PAD Lay Siege On Government House, NBT TV Station

[sriracha john]

In Pad's history the leaders have ALWAYS talked down violence and such.

These people talk and disrupt traffic, and not much more than be a BIG thorn

in the current government's side. They have no history of violence,

only being the victims of violence against them.

Just because stupid people are doing stupid things doesn't mean dark forces are at work nor is there any evidence to support your wild conspiracy theory. IMHO.

Arrested today was Nitirat Sapsomboon....

(let google take it from there)

[Los78]

Maybe we should consider ...

And maybe we should consider simply listening to the PAD's political "philosophy", regardless how one may dislike this government, and judge them based on the nationalist jingoism they sprout.

Attacking a TV station, threaten their staff - armed with sticks and metal bars (as shown on TV coverage), and with even two guns - how the eff is that a peaceful demonstration? That's even worse than pro-Thaksin thugs did to the Nation office.

The PAD has finally shown its undemocratic agenda to all, and so far their plan - creating enough chaos so the army comes out and stages a coup - has completely failed.

Yes, this may very well be a watershed in Thai politics. As far as we can see now, the PAD has alienated with their despicable actions today many people. I do hope that this will be the opportunity for the government to charge the PAD leaders with treason, and to disperse the protest within the next few days. And then maybe the different political parties find ways to oust the government within the constitutional framework, and not by demanding military coups or attacking TV stations.

Excellent point. Like or dislike the government. PAD have gone too far with the latest protests. Its time to lock up the Sondhi and his crew. Their antics have gone too far this time.

[Sunderland]

This is very dangerous.

I assume both Samak and Sondhi would quite like the Army to stage a coup, but only if it benefits their side.

So its very good the Army chief is saying "no coup" because this is not a matter which should be resolved by force.

Hopefully the police will arrest some people and everyone will calm down and go home and have a beer and a massage and life will return to normal.

Democracy means government by talking, not shooting. If we can get through this peacefully, it will be a good sign for democracy in the LOS.

... is the most likely scenario. Paddy Power are currently offering 11-4 on this happening, but William Hill's your best bet as they are offering a whopping 40-1 accumulator on PAD toppling Samak, Liverpool being knocked out of Europe by Standard Liege on Wednesday and aliens landing in London on Thursday.

[h90]

Something else. I always wonder where all this anti Thaksin anti Samak knowledge of the English community comes from. Maybe the Nation.PAD or Bangkokpost.PAD or ASTV.2 (TOC.pad.com.)

disgusting.

If this action by PAD causes the price of beer to rise in the capital there is going to be hel_l to pay!

I know that some here on Thai Visa want to compare this situation (perhaps a revolution) to famous communist coups around the world since the 1950's. I prefer to compare PAD to that once infamous German Army corporal, Adolf Hitler.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) is using scare tactics to mold the opinion of the uninformed populace to their own ends. While complaining and pointing fingers at the elected government about anything and everything they refuse to negotiate on any subject and simply call for an end to present government rule. Sound familiar? Same thing happened two years ago which led to a coup d'état and the ousting of a seated, elected government.

This is nothing new. Many of us remember from our history lessons that back in the 1930's Europe they had their own PAD saying exactly the same thing about the seated government. The Nazi Party used the economic hardships suffered by the Germans to grab power. Adolph Hitler and his ilk fooled the German people into joining their extreme and radical movement to overthrow the government.

Like the Nazi's in Germany PAD has no business in a civilized Thai society. They are trampling on the peoples consciences and revising history to suit their own ends. These extreme, unconscionable leaders are master manipulators, preying on the weak, drunk with power and serve no constructive purpose. It is time to put an end to the madness and remove PAD and their self-serving leaders. They have had their fifteen minutes in the spotlight and have fooled innocent Thai people long enough.

IMHO

It is very disappointing. After 14 years of no-perfect democracy, but still democracy (1992-2006), all forces seem to want to destroy it and prevent democracy to take roots.

In fact, it doesn't matter if me or you or other Thais don't like Samak, but the fact he won the elections and if PAD wants to oust him by the force, they are not worth of being called Democratic party.

Democracy doesn't work this way. Protests , strikes, ok, it is a right in the Constitution, but ousting a government in this way is unaccepatble.

Don't they realize the damage they are doing to Thailand ? I guess many investors will loose their faith in this country.

Economy will start to suffer from all these political turmoils for sure.

Maybe it comes from the 3000 dead in the war against drugs? Or from the extrem corruption? Or from his "anti-farang" speeches??

[george]

Sondhi explains his 'final war'

BANGKOK: -- After calling on People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters from all over the country to converge for today's "final war" protest march against the Samak Sundaravej administration, PAD core leader Sondhi Limthongkul talked to the Bangkok Post's Nattaya Chetchotiros.

