State of National Emergency – Prime Minister Samek vs the PAD

You may or may not have heard that Thailand, and more importantly Bangkok has recently been reduced to political turmoil once again. This happened previously in 2006 when former Prime Minister Thaksin was deposed through growing unrest and followed by a Military Coup. This time similar things are happening, during recent months, following the return of Thaksin Shiniwatra. The PAD (People’s Alliance for Democracy) – a group which is well financed and even more supported in Thailand especially in the troubled southern regions and almost unilaterally in Bangkok, was formed in 2006 and was organised against the continuing rule of Thaksin. Once Thaksin left to the UK (buying Manchester City), the term of military rule ended and a general election was held and some months later a new leader (Samek) was elected, returning power from the Military to a political party. The political party elected PPP (the People’s Power Party), was of course only a reincarnation of Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai (Thai’s Love Thai’s) party, which still embraced the same corruption and scandalous disregard for its peoples welfare.

The PPP then under Samek, have continued its dubious but ‘fairly’ elected rule for a period of a year and a half. Since Thaksin’s return in February however, there has been growing unrest amongst the people in Thailand, and in reflection of thei the PAD – which had been disbanded after the completion of its goal – reformed. The main concern was that he was here to resume political ambitions despite being banned for a period of five years. It was always secretly though that Samek was just a puppet for Thaksin to rule from anyway. The supreme court recently found Thaksin’s wife guilty of one of the 6 or 7 different cases brought up against the family and unfortunately the government granted the family special dispensation to attend the Olympic games opening ceremony, which of course paved the way for them to read between the lines and recognise that the judicial system was not going to take their various crimes of corruption lightly. The result of this then was that Thaksin et al were given the perfect opportunity to defect once again, returning to the UK to escape punishment which would have resulted in jail. This of course has angered a lot of Thai people, and it is partly because of this that we find ourselves in the situation at present.

Two weeks ago, PAD protesters in their hundreds, began what was to be and still is a mammoth protest. This all began with breaking into and taking over one of the main TV stations, broadcasting images of protesters and making a few announcements, however it was generally peaceful. At the same time, another larger group of PAD leaders and protesters occupied the government offices (think Downing Street), they just walked in, kicked everyone out, sat down and were joined by thousands of others. Can you imagine that happening in England? They sat there for 6 days! No-one could move them out, only more came to join them. During this time Samek must have been a little stumped. The atmosphere was getting a little edgy, however he promised that there would not be a violent outcome. I saw some amazing pictures of riot police sleeping on their shields, protesters who set up their tent. Porter loos were brought in for the protesters, although plastic bags were a must have! It got to a stale mate really. With the PAD demanding the resignation and Samek, refusing to budge! Samek met with the other parties who gave him their backing, the King of Thailand also requested the presence of Samek – something very rare indeed. It seems that the King (who is supported strongly by the PAD), requested Samek to resolve things peacefully.

On the end of the 6th day, the demonstration was forcibly broken up. With several arrests including key members of the PAD, there were about 70-80 casualties including one death from gunshot wounds.
The situation now is that the protests are still going on virulently, with a general feeling of unrest in the atmosphere. Samek declared the country to be in a state of emergency, which allows the Military to police the country – especially Bangkok. This state of emergency normally lasts for 3 months, however, as none of the rules are really being followed, then it is being reviewed. This is partly because protesters are still gathering in groups, and because the Military don’t want to do anything about it. The position of the military, like the people is divided between who they follow, and everything is a bit of a mess really! So far, so good though. There has been no real displays of violence on either side which could lead to full scale madness! But, the situation does need to be resolved and it needs to be done fairly! Samek called for a referendum of faith behind the government, however there is no date set, and the outcome will most likely be in favour of the government. This is for two reasons, firstly, outside of Bangkok and the South, the country are huge supporters of Thaksin, Samak and the PPP – don’t ask me why, but perhaps they are not educated or informed enough to really know what is happening. Secondly, the reason no one is particularly happy with either Thaksin or Samek, is because they have both been accused of buying votes anyway, and even if there is another election, it is expected to happen again. This leaves a huge amount of people within the capital totally, totally charged and pissed off at the government, which is always going to be a massive problem for this government which leans towards republicanism.

The situation is much more complex of course than I have laid bare, There are so many little things going on which I am not aware of, and I’m sure that there are factions within the PAD itself which do not entirely agree with each other on certain political issues. What I am surprised at though is the sheer strength in numbers, the resilient nature of Thai people and their willingness to stop everything and defy and protest. When I went to work at Chulalongkorn University on Friday, there was hardly anyone there! The reason being that the students were demonstrating as well. There has basically been a mass walkout by the majority of students and next week is the start of their exams, and they are threatening a mass boycott of these too! So I just sat around for a couple of hours, then asked where they would all be, grabbed a Dictaphone and went to the location of their demonstration. I will let you know what happens this week, keep your eyes on the BBC, but also http://www.bangkokpost.com/ is uncensored when it comes to reporting political events here. Hopefully, this week I can just go and hang out with my students and not have to do so many office hours! Whatever happens, in the immediate future, it is going to be a while before things change. The only thing I can see happening is that the boiling point will continue to rise, until it is too hot for one side, and so the political kitchen will be left. But unfortunately I can see some sporadic bloodshed occurring before that.