No Respect For Suthep

Thailand, known as the "Land of Smiles", is usually regarded as friendly to foreigners.  According to the Thai government the kingdom received 15.8 million overseas tourists last year and the sector generated 585 billion baht ($19 billion), or 7 percent of economic output.

But last month the Thai government showed its true color (yellow) when Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and all round thug, Suthep Thaugsuban, said this:

"I don't respect 'farangs'. We do not have to surrender to them," he said, using the Thai word for "Westerners".

This should be a wakeup call for all Western governments to realize what the ruling Thai Democratic Party really thinks of them.  

And just who is Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban?

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban

'Doesn't Respect Westerners'

In 1992, Suthep became Agriculture Minister. As part of the Sor Por Kor 4-01 land reform scheme, Suthep was responsible for giving land intended for poor families in a land reform scheme to his wealthy buddies.

In 2009, Suthep was accused of violating the Constitution of Thailand by holding equity in a media firm that had received concessions from the government. Members of Parliament are banned from holding stakes in companies which have received government concessions. 

In July 2009, the Election Commission announced that it would seek a ruling by the Constitutional Court to disqualify Suthep and 12 other Democrat MPs for having allegedly violated the charter. Suthep held a press conference a day later, announcing his decision to resign from Parliament. If his case had been submitted to the Constitution Court, he would have been suspended from duty as Deputy Prime Minister.

Even more recently, Suthep, as head of the Thai Palm Oil commission, engineered a shortage of palm oil and ensured that his family - prominent palm oil growers in Surat Thani - got a big slice of the 4 billion baht profit made by the major palm oil families down south.

Suthep also constantly stated that the Thai Army didn’t shoot anybody in April/May 2010 when 2000 people mostly unarmed citizens were shot in the streets of central Bangkok. He also said that all of the 2000 people shot and 91 killed “ran into bullets.”

In his capacity as director of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), Suthep is directly responsible for ordering the operations which killed those 91 people last year.

And Suthep doesn’t respect Westerners.  Well, as a Westerner, I don’t respect corrupt politicians, liars, and murderers, so I guess we’re even.

A November poll by the Nation showed that Suthep was considered to be the least honest politician in Thailand (that is really saying something). Obviously Thais don’t respect him either.

And in this rare video clip, his own mother, Mama Suthep, doesn’t even respect him.

That's the way to go Mama Suthep. 

Time to throw out the rest of the garbage known as the Democrat Party.