Thai protests
The Bangkok protests organized by supporters of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra fell short of the million-man march that had been called for.
The protests equally fell short of the fears of middle-class citizens in the capital, who had expected a repeat of the bloody violence that marred demonstrations mounted by the “Red Shirt” faction last April. As it seemed last night, the impetus was fading from the street protests. Thaksin’s supporters are apparently casting around for a further way to register their demand for early elections. In a dramatic gesture Wednesday, the demonstrators poured gallons of their own collected blood outside the residence of the Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva. Thereafter, however, tens of thousands of the largely rural demonstrators began to return to their farms.
Thai society remains deeply riven. It is, however, to the credit of both the protesters and the authorities that these latest demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of Thais in support of Thaksin did not lead to bloodshed. This forbearance may point toward an accommodation between two highly polarized political groups. In essence, the status quo is represented by the “Yellow Shirts”, whose own massive protests in 2006 led to the military coup that ousted Thaksin. Two years later, after the exiled Thaksin’s political allies won a further election, more protests led to a judicial coup, whereby Thaksin’s party was banned and his political surrogates were forced from power.
Yellow is the color of the widely revered Thai royal family. Thaksin’s opponents include senior military men who are closely connected with the court. The Red Shirts represent the country’s large rural interests that have long felt marginalized from the political process. The irony is that Thaksin is a highly successful entrepreneur and product of the extraordinary middle class-led transformation of the Thai economy in the past 15 years. Apart from being charged with corruption while in office. Thaksin is also accused of bribing the rural electorate to form a power base. This is an odd accusation, since democratic politicians around the world regularly lure people to vote for them with expansive promises that uncharitably could be called bribes.
It is clear that Thailand cannot continue with such a fundamental split. Observers reckon that elections, which are currently scheduled for the end of the next year, will see yet another success for Thaksin’s party. However, whichever side wins, must not see their victory as an outright triumph over the opposition. That will merely perpetuate a dangerous and ultimately pointless rupture in Thai society. What is needed now is compromise and common sense. The personal bitterness felt toward Thaksin by his enemies which he has reciprocated, must be put aside. In the end, whoever leads Thailand must not have achieved power for its own sake but for the sake of improving Thai society and its remarkable economy. Since both sides of the political divide protest that is their aim, there must then be a middle ground where they can reach agreement even if they cannot resolve all of their differences.
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KIKO
Mar 21, 2010 20:21
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