Government Protests in Bangkok

[PK]

Have received a lot of e-mails and messages (here and at DVXuser) about the unrest in Bangkok. So I thought I'd try to summarize what's been happening and also ask others to fill in some of the gaps.

1) First there was a bloodless coup in September, 2006 which ousted the Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawat. It was lead by the military and supported by the royalty, who had felt the current PM was corrupt because he had failed to pay taxes on some major business sales for his family. Thaksin was the richest man in Thailand.

Thaksin Shinawat


2) After Thaksin was removed he moved to England where he bought a professional soccer team (Manchester City), which he recently sold.



3) Late last year there were elections for a new PM. But many believed that the elections were rigged by the PPP party, Thaksin allies, and that they paid for votes in the poor regions of Thailand. The PPP won the election and elected Samak Sundaravej as the new PM. They also managed to get enough seats to control Parliament. The PAD party, who are anti-Thaksin, immediately called the elections rigged and began protesting in Bangkok on a regular basis.

Samak Sundaravej (allie of former PM Thaksin)


4) Many were worried that with the PPP in power Thaksin would come back to rule again. Thaksin did come back but it wasn't to rule the country, it was for courtroom appearances. A few months ago Thaksin and his wife went to trial for corruption charges (from his time in office) and when his wife and he were found guilty they both fled the country (to go watch the Olympics - isn't that nice). They currently have warrants for their arrest.



5) After Thaksin fled from justice the PAD protests became much more intense. Three weeks ago they swarmed the PM's office grounds and have not allowed anyone to use the government headquarters since. They also had protesters close down some airports in the south and some of the trains, including the ones to and from Nong Khai. Despite the intensity of the photo below, the PAD has the support of the military and unions so there is very little resistance to their protests.



6) After a week the protests seemed to be working. Officials within the government began asking the PM to step down but he refused. After two weeks he still would not step down so the courts called him in to ask him about two cooking shows he did while PM (it is against the law to host a show while PM). Two days later he was found guilty and was forced to resign (hmmm... coincidence?) . The PAD were happy.  ....Temporarily.



7) Since the PPP controlled a majority of the seats they were responsible for nominating the next PM. Not surprisingly they nominated another PPP member. But you would think the PPP would learn something from all the unrest and want to ease political tensions by choosing someone who had no Thaksin connections. Wrong. They nominated Thaksin's brother-in-law, Somchai Wongsawat.

Somchai Wongsawat (brother-in-law of former PM Thaksin)


Needless to say corruption runs deep in Thailand and it doesn't appear as though the political unrest is going to end any time soon. But there is hope. Some within the PPP party are breaking away (maybe out of fear of going down the same road as Thaksin and Samak). It will be an interesting next few days as the government decides their next step. But the PAD has made it clear that they will not stop protesting until the PPP is out of the government.

[M3R1IN]

Thanks for the updates PK, it is hard to get proper info on exactly what is going on in Thailand because the english newspapers are quite vague... im not sure but I read somewhere that the owner of the bangkok post is a PPP supporter so his paper is edited to reflect his views.
Yes corruption does run deep in Thailand the proletariat are kept down and the elite try to keep the people ignorant so that they dont resist.... There is such a great disparity between the rich and the poor in Thailand as well as between provinces... it blows my mind that in a country the size of Thailand there could be so great a difference between the provinces.
I dunno this is turning into a rant here pretty quickly... but please do not mistake this for criticism of the Thai people... I love the Thai people very much and they are so wonderful.. it just angers me that the rich and elite take advantage of their fellow citizens to much.
If this kind of corruption happened in Canada and it were so blatantly apparent, there would be people marching on Parliament Hill.  I'm sure the people of the U.S. would march on Capitol Hill or the White House.... I guess it's up to the people to demand the changes that need to happen.

[Nick]

Thanks, PK. I have been hearing about this back home and sent you that PM to make sure all was okay in your neck of the woods. Glad to hear it is.

[Ming]

Sorry, lots of thing going on here in Bkk.  And next month Bkk will have the Election for governor.  Things are so busy here. People don't have heart any more. Felling like I'm in the zombie's town. There are too much people in Bkk.

[M3R1IN]

The thing about politics in Thailand is that they generally center around bangkok and the surrounding areas.. Nongkhai is pretty isolated from the turmoil occurring there so PK is pretty safe.  I agree with you, Ming,  Bangkok is pretty much like any other big city... people are too concerned with making money and dealing with the day to day stresses of getting around and being in a congested environment so they don't have as much compassion for their fellow human beings... although i have only felt uneasy once while in Bangkok... I took a shortcut through an unfamiliar part of town and it wasn't a very good neighborhood... so I just stick to the well trodden paths.

[Jennie]

thanks alot kirk!

didn't know about thaksin's brother- in- law.. they are obviously not even considering changing tactics..

it's so difficult to know what to think of allt his. the same time as i support the protesters in their fight for corruptionless politics i still can't agree fully with their demands and arguments. as news have described, the protesters (some? all?) don't believe in an electoral democracy for thailand, this since the poor rural majority "are not sophisticated enough to choose good public servants". what are they saying about this in thailand?? to me that's just appalling. the problem is not the intellect of the rural majority, nor democracy, the problem is corruption!!

