Tension Builds in Bangkok Standoff

Partner Links

Read the comment policy

Showing 1 of 1 comment

Urgent appeal to maintain the Democracy of Thailand without undue undemocratic influence from non-elected elite and bureaucrats. We would like to urgently ask for international cooperation to prevent a civil war in Thailand. We want fair play for the elected government. The current protests by the PAD are not a popular uprising by the people. The PAD proclaim themselves as People's Alliance for Democracy, yet their aim is to oust a government elected by what has been called the fairest and most closely supervised elections ever held in Thailand. Under the guise of free speech and the right to protest the PAD is interfering with government operation and now they blockade the airports. In no Western country would this be tolerated under the guise of democracy. The PAD promotes a new constitution that takes away voting rights from the people. The PAD claim to be a popular movement, yet they are actually paying people to participate. Now they are calling on the participants to bring their children to the protests, yet at the same time threaten violence. Isn't that a flagrant violation of human rights? The current government tried to avoid a heavy handed approach to deal with the PAD during the occupation of the government house, but with the occupation of the airports the situation for Thailand and countries around the world has become unbearable. The orders by the government to the police and military to remove the protesters are not carried out. The police may be too weak, but the army chief called on the government to resign and hold new elections. This is not how an elected government should step down. The PAD refused that suggestion as well, they are not interested in any compromise, or new elections which likely would return the PPP again. The PAD leadership (Sondhi Limthongkul amongst others) will never be satisfied until every trace of Thaksin is erased. This is nothing more than a personal vendetta stemming from the falling out between Sondhi Limthongkul and Thaksin when the latter's government failed to erase Sondhi's business depths. The PAD will never honor any elections. Despite the obvious illegal activities of the PAD leaders, the judicial courts have set them free again and again. It seems clear that the PAD counts on the support from the elite, the military as well as the courts, many of which were installed during the military coup. Without the support of these organs (i.e. police, justice, army) the elected Thai government is powerless to regain control of the situation. We, the real people of Thailand, have no weapons to fight with the PAD and the tacit support of the elite, we have only our bare hands and brave hearts. We want a democracy with a fairly elected government that respects the rights of ALL Thai people. The currently vacillating army and elite should be made aware that in this day and age a fairly elected government should be respected and illegal behavior by the PAD cannot be condoned and tolerated - irrespective...