After July 3rd’s election, I was not elated, as I never liked the red shirts and Thaksin in the first place – but I thought it would give Thailand a breather, time to heal, to reconciliate, and a fresh start with a new team.

How much disappointment can I take in a month? There are so many different aspects to it, I nearly don’t know where to start.

The PM, Yingluck – when will she open her pretty mouth and say something else than no comment or “rules will be followed“? And how long will she be able to cope with having to lie what seems to be even against her own conviction?

Thaksin’s return to Thailand – this looked like a no-brainer to me, let some time pass after taking over the government, and then get him back in. No, they have to do this seemingly as the first matter of state, before even the govt’s policy has been published. And there’s discussion about a Charter change, and they will give back the money that was (correctly) taken away for evading taxes. Now if you ask me, there are a few generals sitting together somewhere, right now, and they don’t like what they see.

The election promises suddenly take a back seat to the all-important “Bring Thaksin back home” issue, especially after the genious inventors found out what negative consequences a hike to the new minimum wage of 300 baht might have.

Special shout out to the new foreign minister, Surapong, Thaksin’s own stooge, who, by Pinocchio standards, must have a nose that’s longer than the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans by now. The only thing this gentleman does, obviously, is prepare for his master’s return and lie to the public. He’s got the worst image among cabinet members, and his opinion towards that is noteworthy.

Surapong: “I know it is said I’m the worst minister of Thailand but that reputation might be good for me, as it can’t get any worse. I will do my best to improve my score.” An interesting argument – it’s good, because it can’t get any worse. As a member of the forum at thaivisa.com calls it – nice new benchmark.

The reaction from the opposition is quick and easy to read – they already want to impeach the PM and FM for the Japanese visa affair. That makes no sense either, bringing out the big guns for a small thing like this – what will they do when they have a big complaint?

That’s only from today’s papers, too much for tweets, even a lot for a blog post. But it also proves what I say about my motivation for living here in Thailand – it never gets boring.

Artcles from The Nation, thaivisa.com, Bangkok Post

Initially, I thought this would take a little longer. But only a few days after the cabinet was presented, raw populism wins, and money will go to the countryside, or upcountry, as well as to millions of minimum wage earners and fresh graduates from universities, to ensure the voter base is happy.

Delayed mass transit & tax exemptions for first car buyers? Great idea (sarcasm), because we don’t have enough cars on the road (sarcasm again).

Railroad delayed? Again, wonderful – we’ll have enough cars anyway.

No coprporate tax rate cut (but still raise of minimum wage between 50 and 95%)? That could be the end of an economy working well.

15,000 minimum for fresh graduates from university? I’ve met some who would not be worth half of it. But that’s not possible any more, because it would be below minimum wage.

The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

From The Nation/thaivisa.com

Aha. The fact checkers at AFP must have had a busy day, now they serve a new version of the last post, with only one plane – still wonder where the second one came from.

Interesting that The Nation does not have anything on their site.

Now, they got me confused: The Nation reports that the Thai government has now paid 38 million Euro for two (not one) impounded jets to be released from Munich Airport. At least the post at the bottom of this thaivisa.com page says so.

Let’s remember – the original request of the German court was for 20 million Euro, and the Thai govt was very steadfast saying they will not pay anything. Now, they pay the whole outstanding amount of 30 million Euro plus interest and more? Why the change of heart? And what is the story about that second plane? We know a second B-737 was flown to Munich, as a backup aircraft. Was this impounded as well? That would be too funny!

When I heard they flew the second jet to Munich, I thought this could happen. A quick look through the news today shows some reports citing two jets, some only one. What’s for real?

On The Nation’s website, you can’t find this post at all. Has it been removed?

Anyway, this afffair seems to come to an end now, with the predictable outcome that the debt is settled, the Thai govt pays up. Let’s watch out for the new lawsuit that was announced – I wouldn’t know on what grounds, though.

Great entertainment, and we are all sitting in first row. Two pieces on this today – BP and Nation

Starting with the seizure of HRH The Crown Prince’s Thai Air Force Boeing 737, this row now involves a court in Germany, the Thai Foreign Minister himself and the German Embassy in Bangkok – which added to the conflict by issuing a statement yesterday – which btw gives you the best idea of what the status is. The arguments on the Thai side are, well, sub-par – simply not correct.

More is to come soon, I wonder if they will understand that they will have to pay, finally – or the jet is gone.

Bangkok Post
The Nation

The people have spoken, the Bangkok elite and the army had their heads slapped a bit. Yingluck Shinawatra made an impressive political debut, winning just over 50% of the vote, but forming a five party coalition government nonetheless, to have a safe mojority in the House.

Well, if her last name wasn’t Shinawatra, it’s anybody’s guess where she would have placed in the quiet and peaceful election that took place all over Thailand yesterday. Yes, there was some fraud, and vote buying left and right, but nothing unusual. Overall, I think this is an important step further towards true democracy and its understanding by the people.

It will become problematic once the people who publicly swear by democracy, but can not live with a government that was voted in place by someone else than themselves, grow wary of it. If Bangkok’s elites are pissed off, expect a second coming of the yellow shirts. However, if the generals are pissed, you might expect something more drastic.

Read up on elections and results

After the big outcry by just about everybody and their dog, I read an article in the Bangkok Post yesterday that tried to spin the story (from the censors’ side) in the following way:

The review board said it actually never prohibited the apology ad, but rather just marked about 20 seconds of the 150 sec commercial that needed to be edited out – some violence, some scenes that were sensitive because of religious context, some pornographic material. I had to watch the whole commercial again – the pornographic part must have been  the guy in his turquoise underpants taunting the soldiers, else I could not find the slightest hint of porn or what the Thais deem porn. Ridiculous allegations, all of them, but you grow accustomed to the fact that the Thai film censors must be born in the 19th century.

If I remember correctly, the edits were marked and sent to the producers, in no way prohibited. But what else than a de facto prohibition is this kind of censorship that takes out 20 seconds of a 150 second commercial of rather harmless and, more important, true material?

And where else but in Thailand would anybody spin the facts in a way that it hurts just to read the story, as it certainly can’t be true. This statement was just to keep their face. Better to tell a total lie (“No, we never prohibited this.”) than say “OK, we will review this again.” or even “Sorry, my bad, should not have happened.” The piece in the Post made all this clear.

So clear that today I could not find it any more. The story is gone. Deleted from the files, not on the regular website any more, neither on the mobile site. Obviously, even the guys that wanted to keep face realized that this was just too stupid for anybody to believe, so somehow they managed to pull the article. (Or could it be that the BKK Post editors only do their job after the articles are published on the web?).

In any case, it’s egg on everyone’s face by now, and to be frank, would you like to keep your face when there’s already egg on it?

Read up on the affair at Bangkok Post and thaivisa.com, which also contains the article “We can all say sorry, not just the other people” from The Nation which I could not read because it is premium paid content only for subscribers. But that’s another story.

Actually, the Prime Minister yesterday tried to get the censors to lift the ban – in the meantime, have a look at the ad. I was moved, as I see it as a sincere expression of how the Thai people feel about the incidents – insecure and ashamed.

Ad Apologizing for Thai Protests Is Banned from the NYT