agree that no strong party will represent workers for years to come for several reasons.

"There is no ideology-based effort. This can only succeed when society accepts a socialist ideology to a certain degree. We need social democrats," said Sakdina. "The unionisation rate is very low, just 1.4 per cent out of 35.5 million formal and informal workers."

Many workers can't vote in the city or province that they work in, adds Bandit, thus diluting their votes because they have to return to their home provinces to vote, while in rural provinces agricultural issues dominate.

Bandit added that during the decades of dictatorship in Thailand, big business and the middle class grew but the labour movement was squashed. "There's no mass party representing workers," he pointed out. "Thai politics today is still about groups of politicians more than a political party as an institution. Power is centred on the party leader and the financier.

"I don't see any parties being sincere to workers," he said, adding that none has offered to decentralise the Social Security Fund, which is now worth Bt400 billion and subject to government abuse.

While some groups have attempted to promote small labour-oriented parties, Bandit sees these efforts as acts of well-intended intellectuals that failed to truly galvanise popular labour consciousness.

However, Sakdina thinks such efforts should be supported.

Both agree that if Thai workers are without real representation, migrant labours will be in an even more precarious situation.

"I'm worried about them. The mass media are fanning ultra-nationalism and portray them as a problem," said Sakdina.

"From what I saw of the Democrats' policy on migrant workers, it is to make them legal in order to prevent them causing security problems and stealing jobs from Thai workers. This is a typical state view," said Bandit. "What they should do is offer them protection." [Mod: Related Thread - http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bang...72&postcount=2]

Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007...s_30056439.php

[Wisarut]

Originally Posted by GWR

Not sure that 'working class' is really an appropriate construct here anyway!:


http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007...s_30056439.php

Well, the incident of General Strike by SRT Union have create Strong Distrust on the Union for bnoth capitalists as well as the middle class alike ....

Worse still, you could hear ANTI Illegal Immigrant workers flamign aroudn the community radios .... ready to ignite the incidents of Persecution/Pogroms of illigal immigrant communities such as fisher men villages in Mahachai or so ... at ANY Second ... just a matter of time ....

[GWR]

See also Frontpage throughout the General Election campaign for excruciating examples of this debased artform. The election is on December 23:
http://www.2bangkok.com

About campaign posters
Published on November 22, 2007

Visual pollution in Bangkok is always at its worse during elections.

But this year the walls of placards that block views and create hazards are remarkably few.

By law, local administrations can direct where candidates are allowed to put up their posters and campaign materials.

For Bangkok, the metropolitan administration has been quite firm on placard placement. Candidates can display their pictures in most public places except for the following:

Median strips and traffic islands, flyovers, pedestrian bridges, bridges, traffic fences besides roads, traffic signs and signals, government announcements, walls of government buildings, trees and light poles on traffic islands, bus stops, public telephone booths, public toilets, Sanam Luang, public parks, public recreation areas and roundabouts.


The Royal Plaza, Rajdamnoen Avenue and roads surrounding the Grand Palace and Chitralada Palace are also strictly off limits.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007...s_30056998.php

[GWR]

Originally Posted by GWR

See also Frontpage throughout the General Election campaign for excruciating examples of this debased artform. The election is on December 23:
http://www.2bangkok.com

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007...s_30056998.php

26 November 2007
BMA amends public property regulation
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) Chief Pongsak Saemsun (พงศ์ศักติฐ์ เสมสันต์) indicated that as the BMA has restricted the use of campaign advertisements to be pasted on government property, candidates have found it hard to find non-government or non-private property to attach their ads.

The BMA has thus amended its general regulation concerning public property owned by the government. The amendment now specifically lists what objects are off limits. The items listed were mail boxes, police posts, monuments, public restrooms and bus stops.

The BMA has also organized 12 stages for use by parties in giving speeches and campaigning. Parties can currently apply to use the stages which are can be found in each district.
Reporter : RTI-Reporter01

http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglis...d=255011260001

[GWR]

Voting ≠ Democracy ≠ Justice
Harrison George
30 November 2007
Alien Thoughts
I hate to say this, but I do think we are losing the plot with these elections. There seems to be a widespread misunderstanding that they have something to do with democracy, compounded by a second misunderstanding that somehow democracy is good for everyone.

