Thailand in Anarchy...Again.

**Monseratto** · April 13th, 2009 12:58 AM

The never ending cycle of regime change and "people power"... buti nasawa na tayo.

Rioting follows state of emergency in Thai capital

BANGKOK – Thailand's ousted prime minister called for a revolution Sunday after rioting erupted in the capital, with protesters commandeering public buses and swarming triumphantly over military vehicles in unchecked defiance after the government declared a state of emergency.

Bands of red-shirted anti-government protesters roamed areas of Bangkok, with some furiously smashing cars carrying Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his aides and others beating up motorists who hurled insults at them.

At least 10 intersections were occupied by the protesters, who used buses to barricade several major roads, spawning massive traffic jams. Police Gen. Vichai Sangparpai said up to 30,000 demonstrators were scattered around the city. Police vans at some intersections were abandoned and looted.

Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, regarded by most of the protesters as their leader, called for a revolution and said he might return from exile to lead it.

"Now that they have tanks on the streets, it is time for the people to come out in revolution. And when it is necessary, I will come back to the country," he said in a telephoned message to followers who surrounded the prime's minister office.

Political tensions have simmered since Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in 2006 for alleged corruption and abuse of power. He remains popular for his populist policies in the impoverished countryside. His opponents — many in urban areas — took to the streets last year to help bring down two pro-Thaksin governments, seizing Bangkok's two airports in November for about a week.

The emergency decree bans gatherings of more than five people, forbids news reports considered threatening to public order and allows the government to call up military troops to quell unrest.

Army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd said soldiers and police were being moved to more than 50 key points in the city, including bus and railway stations. He said the military presence was not a sign of an imminent coup — a common feature of Thai political history.

Abhisit's government suffered a major humiliation on Saturday when it failed to stop hundreds of demonstrators from storming the venue of a 16-nation Asian summit, forcing its cancellation and the evacuation of the leaders by helicopter.

There were signs Sunday that the government might again not be able to contain the protesters.

Demonstrators swarmed over two of three armored personnel carriers outside a luxury shopping mall in downtown Bangkok, waving flags in celebration. An old lady atop one of the vehicles screamed "Democracy!" before the protesters directed the soldiers to drive the APCs back to a military camp.

Outside the Interior Ministry, a furious mob attacked Abhisit's car with poles, a ladder and even flower pots as it slowly made its escape. The prime minister's secretary and his driver were also attacked and badly injured. Police in riot gear nearby did nothing.

"I believe that the people have seen what happened to me. They have seen that the protesters were trying to hurt me and smash the car," Abhisit said in a television appearance.

"The government can't do anything," said Lada Yingmanee, a 37-year-old protester. "We will show them what tens of thousands of unarmed civilians can do. The people will finally rule our beloved Thailand."

Demonstrators from the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship say Abhisit's four-month-old government took power illegitimately and want new elections. They also accuse the country's elite — the military, judiciary and other unelected officials — of undermining democracy by interfering in politics.

Abhisit was appointed by Parliament in December after a court ordered the removal of the previous pro-Thaksin government for election fraud, sparking Thaksin supporters to take to the streets. Their numbers grew to 100,000 in Bangkok last week.

The tensions have created a dangerous rift in Thai society, unleashing unprecedented passions among a large segment of the population, even those not directly involved in the street protests.

About 400 soldiers armed with rifles ringed Chitralada Palace, the Bangkok residence of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. But the monarch was believed to be at his seaside palace.

"We told our people to be ready and be prepared," said Jakrapop Penkair, a key protest leader. If the military uses force, "the people will be our weapon. We are not scared. Abhisit must be ousted immediately," he said.

Abhisit vowed swift legal action against the protesters who stormed the venue of the East Asian Summit in the beach resort of Pattaya on Saturday, smashing through the convention center's glass doors and shouting demands for the prime minister to resign.

A protest leader, Arisman Pongruengrong, was taken into custody Sunday and flown by helicopter to a military camp for questioning, said police spokesman Maj. Gen. Suport Pansua.

Protests were also reported in areas of northern and northeastern Thailand, with one group threatening to blockade the main bridge linking Laos and Thailand across the Mekong River.

Editorials in Bangkok newspapers Sunday lashed out at both the protesters for destroying Thailand's international reputation and the government for a massive security breakdown.

Tourism Council of Thailand Chairman Kongkrit Hiranyakit predicted that the country would lose at least 200 billion baht ($5.6 billion) as foreign tourists shunned it as they did after the airport takeovers. Tourism, Thailand's major foreign currency earner, is especially important as the country grapples with the global economic crisis.

The ongoing protests could prompt the military to intervene — a high possibility in a country that has experienced 18 military coups since the 1930s.

