Street politics back in Bangkok (News Feature)

By Peter Janssen Jan 26, 2011, 8:36 GMT

Bangkok - Once again, a belligerent protest group has seized part of Bangkok, adding to the capital's already notorious traffic and the country's well-deserved reputation for political instability.

The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a loose coalition of conservative, right-wing groups that staged 193 days of protests in Bangkok in 2008, is back on the streets.

They are demanding that the government get tough with neighbouring Cambodia, which the PAD accuses of illegally occupying land adjacent to the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.

The PAD wants Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to revoke a memorandum of understanding signed in 2000 between the two countries to resolve their ongoing border conflicts peaceably.

Abhisit has refused, warning that revoking the memorandum could lead to war with Cambodia.

The PAD has threatened to continue its protest until it gets its way on the issue.

Some 5,000 PAD followers Tuesday night occupied a stretch of Ratchadamnoen Nok Avenue, a stone's throw from Government House.

In 2008, PAD followers seized Government House for two months, in their eventually successful bid to topple the administration led by the People's Power Party, linked to fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by Thailand's most recent coup in September 2006.

Now the PAD is threatening to occupy the government headquarters again, although it is now occupied by a former political ally, the Democrat Party led by Abhisit.

'I am not sure where we will go to after this,' PAD core leader Chamlong Srimuang said Wednesday. 'Government House is nearby. Maybe we will visit it again,' he said.

The PAD, also known as the yellow shirts for their preferred protest wear, were influential in bringing the current government to power in December 2008.

Their seizure of Government House and then Bangkok's two international airports in November 2008, arguably speeded up a Constitution Court decision to disband the People's Power Party, ushering in a Democrat-led coalition government.

'The Democrats took power but the PAD was left out, so now they want to destabilize the Abhisit government' said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University.

Democrat sources confirmed that both Chamlong and another core leader, Sondhi Limthongkul, the owner of the Manager media group, were miffed at missed opportunities over the past two years.

'This is blackmail street politics,' Democrat Party executive Kraisak Choonhavan said.

After its 2008 protests, a faction of the PAD formed the New Politics Party in preparation for a general election to be held some time this year.

In recent by-elections, the party faired poorly.

Abhisit has said the polls could be held as soon as April.

'The PAD want to accelerate the election,' Kraisak said. 'The campaigning is starting early because they think the government is weak.'

It remains to be seen whether the PAD strategy of attacking the government over its Cambodian policy is the right tactic to win a mass following.

Recent PAD rallies have drawn fewer than 5,000 followers, small by Bangkok standards.

'This is nothing,' Stefan Buerkle, president of the German-Thai Chamber of Commerce, said. 'I doubt it turns into something big and has any impact on business.'

Similar forecasts were made last year at the start of the red-shirt protests, led by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, a pro-Thaksin movement at the opposite end of the political spectrum to the PAD.

Those protests lasted 69 days and resulted in some 92 dead, about 2,000 injured and parts of Bangkok in flames.

The government eventually used the military to crack down on the red shirts, something that did not happen with the pro-royalist, pro-establishment yellow shirts in 2008.

'I think we have learned some lessons,' said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. 'If the situation becomes worse, the cabinet will decide whether to use the Internal Security Act and thereafter, if it deteriorates, the emergency decree.'

Bangkok was under emergency decree from April through December. A return to emergency rule would be a step backwards, at least for businessmen.

'The business community is fed up,' Buerkle said. 'But then I think most Thai people are also fed up with street politics.'

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