Thailand less free now-The Nation
25-09-10
Country less free now: activists
Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation: September 19, 2010
Some former activists who opposed the 2006 military coup – four years ago today – said Thai society under the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration enjoys less democratic freedom than after the military junta ousted Thaksin Shinawatra.
“I don’t think it is democratic now. In fact, things have regressed. Many [opposition] media outlets are shut and even the blocking of websites was not as extensive then compared to now,” said Chotisak Onsoong, former co-coordinator of the 19 September Anti-Coup Network.
“Also we’re under the emergency decree. Students in Chiang Rai who protested against the decree or a teen idol who protested against Abhisit became a big fuss [for the authorities] although it should be a normal part of any democratic system.”
Four years ago, anti-coup activist Sirote Klampaiboon, then a PhD student at the University of Hawaii, drafted an open letter signed by other Thai students at foreign universities denouncing the Council for National Security (CNS), which overthrew the Thaksin administration in the evening on Sept 19. “[Thailand] has not become more democratic and on many fronts the situation has in fact deteriorated,” said Sirote, now a lecturer in politics and human rights at Mahidol University.
Sirote pointed out, however, that political repression under the current administration was more complex. “The rule by emergency decree is one of the clearest examples. It turns what would otherwise be legal political activities into something illegal, such as the right to political assembly by more than five persons. People also accepted the violence unleashed by the military [in April and May].”
Kengkij Kitirianglarp, now a political science lecturer at Kasetsart University, was a PhD student at Chulalongkorn University on the eve of the coup four years ago. He was among 10 or so people who violated martial law by holding the first public protest to denounce the coup-makers in front of Siam Centre on the afternoon of September 21, 2006. “The situation is gradually getting worse,” Kengkij said, referring to the state of Thai democracy and political freedom now.
“The space for political freedom is getting narrower. [Opposition] websites have been blocked or shut [with Opposition] papers threatened. The fight [against autocratic rule] has increased since the coup. However, the elite now think they must exert greater control beyond introducing the [junta-sponsored] 2007 charter.”
Kengkij feared a class war may be looming.
The three activists were all asked if the military had become even more powerful four years after the coup. All said yes.
“The military has become the main mechanism in the elite exercising power. This can be seen from the stark defence budget increase,” Kengkij said. “The issue over Preah Vihear, for example, could actually be about increasing the military budget.”
Sirote agreed that the boost in the defence budget suggested the Army’s influence had grown. He said there were more places for generals now. “We have more generals than we really need. The budget increase is also increasing at an unusual rate.”
Chotisak thought the rising power of the military was often not seen by the public but said it could be recognised by how considerate elected governments were to the military.
“Before September 19, [2006], the threat of a coup was almost like a joke and not taken seriously, but the threat has since become scary,” he said.
Reflecting on the lessons for Thai politics in the four years since the coup, Chotisak said people should think harder about ways to solve a crisis, as military solutions could ended up creating newer problems. He said the violent crackdown in April and May would only make people more politically bitter and aware of the real political problems the Kingdom faces.
Sirote hoped that a fight to ensure freedom of political expression may make a difference in how Thailand handles the current crisis. People should also recognise that resorting to force to try to solve a conflict, such as by staging a coup in 2006 or the bloody crackdown in April and May, would not solve problems.
To Kengkij, Thais should try to look at the bigger picture, beyond the past four to five years of political conflict and imagine how they would like future political regimes to be.
Thai media is not free-PPT
25-09-10
The media is not free
Political Prisoners in Thailand: September 18, 2010
http://thaipoliticalprisoners.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/the-media-is-not-free/
Following the reported investigation of Fah Diew Kan and the earlier official prevention of printing for Somyos Prueksakasemsuk‘s Red Power magazine, seasoned media academic Ubonrat Siriyuwasak, chairwoman of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR), has been reported as damning the lack of media freedom under the Abhisit Vejjajiva regime.
While calling for “respect for freedom of expression,” Ubonrat recognized that different groups in Thai society “don’t enjoy equal levels of freedom…”, this report includes this observation: “Yesterday … an independent bookshop owner in Bangkok told The Nation an officer in uniform stood and stared at the Fah Diew Kan magazine for more than ten minutes without uttering a single word.” The owner of the shop said: “I feel a bit threatened. Another bookshop has already removed the magazine from its shelves.”
Ubonrat warns: “When the right to oppose is taken away, it will affect citizens’ rights in general. Freedom cannot be divided, because just like clouds [in the sky] it belongs to us all.”
Supinya Klangnarong, a former CPMR coordinator, warned that the regime’s crackdown on opposition media would make society “more regressive”.
Of course, media is just one avenue of the continuing repression that is the hallmark of the current Abhisit regime.
Martial law not working-Bangkok Post
25-09-10
Emergency rule casts long shadow
SPECIAL REPORT: Five months on, whether or not the decree is really curbing violence is being hotly debated
- Bangkok Post: September 7, 2010
- http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/194936/emergency-rule-casts-long-shadow
The long shadow cast by the emergency decree has hung over Thai society for five months since its invocation on April 7, but still the debate rages whether it truly helps curb violence or is itself another problem to be negotiated.
The decree was invoked by the Abhisit Vejjajiva government to maintain peace and order as the protests in Bangkok by the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) started to gain momentum.
