"As several tens of thousands of supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy savour an easy victory with their success in surrounding Government House, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is under pressure to resign.
Political sources said Thaksin Shinawatra and the core leaders of the People Power Party have agreed that Samak should step down to pave the way for Education Minister Somchai Wongswat, a brother-in-law of Thaksin, to succeed him.
Samak held a tense, hour-long meeting in the afternoon with Army chief General Anupong Paochinda, police chief Patcharawat Wongsuwan and Lt-General Prayuth Chan-ocha, commander of the First Army Region, at the Army Sports Club on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road. Sources said Samak was very annoyed with the police, who failed to prevent the PAD from surrounding the heart of his administration.
Samak and top military and police officials discussed the scope of the Emergency Decree and the Internal Security Act, but in the end Anupong and Prayuth signalled that Samak should make his own decision.
Chamlong Srimuang, one of the core leaders of the PAD, vowed to encamp the protesters in front of Government House until Samak resigned "because he is acting as a nominee for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra". Police and security officials made little effort to block the protesters from surrounding the seat of government, despite warning earlier that they might use tear gas and plastic bullets."
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/06/21...es_30076106.php
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Protestors camp out around government house;
Started by Sexpat, Jun 21 2008 10:43 AM
5 replies to this topic
#2
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Posted 21 June 2008 - 11:34 AM
This is getting like a game of chess where the board pieces of both sides are the same color. PAD seems intent on removing Samak and his cabinet, even if their successors could very well be Thaksin proxies who are even more closely aligned with Thaksin than Samak himself.
One has to assume that the immediate reason for PAD's returning to the barricades is not so much to remove Samak as PM, but to derail the legislative process to amend the 2007 Constitution, which PAD may see as opening the legal floodgates to a full return to power of Thaksin himself. If and when new elections are called, that could give the judicial system enough time to actually bring one of these corruption cases against Thaksin to trial.
It's possible, of course, that PAD's leaders are simply attempting to force the Army into staging yet another coup, which would also derail the process to change the 2007 Constitution and presumably give the judiciary plenty of time to convict Thaksin of something.
Once convicted and jailed, Thaksin could become a spent force. That assumes, of course, that there are enough folks in the government bureaucracy, no matter what government is in power, who have the political will to force Thaksin into an actual trial, given the possibilities for revenge if and when the billionaire and his money rise to the top again.
One has to assume that the immediate reason for PAD's returning to the barricades is not so much to remove Samak as PM, but to derail the legislative process to amend the 2007 Constitution, which PAD may see as opening the legal floodgates to a full return to power of Thaksin himself. If and when new elections are called, that could give the judicial system enough time to actually bring one of these corruption cases against Thaksin to trial.
It's possible, of course, that PAD's leaders are simply attempting to force the Army into staging yet another coup, which would also derail the process to change the 2007 Constitution and presumably give the judiciary plenty of time to convict Thaksin of something.
Once convicted and jailed, Thaksin could become a spent force. That assumes, of course, that there are enough folks in the government bureaucracy, no matter what government is in power, who have the political will to force Thaksin into an actual trial, given the possibilities for revenge if and when the billionaire and his money rise to the top again.
#3
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Posted 21 June 2008 - 05:40 PM
"Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said on Saturday he will go to work at the Government House on Monday despite it is surrounded by protesters.
He said he will speak in his television on Sunday about the protestrs' surrounding of the Government House. "Stay tune with my television programme, Talk Samak Style on Sunday. I will say (about the rally) in the programme," he said.
Responding to query that he will move to work at the Defence Ministry, Samak said, "No move. Everything will be done as usual on Monday."
He was speaking after visiting police at the Police Hospital who were injured when protesters led by People's Alliance for Democracy crashed with police in a bid to break the police line.
The protesters achieved on Friday to move from Makawan Rangsan Bridge to surround the Government. They demanded that all the cabinet members resign and the government cancels plan to amend the constitution."
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/06/21...es_30076128.php
He said he will speak in his television on Sunday about the protestrs' surrounding of the Government House. "Stay tune with my television programme, Talk Samak Style on Sunday. I will say (about the rally) in the programme," he said.
Responding to query that he will move to work at the Defence Ministry, Samak said, "No move. Everything will be done as usual on Monday."
He was speaking after visiting police at the Police Hospital who were injured when protesters led by People's Alliance for Democracy crashed with police in a bid to break the police line.
The protesters achieved on Friday to move from Makawan Rangsan Bridge to surround the Government. They demanded that all the cabinet members resign and the government cancels plan to amend the constitution."
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/06/21...es_30076128.php
#4
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Posted 22 June 2008 - 01:37 PM
I find the whole thing very hard to follow. I know for PAD and the Bangkok elite who sponsored the coup that it's all about Thaksin and making sure that he doesn't come back to power. It seems to be, however, that those elements are working at cross-purposes when they try to oust Samak from power. Isn't Samak's successor likely to be even more a Thaksin lackey than Samak ?
#5
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Posted 23 June 2008 - 11:47 AM
QUOTE
I find the whole thing very hard to follow.
You are not alone. If you read the various commentaries in the Thai newspapers, you will see that most politically active folks are also trying to figure out what is going on. The issue which seems to overarc all is the ultimate struggle for power between Thaksin and the royalist elite, who sponsored the coup in 2006. The PAD folks seem to be the roving jokers in the deck.
Thaksin probably hoped that the Samak government would last long enough to serve as a reliable proxy until he could extricate himself from the legal disabilites imposed by the junta's hand-picked judiciary. PAD appears to be determined to end Samak's rule before Thaksin manages to manuipulate the system to become eligible to serve as PM again. What remains a mystery is what PAD expects to achieve in the long term by ousting Samak as PM, other than to temporarily derail the process to amend the 2007 Constitution, which PAD sees as Thaksin's ticket back to power. Perhaps PAD is simply playing for time, hoping against hope that the judiciary can keep Thaksin ineligible to return to office.
#6
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Posted 24 June 2008 - 08:36 AM
Quote from an article in the Bangkok Post:
Bangkok Post Oped contributor Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute for Strategic and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University, said a violent confrontation would likely provide the only impetus for the military to consider staging another coup.
"It bodes ill for Thai democracy that a limited and narrow street-based movement has the upper hand in overthrowing an elected government," he said.
Exactly. To understand a little more about PAD, one should learn more about its two main leaders - Sondhi Limthongkul and Chamlong Srimuang. Limthongkul, given his history, almost makes Shinawatra look good.
Whereas Chamlong, a retired military general, appears to be almost mentally unbalanced. It's hard to believe that very many people would follow these two (and, if it's the so-called Bangkok "intelligentia", that really would be an indictment of the Thai education system!).
Bangkok Post Oped contributor Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute for Strategic and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University, said a violent confrontation would likely provide the only impetus for the military to consider staging another coup.
"It bodes ill for Thai democracy that a limited and narrow street-based movement has the upper hand in overthrowing an elected government," he said.
Exactly. To understand a little more about PAD, one should learn more about its two main leaders - Sondhi Limthongkul and Chamlong Srimuang. Limthongkul, given his history, almost makes Shinawatra look good.
Whereas Chamlong, a retired military general, appears to be almost mentally unbalanced. It's hard to believe that very many people would follow these two (and, if it's the so-called Bangkok "intelligentia", that really would be an indictment of the Thai education system!).