What is the PAD strategy for the rally?

It will be the day we change Thailand through the people. Our position today is much clearer than over the past 90 days.

If we don't do it, the monarchy might collapse. That's because soldiers and civil servants haven't earnestly protected the country, the nation and the monarchy.

Will water and electricity supplies to state agencies be cut off?

That's a statement by state enterprise labour union leaders. It has nothing to do with the PAD. We won't do anything that could affect people or lead to violence.

What did you mean when you said the rally is a battle against old politics?

It's because people in Thai society were misled into believing that just having an election is a sign of democracy. We can see that nothing has improved after 60 years of elections.

Elections today are an investment. A sane person would not invest 30 million baht to earn a monthly salary of a bit more than 100,000 baht. And no insane person makes such an investment, only investors. MPs today are hired voters. The claim that they are elected representatives is wrong.

How will the "final war" be different from PAD's previous wars?

Watch out. The rally [today] won't be an ordinary rally. We'll do everything to halt all the state's administrative mechanisms.

We'll block the roads from southern, northern and northeastern regions, but we'll let our supporters arrive in the city first. We'll block the roads after midday. At noon, we'll close Phuket airport and Hat Yai airport. We will post this plan online [on the Manager website] at 10am.

We'll seize all the ministries on Ratchadamnoen avenue. We'll ask civil servants to leave their offices.

The government won't be able to function any longer. It's a power vacuum. Samak knows that he will soon have to step down.

This final war has been seen as trying to make way for another military coup.

If there is a coup [today] on the ground that they need to intervene to end turmoil in the country and reorganise things, I will immediately protest against them. All five PAD core leaders agree that such reasoning is unacceptable.

But if they claimed they launched a coup to improve politics, to help people who were protesting, and if they agreed with us that politics must be improved and the monarchy must continue to exist, we would not be against them.

We won't disband, though.

We will see, first, who is the coup leader. Second, what he does next. What statement he makes. Who he appoints as prime minister.

We will wait until we're satisfied with the new leader.

What makes you confident the military won't crack down on the people?

It's because soldiers today are cowards. Did you notice that army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda is not in Bangkok? He left for Malaysia yesterday and will return on Aug 28.

So keep an eye on Lt- Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, the First Army chief. If the country has become this chaotic, and you haven't come out. Then it's your business.

What's your second plan if you fail?

I'll ask our people...[Today] there'll be over 300,000 people with us.

Why did you ask all supporters to drop everything and come down for the last time?

It's the last whistle blow. If we fail this time, we'll quit and surrender the country to them.

When people don't care about us, we won't have to care about them. Let others take over the country.

-- Bangkok Post 2008-08-26

[george]

Protesters storm inside Government House compound

BANGKOK: -- Protesters stormed inside Government House compound at about 1:50 pm.

They climbed over the fence and broke into the front gate.

It was the first time that protesters broke into the compound since their protest.

-- The Nation 2008-08-26

[koosdeboer]

What a bunch of worthless thugs. God, they remind me of football hooligans.

If you think they look like football hooligans than there most be something wrong with your eyes.

Please read the following article, maybe it helps you understand the PAD. The real hooligans are in the government.

SHADOW BOXING

Without ethics, there simply is no hope

KORN CHATIKAVANIJ

Last week the gloves came off between the Finance Minister and his Shadow (me). This has nothing to do with the success of our boxers in Beijing (though when is it that we will win two golds?) but more because in my opinion the Minister crossed the line into the indefensible. Queensbury Rules just will not do with this man.

As he said himself in Parliament, unless and until the jail door is slammed shut, everything is to be considered decent and acceptable.

I am, of course, referring to the political interference in the appointments of the Bank of Thailand (BoT) and the Securities Commission (SEC) Boards - as well as the subsequent Stock Exchange Board appointments. All stuffed with questionable individuals chosen by even more questionable political cronies who, I believe, are mostly either illegally conflicted or are individuals facing charges of corruption against the State. All this is compounded by a Cabinet resolution during the week to appoint a crony to the board of the Department of Special Investigations (DSI) - the same crony who was chairman of SC Asset, the Shinawatra property company in the middle of perhaps the biggest outstanding criminal charge against the ex-prime minister - a charge filed by, wait for it, the DSI, of course.

Moreover, the Office of the Attorney-General will not file charges yet - the OAG wants more evidence from the DSI and the SEC. Is the attorney-general now more or less likely to receive cooperation?

I wish I could just move on.

I feel like I've been working these cases for most of my political career so far. I so look forward to the day when we can open a newspaper and not have to read about the ex-prime minister again.

I and, I am sure, most of the readers of this newspaper are fed up with the fact that we cannot move on. The trouble is, of course, we either let them all get away with insulting the lot of us, or we stand and fight - if necessary without gloves.

