A regime supporter donning sunglasses who worked his way into a speaking event featuring opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva hoisted aloft a placard with “respect my vote” scrawled upon it.
It is a stunt carried with the same intellectual dishonesty as Sunday’s “Ants’ Power Group” release of white balloons in support of upcoming one-party nepotist sham elections on February 2, 2014.
Image: “Respect my vote… for Tyranny.” A regime supporter hoists aloft a placard with “respect my vote” scrawled across it – in English of course for Western audiences being told current protests are “anti-democratic.” What the Western press isn’t telling audiences is that the current regime this man wants to “vote” for is openly run by an accused mass murderer, convicted criminal, and fugitive who does not even currently reside in the country. This would be an unimaginable and unacceptable scenario in the West – and despite this man’s demands – it is unacceptable in Thailand as well.
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Regime supporters fail to mention that the party they back, Puea Thai (For Thais) is run openly by an accused mass murderer, convicted criminal, and fugitive who does not even currently reside in the country.
The New York Times admitted in an early 2013 article titled, “In Thailand, Power Comes With Help From Skype,” that:
For the past year and a half, by the party’s own admission, the most important political decisions in this country of 65 million people have been made from abroad, by a former prime minister who has been in self-imposed exile since 2008 to escape corruption charges.
The country’s most famous fugitive,Thaksin Shinawatra, circles the globe in his private jet, chatting with ministers over his dozen cellphones, texting over various social media platforms and reading government documents e-mailed to him from civil servants, party officials say.
The NYT piece would also report:
“He’s the one who formulates the Pheu Thai policies,” said Noppadon Pattama, a senior official in Mr. Thaksin’s party who also serves as his personal lawyer. “Almost all the policies put forward during the last election came from him.”
There is no question that an accused mass murderer and convicted criminal hiding abroad from a 2 year jail sentence, multiple arrest warrants, and a long list of pending court cases, is illegally running Thailand by proxy. If regime supporters are incapable of respecting the rule of law, it is inexplicable as to why they believe others should “respect their vote.” “Democracy” without the rule of law is just another form of dictatorship – and just as a dictatorship of one or a few is intolerable, so is a tyranny of many.
While the regime and its supporters continue to claim they represent the majority of Thai people, it should be remembered that the final tally conducted in 2011 by Thailand’s Election Commission showed that Thaksin Shinawatra’s proxy political party received 15.7 million votes out of the estimated 32.5 million voter turnout (turnout of approx. 74%). This gave Thaksin’s proxy party a mere 48% of those who cast their votes on July 3rd (not even half), and out of all eligible voters, only a 35% mandate to actually “lead” the country.
The regime’s supporters represent a loud, violent minority, either disinterested or incapable of understanding the rule of law, basic human rights, and the difference between a representative government and mob rule. It is not only unreasonable to “respect their vote” under current conditions, it is dangerous.