In a sort of time warp incident, I was recently visited by someone who was in Thailand almost 20 years ago, but had since been following news from Thailand from the western mainstream press. In other words, he'd almost completely lost touch. He knew that we'd had a coup and bought Manchester City, but not much else.

Imagine his confusion to find that Samak Sundaravej (he of the multiple libel suits) is an odds on bet to become Prime Minister and that Banharn Silapa-archa is being touted in a king-maker role. When small men make big shadows and all that, but these are politicians whose lights went out years ago in black holes of incompetence.

Now next month everybody will dutifully go and put crosses on the most complicated ballot form that Thailand has ever devised (the Election Commission has already conceded that this fact alone is likely to cause many unintentionally invalid ballots). But this is far from being a democratic exercise.

Let us put aside for the moment the high visibility vote-buying and even the low visibility MP-buying. Let us also put aside the malign influence of the patron-client system on any equitable system of governance. (Would you dare vote against the orders of the person you're up to your neck in debt to? Because that's the situation many voters find themselves in.)

There are too many people who are not free to vote for the candidate of their choice. The military, for instance, are busy telling their people how to vote. The ‘by the left, vote right' conscripts are marched to the polls to ensure that Dusit constituency, for example, will elect the army's favourite son. (The army doesn't have favourite daughters and in times past Samak was their darling. How times have changed.)

Then there are some strangely lop-sided raids and accusations flying about. And we mustn't forget that substantial areas of the country are still under martial law. By one of those amazing coincidences, these areas correlate very closely with those that voted down the constitution at the August referendum, where ‘no' votes were interpreted as signs of pro-Thai Rak Thai (aka People Power Party) sentiment.

‘The strongest argument against democracy,' said Winston Churchill, ‘is a five minute discussion with the average voter.' It wouldn't take nearly that long with the average Thai military officer. General Sonthi, whose CNS had dragooned military personnel, government officials, local government officers and their families to vote yes at the referendum, and who had tried their best to squelch any anti-referendum voices, declared that result a ‘victory for democracy'. He's in charge of the committee to stop vote-buying in this next election. And hoping for another ‘victory', one assumes.

But even if we did have a level electoral playing field, will this exercise in democracy do us any good? If the Thaksin proxies win, the military will fear revenge and may be provoked into something silly. If they lose, we can expect even more non-democratic laws and regulations to eliminate their chances of ever taking power again.

With society as polarized as it is, democracy stops meaning ‘rule by the people' and starts meaning ‘licence for the majority to suppress the minority'.

If we accepted that everyone has the same basic rights, including the right to disagree with us, and if we had a more respectful attitude to these rights of others (even people we can't for the life us stand), then we might not be so worried.

But does Thai society have this respect for minority rights? The signs are not good. A recent survey of attitudes to the migrant labour that built the sky train and catches and processes most of our fish showed that 75% of Thais think that migrants should work as hard as Thais but should get paid less, and 60% thought they should have no right to freedom of expression. Perhaps so that they won't be able to complain about the discrimination they suffer.

Maybe this explains the general lack of outrage at decrees that migrant labourers can't drive, can't assemble, can't use mobile phones, and, if they get pregnant, can't have their babies in this country. We can only hope that when the Internal Security Act starts inflicting similar violations on the rights of Thais, there might be a bit more reaction.

No matter who you cast your vote for next month, it's unlikely to solve this kind of problem.

http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=402

[The Enforcer!]

I am aware that it is usual election law that there is no alcohol on the day of or prior to an election, in this case 22nd and 23rd December.

However I have heard rumours from various bars and from a Foodland employee that this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (14th to 16th December) are also 'No Booze' days.

Can anyone enlighten me on this?

The Enforcer!

[Stephen Cleary]

This isnae just a rumour like, they really have ordered that sales of hootch be disallowed for the two weekends. Well.... that's according to reports on the TV and radio.

How seriously they are gonna implement regulation enforcement though is a completely different matter. And especially in regards to this coming weekend.

Like you said, it's been normal policy for donkey's years that sales be forbidden on election days but this one about one week prior is completely unique.

And this government once promised to 'win the hearts and the minds of the people'?

Absolute lunacy!

[FarangBha]

No booze anywhere in CM - even 5 star hotels, I checked - 14,15,16th.

[Wisarut]

In such as case, you bettter rely upon the moonshines ...

[The Enforcer!]

