Loyalists Play Strong Hand

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Sonthi Boonyaratglin called on Thai workers in Singapore on Sunday to vote for good politicians who do not buy votes and who are loyal to the Royal Family in the upcoming election, Thai media reported.

Sonthi, who heads an anti-vote-buying government panel, was speaking to a group of Thai workers in the East Coast area in Singapore's part of his campaign against vote buying, Bangkok-based news network The Nation reported Sunday.

Sonthi said over 6,600 of Thai workers in Singapore have registered to cast vote in advance as expatriates.

About 20,000 Thais are working legally in the city-state and the Thais in Singapore made the biggest group of Thai expatriates to register to cast vote in advance for the election set on Dec. 23, according to Sonthi.

About 70,000 Thai expatriates in 65 countries have registered to vote in advance.

The vote casting for expatriates, which began from Dec. 3, will conclude on Dec. 16 and their ballots will reach Thailand on Dec. 18, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Sunday.

Sonthi told the workers that they should vote for good and honest politicians who are also loyal to the Royal Family because there were ongoing attempts to discredit the "institution we love."

Thailand has been run under a constitutional monarchy since 1932, transformed from a monarchy. The current King Bhumibol Adulyadej has been in reign for over 60 years and highly revered in the kingdom.

Sonthi was the leading general that staged a military coup on Sept. 19 last year to topple the government led by then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, accusing the latter of harbouring rampant corruption, causing social division and threatening the monarchy institution. [via People's Daily Online]

Ed. The comment in the opening para is in some ways surprising and in other ways not. Surprising that the Royal Family have been drawn in to politics and not surprising in that it's the only strong card the anti-PPP lobby has to play against Thaksin's obvious popularity with the rural voters. The major problem for the loyalists is time is on Thaksin's side. He may not win the day this time round but he will eventually and then watch out for Thai style retribution. That's assuming ill health doesn't account for him in the intervening period.......

Sierra Tangos

• The Outlet Village mentioned in an earlier post will open on December 15

• We have received a tip that Jane's Bar, Soi Pattaya New Plaza (other side of 2nd Road to Soi 8) is serving Beer Lao 24 hours a day for 35 Baht a bottle. In the words of Brendon, "Gimme Some".....

• Obsessions Go Go has opened up next to Kittens Club on Soi Pattayaland - wonder if prices will be the same as Kittens?

• Heavy rains predicted for south - the Meteorological Department Monday warned residents of southern provinces to brace themselves for possible heavy rains because of a power monsoon wind. In its morning forecast issued at 4 am, the department said provinces down from Surat Thani could see heavy downpours because of the northeast monsoon over the South and lower party of the Gulf of Thailand.

• When I mentioned Mike Baird's new book of cartoons yesterday, I forgot to mention the title. I was still feeling fl'hattoned I guess. It's Falangs In Thailand and the cover is shown on the right.

• The Election Commission office in Phitsanulok has revealed that new tactics are being used by canvassers to buy votes for the Dec 23 election. EC official Col Vichien Chaiyapakorn said voters are being given telephone credit cards instead of cash to avoid leaving evidence of electoral fraud. The EC office in Phitsanulok Province has urged anyone who knows of electoral fraud cases taking place, to immediately report to the EC by calling 0-5524-674 ,0-55274-7253.

Ed. They could use the telephone credit cards to pay for calls to report fraud to the EC.....






• Another route opens between Thailand and the UK - Oman Air launched its daily Muscat-London Gatwick service on November 26. Oman Air also launched a five times weekly service to Bangkok on November 28.

• More than 18,000 vehicles valued over Bt18 billion have been booked for sale during the 12-day Motor Expo 2007 which ends today. [via Bangkok Post]

• 10 Best Bikini Scenes In Movie History
  1. The Bring It On Bikini Car Wash - Eliza Dushku and Kirsten Dunst bikini boobs in one scene. Bring that on!
  2. Alicia Silverstone In The Crush - An underage Alicia in a bikini scene was so wrong that it was right.
  3. Demi Moore And Cameron Diaz In Charlie's Angels 2 - The greatest MILF bikini scene to date.
  4. Heather Graham In Austin Powers 2 - The Graham crackers look extremely plump in a bikini.
  5. Jessica Alba In Into The Blue - Jessica Alba and a bikini go together like KY and condoms.
  6. Hale Berry In Die Another Day - Halle should actually re-shoot this scene right now with her pregnant boobs.
  7. Jessica Biel In Stealth - How do you make a crappy Jamie Foxx action movie live on forever? Shoot this bikini scene with "The Biel."
  8. Ali Larter's Whipped Cream Bikini In Varsity Blues - The only thing better than the whipped cream bikini...the processed cheese bikini.
  9. Jessica Simpson In The Dukes Of Hazzard - Sadly, probably the biggest fan of this scene is Joe Simpson.
  10. Phoebe Cates In Fast Times At Ridgemont High - Whenever men hear the music from this scene it's like the equivalent of a dog whistle.
      

Brought to you all in place, on video, by Unibrow

• I know this is the wrong part of S.E Asia but I thought you might enjoy a bit of Pinoy goodness courtesy of Voyeur Web:

• Spoof your outgoing e-mail address with Acebird.com - I was unsure about posting this one as it's way too dangerous.

You can send email that appears to come from any email address (even those that you don't own). At first blush, Acebird seems like a very controversial application. While Acebird certainly has many practical applications, it can also be used to do heavy damage. Nevertheless, if you ever have a legitimate need to send email from someone else's account, Acebird is a good way to go about doing so. There are two ways that I've been able to identify email coming from Acebird: the mailed-by server is "gator344.hostgator.co" (when it should be something more recognizable like "gmail.com"), and there is no way to customize the name of the sender. Other than that, the email sent by Acebird appears totally legit. [via Lifehacker].

How about a mail to your boss from your office mail address whilst you're still in Pattaya...... The possibilities to carve up bosses and friends are endless. I've got to say I'm struggling to think of a legitimate use for mail spoofing

• There were four buddies golfing and the first guy said, "I had to promise my wife that I would paint the whole outside of the house just to go golfing."

The second guy said, "I promised my wife that I would remodel the kitchen for her."

The third guy said, "You guys have it easy! I promised my wife that I would built her a new deck."

They continued to play the hole. Then the first guy said to the fourth guy, "What did you have to promise your wife?" The fourth guy replied, "I didn't promise anything."

All the guys were shocked, "How did you do it?!" He replied, "It's simple. I set the alarm clock for 5:30. Then I poked my wife and asked, 'Golf course or intercourse?' And she said, 'Wear your sweater.'"

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