Connecting the Dots

Thaksin Shinawatra has not changed one bit were the remarks from critics after reviewing Thaksin’s much hyped speech. Thaksin is still working at manipulating the game in his favor. But even Thaksin supporters are starting to see things are starting to get too hot to handle when it comes to Thaksin.

To the unaided eye the setting was perfect to show support for Thaksin, but dig deeper and you can start to see the real picture.

The size of the crowd came from mostly rural Thailand and most are poor Thais. So simply put someone other than the people attending had to pay for them to attend. They were bussed in and fed by people who have money. Seeing that for many people who attended, the event was positive in the cash flow department, it was a no brainer to attend. It is also no coincidence that vote buying is most prominent in the places where the attendees came from.

There are even credible statements from some that significant money was being offered to attend the rally. The list of Thaksin supporters with that kind of money shrinks to a very short list of 1 and that being Thaksin himself. Hiring a riot or hiring a rally is all the same for Thaksin. This was upsetting to some Thaksin supporters as it quickly took all the wind out of the pro Thaksin sail. The Thaksin supporters quickly descended on the people who aired this bit of information seeking to coerce a retraction. This however does not even qualify as news, as it falls under business as usual for Thaksin.

The second thing is Thaksin’s speech being live or not. On one of Connecting the Dots previous post that was called Touching Thaksin we talked about what could happen if you now help Thaksin as he is a criminal fugitive. It was no secret that the high court was watching Thaksin’s speech for signs of breaking the law, contempt of court as well as a few other things. So anyone seen helping Thaksin potentially puts themselves on the line and can face the wrath of the court. If it was Thaksin live and unplugged there would be no way to control what Thaksin said. Having the message pre-recorded it allows some editing to be done. That places the full responsibility on the broadcaster to stay within the law. So in short even Thaksin supporters are starting to put Thaksin on a leash. This was only done before by his spokesman, now it seems everyone is concerned and is aware of what it is like to dance with the devil. Thaksin only cares about Thaksin, just ask his lawyers who still have some jail time to serve before they are released.

Thaksin’s speech will not be discussed and Connecting the Dots is very content to leave it to the Thais to dissect. However in general it was exactly as expected portraying himself as a victim. The point is that how it ended up coming out, Thaksin actually lost support. A double standard was very clear and the amount of education needed to see this was much lower than the pro / anti Thaksin threshold.  People saw that Thaksin used the law and the courts when it helps him, and scorns them when they go against him. His presentation was treading on the general concepts of right and wrong, moral and immoral. Morals and ethics is primarily parent taught and not school taught.

Although Thaksin and his cronies have shown a lack of morals and ethics, his supporter base still has them. To make mention of the royal house further hurt Thaksin as his supporters are avid supporters of the King, and given the choice, the answer is a forgone conclusion of who they would back. Essentially Thaksin has thrown a seed of debate to his supporters, and it will take several days or weeks talking amongst themselves to sort out what this all means. Part of the genetic makeup of that seed suggests to abandon morals and ethics.

Another point is supposedly Thaksin made the broadcast from outside of the United Kingdom and very Possibly Hong Kong. If Thaksin was to make the broadcast from London, it could hurt his petition chances. So to make the broadcast from outside of the jurisdiction of the British court that will help mold Thaksin’s final fate, also shows a new consistent pattern now in Thaksin. Running from judges is now part of Thaksin’s life. Run from Thai courts, run from British courts. The perfect new signature for Thaksin it would seem.