Thais march on Singapore embassy in thousands
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Thais march on Singapore embassy in thousands
Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:55 AM GMT173
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By Ed Cropley
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Around 5,000 Thais marched on the Singapore embassy in Bangkok on Tuesday to press a campaign to oust Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as the Election Commission said it could not postpone an April 2 snap election.
"Thaksin, get out," the crowd chanted as its leaders called on Singapore and its state-owned investment arm, Temasek, to reverse the tax-free, $1.9 billion (1.08 billion pounds) purchase from Thaksin's relatives of Shin Corp, the telecommunications empire he founded.
"On behalf of the Thai people, we politely request you stop colluding with Thaksin Shinawatra in raping the assets of Thailand," campaign leader Sondhi Limthongkul said through loudspeakers aimed at the grey embassy compound.
Singapore has shrugged off two previous, smaller demonstrations spawned by the middle-class metropolitan street campaign to kick out Thaksin and said they would not affect ties between the two southeast Asian nations.
"With ministers, with prime ministers, we've always had good relationships," the city state's foreign minister George Yeo said at the weekend after anti-Thaksin protesters launched a boycott of all things Singaporean.
"This will continue so I'm not too worried about these various demonstrations. We're just being used by various parties to hit at each other," Yeo said.
The boycott does not appear to be having much impact on consumers, but Singaporean visitors to Bangkok have expressed worries about possible violence and Singaporean investors have delayed property investment projects.
Around 30 police blocked the entrance to the downtown Bangkok embassy, although the crowd was good-natured and well-marshalled -- despite its anger at Thaksin.
Hundreds of "Wanted, Dead or Alive" posters depicted Thaksin, who stands alone in Thailand's coup-prone history as the only elected leader to complete a full term in office, as Adolf Hitler, with a black swastika on his forehead.
"He cheats, he's corrupt, he doesn't pay taxes -- unlike the rest of us," said 39-year-old beautician Lek Udomsak.
Thaksin, who was in the northern province of Chiang Rai campaigning for the snap poll he called on April 2, said he had no problem with protests as long as they did not trouble others. "Law enforcers are supposed to keep law and order. As long as their rallies are done democratically and do not cause trouble to anybody, that should be fine," he told reporters.
The three main opposition parties, who accuse Thaksin of corruption, cronyism and abuse of power, are boycotting the poll, a move which makes it highly likely the result will be able to satisfy the constitution and allow a new government to be formed.
However, Election Commission chairman Wassana Permlap, who had promised a decision this week on whether to postpone a poll called three years early, said such a ruling was not within his powers.
"The law doesn't allow me to set the election date," Wassana told a Bangkok radio station, adding only Thaksin could make that decision.
(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat)
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved. -
Temasek has not made good investment decisions in many many cases e.g. Chartered Semi Conductor, Micropolis, Global Crossing, Bangalore, Souzhou, or even the petrochemical projects. Harvard university has consistently yielded 20-25% return on its investments making billions. Our ministers are being paid higher than these people at Harvard.
So Singaporeans will need to know whether it should continue to invest their monies overseas with such poor records. Why not pull back 80 % of our own monies and invest in our own people's services and new technology start-ups, research and development, education, medical facilities and utilities to lower our costs of living.
Alternatively, we should invest our monies in safer bonds and fixed deposits in stable currencies to avoid such emotional buying of politicians' assets just to look big or smart. -
Well, besides the fault on the part of the TH, I cant fathom why Thais are killing themselves over this, and i mean mentally killing themselves.
Anyone watch CNA just now, where some shrinks say Thais are sufferring from some sort of repressed symptoms from all these protests? -
Damn, if I were in Thailand right now I'd join them in the burning of effigies of you know who.
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I think most of the protestors are the poorer folks. When you constantly worry about making ends meet, you become very angry and disgrunted. Who knows, at the rate we're going, we may have such scenes in Singapore in the future. Who cares about being arrested when you have nothing left to lose?Originally posted by laurence82:Anyone watch CNA just now, where some shrinks say Thais are sufferring from some sort of repressed symptoms from all these protests? -
Incorrect. The protestors are mainly middle class. The poor are mostly Thai Rak Thai supporters, having been the recepients of generous payouts over the past few years.Originally posted by av98m:I think most of the protestors are the poorer folks. When you constantly worry about making ends meet, you become very angry and disgrunted. Who knows, at the rate we're going, we may have such scenes in Singapore in the future. Who cares about being arrested when you have nothing left to lose?
The poor protesting in Singapore?
Quite a stretch. Even at the height of the layoffs here the protesting came mainly from cheated foreign workers and peidu mamas. At the start of the Iraq War, thousands were out in force in nearly every major city, while Singapore produced an impressive grand total of two ladies armed with carboard signs outside the US embassy.
Singaporeans are sheep. Keep dreaming lah. -
I stand corrected.This is what happens when you only read headlines and bylines instead of the articles themselvesOriginally posted by Typhoon:Incorrect. The protestors are mainly middle class. The poor are mostly Thai Rak Thai supporters, having been the recepients of generous payouts over the past few years.
The poor protesting in Singapore? Quite a stretch. Even at the height of the layoffs here the protesting came mainly from cheated foreign workers and peidu mamas. At the start of the Iraq War, thousands were out in force in nearly every major city, while Singapore produced an impressive grand total of two ladies armed with carboard signs outside the US embassy.
Singaporeans are sheep. Keep dreaming lah.
As for the poor protesting, why not?
I believe that even sheep will lose it at some point in time. Maybe not in our lifetimes though.