[lambie83]

Thailand is in the news again...

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/...cal-conflict-7934085.html

Sounds like Bangkok is a hot place to be now... (not a good "hot")   
Hope everyone is okay over there!

[KitKat]

Thank you lambie83.   Maybe Ming or PK can let us know how things are right now?   It's late there now,  so let's just hope it didn't happen when PK was leaving for India.     

[M3R1IN]

The protestors know exactly how to hurt the government by cutting tourism off which is probably one of thailands largest industries they will definitley get heard.

[KitKat]

The protestors know exactly how to hurt the government by cutting tourism off which is probably one of thailands largest industries they will definitley get heard.

I believe you're right Wes, lets just hope it doesn't last long, so PK can go forward with his goodwill trip.

[M3R1IN]

You know I think that the airport authority over there will start to divert flights to the Don Muang airport temporarily... i mean Don muang definitley isnt a pretty airport like the new one but it does get the job done.  At worst case scenario  PK might be able to re arrangethe flight that leaves Thailand to the Airport in Vientianne, Laos and just use that one but I dont know if that is possible.

[PK]

The protests are definitey disrupting the flights. The taxi driver just told me that Suvannapum Airport is closed. My flight isn't for another 12 hours so maybe they can reopen it before then or, as Wes said, divert flights to Don Muang (which is also having problems with protests, but not as much).

For now I'll just sit and wait. Which, ironically, is what the protestors seem to be doing too.

[Nick]

Good luck PK! We want you home for the holidays!

[Ming]

I don't know too.  The news say that the protectors said the name of attacking today is "Hiroshima"  the third process and tomorrow they will do the last process which is call Nangasaki. Crazy.

But i hope everything getting better soon. Good luck PK!

[Aom]

sorry for hear that. PK .. but i have friends at Suwannaphum Airport and they work at Airport of Thailand and Thai Airways.

I will call them and ask them about Suwannaphum Airport.
Hope everything is alright soon.

[KitKat]

Good luck PK!     What a mess these protesters have caused so many people. 
I hope you can find another way to leave Thailand very soon.     

[Ginafish]

It's been 10 hours since PK posted, so I'm guessing his flight is scheduled to leave in about an hour...has anyone in Nongkhai or Texas heard if any updates?

[KitKat]

It's been 10 hours since PK posted, so I'm guessing his flight is scheduled to leave in about an hour...has anyone in Nongkhai or Texas heard if any updates?

Ginafish, PK's flight to India has been cancelled.  He's trying to find another way out of Thailand.  What a mess the protesters have caused for PK!       

[lambie83]

Sorry to hear of your cancelled flight, PK.  Hopefully you were not on a very tight schedule.  We're all hoping you can find a flight from another airport soon.  Take care!

[Nick]

That is a bummer! I saw an article last night about the protestors being armed, you be careful PK! Best of luck!

[JMB13]

This is crazy news! I'm glad to see that people are standing up against the corruption though.  But hopefully everything is working out for PK....I guess he should have been leaving about now, hopefully he's finding another way out. 

Good luck PK!

[thartley]

I know PK will be safe, but I also wouldnt be surprised if he doesnt try to broker a peace deal.   

I think the last time the protestors kicked it up at a Bangkok airport, they limited it to the Don Muang airport so international travelers would not be inconvenienced.  I guess they are branching out now.  Since the main dude they dont like wont step down on his own, the protestors want the military to intervene and stage a coup...is that right?  and the military does not want to.  So when the protestors cause such disruption, the military gets called out to either deal with the protestors and appear to be aligned with the main dude in office, which wouldnt please many of the people in PAD (?) or they intervene on behlaf of the people and work to oust the guy.

And I just saw on Yahoo news that Mumbai was rocked by attacks.

oy vey!

[Ming]

This morning the news said they closed Don Muang Airport too.

Festival the leader of the protestors in Bkk is the old friend of Thaksin but they now an enemy b/c they cheated each other. And look like the leader of protestores knew about the plan of corruptions too.
They want to close every way that people can go out to meet Thaksin. What about the internet and phone?
And the leaders of protestors are the people who made the last coup. Which was a  big day of Thia's history.  Thousands of thais death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w...ry_of_Thailand_since_1973
http://th.wikipedia.org/w...0%B8%B8%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B2

That's why we don't want the military in b/c we afraid of the second 14th October 1973.

[lambie83]

Thanks for the links, Ming! You are helping us understand more of the history and context of these events. Very interesting to read.

[KitKat]

Edit:

Whew!  That was close.  Is it wrong for me to be thankful PK's flight to Mumbai, India was canceled?   Hearing about the terrorists targeting and killing  American tourists has made me grateful  the Bangkok International Airport was closed.  This act by the Anti-government protesters actually prevented our son from boarding his flight to Mumbai.    I know thousands of people were affected by the airport shutdown, but  looking back, it was possibly a good thing for PK and  maybe others traveling to Mumbai.  

Ming, thank you for the links, very helpful information.