BANGKOK: A Thai political party swore loyalty to the king Saturday, a day after its stunning decision to nominate the monarch's sister as its candidate for prime minister backfired when the king called the move inappropriate and unconstitutional.
The statement of fealty comes as the country ponders a Friday whirlwind in which Princess Ubolratana Mahidol broke with tradition proscribing the monarchy's involvement with politics to become a candidate for the Thai Raksa Chart Party, only to have her brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, invalidate her action with a late night order.
Thai Raksa Chart's statement said the party loyally accepted the king's order and expressed deep gratitude to Ubolratana for her kindness toward the party.
Ubolratana, who is active on Instagram, did not directly mention the king's order in a Saturday message, merely thanking people for their support and encouragement and insisting on her sincere desire to see Thailand progress with rights and opportunities for all its people.
Thailand's March 24 election will be the country's first since a 2014 military coup put in place a junta determined to reshape the political system to eradicate the influence of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose allies have won every national election since 2001.
So it was not only a shock that Ubolratana was formally entering politics, but also that she was doing so in alliance with a Thaksin-backed party. Her candidacy would have pitted her against the junta leader and current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the preferred choice for premier of the pro-royalist military.
Thaksin was ousted by the military in a 2006 coup, and the country's establishment has spent more than a decade trying to neuter his political machine through court rulings, constitutional rewrites and other changes to the electoral system. In addition to deepening political divisions that have flared into protests and street violence, the campaign has had little success.
Just eight years after ousting Thaksin, the military stepped in again to remove his sister's government.
Thaksin remains wildly popular with the country's rural majority, who were drawn to his populist policies such as universal health care and rice subsidies and were willing to overlook accusations that he was enriching himself while in office. But Thaksin's popularity made the country's Bangkok-based establishment uneasy and some saw his popularity as a threat to the monarchy itself.
Thaksin, who went into exile in 2008 to avoid serving prison time on a conflict of interest conviction he insists was political, was generally believed to have been involved in setting up Ubolratana's candidacy. That shook the country's royalists, who have long seen their campaign against Thaksin as way to protect the monarchy.
It was widely assumed that Ubolratana, thought to be close to her brother, had at least received his approval for her action. What actually had happened behind the scenes is unlikely to become public, because the royal family's private affairs are almost never leaked.
Vajiralongkorn's order stressed that Thailand's constitution insists that the king and those around him stay above politics, and the principles of democratic government also put politics off-limits.
It directly addressed the point that his sister was a member of the royal family even though her formal royal titles had been lifted decades ago when she married a foreigner.
"Even though she relinquished her title according to royal laws ... she still retains her status and position as a member of the Chakri dynasty," the king's order said. "Bringing high-ranking royal family members to be involved in the political system, in any way, is an act that is against the ancient royal protocol and national custom and culture, and is seen as a highly inappropriate act."
Her candidacy had caused great excitement, because it offered the possibility of a strong challenge to Prayuth winning his job back. Her association with the monarchy was seen as making it difficult for royalists in parliament, which picks the prime minister, to vote against her.
Prayuth had been considered the front-runner, because changes in constitutional law and election rules were implemented by his government to make it difficult for political parties without military backing to capture the premier's post.
The royal order from Vajiralongkorn, read on national television late Friday night, caught by surprise newspapers that had already started their press runs with stories focusing on ramifications of Ubolratana's candidacy.
An early edition of the English-language Bangkok Post with the banner headline 'Political earthquake,' failed to report the aftershock of the king's order.
There had been warning signs before the king's order that Ubolratana's candidacy was vulnerable.
Hours after she was registered as a candidate, a political party supporting Prayuth filed an objection with the Election Commission, arguing that the action broke rules banning the use of the royal institution as part of a political campaign. Several other complaints followed, mostly from conservative royalists.
Thailand puzzles over political surprises from royals
Thailand puzzles over political surprises from royals
- Thai Raksa Chart's statement said the party loyally accepted the king's order and expressed deep gratitude to Ubolratana for her kindness toward the party
- It was not only a shock that Ubolratana was formally entering politics, but also that she was doing so in alliance with a Thaksin-backed party
Deputy leader of UK’s Labour Party promises to fight to end Gaza’s suffering, in leaked video
- Labour, if elected, would recognize Palestinian statehood, says Angela Rayner
LONDON: Angela Rayner, the deputy leader of the UK’s Labour Party, has promised that her party will do everything in its power to ease the suffering in Gaza as it bids to regain Muslim voters’ support, a leaked video surfacing on social media has revealed.
The footage was first reported by the political blog Guido Fawkes, which claimed to have obtained the leaked tape from a meeting in Ashton-under-Lyne, Rayner’s constituency.
The MP is seen appealing to voters upset with the party’s stance on Israel’s assault on Gaza, The Telegraph reported.
Rayner — claiming she worked “day and night” to get three British doctors out of Rafah and is now attempting to secure aid for the enclave — said: “I promise you, the Labour Party, including myself, is doing everything we can, because nobody wants to see what’s happening.”
She acknowledged the party’s current inability to halt the fighting, admitting that Labour’s influence would be “limited,” even if it came to power after July’s general election.
Rayner added: “Only last week the Labour Party were supporting the ICC (International Criminal Court). The Conservatives didn’t support the ICC, so with this general election on that issue, we can’t affect anything when we’re not in government.
“And I’ll be honest with you, if Labour gets into government, we are limited. I will be honest. I’m not going to promise you … because (Joe) Biden, who’s the US (president), who has way more influence, has only got limited influence in that.
“And Qatar, Saudi Arabia, all of these people, we are all working to stop what’s happening at the moment; we want to see that. So I promise you, that’s what we want to see.”