I, for one, can no longer help it; I am trapped. As long as they chose to cynically subvert our beliefs as to what is right and proper, then we need to stand up to them.

I thought it was bitterly ironic that Khun Thaksin is begging for sympathy in the UK by citing his wish to resign his Manchester City chairmanship in order to protect the club's reputation given the charges made against him in Thailand. Why is he concerned with Man City's honour and yet completely unabashed when it comes to the honour of Thailand's own institutions?

Based on the same rationale, why is Thaksin not requiring his acolytes to resign from positions of prime minister and minister, given criminal charges against them? Perhaps he cares more about Man City than Thailand itself? Or is he merely acknowledging higher ethical requirements in the UK compared with Thailand?

Indeed, the Finance Minister said in response to my challenge to him last week in Parliament that we must not use individual beliefs to judge what is right - and that we must simply abide by the law.

Putting aside the fact that he seems not to be bothered by his boss running away from justice to London, I cannot accept that kind of rationalisation from someone who is a leader of our country.

After all, what is the law if not an attempt to frame our collective beliefs of acceptable, ethical behaviour into civil code?

While one may argue about the existence of absolute rights and wrongs, one cannot argue that laws cannot cover every aspect of proper ethical behaviour.

In short, the Finance Minister is asking us to suspend our ethics and merely resort to conforming with the law. That is not the kind of leadership Thailand needs.

I would indeed argue that above all, what we need today is not more crowd pleasing policies, but leaders setting solid examples of good behaviour. I am not even being simply righteous - I have absolutely no doubt that it would be good business.

What is the fundamental problem of our economy today? It is "trust" and through that, confidence. I am stating the obvious that through confidence comes investment, consumption and everything that goes towards making our economy vibrant.

The fact that our Finance Minister chooses to ignore this means that we have no chance - and I mean it absolutely - we have no chance of doing better than the cyclical movements of the prices of our exports allow us.

I've just heard a report that a very well-known multinational had decided to co-invest with a local company chiefly because it learnt that, in spite of all the opportunities, the local company had treated them with exemplary fairness. How many international firms had come to me when I was an investment banker asking if I could introduce them to Siam Cement? Was it because Siam Cement followed the law? Sure, but much more than that, they knew of the company's reputation for high ethical standards - meaning that even if there was no law, Siam Cement could be expected to do the right thing. This meant Siam Cement always had first choice of all the best potential partners. As I said, it's good business.

The Finance Minister also spoke of "Rights". He was saying that the individuals he chose for these top positions have the right to be selected because they have not yet been conclusively proven guilty. Again, this is disingenuous. They may have rights, but the Minister has Duty. He has the duty to protect the institutions that he oversees to ensure that they continue to be respected and trusted so that they can perform the role expected of them. He needs to understand the concept of the greater good. It is not as if he has to choose the people he does - there are plenty of equally capable individuals whose appointment would not tarnish the reputation of the institutions.

All this is particularly sad when one considers that both the Bank of Thailand and the SEC have regulations that would bar those appointed to their boards (through the Minister's process) from having anything to do with the companies that these two institutions regulate.

How do you answer to that? If I didn't miss-hear him, I think the Minister is actually suggesting that these regulations be amended. He even blamed the whole problem on the Constitution!

I meet people in the world of finance and banking who ask me if there is anything that can be done. The answer is, at the first instance, that we need to alert the public as to what is going on.

However, with this administration, this will achieve little as there is no sense of shame. We are dealing with a political party which has promised to vote back the Prime Minister if he is to be forced to step down as a result of a potential ruling of conflict of interest in his TV cooking show.

As I mentioned earlier, short of putting them behind bars, there appears to be no stopping them, at least not until there is another general election, and until then, we may also need to throw away the key.

Korn Chatikavanij is Shadow Finance Minister.

Email: [email protected]

[blaze]

It is very disappointing. After 14 years of no-perfect democracy, but still democracy (1992-2006), all forces seem to want to destroy it and prevent democracy to take roots.

In fact, it doesn't matter if me or you or other Thais don't like Samak, but the fact he won the elections and if PAD wants to oust him by the force, they are not worth of being called Democratic party.

Democracy doesn't work this way. Protests , strikes, ok, it is a right in the Constitution, but ousting a government in this way is unaccepatble.

Don't they realize the damage they are doing to Thailand ? I guess many investors will loose their faith in this country.

Economy will start to suffer from all these political turmoils for sure.

Reading the thread about the Bangkok Post and the Nation the other day, it made me think back to the aftermath of Black May 1992. Those protests were for the most part spontaneous. There was a real optimism then that things were going to change, that something good was going to come out of it all, that a genuine Thai approach to democracy could emerge.

