Thailand seems to be racing to a point of no return

[Flashermac]

Bangkok Post

25 Nov 2008

 

 

Parliament paralysed

 

 

Protests on Monday forced Parliament to cancel its planned joint session, and left anarchy on the streets from Government House all the way to Don Muang airport.

 

The People's Alliance for Democracy declared victory, but failed to gain its objective. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resolved to stay in office, and the military showed no sign it intended to seize power.

 

More than 5,000 protesters led by PAD leaders Sondhi Limthongkul, Piphob Thongchai and Somkiat Pongpaiboon were gathered in front of the parliament building on Monday evening. Traffic lanes were closed in the area, as more protesters were expected to join the rally.

 

The protesters cut off electricity to the Parliament building and the Chart Thai Party headquarters.

 

Suriyasai Katasila, PAD coordinator, said the siege will continue until parliament goes into recess or government MPs abandon their attempt to change the constitution.

 

"May victory be with the people," PAD leader Somkiat Pongpaiboon shouted.

 

But from the Apec summit in Peru, Mr Somchai said he no intention of resigning, since his government emerged from democratic elections.

 

If the government is to be forced out, it should be by the parliamentary election or the general public in a ballot.

 

He said the global economic crisis is more important than the protests.

 

"The situation in Thailand at the moment is small - only a single location in Bangkok, and it has not significantly destroyed the country's economic foundation," claimed the prime minister.

 

"We have to talk and try for reconciliation," he told a reporter from the Reuters news agency.

 

An estimated 18,000 flag-waving demonstrators split up in the capital. They hijacked buses, fanned out in running protests in the central part of the city, and even wound up outside the new government offices at Don Muang.

 

Six armed men claiming to be PAD security guards hijacked a public bus at gunpoint in front of the Armyâ??s Surveying Department in the Nang Lerng area, not far from Government House.

 

Police confronted the hijackers and shot out the tyres of the bus. The six men were arrested and police seized knives and a shotgun.

 

House speaker Chai Chidchob called for calm and announced the postponement of a joint parliamentary session, which was supposed to consider legislation needed for the Asean summit to be held in Chiang Mai in December.

 

"I ask for all sides to stop now. If you love the King, please return home," he said on parliament radio.

 

He was forced to call off the scheduled parliament meeting because elected MPs and Senators could not enter the building. Police did not confront the protesters as they did on Oct 7, when a tear-gas grenade assault killed one person and injured scores.

 

The yellow-clad PAD protesters marched through the Ratanakosin district, waving Thai flags and holding portraits of His Majesty the King.

 

Monks also joined in the protest, which was aimed at toppling the government. Black-clad volunteer PAD security guards wielding homemade batons protected the crowd.

 

[Mentors]

Shots fired as Thai factions clash at airport

 

BANGKOK: Antigovernment protesters blocked the highway to Bangkok's main new airport on Tuesday and fired handguns and beat government supporters with metal rods in clashes elsewhere in the city, injuring at least six people, according to video footage shown on Thai television.

 

The escalation of the violence came as thousands of antigovernment demonstrators across the capital kept the Thai government on the run, continuing to block the entrance to its temporary offices at the city's secondary airport and massing in front of the army headquarters.

 

The clashes came on the second day of what the protesters, who have occupied the offices and grounds of the prime minister's official residence since August, had vowed would be their final push to unseat the government of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.

 

On the first day of protests on Monday, they successfully forced the cancellation of an important session of Parliament and temporarily cut the electricity supply to police headquarters.

 

But despite the violence, there were growing signs that the movement to oust the government was losing support among a public weary of street demonstrations. A strike called for Tuesday among some public utility workers failed to materialize and the tens of thousands of protesters across the city proved more of a traffic nuisance than the battle that the demonstrators had predicted.

 

[color:red]The Thai print media, which has been generally critical of the government and supportive of the protests, is now running some articles skeptical of the daily street demonstrations.

[/color]

One columnist in The Nation newspaper Tuesday called the protests a "never-ending saga that is futile and a drain on society."

 

"A rethink has become an imperative to put an end to the political turmoil," the columnist wrote. "It is time for all sides to stop the political melodrama."

 

After three years of on-and-off protests, the People's Alliance for Democracy, the group leading the movement to unseat the government, still has a remarkably loyal following, mainly among middle- and upper-class Thais, students and some union members.

 

Thousands of the alliance's followers have cheerfully camped out on the grounds of the prime minister's office, listening to fiery speeches into the night. But as the Thai economy slows down amid the global financial crisis and as the stalemate between the government and the protesters deepens, an increasing number of people are hoping for a conclusion.

 

"How is it going to end?" said Bharavee Boonsongsap, a 34-year-old producer for MTV Thailand. "I keep asking people but they have no answer."

 

"Thais are fighting Thais," she said. "People have become aggressive, and even children, have been taught to hate the opposite side."

 

Ploykwan Suttharom, a 27-year-old graphic designer, says she worries about wearing red or yellow clothing â?? the colors of the two opposing camps â?? for fear of telegraphing loyalty to one group or the other. She and others say they have grown tired of the coarse language that the alliance uses in their anti-government chants.

 

Protesters call the government the "beast from hell" and refer to leading politicians as "monitor lizards," one of the gravest Thai insults.

 

Yet even as support for the protests appears to wane, a return to civility in Thai politics is unlikely anytime soon. The underlying issue is Thaksin Shinawatra's role in Thai politics. The former prime minister, deposed in a coup two years ago and convicted in absentia last month for abuse of power in a highly politicized trial, now reportedly says he is eager to return to Thailand.