The area covered by the decree was initially confined to Bangkok and its immediate neighbouring provinces but, as the protests in the city gained further support from the red shirts’ rural bases, it was extended. Twenty-four provinces were covered by the decree at its peak before it began to be gradually wound back to just the seven, including Bangkok, now included in its net.
Most people can go about their lives unaffected by the decree, but for those who have been charged or are being held in detention for violating the emergency, the law has been an unprecedented intrusion on their right to freedom of expression and movement.
The decree gives the state sweeping authority to ban public gatherings of more than five people which could be determined as a potential cause of unrest. It also allows restrictions on news media and other forms of communications which might contain content seen as provocative, and it restricts the use of public streets or vehicles and allows for certain areas to be declared off-limits.
It is not clear how many people have been held for violating the emergency decree. But the Justice Ministry, in June, reported that about 100 suspects had been detained.
Many pro-red shirt activists were also taken into custody for holding activities which paid tribute to those who joined the protests. They were later released.
Three high school students carrying placards reading “I saw dead people at Ratchaprasong” were arrested in July in Chiang Rai, which was then still under the decree, for illegal assembly.
Human rights advocates and university lecturers warn that any further extension of the decree will do more harm than good to the country.
They say the government must revoke the decree in all provinces where it remains in effect as soon as possible. They also question whether the government continues to impose it simply as a tool to suppress its opponents.
Angkhana Neelaphaijit, chair of the Working Group on Justice and Peace, said the decree was exacerbating the discord between the authorities and the UDD supporters.
“If the decree’s enforcement is really effective, the two explosions would not have happened in Bangkok,” said Ms Angkhana, referring to the launch of a grenade which landed in the grounds of the NBT television station on the morning of Aug 31 and a bomb blast in front of the King Power Complex five days earlier.
Ms Angkhana said the decree had violated the basic human rights of those arrested under the security law.
The law allows security forces to arrest suspects and hold them without charge for 30 days. They will be freed only if there is not enough evidence to support the laying of charges.
Emergency rule has long been in effect in the southern provinces where an insurgency is under way. There, many of those arrested have disappeared after release from detention.
Ms Angkhana said the government needed to look into the problem of forced disappearances of emergency decree suspects.
Wilaiwan Sae-tia, leader of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, said the decree had limited the freedom of expression and right of assembly of social activists over the past five months.
“We can’t carry out any social activities and we don’t even have the chance to express our opinions or [have the right to] demand that the government solves our problems,” she said.
The criminal law was sufficient to keep the present situation under control, Ms Wilaiwan said.
“Maintaining the emergency law doesn’t help create a conciliatory atmosphere,” she said.
Somchai Preechasilpakul, a law lecturer at Chiang Mai University, said the emergency decree was aimed more at getting rid of the government’s opponents than it was at keeping the peace.
Mr Somchai said many community radio stations in Chiang Mai had been shut down because they were critical of the government. Red shirt supporters have also been reportedly arrested and have since disappeared.
“If the government really wants to see the country become more democratic and peaceful, it must accept differences of opinion,” he said.
The deputy secretary-general to the prime minister, Panitan Wattanayagorn, said the government needed to evaluate the situation very carefully before lifting the emergency decree in the remaining seven provinces.
It would have to look at the impact the emergency was having on tourism and investment.
Mr Panitan said he could not say when the decree would be lifted or if the government would extend it.
The decree is issued for a period of three months at a time. It next comes up for review on Oct 10.
[CJ Hinke of FACT comments: When I first moved to Thailand decades ago, nuclear power was being debated. I stated in a public forum that I would get arrested to prevent nuclear power in Thailand. I still feel that way. Nuclear power is a hugely expensive and dangerous trick. Building and operating such plants increases our insecurity and creates a pipeline directly into the pockets of the rich. Now govt seeks to trick Isaan’s rural poor when only govt lackeys will have a place at the trough. If citizens can resist in Nakhon and Surat, so can citizens in Ubon and Nakhon Sawan. We hope they will be joined by citizens from every other province. No nuclear in Thailand!]
Nuclear power plants moved out of South
Watcharapong Thongrung
The Nation: September 20, 2010
Ubon Ratchathani and Nakhon Sawan are picked as the principal locations of five nuclear power plants, with combined capacity of 5,000 megawatts, said a source from the Energy Ministry.
He cited huge local resistance in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani, which made it impossible to locate the power plants in the two Southern provinces.
Advisor Burns & Roe Asia earlier shortlisted Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani from 17 locations, as the two provinces can accommodate the light-water reactor (LWR) technology. However, the ministry’s officials have so far failed to reconcile with local communities.
“By changing the locations, we will need to reconsider the technology choice,” the source said.
Under the Power Development Plan 2010, nuclear power plants, if approved by the government, will feed power into the system during 2020-2028. The new development plan will be submitted to the Cabinet early 2011 for approval.
The source also noted that if the government shows its intention to proceed with the nuclear power generating, it is required to set up additional budget to finance the Nuclear Power Programme Development Office, a unit under the ministry. That would also lengthen the life of NPPDO which is now supervised by designated-permanent secretary Norkun Sitthiphong. Set up during the Surayud government, NPPDO was tasked to prepare for the development within a 3-year timeframe.
Sulak on nonviolence-Democracy Now!
