Thailand Disbands Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party

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The following appears in the BANGKOK POST:

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Wednesday Night Massacre

 

The nine judges also found two Thai Rak Thai executive committee members guilty of illegally hiring small parties in the April, 2006, election - Gen Thammarak Issarangkura na Ayudhya and Pongsak Raktapongpaisarn.

 

"The Thai Rak Thai's crimes are very dangerous to democracy," Judge Krairerk Kasemsant said.

 

Analysts were subdued and worried.

 

"It's a big surprise because banning more than 100 people will make the political game unfair. It's negative for the country's political climate, which needs checks and balances," leading financial analyst Thanawat Patchimkul said.

 

"It's a political massacre," said Kongkiat Opaswongkarn, head of a leading brokerage.

 

The order disbanding Thai Rak Thai contrasted with the earlier decision to allow the Democrat Party and its executives to continue in politics.

 

Thai Rak Thai leader Chaturon Chaisaeng, who took over after Mr Thaksin went into self-exile after last year's coup, sat on the edge of his seat during most of a late-night verdict, which ended not long before midnight.

 

The dozens of party members who waited for the final verdict at 11:42 p.m. appeared stunned. There were no signs of the violence that some had predicted.

 

Mr Chaturon said he was "not worried for myself, but I worry about the country." He had pledged to accept the Tribunal's verdict, which cannot be appealed.

 

Judges said that disbanding a political party was a serious matter.

 

Thai Rak Thai won elections in 2001 and 2005, they said, and had 14 million members. Ordering the party dissolved would cause economic problems.

 

But the verdict laid much of the blame for shaky Thai Rak Thai political deals on the back of founder and then-leader Thaksin Shinawatra, still in foreign exile. The judges said Mr Thaksin had used the party for his own benefit, and Thai Rak Thai had no political ideology beyond its leader's ambitions.

 

The immediate fate of Thai Rak Thai, the country's most popular party, was not known.

 

But Mr Chaturon and other executives could immediately apply to form a "new" party, perhaps even using the Thai Rak Thai name.

 

Worries of violence after the verdict had long faded by the time the announcement against the party was made. But even at the height of public interest on Wednesday afternoon, no more than a few hundred peaceful supporters of both parties were gathered in three spots in Bangkok - at the court and at the two parties' headquarters.

 

The government had amassed a security force of 13,000, none of whom was needed to keep order.

 

A huge media corps of 700 outnumbered all political supporters from all factions.

 

In his speech broadcast live on TV after the verdict, Mr Chaturon said the verdict is against everyone's expectation and obviously unfair, alleging that such verdict reflects the military-back ruling government's influence.

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And this, from THE NATION:

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Constitutional Tribunal Disbands Thai Rak Thai

 

Former premier and Thai Rak Thai ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra, responding to the ruling against the party, told BBC: "We have to respect the rules of the game. That is, the rule of the law. If the rules of the law are observed, we have to respect it."

 

Thaksin said he would "definitely" come back to Thailand because "it's my home country. I love my country. I love my people."

 

Caretaker Thai Rak Thai leader Chaturon Chaisang said last night that the Constitution Court's verdicts disbanding his party, along with two others, was "highly unexpected", and expressed his worry over "setbacks" towards the development of democracy in Thailand.

 

He called on more than 14 millions party supporters to respect the verdicts, and not protest or resist them.

 

"Exercise your tolerance and wisdom and be calm," he said in a brief interview outside the courthouse.

 

Chaturon said he was confident that he would offer good ways out to "go forward together" with party supporters, who he said, still had faith in him and share the Thai Rak Thai ideology.

 

At party headquarters, party supporters and party MPs cried and consoled each other, before giving themselves applause and reading a poem grieving the verdicts.

 

An official party statement will be released at 11 am Thursday.

 

Caretaker Thai Rak Thai leader Chaturon Chaisang vowed on Wednesday night to fight on after the Constitution Court's verdicts disbanding his party.

 

Speaking emotionally at his party headquarters, he said the verdicts had proved that who controlled the state power could make anything right. "Although the power is achieved through the gun barrels, it's still the right thing."

 

He said the public could not accept the verdicts. "This is not acceptable. The country is now ruled under dictatorship," he added. He continued his verbal attacks before his speech was take over by a newscaster.

 

Chaturon said earlier at the courthouse that he was "highly unexpected", and expressed his worry over "setbacks" towards the development of democracy in Thailand.

 

He called on more than 14 millions party supporters to respect the verdicts, and not protest or resist them. "Exercise your tolerance and wisdom and be calm," he said in a brief interview outside the courthouse.

 

Chaturon said he was confident that he would offer good ways out to "go forward together" with party supporters, who he said, still had faith in him and share the Thai Rak Thai ideology.

 

An official party statement will be released at 11 am today.

 

 

[Guest thrillbill8]

Too bad the United States can't get rid of their two political parties, the Demo's and Rep's, who like to think they're different from each other...but basically are both carbon copies of one another-- both full of BS. Could America ever have an independent canidate run for office? -Probably not since it takes millions of dollars to run a glitzy campaign.

 

I'm pleased there were no violent demonstrations in BKK last night.