What Is The Game Plan Of The Red-Shirts?

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE

What is the game plan of the Reds?

By Piyanart Srivalo

Members of the red-shirt movement are back under the media spotlight now that Yingluck Shinawatra has taken the prime minister's post, though one can't help but wonder what their real motive is.

On Tuesday, a court in Udon Thani released 22 red-shirt protesters detained for allegedly torching the provincial hall last May on a bail of Bt1 million per person. After this, red-shirt leader and Pheu Thai MP Natthawut Saikua declared that he would call on other Pheu Thai MPs to use their parliamentary position to bail out the remaining 110 red-shirt supporters being detained for similar charges across the country.

Being out on bail will allow these red-shirt supporters to fight freely for their innocence. After all, under the principles of democracy, a person is innocent until proven guilty.

Party-list MP Cherdchai Tantisirin said that since the government's key focus was reconciliation, the detained red shirts should be released so they can plead their case. Besides, he said, the voters had placed their trust in the Pheu Thai Party in last month's elections and, therefore, it had no choice but to struggle for democracy.

Then came a completely different idea from Deputy PM and Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit, who is also leader of the ruling party. He suggested that red-shirt villages in some provinces in the Northeast, which is Pheu Thai's stronghold, be dissolved because they were symbols of political discord. This has been seen as another move to bring about reconciliation.

However, some people might be confused about the pressure that the red shirts are putting on the government led by the sister of their patriarch Thaksin.

The Yingluck government is being pushed by red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan to pay Bt10 million each to the families of the 91 people killed during last year's political turmoil. Yesterday, he said that Yingluck had agreed with his proposal and would set up a committee to look into it.

Initially, the red shirts quietly accepted the status quo when their leaders were not given a single seat in Yingluck's Cabinet, but later some key members started making demands.

Chinnawat Habunpad, a Pheu Thai party-list candidate who failed in the July 3 election, called on other party-list MPs who were given ministerial portfolios to give up their MP status so others in the list could move up. There are 15 party-list MPs who were appointed as Cabinet members. "This is nothing. It's just a move made by the red shirts. They want to confirm their existence, especially leaders like Natthawut and Jatuporn," a key Pheu Thai member said.

However, there are a few things one cannot forget. The red shirts are the true supporters of Thaksin. They staged a huge rally that led to bloodshed last year just for Thaksin. They provided votes for the Pheu Thai Party, whose de-facto leader is Thaksin. Therefore, the conflicts between the red shirts and the Yingluck government can be a bit difficult to understand.

Although the red shirts appear to be putting pressure on Yingluck's government, maybe these moves are being made to create a new image. Perhaps, their leaders are trying to pave the way for the detainees to return to society as "free men", so their role in last year's violence can be covered up.

At least then, when some of them are named as ministers when the Yingluck government announces its first reshuffle, the general public could find it acceptable.

-- The Nation 2011-08-19

[aaacorp]

Maybe The Nation could speak about this : http://asiancorrespondent.com/62825/mass-grave-site-found-in-thailand/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BangkokPundit+%28Bangkok+Pundit%29

mass grave, 72 people, just corresponding to the disparition date of some red shirts...

[whybother]

Maybe The Nation could speak about this : http://asiancorrespo...ngkok+Pundit%29

mass grave, 72 people, just corresponding to the disparition date of some red shirts...

The Nation DID speak about it. The blog that you linked to was about a Nation article. And it's 169 people.

And there is a thread on TVF with 200 replies and 14000 views.

So go there and "speak" about it.

[TAWP]

Maybe The Nation could speak about this : http://asiancorrespondent.com/62825/mass-grave-site-found-in-thailand/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BangkokPundit+%28Bangkok+Pundit%29

mass grave, 72 people, just corresponding to the disparition date of some red shirts...

And even the paid propaganda tools, RA et al, now back off from their assertions that it is Red Shirts in the graves...