25-09-10
Large Anti-Government Protests in Thailand Scheduled on Fourth Anniversary of Coup
Amy Goodman
Democracy Now!: September 17, 2010
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/17/large_anti_government_protests_in_thailand
Large anti-government protests are scheduled to take place across Thailand Sunday on the fourth anniversary of a military coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The protests are being organized by the so-called Red Shirts, who have called for new elections and for the Thai parliament to be dissolved. We speak with a prominent dissident from Bangkok named Sulak Sivaraksa. He won the Right Livelihood Award in 1995 for his vision, activism and spiritual commitment in the quest for a development process that is rooted in democracy, justice and cultural integrity.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re broadcasting from Bonn, Germany. It’s the thirtieth anniversary of the Right Livelihood Awards, and many of them have gathered here to talk about their work and their continued mission.
Well, in Thailand, large anti-government protests are scheduled to take place across Thailand Sunday, on the fourth anniversary of a military coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The protests are being organized by the so-called Red Shirts, who have called for new elections and for the Thai parliament to be dissolved.
I’m joined here in Bonn, Germany, by a prominent dissident from Bangkok. His name is Sulak Sivaraksa. He won the Right Livelihood Award in 1995 for his vision, his activism and spiritual commitment in the quest for a development process in Thailand that’s rooted in democracy, justice and cultural integrity. He has been imprisoned a number of times. He’s returning to Thailand.
We welcome you to Democracy Now!
SULAK SIVARAKSA: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: Before we talk about what is happening there, I’d like you, as a Buddhist, to explain the term the “Right Livelihood” Awards.
SULAK SIVARAKSA: In Buddhism, the basic thing the Buddha taught is known as the Noble Eightfold Path, starting with right view—
AMY GOODMAN: The Eightfold Path?
SULAK SIVARAKSA: Eightfold Path—right view, right thought, and then, of course, right livelihood, ending up with right meditation, right concentration.
AMY GOODMAN: And what does “right livelihood” mean?
SULAK SIVARAKSA: It means that whatever you do for your living must not be harmful to yourself and others.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s talk about what’s happening in your country. I keep referring to Thailand, but you don’t refer to it as Thailand.
SULAK SIVARAKSA: Official name is Thailand. But this was imposed on us when a dictator was running the country. And he uprooted us. He made us wear Western dress. He wanted us to follow the West blindly. And at that time, the West mean Germany and Hitler, Nazism. And he claimed that the country belonged to the Thai, which is not true. The Thais are a majority people in the country, but we also have the Malay. We have also many other ethnic groups. The country, until then, 1939, it was called Siam, which means the Land of the Brown People, the Golden Land. And I think Siam is more neutral term. That’s why I don’t use the word Thailand, nor I obey dictators.
AMY GOODMAN: So, explain what happened in World War II. So, the dictator allied your country with the Nazis?
SULAK SIVARAKSA: Germany, Italy, under fascism, Japan, under military dictatorship. Luckily, we had a regent, who represented the king, who organized the Free Thai Movement collaborating with the allies. That’s why, after the war, we were not punished, unlike Italy, Germany and Japan. We even joined the United Nations before Sweden.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, what has happened to your country most recently? Explain this anniversary that’s coming up on Sunday.
SULAK SIVARAKSA: Well, this also linked to the regent who organized the Free Thai Movement. He also introduced democracy to Siam in 1932. Then, unfortunately, sixty-four years ago, the king, the last king, Rama VIII, was found dead in the royal bed chamber. And people accused him of regicide. They chucked him out of the country.
AMY GOODMAN: They accused him of killing his brother?
SULAK SIVARAKSA: That’s right, of killing the present king’s brother. Mr. Pridi was then prime minister. He was a wonderful man. He was a natural leader. He was one who cared for the people. So, since then, we have so many coup d’états. And every coup d’état, of course, it helped the military. It never helped the people. And the last coup, four years ago, I think people regarded that as the last straw. That’s why they are demanding democracy without military.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain who the so-called Red Shirts are.
SULAK SIVARAKSA: The Red Shirts, by and large, are the common people, the poor, who feel that they have been deprived, so they united together to demand their dignity and their rights. But, unfortunately, they also have been linked with the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was a crook, who was a dictator in the guise of democracy. That is the unfortunate thing. But, of course, many people did want to link with Thaksin, but Thaksin used the opportunity. He claimed that he can return home with the mass movement. That’s rather unfortunate.
AMY GOODMAN: Do the Red Shirts practice nonviolence?
SULAK SIVARAKSA: Some of them do, but some don’t. But even so, I feel that the military and the government had no right to kill these people, which they did last April and May, unfortunately. Over ninety people died—
AMY GOODMAN: How?
SULAK SIVARAKSA: —in the streets of Bangkok, because they were demonstrating in Bangkok. And they did do some violence, but their violence was very harmless, because they didn’t have great, big guns. But the government had guns and all kind of things. The government claims that these people were terrorists, which is an unfortunate term to use. I think—I don’t know what will happen on the 19th.
AMY GOODMAN: You mean this Sunday.
SULAK SIVARAKSA: That’s right.
AMY GOODMAN: On the anniversary.
SULAK SIVARAKSA: That’s right.
AMY GOODMAN: What does it mean, Sulak, to train in nonviolence, as you have?
