Yearender: Thailand faces another year of political unrest in 2009

www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-18 18:18:09

by Zhu Li

BANGKOK, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Thai engineer Siwarak Chothipong convicted of spying in Cambodia was set free earlier this week, the latest twists and turns derived from Thai political unrest in 2009 centering around ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Sivarak was convicted of spying for passing on to a Thai Embassy official flight details of Thaksin last month shortly after the former prime minister was appointed by Cambodia as an economic advisor to the Cambodian government.

Since assuming power in December, 2008, the Democrat-led alliance and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva have been facing frequent rallies by the pro-Thaksin group, United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), or so called "red-shirts."

In their longest and largest rally that led to Thailand's worst street violence in 17 years, the UDD supporters besieged the Government House for more than 20 days as of March 27, urging Abhisit to dissolve the parliament and to hold a new election.

The rally reached its peak on April 10 when UDD launched what they called the "show-down" to the government by mobilizing 100,000 red-shirts demonstrators.

Thailand was botched, with the traffic largely paralyzed, the 14th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, scheduled for April 10-12 in resort Pattaya, forced to be canceled to the government's embarrassment as protesters stormed the venue, and two people killed and 120 injured in the riots.

On Aug. 17, a rally launched by over 100,000 red-shirts from all over the country caused another squall in Thai politics.

The demonstrators gathered in the capital to hand over a petition to the royal secretary office for the royal pardon to Thaksin, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and sentenced in absentia to a two year imprisonment in 2008 on corruption charges.

A royal pardon of Thakisn's corruption conviction would allow the exiled billionaire to come home, a step widely seen as part of his attempts to win back power.

The red-shirted people have claimed that they have collected more than 6 million signatures for the petition. So far the petition letter is still under check and has not been handed to the King yet, according to the government.

Thaksin's acceptance of an offer to become an adviser to the Cambodian government has not only led to a diplomatic row, but also added fuel to the tricky political crisis in Thailand because the move prompted the prospect that the former prime minister would run a political campaign from across the border, a sign of his upping the ante for a comeback.

Prime Minister Abhisit said the appointment of Thaksin was an insult to Thailand's justice system and required Thaksin's extradition, a request denied by Cambodia.

Politics in Thailand which is deeply divided, with the majority of the Bangkok-based middle class and elite staunchly against Thaksin while many rural and urban poor still backing him, was like a roller-coaster ride with no end in sight.

The Puea Thai Party, an incarnation of Thaksin's disbanded Thai Rak Thai party, which pushed hard to get the pardon for Sivarak, has vowed to take the Sivarak issue to the parliament to grill the government during the censure debate next month.

Meanwhile, thousands of red-shirts rallied in Bangkok on Dec. 10 to mark Thailand's Constitution Day, with a renewed call to bring back the 1997 constitution and to revoke the 2007 document.

The 1997 constitution encouraged the strengthening of the political party system and also paved the way for the elevation to power of Thaksin.

Abhisit took office after a clause in the 2007 constitution, which allows the banning of political parties found to be involved in vote fraud, was used to topple Thaksin's brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat as premier.

The wrestle is far from ending, with the next flashpoint being the big protests planned by red-shirts for January. UDD leaders have vowed to expel the government.

The prolonged political unrest has hampered the government's ability to run the country and prompted fears of exacerbated political uncertainty ahead, with Abhisit's shaky coalition facing an uphill struggle to hold on to power on the one hand, and Thaksin's relentless efforts to regain power on the other.