Tag Archives: PAD

Thaksin royal pardon has Thailand coup watchers on alert as the 9s line up again

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Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on the campaign trail at Sara Buri - testing times ahead with royal decree application to pardon brother Thaksin. Photo: Courtesy PTP

After just 106 days in office the coming days promise to be a tense period for the government of Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (ยิ่งลักษณ์ ชินวัตร), with conditions approaching ideal for the Royal Thai Army (กองทัพบกไทย) to mount the country’s 19th coup d’état since absolute monarchy rule was abolished 79 years ago. Already the subject of strong public criticism over the way in which her government has handled the 2011 Thailand flood, public anger at the government’s plan to request a royal pardon for prisoners, including her disgraced older brother fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra (ทักษิณ ชินวัตร), is drawing heated condemnation from those opposed to the disgraced former leader’s return. Royal pardon discussion on back of blatant lie The … Continue reading →

Jatuporn to be Yingluck’s first test on clean Thailand government

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Jatuporn Prompan address red-shirt suppporters at Ratchaprasong in May, 2010

For the past three years one of the most familiar faces at red-shirt rallies across Thailand has been that of United Front for Democracy (UDD) co-leader and former Pheu Thai Party (PTP) MP Jatuporn Prompan, now languishing in the Bangkok Remand Center and threatening to become the first real test of how clean the newly elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra will be. While red-shirt supporters welcomed former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (อภิสิทธิ์ เวชชาชีวะ) fulfilling his promise to hold an early 2011 general election in Thailand, the dissolving of the Thai parliament also saw the removal of the parliamentary immunity veil that had prevented Jatuporn from joining fellow UDD leaders in jail following the collapse of the red-shirt protest in Bangkok … Continue reading →

Thainess, the economy & the 2011 Thailand general election

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The 42 parties that will contest the 2011 Thailand general election. Source: Bangkok Post Video "The Thai election explained".

The culmin- ation of more than three years of political unrest which have cost at least 150 lives are due to come to a head next Sunday (July 3) in Thailand when the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will seek its first mandate from the electorate to rule the Southeast Asa kingdom of some 66 million people with the 2011 Thailand general election. Abhisit landed the top job after lengthy protests by the royalist, right-wing People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), aka the yellow-shirts, against the trouble-plagued government of Samak Sundaravej and care-taker prime minister Somchai Wongsawat, seizing Government House and closing five Thailand airports, including both Bangkok airports, stranding hundreds of thousands of international tourists attempting to return home … Continue reading →

Thailand tourism industry prioritised to lead 2009 recovery as economy shrinks 5%

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Tourists to Thailand have dropped dramatically since the seizure of airports last year by the Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD)

Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has targeted the Thailand tourism industry as a priority for reviving the Thai economy in 2009  in a speech to members of the National Economic and Social Advisory Council (Nesac). In his policies for solving economic and social problems speech, Mr Abhisit said the government needed to boost Thailand’s economy via tourism, with diversified campaigns aimed at attracting more tourists. He said since the yellow shirt Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD) seizure of Suvarnabhumi Airort last year that had standard hundreds of thousands of international tourists to Thailand there had been a drastic cut in the number of foreign tourists to Thailand. The highlighting of Thailand’s tourism industry as being vital to the economic revival … Continue reading →

Red shirts defiant as “third hand” blamed for Thailand riots and assassination attempt: Thai tourism plummets

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Red shirts rally at Sanam Luang less than 24-hours after emergency decree lifted

Less than 24-hours after Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva removed the state of emergency decree for Bangkok and five other Thai provinces, red shirt pro-democracy supporters have rallied at Sanam Luang, a traditional political rallying ground in the center of Bangkok directly in front of Thailand’s Grand Palace. With the majority of its leadership in jail and 27 others evading arrest warrants, what has been termed the “next generation” in red-shirt leadership addressed a gathering estimated to exceed 8,000 people on Saturday (April 25, 2009). The new leaders admitted that the mass rally tactics of the past were a mistake and vowed to hold regular pro-democracy rallies in Bangkok and throughout provincial Thailand in the months ahead. The leaders promised … Continue reading →

Rumours fester among Bangkok red shirts as emergency decree continues

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Claims that the Thai army only fired over the heads of red-shirt protesters is repudiated by this photo clearly showing soldiers at Pratunam taking aim

One week after Thai soldiers clashed with rioting pro-democracy “red shirt” protesters on the streets of Bangkok the country is still governed under the state of emergency decree imposed by Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. The emergency declaration bans gatherings of more than five people for political purposes, censors news reports considered threatening to public order, and allows for the use of the Thai military to quell unrest. While the majority of those foreign tourists who have continued with their holiday despite the battle for Bangkok last week would hardly notice, armed Thai soldiers and police with riot shields remain stationed at strategic locations around Bangkok, particularly in the area around Government House. As the Government attempts an all out … Continue reading →

Monk – I saw Thai army shoot monk and others at Din Daeng

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Sajja says he saw Thai soldiers shoot a monk and around 10 other people at Din Daeng on April 12, 2009 and then remove the bodies and wash the road. Photo John Le Fevre

A Bangkok monk says claims by the Thailand government that the army only fired blanks at red-shirted pro-democracy supporters at Din Daeng last Monday are not true and that those shot include a Buddhist monk. The accusations by the head monk of a Bangkok city temple come despite repeated claims by Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Veijajiva that the only fatalities from the government crack-down on pro-democracy supporters were the result of clashes between protesters and residents in the Nang Lerng market area on Monday (April 13th) night. The monk, who chose the pseudonym “Sajja” (the word truth in Thai) for his safety and asked that his temple not be named, said he went to the Din Daeng area around 6.00am … Continue reading →