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The Thai Media Speaks Out in Aftermath of Red Shirt Revolt

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The following appears in THE NATION:

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Thaksin Has Been Found Out, and Out-Maneuvered

 

Published on April 15, 2009

 

Before noon yesterday, key red-shirt leaders like Veera Musikapong and Nattawut Saikua, among others, realised it was time to cave in. They understood that it would be futile to continue fighting because their boss, Thaksin Shinawatra, had been finished.

 

Yes, the plug had been pulled and the fugitive former PM was completely routed.

 

It will be difficult for Thaksin to seek asylum because most countries would not want to welcome him now that they have witnessed the riots and subversive tactics used by his supporters in Bangkok. Thaksin was caught telling blatant lies on CNN and BBC, feeding false information to the global audience that his red-clad supporters were fighting for democracy - when in fact they were burning Bangkok to pave the way for his return.

 

He was reading a script, telling the international news channels that the military had killed many of his pro-democracy protesters, when in fact there was not a single such case of death reported. The only two people who died, had done so during clashes between Bangkok residents and the protesters.

 

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was wisely exercising restraint, allowing Thaksin to make blunders.

 

Thaksin, who bet all his political fortune on April 13, has failed miserably. He had his red shirts set fires around Bangkok just as Neptune overshadowed the Sun - a bad omen.

 

He thought he had big military and police bosses on his side, as well as some politicians on the government wing. He remembered to move his family out of Thailand a few days before the Songkran inferno. Khunying Pojaman is currently shopping in Dubai, still with plenty of money in her pocket.

 

Thaksin thought he could hold Thailand hostage as he bargained for his return, his amnesty and his Bt76 billion in assets. He thought he was entitled to a royal pardon because he had Thailand in the palm of his hand.

 

But his strategy backfired. Thaksin failed to get critical mass support. On the contrary, Bangkok residents rose against his red-shirt supporters, who were burning Bangkok while he - just as Nero fiddled while Rome was burning - was singing on his karaoke machine. The subversive tactics being used by the red shirts appalled the global audience.

 

This was a critical factor. If most Thais were to rise against the red-shirt movement, then Thaksin could only go under. Thaksin thought that the burning of Bangkok would force the country into lawlessness and the military would step in to intervene in his favour.

 

The plan did not work.

 

The whole world realised that Thaksin had duped it all along, and many Thais were disgusted by his ability to destroy the nation in exchange for his return to power.

 

Bangkok was ravaged all Songkran Day, before the security forces brought the situation under control. By then Thaksin must have realised that the game was up.

 

Now all the red-shirt leaders will be going to jail under treason charges. If you plant gas tanks and threaten to set them ablaze, you are committing an act of terrorism and subversion against the state. It is not too difficult to trace who ordered the trucks to be brought onto the streets.

 

Now Abhisit has emerged as a strong leader. He has almost transformed overnight from a lame-duck PM who was forced to cancel the Asean Summit in Pattaya into a leader who can defuse a political crisis in a subtle and artful way. There were no deaths during the authorities' crackdown against the red shirts. Only two persons were pronounced dead, both as a result of shooting by the red shirts.

 

Abhisit has prevailed despite the military, the police, the security people and his own political partners plotting against him.

 

Though we have no evidence to substantiate doubts that these top people are linked to Thaksin, we did not see Army chief General Anupong Paochinda or police boss Patcharawat Wongsuwan show up while the red shirts were ambushing the Asean Summit. The security forces were not doing their duty, standing by idly as the protesters wreaked havoc in Pattaya.

 

So far none of Thailand's top security people have come out to admit that they failed to provide security for regional leaders and Thailand's guests.

 

Abhisit is known to have sought advice from a special unit, set up in haste under his command. As Thaksin played his cards one by one, the advisers countered each hand effectively until Thaksin lost his bet.

 

At this hour, with the power of the emergency decree in his hand, it is Abhisit - not the Army chief - who is the most powerful person in Thailand. He must use this occasion wisely by controlling the red shirts and dealing with the failure of the security apparatus, which has been undermining national interest and the government's stability.

 

We expect to see a reshuffle of top security and peacekeeping personnel soon.

