Yellows' Return To Thai Street Politics

[george]

'Yellows' return to Thai street politics - Focus

by Amelie Bottollier-Depois

BANGKOK, January 30, 2011 (AFP) - With neatly spaced tents, massages, free vegetarian meals and a heavy dose of nationalist rhetoric, Thailand's powerful royalist "Yellow Shirts" are back on the streets of Bangkok.

More than a thousand people have camped out around the government's compound since Tuesday, demonstrating against its handling of a border dispute with neighbouring Cambodia.

Despite relatively small numbers compared to their arch enemies -- the anti-government "Red Shirts" whose most recent rally attracted nearly 30,000 people -- the group has managed to choke off streets around Government House.

Yellow Shirts are a force to be reckoned with in Thailand's colour-coded politics and have helped to claim the scalps of three governments in under five years, including that of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The group, officially the People's Alliance for Democracy, want the government to take a tougher stance on the thorny issue of the Thai-Cambodian border.

Tensions centre on 4.6 square kilometres (1.8 square miles) of land around the ancient Preah Vihear temple, which the World Court ruled in 1962 belonged to Cambodia, although the main entrance lies in Thailand.

"I came here to help my country. We have to fight to protect our land," said protester Chutikarn Rattanasupa, 42, a grocery shop owner from Nakhon si Thammarat in southern Thailand.

The Yellows, who boast support from Bangkok elites and elements in the military, used to be linked to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, but the relationship has soured.

Abhisit came to power in 2008 after Yellow rallies which helped to eject two pro-Thaksin governments. The protests culminated in the seizure of two Bangkok airports, stranding over 300,000 travellers.

Two years earlier the Yellows had flexed their muscles with demonstrations that destabilised Thaksin's own government, paving the way for the military coup that unseated him.

Paul Chambers of Heidelberg University in Germany said Abhisit may be able to keep his "Teflon prime minister" reputation if he does not bend to the Yellows' demands.

But at the same time, "if he does not give in, I think the protests will continue building," he added.

The border issue heated up when seven Thais were arrested in Cambodia in December for illegal entry and trespassing in the disputed zone, including a Yellow activist who remains in jail facing spying charges.

But Pavin Chachavalpongpun, of the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies in Singapore, said the territory dispute with Phnom Penh is just an excuse for the Yellows to "return into the limelight".

"They just want to regain political credibility and the only thing they can do is to attack the current government, whatever the government is," he said.

Thailand's street groups, with an eye on elections looming before February 2012, are likely to become ever more prominent, said Chambers.

And the stakes are high. Last year's April and May protest by the mainly rural and working class Red Shirts left more than 90 people dead in clashes between troops and civilians.

"The shirts -- of all colours -- are getting out and about to make themselves heard loud and clear," he said.

At the Yellows' rally site, there is almost a festival atmosphere.

Facilities provided for the comfort of protesters include toilets, showers and recycling bins, while stalls sell everything from watches to amulets and a caricaturist is on hand to sketch souvenirs.

A sign proclaiming "Free vegetarian food", next to an assortment of dishes and a mountain of cabbage, signals the work of a group of blue-clad radical Buddhists who are busily providing nourishment at the gathering.

But coils of barbed wire between the camp and the locked gates of the government compound are a reminder that the Yellows have been here before.

"I stayed 193 days in 2008 and this time I'm prepared to stay too," said Nittaya Kurakan, 40, the owner of an accountancy firm.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2010-01-30

[whybother]

Yellow Shirts are a force to be reckoned with in Thailand's colour-coded politics

WERE a force to be reckoned with. They don't have the same support for this issue as before.

[trogers]

"I stayed 193 days in 2008 and this time I'm prepared to stay too' date='" said Nittaya Kurakan, 40, the owner of an accountancy firm.

[/quote']

When will you guys camp at the airport again?

[katasyd]

I'm all for this constant protesting and political trouble.

Block the airport, block the governments ability to function and continue to not enforce whatever laws are supposed to be in place.

As the rest of Asia excels and develops, Thailand will be left behind to ponder what the hell happened to their economy and they will be fighting for nothing as it's all dried up in the end.

Thailand will never leave their 3rd world status behind.

[trogers]

I'm all for this constant protesting and political trouble.

Block the airport, block the governments ability to function and continue to not enforce whatever laws are supposed to be in place.

As the rest of Asia excels and develops, Thailand will be left behind to ponder what the hell happened to their economy and they will be fighting for nothing as it's all dried up in the end.

Thailand will never leave their 3rd world status behind.

3rd? I have always thought double-digit. The local called it - TiT.

[Edwin Buurman]

Yellow, don't create a war. The leaders of the PAD should be hold accountable and liable if danage occurs.

A former admirer of the PAD/Yellow

[jayjay0]

Well if the army was really runing the country as some would have us believe they would have been gone yesterday.

While they have a rite to protest they do not have the rite to interfere in Government business or private citizens lives.

If you were to treat them as they treat others they would be screaming abuse at the top of there lungs.

When is the government going to learn they can not let a few malcontents most with no visible means of support other than what there bosses are giving them go beyond the point of protest to the point of interfering. did they learn nothing from the red shirts.

[jillwilliams999]

This is a good one. Watch 6:20 Kasit confirm that there is no overlap, 4.6 km is 100% Thailand. .

[housepainter]

It's a no news item that cobbles together bits of other news items and still manages to say nothing other than 'I filled thos column inches you asked me to.'

A protest of 1000 persons by a group that formerly commanded numbers in excess of a 100 k is dismal and signals death throes. Even the fans of West Ham don't stay away in numbers like that.

These misguided morons ought to hop on a bus and go walk about over the border into Cambodia. That dose of reality would see accountants longer to back behind the desk and number crunching, leading the exciting life that city accountants do. John Major was facing a life in the circus until he ran away from the big top's lions, the trapeze and fire eating to discover logarhythms and join a firm of accountants.

At last I learned that Heidelberg University is in Germany. That came as a surprise. I'm hoping to find out where the Dallas Cowboys, Manchester United, the Vienna Boys Choir, Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Tower of London are.

[Thai at Heart]

Obviously previous PAD protests were simply to get rid of Thaksin.

I think this is very much a case of "no money, no honey". Without the tacit support of a lot of people behind the scenes, it appears the PAD is struggling to maintain any significant role at the political table, thank god.

All we need now is a couple of good thunderstorms, and they will all hopefully run home like good little nationalists. Cloud seeding anyone?

The leaders need to stay of the Kool-Aid for a while, and realise that they were just part of a concerted effort by more than just the PAD on their own, to get rid of one man. The PAD never represented "the people" before, and they patently do not represent "the people" now. They were permitted to do what they did because it suited the requirements of a part of the system in this country.

They do not have permission this time, so no one listens, and I cannot believe that they will be allowed to oust the Abhisit government. They have no interest in the benefit of the country. They simply demand to be listened to without possibility of negotiation. I wonder how long it may take for enough of the important people in this country to lose patience with these idiots and realise that the PAD, whilst it delivered what they wanted a few years ago, is now an active hindrance to their, and the country's interests?

This protest will fizzle out, but watch in a few months to see the payback on the leaders. I don't expect them to miss like they did with Sondhi.

Edited January 30, 2011 by Thai at Heart