Rifts behind Thailand's political crisis

By Jonathan Head BBC News, Bangkok

It has been nearly two years since an unexpected military coup deposed then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and appeared to freeze Thailand's democratic evolution in its tracks.The country has experienced 15 months of benign military rule, the drafting of a new constitution, and a general election which returned a party run by Mr Thaksin's allies to office.Yet there is still a sense of unending crisis, of a country still deeply polarised over the former prime minister and his attempts to transform Thailand.

The occupation of the main government offices in central Bangkok this week by protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has underscored just how difficult it is to end this turbulence.

Comment : Yeh Jonathan, PAD is the mob of elite and feudal in Thailand but was protected by Guard from the south of Thailand (low class but favour in Democrat Party) its backup by the same mastermind who toppled Thaksin in 2006'coup.

Firstly, the key PAD leaders, in particular Sondhi Limthongkul and Chamlong Srimuang, an ascetic former military general and mayor of Bangkok who played a key role in the anti-government protests back in 1992, remained virulently opposed to allowing any of Mr Thaksin's associates a role in government.

They have now refined their argument to propose rural voters in Thailand are too poorly educated to be allowed to elect a parliament, and that it should be a largely appointed body instead.

The PAD has also ridden a national wave of anxiety over the future of the monarchy, once 80-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej is no longer on the scene.

Its supporters believe Mr Thaksin and the PPP have a republican agenda - hence the sea of yellow shirts seen at PAD rallies, yellow being the colour associated with the king.

Comment : Republican Idea is very funny in Thailand, for Thais The King have a massive charisma hard to explain that why, Thaksin is a Politician who breath in and out is populism policy so he wouldn't even thought about it absolutely, but Thaksin was a more than ordinary politicians, he was got intrust by Someone to shift this country forward but the other part of the establishment didn't want him.

Thai PM picks new foreign minister

Samak Sundaravej, the Thai prime minister, has chosen Saroj Chavanaviraj, a former diplomat, as the new foreign minister.

Thai newspapers reported on Saturday that Saroj's appointment would be the third in seven months of Samak's troubled coalition government.

Saroj, 66, replaces Tej Bunnag, a career diplomat with close ties to the palace who resigned this week amid a political standoff faced by the government.

Comment : Tej Bunnag, he came from the palace which send him to clear the problem Pravehere Temple with Cambodia, but he was pressed by mastermind who backup PAD to resign, Saroj 's old burearcrat. This fight is stranger and poor but not too hard to understand.

Thailand to buy 40% more rice from farmers

By Amy Kazmin in Bangkok FromThe Financial Times 
Published: September 6 2008 03:03 | Last updated: September 6 2008 03:03

Thailand’s struggling government has agreed to buy 40 per cent more rice from farmers this year, a decision that could boost its popularity among rural voters as it prepares to face a national referendum aimed at ending an unprecedented siege of the prime minister’s offices.

The plan calls for the government to buy 3.5m tonnes of unprocessed paddy rice from farmers at a guaranteed price, up from an original planned 2.5m tonnes, the Thai news agency reported on Friday.

It appears to be aimed firmly at the same rural voters who last December helped elect the government of Samak Sundarajev, whose removal as prime minister is now being sought by a movement made up largely of Thailand’s urban elite.

The decision to help prop up rice prices was made as parliament appointed Prasopsuk Boondet, a former judge and now the speaker of the Senate, to mediate between the government and protesters occupying the Government House in Bangkok. Mr Samak also said he was considering lifting a state of emergency introduced this week that has failed to persuade thousands of protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy to end their occupation.

The PAD has vowed to occupy Government House until Mr Samak resigns. The Thai army said it would not forcefully evict the demonstrators.

Mr Samak has been on the defensive since August 26 when the PAD, which previously led mass protests against Thaksin Shinawatra when he was prime minister, seized his offices and demanded that he quit for being too close to Mr Thaksin, now in exile in the UK.

Beyond Mr Samak’s removal, however, the PAD are also demanding an overhaul of the political system – with the creation of a mainly appointed parliament – so as to reduce the power of the rural electorate, who the PAD’s elite backers blame for electing unsavoury and corrupt politicians.

Mr Samak, a 73-year-old conservative veteran, has refused to resign, but in an effort to defuse the tensions he has proposed holding a national referendum that would allow voters to express their views on how to end the stand-off, asking such questions as whether the government should remain in power, or whether the protests should go on.

However, political analysts expressed scepticism that the unusual gambit would resolve the crisis.

“It is part of the government answering the offensive by the PAD and continuing to legitimise itself in a democratic way,” Giles Ungpakorn, a Chulalongkorn University political scientist, said of the referendum plan. “But if the government wins the referendum, will the PAD shut up and go home? No! They are not in a mood to compromise.”

Comment : Silly referendum, PAD and mastermind who backup them won't have to accept, because they have never been accept the vote in democratic system, they have the 70:30 concept idea that 's mean appointee 70% election 30%, they don't have believe it some Thais, they think rural and labour that's fool, selfish, greedy and vote selling, they think that people shouldn't have right to vote equal HighClass and MiddleClass.

    

Whether the referendum will actually take place is another question, he said, as a new referendum law must first be approved by the Senate, dominated by military appointees seen as unsympathetic to the administration.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008