 

However, if Abhisit resorts to his image of a timid Oxford graduate, he would be missing out on an opportunity to take the country forward. Now is the time for him to stand tall and be the prime minister of Thailand.

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The following appears in the BANGKOK POST:

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Thaksin Needs Change

 

By: Atiya Achakulwisut

Published: 15/04/2009

 

These past few days have felt like a nightmare, like groping for the way out in a deep, dark tunnel full of pitfalls. But one thing has become clear: we now know why fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra made sure his children left Thailand. He did not want his kids, who recently claimed in a book that they'd suffered horribly from political harassment, to be in harm's way. Let other people's children face the mayhem. Has anyone ever looked into Thaksin's eyes? Could they tell anything about his soul? Does he have one?

 

As the tension and mayhem subsided, one voice remained in my head. It was that of a Nang Lerng resident. It sounded so young, full of anxiety and ambivalence; yet it was obvious the young man was trying his best to do his good citizen's job of calling the TV station and recounting the day's incident to the two anchorwomen.

 

His 19-year-old brother had been hit when drive-by shooters sprayed bullets into the neighbourhood, whose members had banded together to fight off red-shirted rioters who tried to set fire to tyres near their wooden houses. As he finished giving his account and the two anchors were about to cut him off, the young man made one last plea.

 

"Phi khrub," he said, "I still don't know how my little brother is doing. If you'd please check on him for me, could you?"

 

The genuine anxiety in his voice made the whole thing even more tragic. This was a young voice you'd associate with what is bright and beautiful in life, with a future and its many promises. The kind of voice you wouldn't want broken by tragedy.

 

The anchorwomen promised they would and asked him his brother's name. Yuthakarn, the youth replied. Soon after, the breaking news came up. Two deaths had been confirmed from the Nang Lerng clash. One of them was a 19-year-old male named Yuthakarn.

 

I want to say that Thaksin, who instigated the mob and whipped them into this frenzied state so that they'd smash things down enough to pave way for his return to power, is responsible for the young man's death and for the melee that essentially turned Bangkok into a war zone. How does he intend to redeem the lives lost? He cannot. And that makes what he's done hideous.

 

Was the Sept 19 coup bad for Thailand? Definitely. Was it wrong for our democratic development? Certainly. Does it offer justification to incite people, rouse them with hate speeches and blatant lies and then let them loose to wreak havoc on ordinary citizens and public property? Absolutely not.

 

Was the coup necessary as a wake-up call for the all-too-powerful army to realise that the age of their intervening in politics through staging coups d'etat was over? Maybe. We haven't had another coup, despite the prolonged political tension and open rioting.

 

It may have taken a long time, probably longer than many are willing to give it, but if the Sept 19 putsch serves as the last nail in the coffin of military coups in Thailand, would it have been worth it after all? Instead of trying to redo the past and get tangled in all its complexity, would it be wiser to use it to put a final stop to the practice and think of it as a stepping stone to a more democratic future? Isn't that what demonstrators of every colour want?

 

Everybody can blame a bad childhood. Those who are smart, however, waste no time moping. They gather up the pieces and move on.

 

The Abhisit administration may have won the first major battle with the red shirts but the seeds of discontent have taken root. The strength of the resistance - both those who support Thaksin for who he is and those who support him for what he is fighting against - should prompt whoever is thinking they can control it by force, to think twice. These people can't be dismissed. The government must find a way for their grievances to be taken into account, their cries for change heard and heeded, or it faces a long and belligerent war.

 

Democracy is ultimately about fair compromise. It is obvious now that Thaksin neither knows nor respects that philosophy. He wants it all. If he can't have it his way, he'd rather destroy and burn it all. That is who he is.

 

It will be a long road to rebuilding the country, bruised and burned in the Songkran skirmish. Again, the future might appear like walking in a deep, dark tunnel not knowing which direction to go and where the snags and perils are. But without the pixelated apparition of demagogue Thaksin Shinawatra inciting people and misleading them about what democracy is - now that his selfish motive and cruel intention have been laid bare - at least we won't feel so haunted.

 

* Atiya Achakulwisut is Editorial Pages Editor, Bangkok Post.

 

 

 

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