But Chuan and the Democrats were so inert and too eager to disassociate themselves from the protests, and the Bangkok middle classes forgot about the people that came and protested alongside them. The only real improvement that survived was the much greater freedom enjoyed by the press. And Thaksin put a stop to that.

I think the PAD has some genuine souls among its ranks but they are obviously being manipulated here. The government should be allowed to limp on to its natural end. But there is no cause for optimism, whatever the outcome.

Where is ISOC in all this?

[Thai at Heart]

"The PM asked that the press should consider appropriateness when report on the PAD rally and consider who they are supporting. He also asked that morning reports not criticize the govenrment."

Got to love it.

[george]

Military figures meet to discuss unrest

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej shifted the weekly cabinet meeting Tuesday to the Royal Thai Armed Forces headquarters after supporters of People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) blocked roads around the Government House.

Meanwhile, Supreme Commander Boonsang Niampradit and chiefs of armed forces reportedly attend a separate meeting at the same venue to discuss about the political unrest.

It is still unknown whether the military figures will meet with the ministers as anti-government protesters rallied at important venues around the capital.

Meanwhile, a group of protesters gathered in front of the Metropolitan Police Bureau to demand that authorities release about 80 group members who were arrested for invading the state-run National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT) television station in the morning.

Police, however, revealed that they were already moved to Border Patrol Police Bureau.

-- Bangkok Post 2008-08-26

[gymshark]

Just watching it on Ch 7 now, typical protesters, faces covered up to hide their identity. The Thais here are saying how stupid it is and how embarrassing as it is on BBC as well. I agree.

[noudb]

Just in case you do not have TV at your office you can get english language updates from ASTV2 in streaming video from

mms://broadcast.manager.co.th/toc

Not the best news station but it can be entertaining

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Here is something to keep firmly in mind about PAD:

Despite the name, the People's Alliance for Democracy is actually campaigning for an end to democracy, arguing that in Thailand Western-style elections have only led to corrupt and ineffective governments.

Instead, it wants a largely appointed parliament, and a legalised role for the military as a kind of referee in Thai politics, our correspondent adds.

I find it appalling that several Thaivisa members, some of whom I know to be pretty highly educated, are still content at being apologists for PAD.

Really, there is only one way forward for Thailand and that is through a slow and tedious and sometimes inefficient process of maturing its democracy, which means through elections, which means respecting ALL Thai people. Sadly through the most recent military coup the clock was turned back 15 years or so.

[george]

Samak to make announcement before 3 pm

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej will make an important announcement shortly before 3 pm, Justice Minister Sompong Amornwiwat said.

-- The Nation 2008-08-26

[hammered]

What a bunch of worthless thugs. God, they remind me of football hooligans.

If you think they look like football hooligans than there most be something wrong with your eyes.

Please read the following article, maybe it helps you understand the PAD. The real hooligans are in the government.

SHADOW BOXING

Without ethics, there simply is no hope

KORN CHATIKAVANIJ

Last week the gloves came off between the Finance Minister and his Shadow (me). This has nothing to do with the success of our boxers in Beijing (though when is it that we will win two golds?) but more because in my opinion the Minister crossed the line into the indefensible. Queensbury Rules just will not do with this man.

As he said himself in Parliament, unless and until the jail door is slammed shut, everything is to be considered decent and acceptable.

I am, of course, referring to the political interference in the appointments of the Bank of Thailand (BoT) and the Securities Commission (SEC) Boards - as well as the subsequent Stock Exchange Board appointments. All stuffed with questionable individuals chosen by even more questionable political cronies who, I believe, are mostly either illegally conflicted or are individuals facing charges of corruption against the State. All this is compounded by a Cabinet resolution during the week to appoint a crony to the board of the Department of Special Investigations (DSI) - the same crony who was chairman of SC Asset, the Shinawatra property company in the middle of perhaps the biggest outstanding criminal charge against the ex-prime minister - a charge filed by, wait for it, the DSI, of course.

Moreover, the Office of the Attorney-General will not file charges yet - the OAG wants more evidence from the DSI and the SEC. Is the attorney-general now more or less likely to receive cooperation?

I wish I could just move on.

I feel like I've been working these cases for most of my political career so far. I so look forward to the day when we can open a newspaper and not have to read about the ex-prime minister again.

I and, I am sure, most of the readers of this newspaper are fed up with the fact that we cannot move on. The trouble is, of course, we either let them all get away with insulting the lot of us, or we stand and fight - if necessary without gloves.

I, for one, can no longer help it; I am trapped. As long as they chose to cynically subvert our beliefs as to what is right and proper, then we need to stand up to them.

I thought it was bitterly ironic that Khun Thaksin is begging for sympathy in the UK by citing his wish to resign his Manchester City chairmanship in order to protect the club's reputation given the charges made against him in Thailand. Why is he concerned with Man City's honour and yet completely unabashed when it comes to the honour of Thailand's own institutions?