SULAK SIVARAKSA: To train in nonviolence is part of right livelihood. It means you must learn not to hate others. And deep down, you must also learn not to hate yourself. A lot of people hate themselves, you know? In order to get money, in order to be successful, they even exploit themselves. But the Buddhist approach is that you must learn to know yourself, to learn that the self really doesn’t even exist. It’s a term, could be useful, could be harmful. We are interrelated. Without you, could not be me. We are interrelated. We are not opposing. We are not competing. That’s the Buddhist concept. The same. Without the trees, we cannot live. Without the earth, we cannot live. If you use that Buddhist approach—you don’t have to become Buddhist—you use that Buddhist approach, you change your entire attitude towards life, towards Mother Earth, towards others.
AMY GOODMAN: You say you are not opposing, and yet you are known for your opposition in Thailand, in Siam. You have been charged with treason, with defaming the king over and over.
SULAK SIVARAKSA: Well, of course, people exploited that. Since we don’t believe in God, some try to make the king God, which, of course, is unfortunate. The king is the first among equals, you see? He is the symbol of the country. He is the monarchy, represents the monarchy. But the monarchy must be under the Constitution. That’s my whole point. I have been fighting against hypocrisy. I have been fighting against untruthfulness. I feel that truth must prevail. But my fighting, all along, it has been nonviolent.
AMY GOODMAN: Will you be back in your country on Sunday?
SULAK SIVARAKSA: Yes, indeed. I will be back there. And I hope, if I could do anything to help people, both the Red Shirts, the Yellow Shirts, I will do so. But I will only do so if they want me to play a role.
AMY GOODMAN: What would you like to see happen?
SULAK SIVARAKSA: Well, I hope there should be dialogue. There should be talking, not using dreadful words. Talking, understanding, listening. And I think this is possible.
AMY GOODMAN: Often, if you see people in the streets, you hear the word “violence.” But structural violence is ignored. What does that mean?
SULAK SIVARAKSA: Well, the structure is made up so that people accept, for instance, hierarchy, people accept gender issues. In many countries, women have been treated very, very badly. And in my country, like many other countries, the poor have been treated very badly. And the rich regard that as natural. But it’s not natural. It’s structured by the rich. And the law also, on the whole path, benefited the rich and the powerful.
In America, itself, you know, the people consume too much natural resources. I think Americans must also understand this is structural violence. The top people in the big companies earn far too much, whereas the common laborers earn too little. I think this is the structure. And this structural violence is also linked with cultural violence. You see, a lot of media use all kind of half-truths to denounce the others. I think one ought to learn to practice right livelihood.
AMY GOODMAN: On that note, I thank you for being our last guest on Democracy Now! here in Bonn, Germany. Sulak Sivaraksa, he won Right Livelihood Award in 1995 for his vision, activism and spiritual commitment in the quest for a development process in Thailand, in what he calls Siam, rooted in democracy, justice and cultural integrity. We will cover what happens in Thailand this weekend.
Thailand on the verge-The Nation
25-09-10
[FACT comments: Obviously, govt’s plan to close every avenue of critical thought has backfired. Now people are chanting slogans against the King in the streets and writing them on subway walls.]
BURNING ISSUE
It may be time to take off the bilindfold
The Nation: September 23, 2010
Tanks rumble past Buddhist monks on their morning alms round near Government House on Tuesday, Sept 19, 2006,
as a bloodless military coup toppled the government of Thaksin Shinawatra. [Bangkok Post]
In Thailand, reality and its acknowledgement have a way of being supplanted by fiction and denial.
Take for instance the gathering of some 10,000 red shirts last Sunday at Rajprasong intersection to mark the fourth anniversary of the 2006 coup and the fourth month since the military cracked down on the movement.
The one thing conspicuously missing from media coverage was the angry messages emblazoned on the corrugated iron wall outside CentralWorld, which is being rebuilt after the red shirts allegedly burned it down in the aftermath of the crackdown.
Until late Sunday afternoon, the walls were plastered with colourful feel-good propaganda calling for national unity, which were later replaced by angry messages aimed squarely at the established old elite saying things that cannot be reproduced here or anywhere else without the risk of violating the lese majeste law.
At about 7pm that Sunday evening, a number of red shirts stood in front of the wall airing their anger and political grievances. The very next day, these messages were removed and life went on as if they were never there to begin with.
The 25-metre long wall of corrugated iron is still there, with absolutely no sign of there being any colourful messages written on it – it’s just bare and grey.
But on Sunday night, the wall carried heartfelt messages from |a substantial number of red shirts before someone decided to sanitise the wall and remove it from the history of Thai politics, circa 2010.
A Western photojournalist, who understood the meaning of some of those messages, told this writer about how uneasy they made him feel and was wondering what he should do with the photographs.
The gap between what many Thai people want to believe about certain issues and the reality of the beliefs held by some red-shirt Thais has never become wider. The April-May protests and the subsequent crackdown, which led to a combined total of 91 deaths, only served to widen the gap and instil more anger and paranoia. The gap between what is spoken and admitted privately, and what is recited and dismissed publicly is widening and exacting an increasing cost on Thai society.
On Tuesday, Surakiart Sathirathai, who was foreign minister under Thaksin Shinawatra and distanced himself from the premier before the September 2006 coup, said in a speech at Siam University that “people who defame and attack the [royal] institution” are “becoming more visible”. He acknowledged this to be one of the two root causes for the current political divide, though he failed to explain why he thinks that might be the case.
The messages on the wall were unprecedented and their almost-immediate removal is symptomatic of a censored society, while those who disagree with the red shirts are too afraid to ask why so many red shirts think and believe in the things they do.