Rayner also promised that, if Labour was elected, the party would recognize Palestinian statehood.
She added: “If Labour gets into power, we will recognize Palestine. I will push not only to recognize … there is nothing to recognize at the moment, sadly. It’s decimated.
“We have to rebuild Palestine; we have to rebuild Gaza. That takes more than just recognizing it.”
Gaza has been a divisive issue for Labour since Oct. 7, with reports revealing that Muslim voters have abandoned the party as a result of what they perceive as its politicians enabling the war.
The Telegraph found that Labour’s support had dropped in local elections in areas with large Muslim populations, including Oldham in Greater Manchester, where the party lost control of the council in a surprise defeat.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has expressed his determination to re-establish trust among those who have abandoned his party due to his handling of the Gaza war.
However, when probed on particular commitments, he remained vague.
Rayner said in the video: “I know that people are angry about what’s happening in the Middle East.
“If my resignation as an MP now would bring a ceasefire, I would do it. I would do it if I could effect change.”
However, she said such an eventuality was not “in my gift” due to the “failure of the international community.”
In response to the footage, Nigel Farage, Reform UK’s honorary president, accused Rayner of “begging” for the Muslim vote, The Telegraph reported.
12 Indians killed in quarry collapse after cyclone rains
- Several highways and key roads were disrupted by landslides, and all schools were shut
- India’s weather office warned of extremely heavy rains in northeastern states on Tuesday
Guwahati: Torrential rains in the wake of a powerful cyclone caused the collapse of a quarry in India’s Mizoram state killing 12 people, government officials said Tuesday.
“So far 12 bodies have been found, we are looking for more,” deputy commissioner of Aizawl district Nazuk Kumar told AFP.
Rescue efforts in the quarry were being hampered by “heavy rains,” police director general Anil Shukla said, NDTV news network reported.
Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma offered compensation to families of the victims of the “landslide due to Cyclone Remal.”
“I pray for the success of rescue and relief operations and wish a speedy recovery of the injured,” India’s President Droupadi Murmu said on social media.
In Mizoram, several highways and key roads were disrupted by landslides. All schools were shut and government employees asked to work from home.
India’s weather office has issued warnings of extremely heavy rainfall across Mizoram and other northeastern states on Tuesday.
In India’s neighboring Assam state, one person was killed and heavy rains had cut the power supply, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a statement.
The cyclone made landfall in low-lying Bangladesh and neighboring India on Sunday evening with fierce gales and crashing waves.
Overall, at least 38 people died in the cyclone or storms in its wake.
In India, eight people died in West Bengal state, officials said Tuesday, updating an earlier toll of six, taking the total killed in the country to at least 21.
In neighboring Bangladesh, which bore the brunt of the cyclone that made landfall on Sunday, at least 17 people died, according to the disaster management office and police.
Poland’s foreign minister says it should not exclude the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine
- Radek Sikorski made the comments in an interview published Tuesday in the Gazeta Wyborcza daily
- “We should not exclude any option. Let Putin be guessing as to what we will do”
WARSAW: Poland’s foreign minister says the NATO nation should not exclude the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine and should keep Russian President Vladimir Putin in suspense over whether such a decision would ever be made.
Radek Sikorski made the comments in an interview published Tuesday in the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
“We should not exclude any option. Let Putin be guessing as to what we will do,” Sikorski said when asked whether he would send Polish troops to Ukraine.
Sikorski said he has gone to Ukraine with his family to deliver humanitarian aid.
But a spokesperson for Poland’s Defense Ministry, Janusz Sejmej, told Polish media on Tuesday he had “no knowledge of that” when asked about a report in Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine suggesting Poland might send troops to Ukraine.
The idea of sending foreign soldiers to Ukraine, which is battling Russian military aggression, was floated earlier this year in France, but no country, including Poland, has publicly embraced it.
Poland supports neighboring Ukraine politically and by providing military equipment and humanitarian aid.
Baby found dead in stricken migrant boat heading for Italy
- The infant girl, her mother and 4-year-old sister were in an unseaworthy boat laden with migrants that had set off from Sfax in Tunisia
- SOS Humanity workers aboard its “Humanity 1” vessel found many of the migrants exhausted
LAMPEDUSA, Italy: The body of a five-month-old baby was found on Tuesday when some 85 migrants heading for Italy from Tunisia were rescued from distress at sea, according to a Reuters witness.
The infant girl, her mother and 4-year-old sister were in an unseaworthy boat laden with migrants that had set off from Sfax in Tunisia two days earlier bound for Italy, according to charity group SOS Humanity.
SOS Humanity workers aboard its “Humanity 1” vessel found many of the migrants exhausted and suffering from seasickness and fuel burns as they were rescued before dawn on Tuesday, the group said in a statement.
Some 185 migrants rescued in separate operations this week, including the stricken boat overnight, were being taken aboard “Humanity 1” to the port of Livorno in northwest Italy. Another 120 migrants were transferred by coast guard boat to the Italian island of Lampedusa in the southern Mediterranean.
Tunisia is grappling with a migrant crisis and has replaced Libya as the main departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict further south in Africa as well as the Middle East in hopes of a better life in Europe.
Italy has sought to curb migrant arrivals from Africa, making it harder charity ships to operate in the Mediterranean, limiting the number of rescues they can carry out and often forcing them to make huge detours to bring migrants ashore.
Putin says Ukraine should hold presidential election
- Zelensky has not faced an election despite the expiry of his term
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Ukraine should hold a presidential election following the expiry of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s five-year term.
Zelensky has not faced an election despite the expiry of his term, something he and Kyiv’s allies deem the right decision in wartime. Putin said the only legitimate authority in Ukraine now was parliament, and that its head should be given power.