Based on the same rationale, why is Thaksin not requiring his acolytes to resign from positions of prime minister and minister, given criminal charges against them? Perhaps he cares more about Man City than Thailand itself? Or is he merely acknowledging higher ethical requirements in the UK compared with Thailand?

Indeed, the Finance Minister said in response to my challenge to him last week in Parliament that we must not use individual beliefs to judge what is right - and that we must simply abide by the law.

Putting aside the fact that he seems not to be bothered by his boss running away from justice to London, I cannot accept that kind of rationalisation from someone who is a leader of our country.

After all, what is the law if not an attempt to frame our collective beliefs of acceptable, ethical behaviour into civil code?

While one may argue about the existence of absolute rights and wrongs, one cannot argue that laws cannot cover every aspect of proper ethical behaviour.

In short, the Finance Minister is asking us to suspend our ethics and merely resort to conforming with the law. That is not the kind of leadership Thailand needs.

I would indeed argue that above all, what we need today is not more crowd pleasing policies, but leaders setting solid examples of good behaviour. I am not even being simply righteous - I have absolutely no doubt that it would be good business.

What is the fundamental problem of our economy today? It is "trust" and through that, confidence. I am stating the obvious that through confidence comes investment, consumption and everything that goes towards making our economy vibrant.

The fact that our Finance Minister chooses to ignore this means that we have no chance - and I mean it absolutely - we have no chance of doing better than the cyclical movements of the prices of our exports allow us.

I've just heard a report that a very well-known multinational had decided to co-invest with a local company chiefly because it learnt that, in spite of all the opportunities, the local company had treated them with exemplary fairness. How many international firms had come to me when I was an investment banker asking if I could introduce them to Siam Cement? Was it because Siam Cement followed the law? Sure, but much more than that, they knew of the company's reputation for high ethical standards - meaning that even if there was no law, Siam Cement could be expected to do the right thing. This meant Siam Cement always had first choice of all the best potential partners. As I said, it's good business.

The Finance Minister also spoke of "Rights". He was saying that the individuals he chose for these top positions have the right to be selected because they have not yet been conclusively proven guilty. Again, this is disingenuous. They may have rights, but the Minister has Duty. He has the duty to protect the institutions that he oversees to ensure that they continue to be respected and trusted so that they can perform the role expected of them. He needs to understand the concept of the greater good. It is not as if he has to choose the people he does - there are plenty of equally capable individuals whose appointment would not tarnish the reputation of the institutions.

All this is particularly sad when one considers that both the Bank of Thailand and the SEC have regulations that would bar those appointed to their boards (through the Minister's process) from having anything to do with the companies that these two institutions regulate.

How do you answer to that? If I didn't miss-hear him, I think the Minister is actually suggesting that these regulations be amended. He even blamed the whole problem on the Constitution!

I meet people in the world of finance and banking who ask me if there is anything that can be done. The answer is, at the first instance, that we need to alert the public as to what is going on.

However, with this administration, this will achieve little as there is no sense of shame. We are dealing with a political party which has promised to vote back the Prime Minister if he is to be forced to step down as a result of a potential ruling of conflict of interest in his TV cooking show.

As I mentioned earlier, short of putting them behind bars, there appears to be no stopping them, at least not until there is another general election, and until then, we may also need to throw away the key.

Korn Chatikavanij is Shadow Finance Minister.

Email: [email protected]

This is an excellent article from the increasingly frustrated Dem perspective explaining the context of why the PAD are suddenly back. Thaksin left. Talk of gang Of Four defecting. Divisons in PPP. Arrest warrants in various toilets. Thaksin reasserts authority. Revenuegate, DSI committee packed with cronies. BoT committee packed with cronies. Warnings from above aboyut sepnding th country into bankruptcty. PAD unleashed today. Military reshuffle imminent. These things do not happen in isolation. The stakes are getting higher.

What would be intersting today would be a fly on the wall of Samak and the army boys. The PAD are on the streets storming government places. Samak has to go to the military to check his back and work out an acceptable reaction. What does he have to promise today to ensure his back is really still covered. Put it in the context of the above.

[didivolk]

This is Sonthi. PAD-TV never seen such bull . They changed the fat and ugly girls to more attractive ones. Maybe my request??? But the bull they talking is just the same.

Live video feeds and hourly English news here:

http://www.astv-tv.com/toc_broadcast.html

[grantbkk]

Sondhi explains his 'final war'

BANGKOK: -- After calling on People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters from all over the country to converge for today's "final war" protest march against the Samak Sundaravej administration, PAD core leader Sondhi Limthongkul talked to the Bangkok Post's Nattaya Chetchotiros.

What is the PAD strategy for the rally?

