Ghettoization Of Government House

Is this the psychological warfare of the government? Letting the protesters at Government House live in growing misery? Soon no more need for riot police? Daily Xpress calls beleaguered Government House a “refugee camp.” Even PAD’s archon Chamlong looks worn out and very very old.

“Mounds of garbage are piling up, bras hang drying from bushes and toilets overflow,” reports Xpress. “Some of the residents have to turn to garbage bags to relieve themselves (…) Built in 1908 by Italian architects, the two-storey gothic Thai Khu Fah resembles the Doge’s Palace in Venice. But the Venetian charm is gone.”

The Bangkok Post (thanks for the nod PH) reports on the “protester’s survival kit (…) Protesters have to wait in a long line to use the toilet. As a result, plastic bags have become the latest must-have items in a PAD protester’s survival kit. If they can’t hold on any longer they use plastic bags instead.”

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August 31, 2008 | Filed Under Politics, Society, The Thai Mind | 4 Comments 

The Anti-Anti-Government Protest

What sabotage or civil disobedience are our alleged liberators of the People’s Alliance for Democracy planning next. On day 6 of the “final solution” there was a carnival atmosphere over at Government House compound. Quite a contrast to the clashes with riot police just the day before. Even though the demission of embattled Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej looks more distant again.

The premier stubbornly refuses to resign and coalition allies are sticking together. The government, they say, will stay on and Samak remains the prime minister. Et voilà, look there, anti-anti-government protesters start gathering at Sanam Luang. Within a few hours a few thousand people of the infamous anti-coup, pro Thaksin Nor Por Kor were there – calling themselves “the silent majority.”

Wanna bet who’s able to gather more people. Out are the “red shirts” of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship DAAC against the “yellow shirts” of the PAD. When police can’t get the job done they will get the job done?

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August 31, 2008 | Filed Under Politics | 19 Comments 

Live: Police Launch PAD Clean-Up – Or So It First Seemed

Friday morning, on day 4 of the PAD’s occupation of Government House and public places and institutions, Thai police started coordinated action against PAD besiegers. It remains doubtful that Government House will be entered at this point, but one by one those PAD strongholds shall fall.

In a related development police were able to “recapture” stashes of bullets and automatic guns stored at a Government House wing. PAD had earlier announced the discovery of the weapons. A PAD armed to the teeth at Government House … PAD though notified the find to Dusit Police Station, saying they had nothing to do with the weapons. Follow us live:

8.45 pm: I call it a day – until emergency law is declared? Maybe that corrupt government requires such drastic PAD action, my wife explains. And she knows everything. What slightly bothers me though is that “right wing” reporting of mine a commentator observed. That’d be shameful. Oh, and then this after 10 pm: Samak will be asked to step down by his key allies, says The Nation. And the Bangkok Post has the “Army turns on Samak” – resign or dissolve the house.

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August 29, 2008 | Filed Under Politics | 6 Comments 

Thailand, What Have You Become

With the emergence of shadowy Pallop Pinmanee as the designated successor of PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang the PAD’s psychological warfare mêlée at Government House has gained a whole new dimension. Bloodbath anyone? Pallop’s the man. And ask yourself who provided the PAD with barbed wire for the barricades. You don’t buy barbed wire at your local hardware store.

Pallop and PAD leaders Chamlong & Sondhi are masters of psychological warfare. But the grim blame game over at Government House is wearing heavily on the small PAD supporter. “A growing paranoia” is reported “inside the government compound as the protesters are constantly on alert over security and the possibility of riot police storming the compound to disperse the crowd and arrest their leaders.”

Chamlong, Sondhi & Co. themselves are protected by a human shield of willing followers aka potential cannon fodder, hostages to their noble cause. For the average PAD protester Government House “has become an enclosure. Once they make their way inside, it is practically impossible to leave because the PAD’s guards have erected barriers and employed tight security measures in fear of police infiltration.”

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August 29, 2008 | Filed Under Politics, The Thai Mind | 15 Comments 

Those Führer-Like PAD Diatribes

This is a bitter post. Listening to PAD leaders on Government House stage any outsider must be struck by their screeching diatribes. Forgive me the comparison, but last time I came across this type of inflammatory voices was while listening to recordings of, well, the Führer. Talk about instigation, demonization, mass psychosis.

It is no coincidence that a Bangkok Post editorial on day 3 of the PAD’s occupation of Government House reads: “To PAD watchers like Professor Prabhas Pintoptang of Chulalongkorn’s faculty of political science, the coalition has been seen as planting structural hatred and division in society on a scale far worse than that ever achieved by the previous government under ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.”

The Post goes on that in an interview with Thai Post last month, Prof. Prabhas said the PAD had become “an ultra-nationalist movement.” He said the PAD was using the same demonization tactics employed by the right-wing militia to crush the pro-democracy student movement in the mid-1970s, which ended in the lynching of student activists near Thammasat University on Oct 6, 1976.

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August 28, 2008 | Filed Under Politics, Society, The Thai Mind | 6 Comments 

Showdown Live: Doom Looms, Part II

Another day, another crisis in the kingdom of Thailand. The promised easy play of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej didn’t play out as planned so far. Thousands of police tried to storm PAD-occupied Government House in the wee hours at 3.10 am Bangkok time – but were pushed back by the PAD’s self-defense forces.

Despite the amazingly agile volunteer guards, you don’t want to know how Government House looks this morning. Protest leader Chamlong Srimuang, wanted meanwhile by arrest warrant, demanded access to toilets, or else … Just to mention other bare human needs such as food … Yesterday’s battle cry was “rao mai nueai” – we’re not tired. Today’s: We’re hungry. Until the food sellers arrived.

The strategy of the state was to starve out the protesters. The main topics of the speakers – in the early morning hours – were food and water. Party time with daily diatribe shows over? Let’s not underestimate the determination of the PAD. The movement has become a sheer religious phenomenon for many. Here we go with today’s live-blogging:

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August 27, 2008 | Filed Under Politics | 5 Comments 

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