Prem gives Churchill a bad name

Following Anan Panyarachun's allegation that New Zealand/Australia are ignorant and not understanding of the tradition of the COUP in Thailand, we have a new gaffe made by another former Prime Minister, Prem Tinsulanonda . ( NOTICE : they both were PM during the military rule, neither were elected by Thai population)

Now Prem's reference to Winston Churchill has become a talk of the cyber town. He gave an analogy between Winston Churchill's rise to power and that of Gen. Surayut of Thailand.

From Thairath website it can be translated into

"every Thai citizen must have the duty of creating National conciliation, sacrificing for the national rather than personal interest and withholding the lowly, vulgar thoughts. Everyone must know of Mr.Winston Churchill who was the prime minister of England during the WW II just like Gen.Surayut is being a PM of Thailand as of now. They both have the same paths that they neither were elected by the people (MPs). Churchill was being invited to be a Prime Minister because the Queen saw that he had appropriate qualities. And Churchill also talked about the necessity of sacrificing for the country in his famous speech. Gen Suruyut of Thailand, in the same manner as Churchill, has accepted the post of PM not because he wants to but because he sacrifices himself to the country"

"the WW II occurred because of the power greed of less than 10 people. These 10 people engaged the world into war for many years because they wanted power. I really don’t understand why people are hungry for power (implied: because I don’t, albeit my 8 years of PMship)." Prem says.

Thai Coup Watch's COMMENTS : Had Gen. Prem known the history of England more he would not have said such statement. Why ?

1. Churchill was elected by the populace, he was a politician under the English parliamentary system.

2. With the concensus from the parliament. King George VI, not the Queen, asked Churchill to be a PM and to form an all party government.

3. How can Prem compare the leader from military coup to the English stateman during WW II like Churchil ? Does he want to justify the coup or to promote Suyayud who is known as Prem's puppet PM ?

4. Someone also suggested that this part of history is well-written in the King Bhumipol- translated book titled 'The Man Called Interprid". So it is quite likely that the head of Privy Council might never read this famed book by the King at all.

This will be another memorable quote made by Gen.Prem. Lately, he has made some analogies to 'Jockey, Horse and Owner' in explaining the role of the military, the government and the king. Another one is when he implicitly compared Thaksin to 'Hitler' . I wonder what more would come from this once-known-as-a very quiet PM.

P.S. I have just discovered that BangkokPundit already covered this very same issue. And it also appeared in the nation.

Further readings:

Winston Churchill - wikipedia
Blood toil tears and sweat - the famous quote of Churchill