Denying what a substantial |number of the population thinks and believes will not pull the country out of the current political impasse.
A Pandora’s box was opened when the coup ousted Thaksin four years ago. The least we can do now, after 91 people have died, is to start acknowledging what others feel and ask ourselves why.
ASIA HAND
Thai colors bleed a complicated mosaic
Shawn W Crispin
Asia Times: September 21, 2010
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LI21Ae01.html
With his floppy hair, social activist background and penchant for pointing his middle finger towards the government, Sombat Boonngam-anong is the purported new face of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) protest group. Sombat and his red shirt wearing followers took to the capital’s streets on Sunday, marking the pressure group’s largest show of force since the UDD’s nine-week protest was quashed by troops on May 19.
Sombat’s event coincided with the fourth anniversary of the military coup that toppled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and openly defied state of emergency provisions that bar political gatherings of over five people by amassing around 10,000 protesters in downtown Bangkok. The rights-curbing decree was imposed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in early April to curb the UDD’s protest activities and it has remained in place at the military’s insistence.
“Dictators try to use intimidation to control the people through fear,” said Sombat, who was arrested and detained in June for hanging red ribbons from a street sign in Bangkok’s Ratchprasong area where scores of protesters were shot and killed by troops in May. “Today is symbolic of red shirt power – we have survived and we are not scared.”
Armed exchanges between UDD protesters and security forces in April and May resulted in 90 deaths and over 1,800 injuries, the majority of them protesters. Thaksin made veiled threats from exile after the crackdown that UDD supporters could launch an insurgency in response. A series of bombings in Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai have followed, including against military installations, though nobody has taken responsibility for the attacks.
Sombat’s rally cry called on Abhisit’s government to take responsibility for the deaths and demanded that UDD leaders currently held in detention since the crackdown be released. The complaints and grievances were similar to those aired at previous UDD rallies, but UDD organizers claim Sombat represents a new generation of UDD leaders, one that is less reliant on Thaksin’s symbolism and more in touch with Bangkok’s middle classes.
Sean Boonracong, the UDD’s de facto spokesman, claimed Sunday’s protest was “purely spontaneous” and “in no way” relied on Thaksin’s cash or influence to organize. He estimated that the crowd was “almost entirely” from Bangkok’s middle classes, and not the rural masses its earlier protest claimed to represent.
Boonracong also confessed that the UDD’s deployment of armed “black shirts” was a “big mistake” and undermined the group’s claim to non-violent struggle it is now bidding to re-establish. “It was a massacre, but we didn’t get the Tiananmen Square effect in the eyes of the world because a few protesters were under arms.” He claims that at the height of the crisis in May, with armed troops bearing down on protesters, that the air force considered but backed away from supporting the UDD against the army.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said Sunday’s peaceful protest was “a sign the system is returning to normalcy”, but also showed that red shirt leaders “are still in transition and don’t agree specifically on which way next to move.” He said Abhisit shares the UDD’s disagreement with the military’s “unconstitutional coup” and recognized that the UDD’s disagreement with his policies and positions were consistent with a functioning democracy.
In reality, Thailand’s democracy has suffered from severe instability since the coup and Sombat’s emergence represents the UDD’s latest contrived bid to package its disparate interest groups under a coherent pro-democracy banner. After making several video-linked, phone-in addresses to UDD supporters in March, Thaksin began to distance himself from the protests after the UDD’s militant wing became more openly apparent in April and May.
Thaksin has maintained he neither leads nor bankrolls the UDD, a claim few Bangkok-based diplomats who monitor the situation take seriously. Furthering that detachment narrative, Sombat declined in an interview at a McDonald’s restaurant thronged with red shirt supporters on Sunday to say whether he considered himself pro- or anti-Thaksin.
Sombat said that before the 2006 coup that he penned several articles for his non-governmental organization that were often critical of Thaksin. He said he respected the right of the rival People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to protest against Thaksin and his aligned governments, but that he finds it “surreal” how the former premier’s detractors now blame him for all of the country’s problems. He characterized his protest activities as “low cost and high impact”.
Power in the shadows
Despite those deflections, it’s still too early to discount Thaksin’s role. The exiled premier has taken a more conciliatory line in recent weeks, with his attentions focused on bolstering his aligned Puea Thai party for possible early elections next year. It has marked a notable turn from the exiled former leader’s recent efforts through lobbyists and lawyers to undermine Abhisit’s legitimacy by internationalizing the protest-related deaths.
Thaksin declined to make a phone-in address at Sunday’s rallies, but spoke of the need for reconciliation via his Twitter account. “I want to see Thai people look ahead together, a healing of those suffering from recent political violence and forgiveness. I don’t want to see any more unrest, the bringing down of the high institution [the monarchy] into politics, the destruction of political rivals by using double standards of the justice system.”
Behind the rhetoric, Thaksin is now actively involved in internationally brokered mediation efforts with Abhisit’s government. In recent months, he has met with foreign interlocutors in both Cyprus and Russia, and his personal spokesman Pongthep Thepkanchana met on September 1 with a politician and aides close to Abhisit at Bangkok’s Conrad Hotel as part of those international efforts.