I got the confirmation yesterday from the boys in brown at Lumpini - due to Pre-Election voting on 15th and 16th, there is no alcohol on 14th from 6pm until midnight on 16th/17th.

I hope that they have warned all incoming tourists that five days of their fortnight's holiday in Thailand are dry!

The Enforcer!

[Wisarut]

Booze Banning does NOT create a good democracy
http://www.manager.co.th/Daily/ViewN...=9500000148875

[GWR]

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.ph...=941&Itemid=31

Thailand’s Democracy Drought
Our Correspondent
18 December 2007
The Kingdom goes dry – well, semi-dry – in advance of elections.

During one of the year’s heaviest tourist seasons, Thailand’s military-backed government has banned alcohol sales for two consecutive election weekends. This could seem to be very bad news for thirsty non-voting expatriates, but life has a way of working out.

“Man, that’s coffee,” observed the live entertainment, a soulful American keyboardist, as he savored the contents of a mug at his side. The dozen or so customers in the pub, whose tables also had coffee mugs rather than the beer bottles or cocktail glasses one would normally see here on a Friday night, seemed to agree.

“Kafae ni mai rawn” (this coffee is cold) I had pointed out to the comely waitress when my own mug arrived, and she politely giggled at my lame attempt at humor. Icy cold, in fact, and tasting rather like a certain Singaporean brew made with hops and named after a striped cat. My companion, meanwhile, reported that his “coffee” had the distinct bouquet of Jack Daniels.

Later, a cruise through the Soi Cowboy area found the normally bustling strip of go-go bars much quieter than normal on a Friday evening. Most had opted to stay open with large signs out front proclaiming that only soft drinks and the like were available, but at least one chain of bars shut down all of its venues. Thailand’s other great economic driver, the sex industry, seemed thrown for a loop.

Except for the so-called Dark Age of a couple of years ago, during the morality crackdown under then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the governor of Bangkok, the girlie bars of Soi Cowboy and vicinity have not faced anything like a Christmas period two-weekend ban. In places that were open, a few sad-looking foreigners could be seen nursing colas and water bottles as the dancing young women gazed glumly down from their brass-poled perches – sober foreigners are just not that much fun, and their pocketbooks were more likely to stay closed.

This was our investigative experience on December 14, the first evening of the sudden and unwelcome alcohol ban in the Land of Smiles. The purported reason: the Dec. 23 general election, with the first weekend being set aside for advance polling. The second weekend will be election time – and one of the busiest weekends of the year, since it is Christmas season.

Before we found our pub with its “brewed” coffee, we found masses of confused people wondering what the hell happened. Some were tourists who had just arrived to sample Bangkok’s renowned nightlife; others were locals who had simply not heard of the booze ban.

Indeed, the mini-prohibition had either been an afterthought or, more likely, was simply kept under wraps for reasons known only to the authorities. Whatever the truth of the matter, the evidence is that even some Thai-owned establishments were only notified a day or two ahead of time, and some Christmas parties and other events had already been planned and venues booked.

Thailand, of course, is well known for its frequent alcohol bans, usually for important Buddhist holidays or the King’s birthday, but often for less comprehensible reasons.

Bans for elections are a long tradition, and apparently serve three purposes:

*Sober voters theoretically make better choices in the election booth (although when the people soberly elected Thaksin Shinawatra one too many times in a landslide, the army brought the tanks out and set up their own regime).
*Because most elections in the past have necessitated travel to the voter’s home province, a booze ban should reduce highway carnage.
*Probably most important, the ban makes impractical, if not illegal, the “vote-buying parties” for which Thailand is infamous.

That’s the theory. The practice is something else.

The most obvious objection to the way election-time alcohol bans are carried out is that they target precisely the wrong people: tourists and expatriates, who can’t vote anyhow. Thais, of course, simply ignore the bans; as do most expats, but the authorities typically make life difficult by forcing bars that cater to foreigners to obey the edict while blatantly ignoring – even patronizing – those that cater to Thais. As for tourists, most are unaware that the probability of their actually being penalized for ignoring the ban is extremely low, and they don’t know the venues that practice business as usual (albeit with “coffee” or other ploys).

A local Internet forum in Hua Hin, a city on the Gulf of Thailand popular with long-term expatriates, was burning up this past weekend with complaints about the ban – and the duplicity of allowing Thai bars to stay open while expat hangouts were watched more carefully.

