Revolution Who?

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Written by admin

Monday, 01 September 2008 23:54

Garuda
It's a revolution, - Yes! Unlawful, tricky and against Thai constitution and HMK. PAD is bringing shame and disgrace to the country and maneuvering the nation to ruin by their illegal activities.

Foreign diplomats in Thailand, namely Nordic and Italy, are indirectly condemning the actions of PAD, while in recent developments PAD has supposedly stolen government documents from the occupied area. The civil court stays reluctant to have PAD and its supporters dispersed. Sympathizers threaten with more strikes.

THE CIVIL COURT'S REACTION

The Civil Court Monday dismissed a complaint of the PM's Secretariat against the cancellation of its injunction for the eviction of protesters from Government House.

The court ruled Monday to retain the cancellation of the injunction, and thus preventing the authorities from evicting the protesters.

Initially, the court issued an injunction, requiring the PAD to move its protesters from the Government House immediately. The court also appointed legal execution officials to enforce the order.

However, after police clashed with protesters on Friday morning, the court cancelled the injunction.

The PM's Secretariat the cancellation but the court decided Monday that there was no new conditions that would prompt it to decide otherwise.

NEW STRIKES?

The Confederation of State Enterprise Labour Union on Monday announced that about 200,000 workers at 43 state enterprises will jointly go on strike to protest against the government for allegedly using violent measures to disperse the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters.

According to the confederation, 43 state enterprises will suspend their public utility and assistance operations all together on September 3 at 9am.

The confederation claimed that Prime Minister and Defence Minister Samak Sundaravej is damaging the democratic regime. In order to end the problem, the premier and his government have to resign from politics completely.

The confederation insisted its potential strike would not trouble the majority of the people.

WHAT DIPLOMATS ARE SAYING

In general, the ambassadors, consuls and embassy officers stationed in Bangkok believe Thailand cannot afford to hurt its core, income-generating sectors that are intricately linked to the outside world, such as the tourism industry and foreign direct investment.

Foreign representatives are tensely watching if this political battle will turn the clock of Thailand's democracy backwards, in which case they would have to accept the Thai people's choice with pity.

A Nordic ambassador said it was still too early to draw conclusions regarding the medium- and long-term impact on the FDI. For now, foreign investors are following Thailand's political situation very closely and will in due course make up their minds whether Thailand is still a good country for them to invest in.

Since the ouster of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, there has been no major dangerous signs until the past several days, when clashes between police and demonstrators took place. According to the ambassador, the latest disturbances were the two bomb blasts in the protest vicinity that are starting to shatter the fragile confidence of the tourism sector.

Inevitably, Thailand depends largely on the revenue from this sector. If there are more incidents of violence and more bombs go off on either side, both the tourists and foreign investors will unfortunately be scared away, the diplomat said.

The increasingly grim outlook has caused another wave of concern among the diplomatic corps, who have only restored recognition of Thailand since the Dec 23 election when the country managed to have a democratically elected government once again, after more than a year under military coup.

Diplomats are puzzled by the very fact that there are strong voices among the Thai people, led by the PAD, calling for another military intervention and a shift from the one-man-one-vote, to a mostly-appointed representative system.

The division in Thai society is so deep, the Nordic ambassador observed. It was supposed to become less but has instead become more pronounced. Differing views are not being taken into account and it seems there is not much room for compromise in this stand-off.

However, the idea of a mediator or mediating committee will only work if both sides accept the person or persons chosen for the task, he said.

"Unless the PAD gives up or the premier agrees to step down, both sides will remain locked in an impasse. But if one agrees to slip away from that point and allow parliament to choose a new leader from the ruling or coalition parties, will that be acceptable for the Thais?" he asked.

The Italian ambassador remained hopeful that a peaceful way to reconcile still existed, a way to solve the problem that was consistent with the rule of law.

"It is certainly the business of the Thai people, but as a friend of Thailand, I want to ensure that democracy remains the best system despite some shortcomings," said Mr di Pace.

Clearly, he said, there is an attempt to go back from the electoral system to a semi-appointment system, but he doubted if Thailand could afford to reverse the system it has been implementing for several decades.

Like the Nordic diplomat, the Italian ambassador also confirmed that should parliament appoint a new government, or even if the Thais eventually choose to try a different system other than electoral, "I'm still Thailand's friend."

"But I just doubt if that would work for Thailand," he said.

Sunai Phasuk, representative of Human Rights Watch, conceded that members of the international community may be scratching their heads when it comes to the current political situation in Thailand.

STOLEN DOCUMENTS FROM THE GOVT BUILDINGS

The People's Alliance for Democracy seized all the documents involving hiring, procurement and purchase of government projects kept inside the Government, PM's Office Permanent Secretary Chulayuth Hiranyawasit said Monday.

He added that the officials from his agency went into the Government House to bring some documents out so that they can continue working. They found that those documents had been taken by the PAD.