According to people familiar with the situation, Thaksin has repeatedly requested a direct line of communication with the palace, presumed to mean top Privy Councilors rather than the ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and a return of the US$1.4 billion of his assets which were seized through a February 28 court decision that provided the spark for the UDD’s nine-week protest launched on March 12.
During a secret meeting arranged by a Swedish government mediator in Brunei in April with Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Thaksin also requested a return of his seized funds as a precondition for peace and reconciliation, according to people familiar with the discussions. Those one-day talks took place a week after black shirt wearing UDD supporters fired grenades at troops and soldiers returned fire, killing 25 in the protest’s first volley of violence.
More recently, Abhisit has refused to budge on making any substantive concessions to Thaksin’s camp, including the requested release of UDD leaders from prison, according to people familiar with the situation. The UDD’s show of popular force on Sunday could thus be interpreted as Thaksin’s latest carrot and stick bid to enhance his negotiating leverage vis-a-vis the government.
Those talks will likely remain a non-starter as long as government allegations that certain unnamed UDD and Puea Thai leaders are involved in a plot to overthrow the monarchy remain in political play. Anti-monarchy charges are particularly sensitive in Thailand’s context, where the royal family is protected from public criticism by strict lese majeste laws that carry possible 15-year prison sentences. No suspects have been charged in the alleged plot, which is currently under police investigation.
One palace source suspects that elements sympathetic to the UDD are mainly responsible for the flood of anti-monarchy materials that have been posted anonymously to the Internet and banned by a growing contingent of state censors. Those postings have come mostly from overseas, where the UDD claims to have over 100,000 supporters, mostly in the US and Europe. Thaksin and UDD leaders have consistently denied the anti-crown allegations.
Hardliner rising
The anti-monarchy charges could carry more weight with the upcoming shift in military leadership from army commander General Anupong Paochinda to General Prayuth Chan-ocha, a known palace favorite with close ties to Queen Sirikit through his service in the elite Queen’s Guard unit. It’s unclear where the palace comes down on the anti-monarchy plot, but spokesman Panitan says the cases will be based solely on “legal issues” and are “separate” from the government’s negotiations with Thaksin.
Prayuth’s rise comes as Abhisit and the top brass wrestle over the need to maintain emergency rule in seven provinces, including in Bangkok. While Anupong maintained through his tenure that political problems required political solutions, Prayuth has said he will try to keep the brass out of politics.
There are growing concerns that the military-controlled Center for Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) has emerged as a sort of shadow government to Abhisit’s administration and could be putting the mechanisms in place to quickly seize power in an emergency situation. Panitan says the government and military have “good working relations” and that “the new leadership agrees that stability is best achieved through democratic means”.
The military has recently bolstered its street presence in Bangkok in response to a series of unexplained bomb attacks. Those have included two small blasts against ruling coalition partner Bhum Jai Thai’s headquarters and another against the government’s mouthpiece Channel 11 TV station after it aired a report about progress in police investigations into the alleged plot to overthrow the monarchy.
The bigger bang question concerns the military’s view on Abhisit’s apparent desire to hold early elections. The military has expanded its powers during Abhisit’s term, which isn’t due to expire until December 2011. Its unclear whether Prayuth and other royalist top brass would risk the scenario of a Puea Thai election win while Bhumibol is in poor health and unresolved questions linger about the UDD’s and Puea Thai’s loyalty to the crown.
A newly elected Thaksin-aligned government would likely move swiftly to sideline Prayuth, who could potentially serve four consecutive years in his leadership post and is believed to be the palace’s preferred military candidate to help manage the delicate royal succession from Bhumibol to heir apparent Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn. There are concerns among some royalists the UDD could bid to complicate the process through their protests.
A Puea Thai-led government would also be expected to move more aggressively in pinning blame on the military top brass, including Prayuth, for ordering recent protest-related deaths. Abhisit has launched a quasi-independent fact-finding panel to look into the deaths, but its leader, a former attorney general, has already said he does not intend to assign blame and aims to promote reconciliation through his findings.
That leaves Abhisit stuck uncomfortably in the middle of the military and UDD. Abhisit is still believed to favor early elections, both as a conciliatory gesture to the UDD and to dispel enduring criticism that his coalition government lacks democratic legitimacy because it placed second at the 2007 polls and was allegedly cobbled together by backroom military maneuvers.
Some analysts believe new polls would be a dead heat between Abhisit’s Democrat Party and Puea Thai and that the Democrats would fare best if elections were held coincident with a high water mark in the economic recovery. After slipping into negative growth amid the global economic recession, the Thai economy has bounced back strongly, undercutting statistically Thaksin’s claims that only his policies could lead the country from crisis to recovery.
Against the upbeat economic backdrop is the ongoing legal case that threatens to dissolve the Democrats on charges related to an illegal campaign donation it received in 2005 and the party’s alleged misuse of state funds given for election purposes. Revelations from the hearings, including an incriminating audio clip that appears to implicate the party in fraud, have strengthened perceptions that the Democrats could lose the pivotal case.
A guilty verdict would go a long way in dispelling UDD complaints about perceived double standards in the judiciary, including a series of rulings that have gone against Thaksin and his political allies since the 2006 coup. A decision for dissolution would also likely push back the prospect of early elections while the Democrats regrouped under a new party banner and leadership.
Some believe that the conservative interests which coalesced behind Abhisit in 2008, including the military, feel increasingly that divisiveness over Abhisit’s leadership has hampered rather than helped stability. “We hope to accelerate the thinking that Abhisit has outlived his usefulness,” said Boonracong, who claims to have seen a recent internal CRES report that comes to that conclusion. “Until then, we plan on keeping them on edge.”
Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online’s Southeast Asia Editor.
[FACT comments: Despite the fact that Bangkok remains under martial law prohibiting gatherings of more than five persons by emergency decree, it would appear that some basic common-sense has prevailed in allowing this modicum of free expression. However, that’s not why FACT is publishing this article. This article appears here because of what the crowd chanted: “B******** ordered the killing”. In fact, New Mandala reports the chant was, “Ai B******** ordered the killing”. If this is what is being shouted in the streets of our capital, Thai society has reached the lowest conceivable level. A true peacemaker like Sombat doesn’t stand a chance if Thais are already so polarised.]
COUP ANNIVERSARY
Red tide returns
Pongphon Sarnsamak & Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation: September 20, 2010
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/09/20/politics/Red-tide-returns-30138287.html
 From Thai Rath, Cartoon by Zia, September 6, 2010 The cartoon title reads: Sad that the dead do not [so not have the opportunity] to reconcile. The skulls spell out: Reconcile. The words on the figure at right: Order to suppress the people. The words on the small sign at bottom left: Stop chasing and killing red shirts. The mouse is saying: People’s lives are not veggies or fish. [Courtesy 2bangkok.com/] |
Peaceful rallies in capital, Chiang Mai for one day to mark fourth anniversary of 2006 coup and remember May crackdown
In a peaceful and largely symbolic manner, thousands of “leaderless” red shirts defied rain and the threat of arrest, swarming Rajprasong intersection yesterday afternoon to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the September 19, 2006 military coup and the bloodshed four months ago.
Sombat Boon-ngam-anong, the only prominent red shirt not behind bars or on the run, tried to deal with the large crowd through police-loaned speakers, but failed to prevent a large red-shirt crowd from blocking the intersection. He decided to light candles and release balloons nearly two hours before the 7pm schedule to avoid incidents. Many red protesters lingered at the intersection after 7 pm, some dancing to the music.
The intersection was mostly shut between 3pm and 6pm yesterday, but the red shirts started to clear the way for traffic at dusk. Police were totally outnumbered on the streets but monitored the situation through CCTVs. The rally remained peaceful despite some angry, emotional and provocative banners.
“If you shut the road we won’t win,” Sombat told the visibly angry crowd at about 3pm. “Please think it through… Our fight must go on. We must end today’s activity. We fight a political fight and we must win it politically.”
The rally followed Thaksin Shinawatra’s plea for peace and reconciliation through Twitter. There was little sign of Thaksin’s influence at the rally, which appeared spontaneous rather than organised. Many angry red shirts repeatedly shouted “Abhisit, get out!” and “B****** ordered the killing” in reference to the 91 deaths that occurred between April and May.
Some protesters told The Nation unrest is likely when their leaders are in jail, killed or on the run. “Don’t think we are water buffaloes,” said one red-shirt man. “Those who are here [today] are hardcore. They can’t be controlled.” Other banners said “People died here”.
On social media, sentiment was mixed, with many questioning the virtual lack of reference to burnt buildings and ruined businesses. “Buildings were burnt here, too,” one twitterer proclaimed angrily. But in the evening red leaders said they regretted the damage to businesses.
Student activists re-enacted the suppression of protesters. A man impersonated the late Maj-General Khattiya Sawasdipol and walked through the cheering crowd while some danced in the falling rain.
Sombat told the crowd before he left he would like to apologise to businesses affected by the red-shirt rally yesterday and back in April and May.
“We should come back and apologise. I and all red shirts would like to apologise. I’ll also come back and shop here,” he said. Gaysorn Plaza shut itself down again yesterday.
Shortly before six, hundreds of red ribbons were tied together in a large web as red shirts chanted anti-government slogans. Some lit candles in remembrance of those killed and wept. One man shouted: “Let’s fight another round.”
A 35-year-old woman, Sangwan Suktisen, whose 31-year-old husband Paison Tiplom died on April 10 at Khok Wua intersection, came with her eight-year-old son and three-year-old daughter to join the event.
She held a picture of her husband, who was shot in the head, to show other red-shirt protesters walking around the intersection.
She said she called for the government to bring to justice the persons who killed her husband.
“Even though the government gave me compensation for the death of my husband, no one apologised,” she said.
Her three-year-old Saiphan Tiplom held a red balloon with writing, “Bring my father back and get the government out.”
Sarawut Sathan, 45, who came from Bang Kapi district, said he joined the protest because he wanted the government to dissolve the House and hold fresh elections as a way to resolve the crisis in society.
Another woman wrote on the road with chalk that she still remembered the time when her friend was killed four months ago.
Sombat said yesterday’s symbolic activity at Rajprasong had succeeded in getting the government’s attention.
He said he did not expect that over 10,000 would join the rally. “We just came here to tell the government that we will never forget,” he said.
However, he accepted the activity had caused a traffic jam around the intersection as the government would not allow him to use a megaphone to control the crowd.
A group of 30 students from the Thammasat Community Against Dic-tatorship and the Chula Community for the People also rallied to commemorate the coup and the crackdown on protesters. The students joined a group of red shirts in marching from Thammasart University’s Thaprachan Campus along Rajdamnoen road to the Democracy Monument.
