Detoxify nation, PM says

[Flashermac]

Bangkok Post

24 Jun 2011

 

 

The election will give people an opportunity to "detoxify" the Thaksin Shinawatra poison from the nation, Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva told a mass gathering.

 

Addressing a crowd of about 30,000 in front of CentralWorld shopping mall at the Ratchaprasong intersection yesterday - a key scene of last year's bloody showdowns between red shirt protesters and security forces - Mr Abhisit said the push for national reconcilition would carry on if the Democrats were returned to office.

 

[color:red]He urged voters not to worry about the prospect of further unrest caused by the anti-government red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). "If you are afraid to vote for No. 10 because you are concerned that the red shirts will not stop [stirring up trouble], people in the whole country will continue to be Thaksin's hostages forever," he said.[/color]

 

Mr Abhisit said his life had changed utterly in the aftermath of the clashes between red shirt protesters and security forces on April 10 last year when 25 people, including five soldiers and 20 civilians died.

 

"I cried for long on April 10. And I knew that no matter what I decided, people would be infuriated.

 

"But, thanks to my wife, Pimpen, who helped me through this, I was able to press on," Mr Abhisit said.

 

He did not understand why Pheu Thai Party kept talking about reconciliation now when they and their "big boss" could have had it last year before so many people died.

 

"What were their hearts made of? Why they did not try to protect their supporters whose lives were at risk [during the April-May demonstration]?" Mr Abhisit asked.

 

The CentralWorld shopping complex, where the crowds assembled yesterday, was one of the buildings torched during the red shirt rally on May 19 last year.

 

Almost 24,000 people, meanwhile, followed speeches from the stage via Mr Abhisit's Facebook page which broadcast the event live.

 

Bomb squads and three battalions of crowd control police were stationed at the rally. Red shirt supporters caused no disruptions during the three-hour event, which ended at 11pm.

 

The Pheu Thai Party had earlier told its red shirt supporters not to show up at the rally, which, they said, was a Democrat ploy to instigate unrest and blame it on the red shirts.

 

The Democrats hope the Ratchaprasong gathering, which will be the party's last major campaign in Bangkok, will help pull in undecided voters.

 

Mr Abhisit was the last of the Democrat's heavyweights who took to the Ratchaprasong stage.

 

Others were Democrat secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban, the party's chief adviser Chuan Leekpai, and party adviser Korbsak Sabhavasu.

 

Mr Suthep, the first speaker, said his party and Prime Minister Abhisit had been accused of killing red shirt demonstrators.

 

"As the one who is in charge of national security affairs, I do not want even one person to misunderstand the PM. It is unfair for him," he said.

 

Mr Suthep was seen holding back his tears when talking about how Mr Abhisit tolerated the allegations against him. "No one died at Ratchaprasong intersection on May 19 last year," Mr Suthep said in a bid to counter the UDD's "We saw dead people at Ratchaprasong" motto.

 

The deputy prime minister said the casualties arose from clashes in other places, including 26 people killed during the April 10 clashes at Kok Wua intersection. Mr Suthep said he believed those who died were killed by black-clad men who were later caught and identified as UDD guards.

 

"The men in black hurt both soldiers and protesters," he concluded.

 

He also implicated the red shirt core leader, Jatuporn Promphan, in the assassination of rogue military officer Gen Khattiya Sawatdiphol, who was shot dead near Sala Daeng intersection on May 13. "When Seh Daeng was shot, Mr Jatuporn said the government did it. But I remember that before that, the red shirt leaders were arguing among themselves, in particular Seh Daeng and Jatuporn," he said. "I wonder why Seh Daeng was shot, right in the middle of a group of foreign journalists. It shows that someone wanted news about the red shirts to go out around the world."

 

[color:red]Mr Suthep said 22 red shirt leaders were now standing for Pheu Thai at the election. "If you vote for them, [it means] you select the terrorists to be members of parliament," he added.[/color]

 

[color:red]Kobsak Sabhavasu said he had tried to negotiate with the UDD leaders, but the talks collapsed because of only one person. He was referring to Thaksin.[/color]

 

Pheu Thai's legal team monitored the Democrat speeches. The red shirts plan to talk to the media today about their side of the April-May unrest.

 

 

 

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