Looks Like A Deal! – Or The Joke Of The Year?

Looks like a synced back room compromise has been reached in the most Thai way. Treason charges against the PAD leaders are dropped and imprisoned PAD leaders Chamlong and Chaiwat released on bail, while a PAD lawyer promised the PAD leaders will surrender if the treason charges are revoked.

Chamlong returns as a rockstar-like martyr to Govt House – was it an all calculated move? You have to respect the shrewd self-confidence of this ascetic man who kept on smiling and smiling behind bars. He had time to think. Maybe both sides have come to some senses … Me? Naive?

Premier Somchai meanwhile expressed hope that the court-approved reduction of charge would pave way for reconciliation. He said his government remained on track to negotiate with the PAD in order to end political rifts. So what about the Joke of the Year? Wait …

Now’s the time – facing all the blood and even deeper hatred – to come to reason in a genuinely Thai way. You know what I mean.

A compromise would have to mark both the end of the sabre-rattling rhetoric of the protest leaders as well as the beginning of the government’s readiness to implement protesters’ concerns.

Now’s the time.

But wait, there’s more: A court has granted the PAD protection against violent crackdown. The Administrative Court “has ordered the authorities to adhere to internationally acceptable riot control practices,” according to TOC.

Hmm … and what would an internationally acceptable mob be?!

Will police have to be equipped with laughing gas and foam batons?

Or is reality as dire as Thai scholar Giles Ungpakorn writes in the Asia Sentinel:

“The courts are practicing double standards, attacking Thaksin and Thai Rak Thai/People’s Power Party corruption while ignoring illegal coups, mob violence and corruption by opposition politicians and the military.”

Bangkok Pundit has an excellent analysis of what the Administrative Court really said, but was commonly not reported – among it:

1. The actions of the protesters caused others to be afraid of their safety and for their freedoms so that they would not enter the parliament or to leave the parliament and affects the rights of others.

2. Therefore, the protests in front of parliament are not a peaceful protest which should be protected by Section 63 of the Constitution.

3. The actions of the protesters might have an affect on the government’s ability to administer the country as required in Section 176, Paragraph 1. Therefore, the police have the authority to disperse protesters to resolve this.




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October 9, 2008 | Filed Under Politics 

Comments

3 Responses to “Looks Like A Deal! – Or The Joke Of The Year?”

  1. KhonThai on October 10th, 2008 6.37 am

    Ha, our prime minister suddenly turns into the resistance fighter. Who’ll last longer?

    The PAD’s protected, they have no reason to worry. Stop being emotional about Thailand – that’s the way it is.

    And maybe Thaksin wasn’t so wrong about his claim that the Thai courts are biased … May help his asylum-application.

    Jotman actually is having the same claim:

    http://jotman.blogspot.com/2008/10/has-thailands-justice-system-sided-with.html

  2. hoopla on October 14th, 2008 6.36 am

    The promise of openness and transparency revives global markets. while Thailand retreats into feudalism and fear … good for the economy?

  3. number&number on October 25th, 2008 6.08 am

    This has to be the joke news story of the day (The Nation, where else?) from the quivering PAD employees:

    “PAD leader Pibhop Dhongchai demanded the government prevent Salang and his supporters from fomenting violence against PAD-led protesters.”

    Hilarious: Now PAD is asking for Government protection?

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