It will be the day we change Thailand through the people. Our position today is much clearer than over the past 90 days.

If we don't do it, the monarchy might collapse. That's because soldiers and civil servants haven't earnestly protected the country, the nation and the monarchy.

Will water and electricity supplies to state agencies be cut off?

That's a statement by state enterprise labour union leaders. It has nothing to do with the PAD. We won't do anything that could affect people or lead to violence.

What did you mean when you said the rally is a battle against old politics?

It's because people in Thai society were misled into believing that just having an election is a sign of democracy. We can see that nothing has improved after 60 years of elections.

Elections today are an investment. A sane person would not invest 30 million baht to earn a monthly salary of a bit more than 100,000 baht. And no insane person makes such an investment, only investors. MPs today are hired voters. The claim that they are elected representatives is wrong.

How will the "final war" be different from PAD's previous wars?

Watch out. The rally [today] won't be an ordinary rally. We'll do everything to halt all the state's administrative mechanisms.

We'll block the roads from southern, northern and northeastern regions, but we'll let our supporters arrive in the city first. We'll block the roads after midday. At noon, we'll close Phuket airport and Hat Yai airport. We will post this plan online [on the Manager website] at 10am.

We'll seize all the ministries on Ratchadamnoen avenue. We'll ask civil servants to leave their offices.

The government won't be able to function any longer. It's a power vacuum. Samak knows that he will soon have to step down.

This final war has been seen as trying to make way for another military coup.

If there is a coup [today] on the ground that they need to intervene to end turmoil in the country and reorganise things, I will immediately protest against them. All five PAD core leaders agree that such reasoning is unacceptable.

But if they claimed they launched a coup to improve politics, to help people who were protesting, and if they agreed with us that politics must be improved and the monarchy must continue to exist, we would not be against them.

We won't disband, though.

We will see, first, who is the coup leader. Second, what he does next. What statement he makes. Who he appoints as prime minister.

We will wait until we're satisfied with the new leader.

What makes you confident the military won't crack down on the people?

It's because soldiers today are cowards. Did you notice that army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda is not in Bangkok? He left for Malaysia yesterday and will return on Aug 28.

So keep an eye on Lt- Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, the First Army chief. If the country has become this chaotic, and you haven't come out. Then it's your business.

What's your second plan if you fail?

I'll ask our people...[Today] there'll be over 300,000 people with us.

Why did you ask all supporters to drop everything and come down for the last time?

It's the last whistle blow. If we fail this time, we'll quit and surrender the country to them.

When people don't care about us, we won't have to care about them. Let others take over the country.

-- Bangkok Post 2008-08-26

Well folks. This says it all. In my view Sondhi is going for broke here and this is probably going to end badly for everyone. Anyone who reads this press release will see PAD for what it really is. Calling Thai soldiers "cowards" is daring them to take action. Who can defend PAD and Sondhi's position today?

[hammered]

Sondhi explains his 'final war'

BANGKOK: -- After calling on People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters from all over the country to converge for today's "final war" protest march against the Samak Sundaravej administration, PAD core leader Sondhi Limthongkul talked to the Bangkok Post's Nattaya Chetchotiros.

What is the PAD strategy for the rally?

It will be the day we change Thailand through the people. Our position today is much clearer than over the past 90 days.

If we don't do it, the monarchy might collapse. That's because soldiers and civil servants haven't earnestly protected the country, the nation and the monarchy.

Will water and electricity supplies to state agencies be cut off?

That's a statement by state enterprise labour union leaders. It has nothing to do with the PAD. We won't do anything that could affect people or lead to violence.

What did you mean when you said the rally is a battle against old politics?

It's because people in Thai society were misled into believing that just having an election is a sign of democracy. We can see that nothing has improved after 60 years of elections.

Elections today are an investment. A sane person would not invest 30 million baht to earn a monthly salary of a bit more than 100,000 baht. And no insane person makes such an investment, only investors. MPs today are hired voters. The claim that they are elected representatives is wrong.

How will the "final war" be different from PAD's previous wars?

Watch out. The rally [today] won't be an ordinary rally. We'll do everything to halt all the state's administrative mechanisms.

We'll block the roads from southern, northern and northeastern regions, but we'll let our supporters arrive in the city first. We'll block the roads after midday. At noon, we'll close Phuket airport and Hat Yai airport. We will post this plan online [on the Manager website] at 10am.

We'll seize all the ministries on Ratchadamnoen avenue. We'll ask civil servants to leave their offices.

The government won't be able to function any longer. It's a power vacuum. Samak knows that he will soon have to step down.

This final war has been seen as trying to make way for another military coup.

If there is a coup [today] on the ground that they need to intervene to end turmoil in the country and reorganise things, I will immediately protest against them. All five PAD core leaders agree that such reasoning is unacceptable.

