Pad Opens Party Headquarter With Little Fanfare

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NEW POLITICS PARTY

PAD opens party headquarter with little fanfare

By Thanong Khanthong

The Nation

Published on January 20, 2010

A bright sea of yellow did not dominate the opening of the New Politics Party's headquarters yesterday - instead it was light green, the party's new symbolic colour.

However, transforming the yellow-shirt movement into a formal political figure started off rather sluggishly. Even the celebrations were subdued.

Sondhi Limthongkul, clad in a light green jacket, did not wear the confident look of a fearless political warrior. Instead he was seen pacing around a small room in the building on Phra Sumeru Road - headquarters of the New Politics Party, hoping to become a reactionary force in politics.

He accepted flowers and a palm-sized Buddha statue from well-wishers, as monks had their breakfast in another room.

It was not 9.06am yet - the time deemed auspicious for opening the headquarters. Yet the low-key opening looked all but auspicious and the first evidence was that Sondhi's charm had lost its shininess. Instead, he looked worried about the tough game of politics and the rough road ahead, especially with his yellow-shirted supporters having such high expectations.

Science and Technology Minister Kalaya Sophonpanich showed up bearing a bouquet of flowers, and was closely followed by other Democrat MPs, including Somkiat Pongpaiboon.

Praphan Khunmee, a core leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, was seen welcoming the guests. Dr Chai-anan Samudvanija, a regular columnist for Manager Online, was also present to offer moral support.

Perhaps the lack of vim and vigour at this opening could be blamed on feng shui, or rather the lack of harmonious surroundings. Though the building chosen for the headquarters had the advantage of being located in one of Bangkok's oldest roads with Klong Bang Lamphu behind it, it somehow did not stand out as a venue of vigour and grandeur. The feng shui master apparent failed to take in all the ingredients to create a harmony between structure and utilisation.

The most inauspicious thing, though, was the clear absence of big-time VIP guests. The Democrats had only sent junior members, while other parties chose to stay away. This might imply that the New Politics Party would end up being isolated during the next elections.

Though Sondhi and other key leaders have hinted that New Politics Party will not be used to form a new government, but will instead grow into politics organically, this assertion hardly sounds convincing. The hard reality of Thai politics is that the Opposition has little effect on meaningful change.

Without the backing of financiers with deep pockets, the New Politics Party would be hard pressed to earn the 30 seats needed to qualify as a medium-sized political party. Sondhi may not be able to attract enough funds to lead his party to a decent victory.

An MP needs at least Bt30 million for campaigning and this does not even ensure a victory. In other words, the party would need at least Bt1 billion as seed money. Does the New Politics Party have this cash?

When former coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin and Gen Somjet Boonthanom, another coup member, showed up the mood just got darker. Sonthi now leads the Mataphum Party.

Sondhi's yellow-shirt movement's rallying against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra had provided a catalyst for the military coup in 2006.

Still, the new party's leaders realised the show had to go on. Core leaders of the party, including Suriyasai Katasila and Somsak Kosaisuk, assembled on a small stage behind the building to rekindle the spirit of unity. When it was time for Sondhi to speak, he let go in his usual style: "In the future, we would not join a coalition if it dwells on the old political formula. We are not ready to become a government or the Opposition, but choose to stay neutral and strive to create checks and balances in the government and look into corruption."

-- The Nation 2010-01-20

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[LaoPo]

PAD.....NEW POLITICS PARTY opens with little Fanfare

The "old" brigade will remember I have been slapped, flamed and attacked so many times I can't even recall, telling me that the PAD Movement would never form a Political Party....

But, I told them they already did, many years ago, and the paperwork was just sleeping in a drawer, waiting to be opened by Mr. Sondhi Limthongkul -again- (I can even spell his name without mistakes ) convicted but never consumed his time.

Amazing Thailand isn't it when Ministers and ex coup players attend the party and bring some nice flowers for dear old Sondhi....who never "served" his time How touching

Well, I'm really curious what the PAD will bring to the exiting continuing, and never dull, saga of Thai Politics.