Numerous posts noted the ease with which anyone – foreigners included – could access a favorite beverage if necessary, but many said that wasn’t the point. For Thais, flouting the law is a national sport. Foreigners, typically from Europe or North America, are generally law-abiding by upbringing, if not by nature.

Not only that, expatriates are upset by what they see as inane governance that can only damage the economy. Slapdash lawmaking gets even further up expatriate noses when it is seen as targeting them or their livelihoods. Many are in the tourism or entertainment trade, and most support Thai families.

“Had a bottle or two of Chang at our favorite watering hole today. Just 50 meters away from a polling station and out in the sticks. It was business as usual. No question of hiding the bottles or drinking out of mugs,” wrote one poster on the HuaHinAfterDark.com Internet forum. “Sadly, the crazy ‘laws’ (and I use that term loosely) seem to only affect the farang-run bars, which are, from what I hear, really suffering from the lack of tourists this year.

“Come on, Thailand! We've had the tsunami, a military coup and some murders *– which are all reported in the tabloids in the west. And now holidaymakers are denied alcoholic drinks because of a (another loose term) ‘democratic’ election. Great news for the tourism industry! I feel sorry for the unaware tourists who have booked the Christmas holiday period here.”

“Isn't it about time the farangs had some kind of proper representation in this country? We pay taxes, can’t vote, can’t buy land, can’t work even for free, can’t take up a hobby without a work permit *– it would drive you to drink (sorry, can’ t drink!).”

The forum moderator replied: “Amen to that – can’t see it happening for a long time, though, the powers that be simply don’t like us. They tolerate us but they don’t like us. A good example is the alcohol crackdown on farang bars only, while the Thai-cop-run karaoke places are partying like there’s no tomorrow – all laughing at the stupid farangs that aren’t allowed to drink!”

[GWR]

Restaurants breach law prohibiting alcohol sales on election day

Two restaurant owners arrested on Saturday Dec. 15

Staff reporters
Predictably, the recently announced law preventing sales of alcoholic drinks on parliamentary election days was disregarded at various entertainment venues in the Chiang Mai area. During inspections on 15th December authorised by the commander of San Kamphaeng Municipal Police Station, a team of officers led by Police Captain Phakhorn Suravichai visited a number of venues, and arrested two persons who were found to be in breach of the law. Mr. Nakharin Faknak, the owner of the Rainbow at Moo 3, San Kamphaeng, and Mrs Sompopng Khonlasit, the owner of Kuk Kai Karaoke at Moo 1, Tan Pao, also in San Kamphaeng district, were taken to San Kamphaeng Police Station and charged. They will both be prosecuted for illegally selling alcohol inside designated election zones.

http://www.chiangmai-mail.com/current/news.shtml#hd9

[mdechgan]

I have just placed my vote and was very very confused.
I think my vote became invalid.
There are 2 pieces of paper. One pink and one yellow. One is for the party. This one is very clear. The party's name and number are clearly printed on the ballot along with theor repspective number. #4 for democrat and #12 for PPP, and etc (throughout Thailand). You just put an X on the piece of paper. Although rather hastily. You just mark an X in the box next to your vote with a regular blue point pen

The other ballot is very confusing. It just has a bunch of numbers. No names or anything, just numbers. No party names or MP names. Secondly it doesn't state how many x's you can vote for. Usually for Bangkok 1,2, and 3 are for PPP Mps but in other places, it can become 11,12, 13. In some other places 11,12, and 13 are Democrat Mps. I wasn't sure if you vote for 1 x or for three Xs. At my polling place instead of three MP's per party it became only 2. I didn't know if you mark for the three MPs of the party or just vote for one or to mark two x's? PPP was I think 12 and 13. What was really confusing was there wasn't any information on the boards for other party list MPs other than the PPP. There were big stickers on the board for PPP candidates for 11 and 12 but no other information for other party members. The big board had like 20 or so boxes and the PPP sticker was pasted on #11 and #12 boxes. All the other boxes were empty! I think there was a another sticker on another box for a smaller party. The only sign I saw for other party members were like a few hundred meters away but those meters became a different polling place and possibly another amphur because the PPP party MPs also changed.

As for election observers I didn't see anything or anyone resembling an observer other than a police officer that was sitting behind the sign in the shade with a drink.

Personally I think this election might become invalid if there are many discrepacies between the votes.