But if they claimed they launched a coup to improve politics, to help people who were protesting, and if they agreed with us that politics must be improved and the monarchy must continue to exist, we would not be against them.

We won't disband, though.

We will see, first, who is the coup leader. Second, what he does next. What statement he makes. Who he appoints as prime minister.

We will wait until we're satisfied with the new leader.

What makes you confident the military won't crack down on the people?

It's because soldiers today are cowards. Did you notice that army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda is not in Bangkok? He left for Malaysia yesterday and will return on Aug 28.

So keep an eye on Lt- Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, the First Army chief. If the country has become this chaotic, and you haven't come out. Then it's your business.

What's your second plan if you fail?

I'll ask our people...[Today] there'll be over 300,000 people with us.

Why did you ask all supporters to drop everything and come down for the last time?

It's the last whistle blow. If we fail this time, we'll quit and surrender the country to them.

When people don't care about us, we won't have to care about them. Let others take over the country.

-- Bangkok Post 2008-08-26

Well folks. This says it all. In my view Sondhi is going for broke here and this is probably going to end badly for everyone. Anyone who reads this press release will see PAD for what it really is. Calling Thai soldiers "cowards" is daring them to take action. Who can defend PAD and Sondhi's position today?

It is imho aimed at trying to provoke/encourage general officers of a lower level to take action over their superiors who havent taken the action. It also implies that the PAD have support within a section of the military which may even be a section due to lose power in the military reshuffle. The current game is dangerous.

[Bruce1]

Very provocative by Sondhi. Very, very dangerous.

[Thai at Heart]

Sondhi explains his 'final war'

BANGKOK: -- After calling on People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters from all over the country to converge for today's "final war" protest march against the Samak Sundaravej administration, PAD core leader Sondhi Limthongkul talked to the Bangkok Post's Nattaya Chetchotiros.

What is the PAD strategy for the rally?

It will be the day we change Thailand through the people. Our position today is much clearer than over the past 90 days.

If we don't do it, the monarchy might collapse. That's because soldiers and civil servants haven't earnestly protected the country, the nation and the monarchy.

Will water and electricity supplies to state agencies be cut off?

That's a statement by state enterprise labour union leaders. It has nothing to do with the PAD. We won't do anything that could affect people or lead to violence.

What did you mean when you said the rally is a battle against old politics?

It's because people in Thai society were misled into believing that just having an election is a sign of democracy. We can see that nothing has improved after 60 years of elections.

Elections today are an investment. A sane person would not invest 30 million baht to earn a monthly salary of a bit more than 100,000 baht. And no insane person makes such an investment, only investors. MPs today are hired voters. The claim that they are elected representatives is wrong.

How will the "final war" be different from PAD's previous wars?

Watch out. The rally [today] won't be an ordinary rally. We'll do everything to halt all the state's administrative mechanisms.

We'll block the roads from southern, northern and northeastern regions, but we'll let our supporters arrive in the city first. We'll block the roads after midday. At noon, we'll close Phuket airport and Hat Yai airport. We will post this plan online [on the Manager website] at 10am.

We'll seize all the ministries on Ratchadamnoen avenue. We'll ask civil servants to leave their offices.

The government won't be able to function any longer. It's a power vacuum. Samak knows that he will soon have to step down.

This final war has been seen as trying to make way for another military coup.

If there is a coup [today] on the ground that they need to intervene to end turmoil in the country and reorganise things, I will immediately protest against them. All five PAD core leaders agree that such reasoning is unacceptable.

But if they claimed they launched a coup to improve politics, to help people who were protesting, and if they agreed with us that politics must be improved and the monarchy must continue to exist, we would not be against them.

We won't disband, though.

We will see, first, who is the coup leader. Second, what he does next. What statement he makes. Who he appoints as prime minister.

We will wait until we're satisfied with the new leader.

What makes you confident the military won't crack down on the people?

It's because soldiers today are cowards. Did you notice that army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda is not in Bangkok? He left for Malaysia yesterday and will return on Aug 28.

So keep an eye on Lt- Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, the First Army chief. If the country has become this chaotic, and you haven't come out. Then it's your business.

What's your second plan if you fail?

I'll ask our people...[Today] there'll be over 300,000 people with us.

Why did you ask all supporters to drop everything and come down for the last time?

It's the last whistle blow. If we fail this time, we'll quit and surrender the country to them.

When people don't care about us, we won't have to care about them. Let others take over the country.

-- Bangkok Post 2008-08-26

Well folks. This says it all. In my view Sondhi is going for broke here and this is probably going to end badly for everyone. Anyone who reads this press release will see PAD for what it really is. Calling Thai soldiers "cowards" is daring them to take action. Who can defend PAD and Sondhi's position today?