"The situation has gotten completely out of hand. Violence and bloodshed is very much possible" if Abhisit does not resign or dissolve Parliament, said Charnvit Kasetsiri, a historian and former rector of Bangkok's Thammasat University. "If the government cannot control the situation, military intervention is not out of the question."

**Gen. Miting** · April 13th, 2009 04:50 AM

tsk tsk timely na timely sa street fighter movie

**badsekktor** · April 14th, 2009 04:58 PM

naku paktay! nandun pa naman yun assistant ko ngayon......

**Isuzoom** · April 14th, 2009 10:16 PM

epekto ng global warming.

**CVT** · April 14th, 2009 11:00 PM

Lipat na lang ang mga industriya at trabaho papunta rito sa Pilipinas....

7808:spam:

**Monseratto** · April 15th, 2009 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by CVT

Lipat na lang ang mga industriya at trabaho papunta rito sa Pilipinas....

Funny thing is, investors still prefer Thailand kahit magulo doon. Dito sa pinas, urong sulong mga batas dito.

Thailand on the brink

For three years now, Thailand has been in disarray, politically. The rise to power of populist billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra was met with hostility by Bangkok’s middle class, and the traditional elite—generals, bureaucrats, aristocrats—all of whom mistrusted his rural-based political machine and his dismissive attitude towards other political factions. At the heart of the confrontation between Thaksin and his opponents were two issues: the mistrust of the ruling elite of popular democracy, as it upset the delicate balance among contending power groups; and the future role of the monarchy as Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej ages and weakens,—and against whom, his critics allege, Thaksin had connived.

While the king exercises little formal power, the psychological effect for a country whose monarch has been on the throne for a period that covers the Roxas to Arroyo administrations for Filipinos cannot be underestimated. H.G. Wells, writing of the death of Queen Victoria, described its effect as comparable to the lifting of a great paper weight, with the wind picking up and scattering ideas like so many pieces of paper. The same can be said of Thailand and its politics, long accustomed to the present king serving as the ultimate arbiter of kingdom’s turbulent politics, with its history of public protests, military crackdowns, and repeated constitutional revisions.

Indeed, Thaksin himself was ousted in a 2006 coup that was widely believed to have received the tacit endorsement of the king. To this day, Thaksin has refrained from accusing the king of plotting to oust him, but he has gone as far as to implicate the members of the Privy Council, an advisory body for the king. Bhumibol has been unwilling—or perhaps physically or mentally incapable—of intervening this time around (while punishable in Thailand as lèse majesté, such speculation is current among observers of Thai politics). Without the royal card in hand, the capacity of the administration of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to keep a handle on events may be fatally compromised.

This, at least, seems to be Thaksin’s calculations, as his supporters, who elected a government (the Party of People Power, PPP) despite a new constitution written essentially by the conservatives who had ousted Thaksin, have taken to the streets in recent months. They are living proof that People Power can be a double-edged sword. Opponents of Thaksin re-coalesced last year as the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to bring down the popularly elected PPP while proposing the replacement of a purely elected government with one composed of representatives nominated by civic and professional groups.

The PAD’s Yellow Shirts (yellow is the royal color in Thailand) famously closed down Bangkok’s international airport; and after the courts ordered the PPP dissolved, the current PAD-supported government gained power. More recently, the Red Shirts, as the Thaksin supporters are called, gave the Yellow Shirts political tit for tat by scuttling the ASEAN summit in the resort city of Pattaya; and the capital, Bangkok, has seen, over the past few days, a military-civilian confrontation similar to Manila’s May 1, 2001 rebellion, and with much of the same elite-versus-poor rhetoric.

The question before the Thais is whether their monarch can still intervene; and if he cannot, whether their society can overcome the ever fiercer division between the urban middle class and the elite on one hand, and disgruntled rural voters on the other. Democracy is claimed as the motivating principle of both sides, but the Yellows, for now, have the army, while the Reds have demonstrated they are not loathe to engage the authorities in a physical confrontation.

For Filipinos, there is the all-too familiar sight of a political class fighting for its life against the impoverished and dispossessed fighting for a leader they believe was unlawfully deprived of power. There, as here, the military, and not democratic institutions, have proven to be the ultimate decider of whether a government survives or falls.

**Bogeyman** · April 16th, 2009 11:00 AM

Hindi na tuloy kami makakalipad sa Bangkok sa April 29. Bwiset pa na PAL yan, kapal ng mukhang mag-charge ng $87 per head na rebooking fee, e force majeure naman yung dahilan. Gusto ko na nga lang mai-refund yung pera. Wala bang weight sa kanila yung travel advisory ng DFA? Besides, it's not like we can still push through with the trip at all, considering na mukhang matagal pang magiging unstable yung sitwasyon dun.