LaoPo

[Credo]

It sounds more like a one-dimensional dinosaur than a political party from the report. And it's all the fault of the feng shui master. Perhaps the time wasn't so auspicious?

[hammered]

Most of thsoe who supported the PAD bakc in the old days of demonstrating over Thaksin corruption have moved on. Some even joined the red shirts. Many were happy the Dems came to power. Others put off by the poltical statements of the PAD or the drift to some odd mix of almost facism combined with virtually communist economic policies.

In short it is easy to set up an organizationm or pressure group against something or someone. However, it is very difficult to set up a poltical party that has a full spectrum of policies especially a party devoid of the normal politcal heavyweights or defectors from another party. Thinking about it try starting a party from scratch in the UK or USA and you wont get far.

The PAD were at their height when demonstrating against corruption against the then sitting TRT government. In many ways for the PAD it has all been downhill since the coup.

[Meridian007]

Once the PAD signed their deal with the devil, (the behind the scene powers, including the military), the whole movement changed direction. That's when they lost most of their support.

In many ways they were never meant to become a party, as they were always topic-focused rather than policy focused. I know that they needed to create policy because their topic (the TRT in power) finished with Abhisit, but their policies are distasteful to most, and won't garner much numerical support. A small amount of the elite will back it, but they won't get many votes unless they take a page from TRT and buy votes.

They worked well as a reactionary movement, that should have been allowed to dissipate after their goal was completed. This is just further ego stroking by the only man with as big of an ego as Thaksin, Sondhi Limthongkul. Oh well, one more into the pot...

[ballpoint]

Amazing Thailand isn't it when Ministers and ex coup players attend the party and bring some nice flowers for dear old Sondhi....who never "served" his time How touching

Amazing Thailand isn't it when sitting MP's and serving generals of the armed forces attend the party, ferment riots and bring gifts for dear old Thaksin....who never "served" his time. How pathetic.

[gunnyd]

At least they changed their colour to green instead of yellow. Since I have no interest in getting involved in Thai politics, it made me stop wearing my favourite shirt on Mondays. Frankly if any political party could introduce long term stability to Thai politics they would have my support. That would do more for tourism than free visas, changing the demographic and tag-line of their adverts and all of the various "crackdowns" don't help much either.

Of course the lack of fanfare/expected attendance could be seen as a good sign. The less unrest the better. Thailand can't afford the bad press.

[Dustybin]

Surely they must have had a 21 gun salute for the opening, just to remind everybody who has all the guns and who they are pointing at.

[Dustybin]

Most of thsoe who supported the PAD bakc in the old days of demonstrating over Thaksin corruption have moved on. Some even joined the red shirts. Many were happy the Dems came to power. Others put off by the poltical statements of the PAD or the drift to some odd mix of almost facism combined with virtually communist economic policies.

In short it is easy to set up an organizationm or pressure group against something or someone. However, it is very difficult to set up a poltical party that has a full spectrum of policies especially a party devoid of the normal politcal heavyweights or defectors from another party. Thinking about it try starting a party from scratch in the UK or USA and you wont get far.

The PAD were at their height when demonstrating against corruption against the then sitting TRT government. In many ways for the PAD it has all been downhill since the coup.

Well perhaps their role should now be demonstrating against corruption against the now sitting junta contrived,geremandered, Dem government.

Big role there for them.

[way2muchcoffee]

Well perhaps their role should now be demonstrating against corruption against the now sitting junta contrived,geremandered, Dem government.

Big role there for them.

I almost agree. They should continue demonstrating corruption in whatever form it appears. If they are military, dems, PTP, BJT, the police, the civil service and everywhere else. The king of corruption is still on the loose and desperately trying to get his ill-gotten loot back, so I guess they'll have their hands busy for a while yet.

Edited January 20, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[LaoPo]

Amazing Thailand isn't it when Ministers and ex coup players attend the party and bring some nice flowers for dear old Sondhi....who never "served" his time How touching

Amazing Thailand isn't it when sitting MP's and serving generals of the armed forces attend the party, ferment riots and bring gifts for dear old Thaksin....who never "served" his time. How pathetic.

Yes amazing indeed; when was that ?

LaoPo