 

full article

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/25/asia/25thai-CND.php?page=1

[Flashermac]

<< Antigovernment protesters blocked the highway to Bangkok's main new airport on Tuesday and fired handguns and beat government supporters ... >>

 

 

Says the Bangkok Post:

 

<< Rival forces clashed on the road from Don Muang Airport on Tuesday and two people were wounded in the first exchange of gunfire between the PAD and UDD.

 

"I can confirm that there were gunshots," a police colonel on the scene said.

 

"There was a slight clash and two people were wounded."

 

The violence began on the old Phaholyothin Highway, when supporters of the pro-government United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) threw stones at a truck carrying members of the People's Alliance for Democracy.

 

The anti-government PAD members were returning from Don Muang, where they attempted to blockade the temporary seat of government.

 

From their truck, the PAD members fired slingshots and then at least two pistols at the UDD members.

 

The fight escalated, as the PAD truck turned to pursue several dozen UDD supporters, firing at them.

 

Two of the fleeing UDD members were shot in the incident.

 

... >>

 

 

Nothing reported about beating anybody.

 

 

<< The Thai print media, which has been generally critical of the government and supportive of the protests ... >>

 

Maybe the TV stations are more critical since they are mostly controlled by the government.

 

 

[Mentors]

maybe they starting to open the eyes...

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship

People's Alliance for Democracy

 

Those names are a fucking joke, aren't they?

 

Sanuk!

 

[CTO]

Yes the UFDD has been deplorable the way they have killed police occupied Government House, stopped tourism etc.

 

Disgusting! Not like PAD - now THEY are a real Thai loving democratic group.

[Khun_Kong]

PAD puppet of Mr T???

 

News to me, I don't believe Mr T = Machiavel...

 

Drogon, SuaDum et al...

 

you missed a comma in that news article that changes the whole meaning.

 

Mr Somchai, said the PAD[color:red],[/color] is simply a puppet for former prime minister, Mr Thaksin Shinawatra who is thought to be gearing up for a political comeback.

 

[..]

 

Cheers,

SD

[drogon]

Same same same

[Mentors]

From Skywalker to Darth Vader

 

Whether it wins or loses, the PAD will pay a big price for Suvarnabhumi closure

Sondhi Limthongkul was pleading for public sympathy Tuesday night. We regret causing major inconvenience, he said, referring to the seizure of the Suvarnabhumi Airport, but we have no choice. His political movement, the People's Alliance for Democracy, has been targetted for sporadic bomb attacks, and the climbing death and injury tolls are adding to the tragedy of October 7, when police tear gas fired on Parliament-bound protesters killed and maimed many.

 

The PAD's pain is understandable. Its reaction and subsequent responses are hardly so. When thousands of PAD members staged a blockade at Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday and penetrated the passenger terminal and scuffled with officials, causing a total shutdown of the international airport, what unfolded before us was the transformation of Skywalker into Darth Vader.

 

Imagine a son about to board a plane to go back home and see his dying mother. Imagine patients in need of urgent medical help stranded. Business deals with be delayed or cancelled. Countless appointments will be missed.

 

The point is, if these problems and circumstances seem trivial in the PAD's eyes, how could the movement ever expect others and the whole world to appreciate its own situation? Understanding works both ways. If the PAD wants others' sympathy, it has to give it out. As simple as that.

 

The PAD's latest, most provocative and controversial strategy may yet prove effective. With the military caught in the middle and reluctant to use force either to end the airport blockade or remove the current government, Somchai Wongsawat's administration is looking a bigger lameduck by the hours.

 

But whatever the outcome of the Suvarnabhumi operation, the PAD will not get the only thing as important as Somchai's resignation _ public understanding and sympathy.

 

This is not civil disobedience. It's the PAD holding air travellers hostage to push for its goal. It's the PAD leaders telling its loyal followers that if someone inflicts you harm, it's ok to get back even at the expense of innocent others. The airport seizure caused more trouble to people whose sympathy the PAD had sought than the politicians the movement has tried to dislodge.

 

The travellers suffer real human ordeals. Somchai and his government are only dealt political blows. How the PAD measures the plights of these two groups goes a long way to telling us its principles and ideologies.

 

Having fought Thaksin Shinawatra and his alleged nominees by standing firm on the issue of conflicts of interests, the PAD has found itself in serious danger of being unravelled ideologically through conflicting values.

 

The real price the PAD is paying is not the dwindling sympathy from the neutrals or the big ammunition the airport infamy has given its critics. "I'm so saddened and disappointed," said a man who only weeks ago went in and out of Government House on a daily basis to support the movement. "I'm sorry I joined its rally."

 

It's people like him that is the real cost of the Suvarnabhumi strategy. And the biggest price to pay maybe those PAD members joining the airport blockade or cheering the move back at Government House. The leaders have won their unquestionable loyalty, but risked blurring their conscience once and for all.

 

The PAD used to be a political movement that did the wrong things for the right reasons. It's impossible to consider the airport seizure to be morally right because it affects hundreds of thousands of innocent people _ the passengers, their relatives, friends or business partners. That damage cannot be translated into financial figures did not mean it was light.

 

The PAD leaders claim they are abandoning "Ahimsa" (non-violence and non-aggression) because its members have become victims and nobody cares. That is all right as long as what happened on Tuesday evening is shrouded with proclaimed noble goals. When the action is explained in the simplest term _ "We want you to resign or a large number of innocent travellers won't be going home" _ what is the difference between that and holding an innocent passer-by at knife-point to force a bank robber to lay down his gun?

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/11/26/headlines/headlines_30089472.php

 

interesting to see how fast again this Newspaper can change the side once more.