BANGKOK: — The military council which ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a 2006 putsch disbanded itself on Tuesday and promised there would be no more coups as a Thaksin-backed coalition prepared to take office.
The Council for National Security (CNS), widely derided for presiding over an inept government, also called on politicians to stay out of military affairs, suggesting it feared vengeful Thaksin supporters in office.
“Everybody in the CNS, especially the army commander-in-chief, insist there will be no more coups,” CNS spokesman Sunsern Kaewkumnerd told reporters.
“In a political transition into a full democracy, which is a sensitive period for all sides, the military should not be involved in politics and politicians should not interfere with the military,” he said.
“Therefore, we need a politically neutral person to be defence minister,” Sunsern said a month after elections in which the openly pro-Thaksin People Power Party fell just short of an overall majority.
That call followed newspaper reports that Samak Sundaravej, the firebrand PPP leader determined to become prime minister, would also become defence minister.
But the military is in a weak position after the elections proved Thaksin’s abiding popularity in the countryside where the majority of Thais live, despite CNS attempts to eradicate his influence.
The PPP campaigned on Thaksin’s populist platform and told people a vote for the party was a vote for Thaksin. The former prime minister was ousted months after street protests began against him in Bangkok and faces corruption charges when he returns from exile.
Political analysts saw the results of the December 23 election as a vote against the coup and criticism of the military is becoming ever more trenchant.
“The generals have proved unfit in their handling of post-coup Thailand,” Chulalongkorn University political scientist Thitinan Pongsudhirak wrote in Tuesday’s Bangkok Post.
“Policy directions have been murky, leadership incompetent, overall administration inept. The generals have made themselves obsolete by botching their latest putsch,” he said. The generals accused Thaksin of presiding over rampant corruption and of disrespect toward revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej — charges he denies — but an anti-graft panel they appointed has come up with only one case against him.
They also failed to eradicate his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party despite its court-ordered dissolution for electoral fraud and the banning of Thaksin and 110 senior party members from politics for five years.
Thai Rak Thai members simply took over the almost defunct PPP, which is expected to take office at the head of a coalition government and occupy the most powerful ministries some time next month.
–Reuters 2008-02-22
Military junta holds its last meeting
BANGKOK: — The Council for National Security (CNS) spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd announced the end of the role of the CNS Tuesday, a few hours after the House of Representatives convened its first meeting.
Col Sansern told reporters the CNS members will not hold any press conferences from now on but they will still meet as leaders of the armed forces to coordinate their work.
The weekly meeting of the CNS on Tuesday was the final one, as the 2007 constitution stated that its role is over when a new government is formed.
Col Sansern said the CNS members discussed qualifications for a new defence minister and all agreed that the person should be a military figure and should not be a member of any political party.
He also said the CNS will not interfere in the selection of potential candidates.
–Bangkok Post 2008-02-22
taken from http://www.thaivisa.com
È uno scricciolo di 53 chili che con due soli tentativi ne ha sollevati 126. Figuriamoci se le pesa portare un nome lungo 21 lettere. Se non è un record nella storia delle Olimpiadi, poco ci manca: la medaglia d’oro del sollevamento pesi femminile categoria 53 kg viene dalla Thailandia e si chiama Jaroenrattanatharakul. Un nome impronunciabile, ma soprattutto fortunato. Già, perché la 24enne di Nakhon, paesino della provincia di Sawan, fino all’anno scorso si chiamava Chanpim Kantatian ed era nota anche col soprannome di Nong Kay, come ha raccontato il Bangkok Post, il maggior quotidiano thailandese. Era già una delle prime dieci del mondo nella sua categoria, ma non la prima. Tanto che nei mondiali di Doha del 2005 ottenne un secondo posto beffardo dopo che nello slancio aveva il miglior risultato. Un giorno poi arrivò il consiglio, anzi la profezia di un’indovina. «Cambia il tuo nome e trionferai». Così è stato. Ieri mattina al Buaa Gymnasium di Pechino ha messo dietro di sé la sudcoreana Jinhee Yoon e soprattutto la grande favorita (anche nei pronostici di Sports Illustrated), la bielorussa Nastassia Novikaka. E con 126 chili sollevati (uno in più della cinese Yang Xia a Sydney 2000), ha stabilito anche il nuovo record olimpico. Primo oro per la Thailandia, qualche difficoltà per lo speaker a pronunciare il nome dell’olimpionica al momento della premiazione.