In most parts of the world he would be locked up for civil disobedience, but then supposedly they are defending democracy when as others have stated he actually stands for oligarchy. This could descend into anarchy.

[hammered]

Mmmm and ToC are reporting that anti-PAD groups are gathering at Sanam Luang. The mix gets even more volatile. Samak needs to say something in his speech to calm this all down.

[Thai at Heart]

Mmmm and ToC are reporting that anti-PAD groups are gathering at Sanam Luang. The mix gets even more volatile. Samak needs to say something in his speech to calm this all down.

I think this may need a speech from someone with far more gravitas than Samak.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Calling Thai soldiers "cowards" is daring them to take action. Who can defend PAD and Sondhi's position today?

Apparently you haven't read the past 12 pages? Even allegedly educated foreigners are defending PAD and SOndhi's position!!

[gbswales]

Poor Thailand - when will they learn, as most of us have, that countries are not run by politicians but by the world financiers who care little about people - other than in their value for wealth creation. All most politicians can do is tinker with local policies - they can have little if any impact on the big picture. Communisism and Fascism do not suit the financiers and so will eventually be toppled to be replaced by their governement of choice - democracy. The war against Germany could not have been won without the millions of dollars that were eventually poured into it. I found a very apt quote on my google home page today

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.

- (John Kenneth Galbraith)

PS could pre-knowledge of this be the real reason why Thaksin fled to the UK? I doubt he could secure the same "justice" from a PAD or Military government!

[gymshark]

Mmmm and ToC are reporting that anti-PAD groups are gathering at Sanam Luang. The mix gets even more volatile. Samak needs to say something in his speech to calm this all down.

I just found out a businessman frind of mine who I considered to be quite normal has taken to the streets as well, he has just gone down a bit in my estimation. Hopefully Samak will come up with a solution, resignation might be the only thing that disperses this mob though and I can't see that happening.

[h90]

Either we see a full scale coup against that corrupt government.

Or we see something very terrible happening.

[toybits]

We will wait until we're satisfied with the new leader??? Is that a democracy????

Sondhi explains his 'final war'

BANGKOK: -- After calling on People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters from all over the country to converge for today's "final war" protest march against the Samak Sundaravej administration, PAD core leader Sondhi Limthongkul talked to the Bangkok Post's Nattaya Chetchotiros.

<cut)

We will wait until we're satisfied with the new leader.

What makes you confident the military won't crack down on the people?

-- Bangkok Post 2008-08-26

[Kerryd]

Sondhi explains his 'final war'

We'll block the roads from southern, northern and northeastern regions, but we'll let our supporters arrive in the city first. We'll block the roads after midday. At noon, we'll close Phuket airport and Hat Yai airport.

We will post this plan online [on the Manager website] at 10am.

Has anyone heard if this happened ? There'd be a lot of unhappy people (coming and going) if they did manage to close the airports. I was going to fly to Hat Yai on Saturday but may have to hold off on buying the tickets now.

I looked at the Manager website but couldn't see anything in English about the "plan".

[grantbkk]

Calling Thai soldiers "cowards" is daring them to take action. Who can defend PAD and Sondhi's position today?

Apparently you haven't read the past 12 pages? Even allegedly educated foreigners are defending PAD and SOndhi's position!!

I was giving the PAD believers a way out. I was referring to "after" the Bangkok Post interview. It is easy to be anti-Thaksin and anti-government but not so easy to support any of this that is going on today.

The PM's speech at 3:00 PM could be interesting.

[Zombienation]

If this action by PAD causes the price of beer to rise in the capital there is going to be hel_l to pay!

I know that some here on Thai Visa want to compare this situation (perhaps a revolution) to famous communist coups around the world since the 1950's. I prefer to compare PAD to that once infamous German Army corporal, Adolf Hitler.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) is using scare tactics to mold the opinion of the uninformed populace to their own ends. While complaining and pointing fingers at the elected government about anything and everything they refuse to negotiate on any subject and simply call for an end to present government rule. Sound familiar? Same thing happened two years ago which led to a coup d'état and the ousting of a seated, elected government.

This is nothing new. Many of us remember from our history lessons that back in the 1930’s Europe they had their own PAD saying exactly the same thing about the seated government. The Nazi Party used the economic hardships suffered by the Germans to grab power. Adolph Hitler and his ilk fooled the German people into joining their extreme and radical movement to overthrow the government.

Like the Nazi’s in Germany PAD has no business in a civilized Thai society. They are trampling on the peoples consciences and revising history to suit their own ends. These extreme, unconscionable leaders are master manipulators, preying on the weak, drunk with power and serve no constructive purpose. It is time to put an end to the madness and remove PAD and their self-serving leaders. They have had their fifteen minutes in the spotlight and have fooled innocent Thai people long enough.

IMHO

Nice, well your opinion is wrong and massively distorted.