They held a handmade banner and posters reading “No more dictatorship in Thailand” and “Stop human rights violations and stop controlling democracy”.
They also held pictures of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat who led the 1957 coup, General Suchinda Kraprayoon who led the 1991 coup, and Abhisit while walking around Democracy Monument.
The students walked three times around the monument and laid wreaths to mourn the death of red-shirt protesters who died during the April and May demonstrations. They also mourned the “death of democracy”.
“There was no [admitted] responsibility from the government over the bloody crackdown on red shirts, which killed 91 people during April and May, even though many civic groups had called for the government to take responsibility,” said Raksart Wong-athichart, a 19-year-old Thammasat University Faculty of Liberal Arts student at the Democracy Monument.
“We want society to realise that our democracy is declining,” he added.
RED SHIRTS CAMPAIGN
Reds to lay roses at prisons every week : Jatuporn
The Nation: September 18, 2010
Red shirts members will hold a campaign to lay roses at prisons nationwide every week until all detained red shirts are freed, Pheu Thai MP Jatuporn Prompan said Friday.
The campaign is organised to inform their comrades in the prisons that they are not forgotten, said Jatuporn, also a red shirts leader.
He was speaking after laying roses in front of a Bangkok prison along with other red shirts members. The campaigns were conducted at many prisons in the country.
The red shirts members have been detained in 17 prisons nationwide for allegedly violating emergency laws during violence in May and April.
Jatuporn said the campaign was not intended to put pressure on courts that considered the red shirts’ cases.
He warned that the government should not try to instigate any chaos during the red shirts’ activities on September 19 in Chiang Mai province only to put the blame on the red shirts.
The Sunday activities is is held to mark the fourth anniversary of the coup.
Jatuporn claimed “the black shirted men” whom the government said were assassins with a mission to assassinate the prime minister were the army officers assigned to be the PM’ bodyguards.
[FACT comments: Thailand has stringent laws to protect courts and judges from any criticism. Contempt of court can result from any comment on a legal decision. But flowers…?!? Well, we can see why CRES is afraid: To quote Mao Tse-tung—“Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend”. This is all about thought control.]
Sansern warns that placing red flowers in front of prisons might constitute contempt of court
Prachatai: September 10, 2010
http://www.prachatai3.info/english/node/2015
The CRES spokesperson told the press that some people misrepresented the facts by claiming that the authorities killed red shirts, and he insisted that there were armed elements among protesters who killed the security forces and protesters and that soldiers did not use live ammunition. The Emergency Decree is to remain because there are offences against the monarchy. He also warned that the placing of red flowers in front of prisons by red shirts might constitute contempt of court.
On 8 Sept, Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd spoke to the press after a CRES meeting at Army Headquarters. At the meeting, the CRES was concerned about the increasingly frequent attempts of certain groups to misinform the public with distorted facts, including a claim that the authorities were given an order to kill the people, resulting in the 89 deaths among the military and police and protesters.
‘In fact, the CRES does not want to give explanations of old issues, because those issues have already entered the judicial process. But it is necessary, otherwise the public will get distorted information. We can see that during the protests the security forces did not use war weapons or fire live ammunition at the protesters. In all cases, the security forces were given clear instructions as to how to use weapons, including rubber bullets, live bullets, and M16 bullets. We fired into the air either to intimidate, or to protect the security forces or innocent people from lethal danger in cases where such actions were unavoidable,’ the spokesperson said.
He said that it could be seen from the media that among the protesters there were armed elements who attacked and killed the authorities and people. But as time passed, certain groups tried to distort the facts and put the blame on the authorities for ordering the killing of the people. The police and military never mean to harm the people ‘arbitrarily without lawful reasons’. However, all issues will be solved in the judicial process, he said.
The Colonel said that the Emergency Decree had been declared in the first place because there were affronts against the monarchy, and there was a need to maintain order to prevent loss of life resulting from clashes between groups of people with differing political views, to uphold the process of the law and justice, and to prevent violent incidents which would undermine national security. Although currently there appear to be no political gatherings, it is clear that political activities are still going on, as seen in the firings of M79 grenades and bombings. So the Emergency Decree needs to be maintained, he said.
‘Many have said that despite the Emergency Decree, violent incidents still occur. I have to ask them in turn how many more violent incidents would have occurred without the decree. So let’s see the facts. Whenever normal law enforcement and security personnel can handle the situation, we will lift the decree. Suppose we lift the decree in all areas and violent incidents occur and we declare it again, then wouldn’t it look and feel even worse? Some say that we have created the situation in order to maintain the decree. That would not benefit the security authorities, but rather backfire,’ he said.
Regarding the red shirts’ planned activities, including placing red flowers in front of prisons to mark the 4th anniversary of the 2006 coup on 19 Sept, the colonel said that now that the situation was quite stable and the economy was expected to improve, those who wanted to conduct political activities should be concerned about the impact on the country’s image. They can carry out their activities within the scope of law, but have to show consideration for the business sector.
‘Placing red flowers in front of prisons might constitute contempt of court. Some ask why, if reconciliation is to be achieved, as a certain political party has tried to show, the CRES and government do not release detained suspects. I have to say that everything goes by the judicial process. Neither the CRES nor the government has the authority to arrest or release anybody. So it’s up to the red shirts whether they will place red flowers or not, but bear in mind that the action might constitute contempt of court,’ he said.
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