Sunday, April 12, 2009

No Songkhran For The Thais in 2552 B.E.

Scenes near Wongsawang's Big C




Captured official's limo....what happened to its occupants ?





Riots erupt in Bangkok.....

A COUP IN THE MAKING.....
Is #19 on its way ?
Thaksin is calling for the people to rise up.
Will his words be heeded ?
Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra made a phone-in speech to the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) protesters outside Government House on Sunday night, calling on his supporters to gather and fight against the government.
The deposed prime minister said he will return to lead his supporters, if a coup takes place.This would be the time for people to come out and revolt after the army brought tanks into the city, he said.
Thaksin said that should he come back, the Democrat party will join forces with a 'dictatorship' and hurt people.He asked people to stay strong and fight for democracy for their children.
"I will monitor the situation closely. Anytime the army uses force, I will return if necessary and I will not let influential figures pressure the people," said Thaksin.
The self-exiled premier said he planned to make phone-ins throughout the night.

The streets of Bangkok looked like scenes from a revolution, with no authorities in charge.

In front of the city's biggest luxury mall Sunday, anti-government protesters danced atop two armored personnel carriers they had forced to a stop, waving flags and shouting "Democracy." The red-shirted crowd swarmed around the vehicles and asked for the keys from the unhappy soldiers inside.

"Sorry, can't find them," came a muffled reply. The protesters eventually drifted off and the APCs drove away.

The encounter reinforced that three years of turmoil between alternating governments and protesters opposed to them seemed ready to peak again. As night fell, demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva controlled many streets in the center of the capital.

Police vans at some intersections were abandoned and looted.The security breakdown became obvious Saturday when a huge force of soldiers and police made only a feeble effort to stop unarmed protesters from breaking into a meeting of Asian leaders, bringing proceedings to a halt and forcing the VIPs to flee by helicopter and boat.

"It is unclear whether Saturday's security failure was due to a broken chain of command, divisions within the Thai military, or a cynical willingness to risk national humiliation in order to have a pretext to crack down hard on the red shirts," said Michael Montesano, a visiting research fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

The situation deteriorated Sunday, after Abhisit declared a state of emergency for Bangkok and surrounding areas.The protesters mobbed Abhisit's car just minutes after his televised declaration. Dozens of police in riot gear stood just meters away, while a handful of security personnel tried to fend off the crowd. Nor did military police and members of the elite paramilitary Border Patrol Police nearby intervene.Abhisit's car made a getaway, but others were not so lucky. The crowd trapped at least two other official cars, smashing them with whatever was at hand – flagpoles, staves, flowerpots.

"The government can no longer ignore what is happening," Abhisit said later. "In the previous days we had some limitations but now we have to take action quickly before the situation escalates, which will only bring more loss and confrontations."But the fruitless efforts to keep the peace are inspiring Thais to wonder who is in charge.The same was true last year, when police and the army failed to take decisive action against yellow-shirted protesters on the other side of the country's political divide who occupied the then-prime minister's offices for three months and seized Bangkok's two airports for a week.

Back then, though, the army was in league with the protest movement, which was aiming to force out governments allied with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who had been ousted by a 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption and abuse of power.

That was all supposed to change when Abhisit came to power in December in a deal brokered in part by the commander of the army, always a key political player.But Thaksin's backers last week proved their ability to turn the tables, when they were able to bring an estimated 100,000 followers onto the streets.They followed that up by having taxi drivers block a major intersection and let Bangkok's notoriously congested traffic back up.

The blockade ended when they decided to leave; police hardly lifted a finger against them."The government and the army are afraid of overreacting," said Thitinan Pongsidhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "They know they would lose the battle if they perpetrate violence."

"Deep down, some government and military leaders also suspect some police have sympathy for Thaksin," he added.

Thai history shows that a tactical withdrawal of support at a key moment can often reap big rewards, especially should a coup bring a shift of power.But when too many players are involved, the results can be hard to predict."It remains to the seen if the security forces can control the situation. It is unlikely anyone can because there are so many splits and so many power brokers," said Charnvit Kasetsiri, one of Thailand's most prominent historians.

"No one seems to be in charge within the establishment, the government and the military."
As usual, no one seems to be in charge and everyone tries to be helpful and nothing gets done but the fence are full of sitters and as usual again, when the horse trading starts, everybody wants their piece of pie too.This is Thailand at its USUAL state, a perpertual state of change and unchange and no one seems to be wiser or care.
What's the use of closing the barn's doors when the horse has bolted ?
You have a lameduck unelected Prime Minister that shouldn't be there in the first place and you have an ousted but elected former Prime Minister bent on raising the upheavals come what may, AND you have a very EXPLOSIVE situation on hand, indeed !!!
The police won't do anything because they had been blamed earlier for their handlings of the airports and Government House earlier and the army won't act because they are not sure what is in there for them at this stage......secret negotiations are going on everywhere at the moment but will they come to a conclusion ?
For the BETTERMENT of the people ?
FAT CHANCE......everyman for himself, CHAIYO...
This is the tussle of the moneyed, being played by pawns, red and yellows or blue and brown or whatever colours they are silly enough to come up with next.
Whatever the outcomes are, hope the ordinary Thais will come out better and more learned and be more flexible in their demands because we cannot have everybody disliked everyone's candidate and end up unrepresented themselves.
*
A DOG
A BONE
A REFLECTION
DOESN'T THIS RINGS A BELL ?
ANYWAY,
SAWATDEE PEEMAI
SONGKHRAN
AND HAPPY EASTER
WHEREVER YOU ARE,
CHEERS.......

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