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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai protest leader wants 12 months to push through reforms |
| 2013-12-14 |
| [Pak Daily Times] The leader of a protest group trying to overthrow Thailand's government and scrap planned elections said on Friday the prime minister should either step down or be forced out, and his movement would then need around a year to push through reforms. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called an election for Feb. 2 in an effort to end the street protests but Suthep Thaugsuban, a veteran politician who resigned from parliament to lead them, has rejected the move. Knowing that allies of Yingluck's brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, would probably win any election, he wants an unelected "people's council" to run the country. On Friday, presenting his ideas to the media, Suthep said he would meet military chiefs on Saturday to discuss his strategy, but he rejected any idea of cutting a deal with Yingluck, who heads a caretaker government now that the king has endorsed the election date. She will hold a forum on Sunday to discuss reforms but says they can only be drawn up and implemented after the election. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 The Thai military has been actively NEUTRAL in this situation. How has the Yingluck "chipped" away at the privileges of the military? |
| Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2013-12-14 18:48 |
| #1 Sounds like the Thai military ginned up the protests in order to re-install dictatorship. The civilian government has been chipping away at the privileges of the military officialdom, which have hobbled the Thai economy to the extent that it has now fallen behind China in nominal GDP per capita. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2013-12-14 15:43 |