Abhisit's visit to Buriram province on Saturday looks to have gone smoothly, though Matichon reports a small incident between the Blue Shirts and Red Shirts. Matichon says that in the morning a 10+ car caravan with 200 Red Shirts attempted to travel to the location of the PM, but 500 Blue Shirts (We Love Buriram Group), armed with batons and eggs, used their trucks to block the Red Shirt procession. The Blue Shirts told the Red Shirts they would not allow them to destroy the reputation of Buriram or create chaos while the PM was in town. The two sides later negotiated an agreement which resulted in the Red Shirts going back to their meeting site at Sa-nam Tunglam. Some highlights of the PM's visit include inaugurating a new library made from revamped railroad cars; taking photos and putting on a Pa Khao Ma-ผ้าขาวม้า (local-style cloth belt); visiting a school to inaugurate a dust-free road project; having sticky rice and papaya salad with transport minister Sophon; and visiting a rubber and sugarcane project.
Matichon has some video footage and reporting of the PM's visit here and here. There is also a YouTube clip (below) showing footage of the visit.
The Matichon report lists the PM's entourage as cabinet ministers Chaovarat Chanvirakul (Interior), Issara Somchai (Soc. Dev & Human Sec), Terawong Samut (Agriculture), Sathit Wongnongthuy (PM's Office), Nipon Promphan (PM's Sec.), and Sophon Sorlam (Transport). Also included in the entourage were several Democrat MP's from Isaan, National Police Chief Patacharat Wongsawan, his deputy, as well as local officials like the mayor and village heads. Noticeably absent were Newin and Saksiam Chidchob and Suthat Ngenmun. Newin, leader of Bhum Jai Thai, is a native of Buriram. His brother Saksiam works in the Ministry of Interior and also hales from Buriram. As for Suthat, he is a Democrat MP and has recently been at odds with the PM over the party's campaign and election strategy for the region (see post here).
SR: The Dems can score this as a success, though it is unlikely to have any real impact on the party's election prospects in Buriram's constituencies. Buriram after all is Newin country, and as BP notes, the Democrats got trounced (7:1 vote ratio) in the 2007 election by the PPP, which Newin was then affiliated with. The Democrats did an excellent job stage managing and making the PM look good in front of all the cameras. All of this thanks to the extremely tight police and military security, plus the Blue Shirts, which prevented the Reds from spoiling the party. This required the imposition of a near police-state in some areas--4,800 police and a special commando unit were mobilized for the visit (see here and here). In terms of legality, the Blue Shirts use of private vehicles to blockade a public road seems suspect, but it's not surprising given the official and personal links between police and the Blue Shirts.
Matichon has some video footage and reporting of the PM's visit here and here. There is also a YouTube clip (below) showing footage of the visit.
The Matichon report lists the PM's entourage as cabinet ministers Chaovarat Chanvirakul (Interior), Issara Somchai (Soc. Dev & Human Sec), Terawong Samut (Agriculture), Sathit Wongnongthuy (PM's Office), Nipon Promphan (PM's Sec.), and Sophon Sorlam (Transport). Also included in the entourage were several Democrat MP's from Isaan, National Police Chief Patacharat Wongsawan, his deputy, as well as local officials like the mayor and village heads. Noticeably absent were Newin and Saksiam Chidchob and Suthat Ngenmun. Newin, leader of Bhum Jai Thai, is a native of Buriram. His brother Saksiam works in the Ministry of Interior and also hales from Buriram. As for Suthat, he is a Democrat MP and has recently been at odds with the PM over the party's campaign and election strategy for the region (see post here).
SR: The Dems can score this as a success, though it is unlikely to have any real impact on the party's election prospects in Buriram's constituencies. Buriram after all is Newin country, and as BP notes, the Democrats got trounced (7:1 vote ratio) in the 2007 election by the PPP, which Newin was then affiliated with. The Democrats did an excellent job stage managing and making the PM look good in front of all the cameras. All of this thanks to the extremely tight police and military security, plus the Blue Shirts, which prevented the Reds from spoiling the party. This required the imposition of a near police-state in some areas--4,800 police and a special commando unit were mobilized for the visit (see here and here). In terms of legality, the Blue Shirts use of private vehicles to blockade a public road seems suspect, but it's not surprising given the official and personal links between police and the Blue Shirts.
SR: On BP's strategic question asking why the Dems went to Buriram and not another province in the Northeast where they have some chance of winning a seat. At the end of the Matichon article, Mark said in an interview before he got on the plane that a visit to Ubon Ratchathani is possible, depending on the readiness of each place, including the North and South (June 23rd rumor). Agree that the Buriram visit won't help win seats there and that the security situation probably played a big role in the selection. It was probably a trial run before moving on to more challenging locations. Abhisit's large security detail made me think, what if Obama needed 4,000 police and other supporting security to visit Florida or California? Inconceivable.
Matichon: นายอภิสิทธิ์ให้สัมภาษณ์ก่อนขึ้นเครื่อง ถึงกระแสข่าวในวันที่ 23 กรกฎาคมนี้ จะไปลงพื้นที่ จ.อุบลราชธานีว่า ขณะนี้อยู่ระหว่างการตรวจสอบกำหนดการ ขึ้นอยู่กับความพร้อมแต่ละพื้นที่ที่จัดมา รวมถึงภาคเหนือและภาคใต้ด้วย
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Apirak, former Bangkok governor, was also there.
thanks and in fact glad you mentioned him--in a post the other day I said that he is reported as the Bangkok campaign organizer for the Democrats. While I was doing that post I did a couple searches to get caught up to speed again on Apirak. In the search I found an old article from March saying that the old firetruck and boats case should be concluded by August. Also turned up an article from June. I had kind of forgotten about this case, but it was the reason Apirak resigned, allowing Sukhumbhand to take his place. I'll definitely have to add this to the monthly "whatever happened to.." post
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/03/17/national/national_30098049.php
Case stalled (06/09)
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/145038/no-decision-yet-on-bma-fire-equipment-case
a very good program right now on Thai PBS - about the REAL corruption BS side of the so called "self-sufficiency" so much pushed by Abhisit's gov. (in response to TV add where Abhisit talks about self-sufficiency).
the brief outline of what is being shown in the program:
gov. gave to each village those machines for ... drinking water - how the hell is that related to "self-sufficiency" ?! people are giving interviews on #Thai PBS about the so called "self-sufficiency": "we are not buffaloes, we understand what's going on !" BUT ... when they are going to protest - they are being told that they'll be sued over "offending governor" - what a BS ! HUGE corruption in #Thailand. under the name of "self-sufficiency" present gov. MAKES MONEY for themselves ! they say to villagers : "here is the machine for drinking water, it's price is ... B350K" - while REAL price is only B38K ! so, WHO is getting those money ? not even to mention that these machines are totally USELESS for some Isaan villagers. because they say: we don't use this kind of machine, we have water in every house already. what we need - we've written in our request list. that is : buffaloes to plough the fields (because petrol is too costly to use tractors) and pigs to grow for meat... so, that's what we need - NOT these water machines ! this is simply ridiculously unbelievable - how this gov. is BS-ing people ! yet this PROPAGANDA add is continues being played on many TV channels in #Thailand - with #Abhisit talking about "self-sufficiency"
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