Some 17,000 Thaksin supporters rally in Bangkok

[MidTMike]

BANGKOK — About 17,000 "Red Shirt" supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra rallied in Bangkok Saturday to pressure the Thai government over their petition seeking a royal pardon for the fugitive former prime minister.

The number of protesters in the capital's historic quarter could eventually reach 20,000, said deputy national police spokesman Piya Utayo, adding the security situation so far was "normal".

Thailand has deployed 2,000 police officers and invoked a harsh internal security law to ensure the rally in front of the government offices does not turn violent after protests in April left two dead and 123 injured.

The demonstrators want the government to speed up the process of their petition, which they say at least 3.5 million signed in support of Thaksin, who fled the kingdom last August to escape a two-year jail term for corruption.

"'Red Shirt' people are rallying today to ask about the progress of our petition," protest leader Jatuporn Prompan told reporters, accusing the government of trying to delay their submission.

"We are here to send a signal to the government... We will come back by the end of the month. The protest will not end quickly."

The government has said that it would take at least two months to process the petition, which must be submitted to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has been in hospital for almost a month recovering from a lung infection and fever.

Rumours the revered monarch's health had deteriorated earlier this week sent the Thai stock market tumbling because he is considered the only unifying figure in a politically fragile nation, though the bourse rebounded Friday.

His youngest daughter Princess Chulabhorn also allayed concerns, saying at the Thai embassy in Germany late Friday that his condition is improving -- the first public statement on the king's health from a royal since he was admitted.

Twice-elected billionaire Thaksin, who was due to address his followers by phone late Saturday, was toppled in a military coup in 2006 and the nation is still deeply divided between his supporters and his foes.

Thaksin's backers forced the cancellation of a major Asian summit in April and then rioted for two days in Bangkok before a crackdown by the army.

Rival royalist "Yellow Shirts" staged a crippling blockade of Bangkok's airports in late 2008, triggering the collapse of the previous, pro-Thaksin government and ushering current premier Abhisit Vejjajiva to power.

Thaksin still enjoys huge support among Thailand's poor, particularly in rural northern parts of the country, but is hated by the Bangkok-based elite in the palace, military and establishment.

His supporters have held several mass rallies in the capital. In August more than 30,000 Red Shirts gathered to deliver the petition, and last month at least 26,000 took to the streets to mark the third anniversary of the coup.

The former policeman is currently being tried in absentia on a separate corruption charge relating to 2.2 billion dollars of funds that were frozen by an anti-graft body soon after the coup.

Abhisit has said Thaksin, who has several passports and divides his time between a number of countries, must return to Thailand to face justice.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jBA0Kpli-cweyB5FOQHH7EHXd5qA

[CrazyExpat]

BANGKOK (Agence France-Presse) — About 17,000 people rallied in here on Saturday to demand that the Thai government move forward with a petition for a royal pardon for former Primer Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in 2006.

Thai authorities deployed 2,000 police officers and invoked a harsh internal security law to ensure that the rally in front of the government offices did not turn violent.

The demonstrators, known as “red shirts,” want the government to speed up the process of their petition, which they say at least 3.5 million people signed in support of Mr. Thaksin. He fled Thailand in 2008 to escape a two-year jail term for corruption.

“Red shirt people are rallying today to ask about the progress of our petition,” said Jatuporn Prompan, a protest leader. “We are here to send a signal to the government.”

The government has said it needs at least two months to process the petition, which must be submitted to King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The nation is still deeply divided between Mr. Thaksin’s supporters and his foes. He enjoys huge support among the poor, particularly in Thailand’s rural north, but he is opposed by the Bangkok-based elite.

The king, who has been hospitalized for almost a month recovering from a lung infection and a fever, is considered the only figure able to unify the country.

Rumors last week that the revered king’s health had deteriorated sent the Thai stock market tumbling, but his daughter Princess Chulabhorn said late Friday that his condition was improving.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/world/asia/18thai.html?_r=1

[Beer Chang]

As Rodney King said, "why can't we all just get along"

[WannaGo]

So, I've been doing some reading on Thaksin, trying to understand what's behind all these protests. It seems fairly clear he did some good things for Thais, or at least tried to, with his economic policies. But I can understand why people eventually would become fed up with his authoritarian style -- especially when he starts shutting down the media and people start disappearing -- and with the perception that, while he may not have broken laws, he was unethically feeding his own greed.

What I'm not clear on is whether he did anything that requires a prison sentence, or whether that is just political payback. If the government can prove that he was corrupt, or that he had anything to do with the deaths in the "drug war" and Islamic rebellion, then I don't think anyone would benefit from his escaping punishment simply because he has large numbers of political supporters. But if the government can't prove it, or can only prove minor infractions, then it seems like it might be better to just let it go, rather than widening the national division.

You guys who live there have a much better sense of this stuff...is this a matter of justice or political gamesmanship?

[Bob]

is this a matter of justice or political gamesmanship?

In my view, there isn't much difference in those two concepts in Thailand, at least when it comes to those in power and the rich/elite. Unfortunately, I start with the concept that most Thai politicians are corrupt (meaning at the least that they provide favors for political support) and Shinawatra was no different or better at it than most of them. His governmental policies (two prime examples of which were the 30-baht health scheme and the loans to rural farmers program), as you note, at least somewhat favored the poor and that's why he obtained most of the rural vote.

One of Shinawatra's first foreign trips as Prime Minister was a trip to India and, while there (in between the diplomatic junk), he signed a deal for Shin Corporation (a satellite company he and his family members owned). A year or so later, he pushed through the legislature a Thai governmental loan to Burma - which was largely used for deals with Shin Corporation. Now that's what I call major corruption - but nobody much in Thailand seemed to care or squawk too much about that (I guess it was business as usual).

What's rather funny/bizarre is what the coup government actually chose to go after him for - a rather questionable charge at least in my view. A governmental parcel in Bangkok was put up for public auction and Shinawatra's wife ended up with the property as she had the winning bid (apparently there were 3 or 4 other bidders). The legal basis for the charge was that there is a law which prohibits any member of the family of a national government member to have any contractual deals with any governmental officer where that governmental office is directly overseen by the given national government member. A division of the Treasury Department conducted the auction in question and, while there could be some fair argument that Shinawatra, as Prime Minister, did directly oversee to some extent the Treasurer himself, it was strenously argued that Shinawatra had no oversight at all over the lower Treasury division or the people conducting the auction. But that, in a nutshell, is the charge for which he was convicted.

Those that liked Shinawatra thought the conviction was pure political gamesmanship, whereas those that hated Shinawatra in general were happy he was convicted of something (after all, they had to philosophically justify the illegal coup in some fashion). Those few (falang and Thai) who actually want to analyze the law he was charged with violating ought to at least go read the law itself. I did (sorry, don't have time at the moment to google it and paste it here) and I concluded that the charge wouldn't have made it past a preliminary examination in the west.

[Thaifan]

I agree with Bob that Thaksin didn't really harm Thailand, did do some good things and his so called corruption isn't any different to most Thai Politicians. He upset the 'elite' of Thailand however and it is them who brought him down. I think it would be quite easy to get him to agree to stay out of politics (I would think he has had his fill of it anyway), in return for a pardon and then maybe Thailand could return to getting on with attracting Tourists back and repairing all the damage the last few years of political turmoil have done to the Thai Economy.

[CrazyExpat]

Some very interesting points. Thanks guys. In my opinion, like GW Bush, he was elected. Yes, half the people hated him but he won. He should have been left to finish his term IMHO and let the polls do the rest.