Thai PM 'must go' over cookery shows : Thai Justice Standard

ITN - Tuesday, September 9 11:17 am

Thailand's Prime Minister must quit because he violated the constitution by hosting TV cooking shows while in office, a court has ruled.

Nine judges have said Samak Sundaravej is guilty of conflict of interest after hosting commercial TV cookery slots.

However, Mr Samak's ruling People Power Party (PPP) has said it will renominate him as prime minister despite the verdict.

The PPP's continued support, which renders the court decision largely irrelevant, is likely to outrage protesters who have been barricaded inside Mr Samak's Government House compound for the past two weeks demanding his resignation.

Thailand has undergone three years of political turmoil and the stock market has fallen 24 per cent since the opposition People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) launched its campaign against him at the end of May.

Last week, as the crisis deepened, Mr Samak declared a state of emergency - that the highly-politicised army chose to ignore - when tensions resulted in the death of man during a street battle between pro-government and anti-government groups.

The main gripe of PAD is that Mr Samak is a puppet of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was removed in a 2006 coup as prime minister.

On Monday, Mr Samak testified in his own defence, denying any wrongdoing as the star of the shows Tasting, Grumbling and Touring at 6am.

He also attended a pro-government rally later that day and vowed not to resign or call a snap election.

Mr Samak said: "I declare that I will not dissolve parliament. I will not quit. I will fight on."

The political stand-off has scared away visitors to Thailand with airlines and hotels reporting cancellations as more countries issue travel warnings in the wake of his state of emergency declaration.

Comment : Constitution Cort of Thailand (Land of smile) verdicts by assemble used Thai Dictionary because standard of Constitution is higher than normal, as they didn't used labour law suit to interpret the words between "employee" with "freelancer", if Samak is employee so he 's guilty. If they used labour law suit then Samak isn't guilty because he 's just freelancer. Please understand, This is Thailand Standard, my friend. He was the first Prime minister of the world who outed because Cookery Show.

Thai PM's TV show could impact political future

BANGKOK (AFP) — Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej awaited a court verdict Tuesday on accusations that his TV cooking show violated the constitution, which could see him forced from office, at least temporarily.

Thailand's Constitutional Court is set to decide later Tuesday whether Samak violated the constitution by taking money from a private company to host the "Tasting and Grumbling" cooking show.

Comment : It's very silly joke in my country for this case, law of this section was designed by dinosaur's thinking constitution maker who appointed by coup leaders in 2006. They didn't have any vision, object of this law aimed to Thaksin the only one enemy of them, and they thought the politician are bad, greedy, corruption, they have been need to get rid of them all.

If found guilty, he and his cabinet would be forced to resign -- something that protesters occupying the grounds of his offices have not been able to achieve since storming his Government House two weeks ago.

"Ready or not ready, we must wait and see," Samak told reporters as he toured a market in northeastern Udon Thani province, where he was preparing to hold a cabinet meeting.

Samak declared a state of emergency in Bangkok last week after the protesters clashed with his supporters in the streets, leaving one person dead and dozens injured.

Comment : Thai media suck, they never report anything about PAD is a crime who denied arrest warrant.

The protesters want Samak to resign, accusing him of acting as a puppet for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by the military in 2006 on the heels of demonstrations by the same group of activists.

But Samak's deputy Surapong Suebwonglee told reporters that even if the court decides against the premier, the decision would not necessarily end his rule.

The ruling six-party coalition headed by Samak's People Power Party (PPP) could vote for him to return as prime minister even if he is forced out by the Constitutional Court, Surapong said.

"We have not yet discussed this issue among PPP members because the party has not held a general meeting yet. But it's possible and allowed by law," he said.

The protesters, who call themselves the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), are pushing a broader agenda than just Samak's resignation.

They want to curtail Thailand's democracy so that only 30 percent of seats in parliament would be elected, which they say would restrict the influence of poor rural voters in places like Udon Thani, who have widely supported Samak.

PAD supporters say the change would ensure that Samak's allies cannot return to power.

"We're going to get them all out. They have to improve their morals," said Permpoon Kanchanastit, 66, a retired physician's assistant who flew from her home in California to join the protest.

Comment : PAD : Don't be serious, almost Thai people are watching you wait and see to do something that how to billing note, don't think that you can do everything by claim that the establishment backup to you !

Thai NGOs told people was chained by PAD

Somsak Boonngamanong NGOs from nocoup.org report that 10 people who came from Nakae, Nakornpanom province, North- east of Thailand to have been allied with PAD since 26 August : the day of seize Thai
government house, they asked him for help to bring them out from the government house because PAD's guard hadn't allowed them to back home and hold ID cards and cellphones of them, at this time the inner is change to bad ambience, by got hire about 300 per day but got it just 3 days only, now he didn't have money to fare back to home,  the man who called to Somsak told that he flee from PAD's guard to called to him by used phonebooth near the government house.

Somsak is NGOs who has been working with people in rural for long time ago, this information can be credible because many people in this mob aren't middle class or high class at all which go to this mob daily, some people came from rural and living in there many days.