Reactions to Thaksin’s ‘X’

From the Thai-language press: Reactions to Thaksin's 'X' - August 27, 2005

Manager: The PM meets the mass media for the first time (at the weekly press conference) and specified that he will answer routine questions. He insisted that the Southern problem is a domestic case and other Muslim countries understand this well. He mentioned 'Romli' as a big cause of the turmoil. [Romli is MP Aree Uttarapen's brother, member of Wadah group. Last week Romli was accused of being involved in the unrest.] He repeated there is less corruption, but it seems much more so because they are investigating more. He had spoken for an hour before training the media group that they should ask "constructive" questions (by sign an 'X' sign). He claimed the accusation of the Bangkok Post made it lose its reputation.

Dailynews: "Maew" [nickname of Thaksin] discusses with the mass media at the first weekly press conference and clears the queue of questions. Then he took a "true-false" sign and raised it when he answered questions like playing on a Japanese game show.
After answer questions from the media for one hour, he told that he got the sign from his son "Oak" who bought it in Japan. So "Maew" brought it with him to play with the mass media so there will not be too much too tension because each question makes him feel tired.

Matichon: “The PM meets the media” in the first press conference and surprises by being open to reporters to ask him every issue. But if he did not want to answer, he raised an “X” sign and presses a buzzing sound before saying it is not a constructive question. He explained the plan to discuss the FTA Thai-Japan meeting Prime Minister Koizumi and cooperate to make it a success. He also said he urged solving high gas prices by exchanging jasmine rice with NGV gas from China.