"The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) decided to drop a plan to hold a mass rally to protest against charter changes amid signs late last night that its forum could lead to a violent confrontation. PAD coordinator Suriyasai Katasila said the decision not to rally ''today or next week'' was in line with the PAD's measures to avoid situations that could be exploited by the government.
''Initially, we decided to drop the planned rally. We would like to urge People Power party members to think what led to the political crisis and to the [Sept 19, 2006] coup,'' he said. The PAD had threatened to hold a rally and launch impeachment proceedings against coalition MPs supporting the move if the charter amendments were pushed through."
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/26Apr2008_news01.php
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I happened to be watching Thai TV yesterday with twoThai friends during coverage of a political rally held yesterday in Bangkok between two rival groups promoting and opposing changes to the new constitution.
I have to say that I was shocked by the nasty screaming and fist waving on both sides. Some of these people seemed very angry to me and you could almost sense that some little spark could easily ignite a riot. My Thai friends seemed to see nothing unusual in the demonstrations but I don't think I'd ever like to be anywhere near the area which seemed to me very close to erupting into mob action. I had no idea thngs were getting that nasty in Bangkok politics.
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Things are getting nasty in Bangkok
Started by Birch, Apr 26 2008 10:26 AM
1 reply to this topic
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Posted 27 April 2008 - 12:19 AM
I wonder what PAD's former leader (and head weasel), Sondhi Limthongkul, is up to these days.
Previously, Limthongkul and Shinawatra were considered the two richest people in Thailand (of course, the King probably could overshadow either of them financially) and, in days past, were allies. Limthongkul made his wealth in publishing and then he purchased IEC which was the exclusive distributor of Nokia phones in Thailand. He sold a 17.5% stake in that company to Shinawatra for 10 baht a share and apparently became miffed when Shinawatra sold the shares later for 250 baht per share (apparently Shinawatra took the huge profit just to take it and/or as a method of displaying he no longer had trust in Limthongkul's business skills). When the 1997 crash hit, Limthongkul ended up declaring bankruptcy for three years - but then, by 2001, he's again considered the second richest Thai next to Shinawatra (how
Limthongkul pulled off that miracle is very puzzling - given he was allegedly bankrupt a year earlier). When Shinawatra was elected in 2001, Limthongkul's newspapers praised Shinawatra and called him one of Thailand's best prime ministers ever.
Two events in 2004 - a major problem at Krung Thai Bank which forced a huge write off of loans (and its CEO, a close ally of Limthongkul who had helped finance many of his questionable deals, was fired) and a temporary stoppage of the broadcasting of one of Limthongkul's TV channels (due to a dispute between UBC and the government regulator) - led to Limthongkul turning on Shinawatra (from the weekly tirades on his TV show to, ultimately, the regular PAD rallies in Bangkok just before the coup). The charges that Shinawatra was guilty of lese majeste (by wanting to be "president" and ignoring or supplanting the King) stemmed from Limthongkul. His last major PAD rally, which supposedly was going to turn violent, was cancelled as the military coup occured two days before the scheduled rallly. He was later rewarded by the military junta with another television program.
While a look at Shinawatra's financial history may resemble to some degree the history of Thai business corruption, it would be my guess that a look at Limthongkul's business history and his inexplicable miraculous resurrection from bankruptcy would make an even more fascinating story. And my guess is an examination of each of these characters might even explain a fair amount about the other character (perhaps two peas in a pod irrespective of the fact they became enemies).
Previously, Limthongkul and Shinawatra were considered the two richest people in Thailand (of course, the King probably could overshadow either of them financially) and, in days past, were allies. Limthongkul made his wealth in publishing and then he purchased IEC which was the exclusive distributor of Nokia phones in Thailand. He sold a 17.5% stake in that company to Shinawatra for 10 baht a share and apparently became miffed when Shinawatra sold the shares later for 250 baht per share (apparently Shinawatra took the huge profit just to take it and/or as a method of displaying he no longer had trust in Limthongkul's business skills). When the 1997 crash hit, Limthongkul ended up declaring bankruptcy for three years - but then, by 2001, he's again considered the second richest Thai next to Shinawatra (how
Limthongkul pulled off that miracle is very puzzling - given he was allegedly bankrupt a year earlier). When Shinawatra was elected in 2001, Limthongkul's newspapers praised Shinawatra and called him one of Thailand's best prime ministers ever.
Two events in 2004 - a major problem at Krung Thai Bank which forced a huge write off of loans (and its CEO, a close ally of Limthongkul who had helped finance many of his questionable deals, was fired) and a temporary stoppage of the broadcasting of one of Limthongkul's TV channels (due to a dispute between UBC and the government regulator) - led to Limthongkul turning on Shinawatra (from the weekly tirades on his TV show to, ultimately, the regular PAD rallies in Bangkok just before the coup). The charges that Shinawatra was guilty of lese majeste (by wanting to be "president" and ignoring or supplanting the King) stemmed from Limthongkul. His last major PAD rally, which supposedly was going to turn violent, was cancelled as the military coup occured two days before the scheduled rallly. He was later rewarded by the military junta with another television program.
While a look at Shinawatra's financial history may resemble to some degree the history of Thai business corruption, it would be my guess that a look at Limthongkul's business history and his inexplicable miraculous resurrection from bankruptcy would make an even more fascinating story. And my guess is an examination of each of these characters might even explain a fair amount about the other character (perhaps two peas in a pod irrespective of the fact they became enemies).
