Thaksin phone-in blocked? Angry crowds in Chiang Mai

Ex-premier of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra was to have taken part in a live phone-in tonight to supporters massed in a Bangkok stadium, and at rallies around Thailand. However there was both anger and disappointment amongst the several thousand strong crowd in Chiang Mai when the authorities allegedly blocked the transmission of his satellite phone call from "somewhere in a neighbouring country". [Ed. at this stage there is no evidence that the phone-in was deliberately blocked. There was pressure on Thaksin to avoid further provocation, even from within the political groups he used to lead]

- technicians and organisers at Chiang Mai DAAD headquarters struggle to establish the satellite uplink, to no avail...

The anger was pretty muted in the circumstances. Imagine the reaction of a crowd somewhere in the West, gathered together at a major rally to listen to a revered, if fugitive former leader, only to be told that the transmission had been deliberately blocked by the authorities of that country. There would be outrage, demonstrations, possibly even riots. However this is Thailand - and there was a certain resignation at a not unexpected turn of events. Thailand's democracy is stuttering, and the prospect of real freedom of expression is even more remote after tonight, according to one of the Chiang Mai organisers.

One of the rally leaders puts on a brave face, but he couldn't mask his disappointment at what he saw as yet another deliberate attempt to stifle the voice of the ordinary Thai people...


Very striking is the composed and orderly nature of every rally I've been to here in Chiang Mai. A far cry from the gangs of stupid thugs that the PAD leaders would have their followers believe are gathering in hordes in the north of the country. With the help of an interpreter, I was able to chat to half a dozen red-shirted followers present at tonight's gathering, and they all expressed an articulate understanding of the issues involved. Hardly the ignorant peasants portrayed by their yellow-shirted opponents.

Plenty of passion - but no aggression

Not a single major Thai TV network broadcast the pre-recorded speech, only showing brief clips of the 50,000 strong gathering at the Bangkok stadium. In the address Thaksin suggested that Thailand was undergoing a "coup d'etat" targeting the newly formed democratic institutions, accusing the military of directly intervening in the current discussions over the formation of a new government.

He also berated PAD for their occupation of the main Bangkok airports, Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang, and appealed for unity.

Earlier in the evening, the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel at 6.30 pm. If the number of lights in the rooms is any indication, occupancy is extremely low, in line with the 10% reported by a number of top hotels in Bangkok

10.30pm, at the What? bar, Loi Kroh. A few expat regulars watch the Liverpool Hull match, barely a farang to be seen in the street outside...

To avoid accusations of bias... here are some yellow-shirts.

Taken in those innocent days when PAD hadn't hijacked the colour for their own purposes, and people happily wore yellow as a sign of respect for the King on a Monday.

Lest it be forgotten that ordinary people are the pawns in the machinations of the powerful as the game plays itself out...

RELATED POSTS:

November 27th - Thailand - Caught in a humiliating political farce
November 28th - Chiang Mai - the calm before the storm?
November 29th - Thai tuk-tuks to face down the tanks
November 29th - Red-shirts rally in Chiang Mai
November 30th - Thailand - the land of worn and tired smiles
December 1st - Crisis in Thailand? What crisis. Mai pen lai
December 3rd - Airport occupation over... or is it?

Chiang Mai - The calm before the storm?

V for victory signs from the cheerful pro-government supporters based at Chiang Mai's Warorat Grand Palace hotel earlier today ...

It was more of a party atmosphere at the headquarters of the red shirts on Friday afternoon. A big pro-government rally is planned for Saturday, with the high point of the day supposedly a phone call from exiled former PM and red shirt hero Thaksin sometime during Saturday evening. I plan on being around during the day to get a few photos and chat to some of the demonstrators (assuming the missiles don't start to fly...)

PAD headquarters, Chiang Mai

The sensationalist press bombards us with images of conflict but the real story is people sitting around waiting for 95% of the time. Tuk-tuk driver 'Beum' drove me a couple of miles to the opposition PAD base, in one of those middle-class walled estates you find dotted around town. Just before arriving he suddenly slammed on the brakes. He'd nearly forgotten to remove the red ribbon tied to his aerial. Could have been nasty...

Here there was definitely more of a siege mentality - understandable really, as unlike their strongholds in the south the yellow shirts in Chiang Mai are in a small minority.

Hidden behind a wall just around the corner from the PAD base, home-made shields

Rumours are flying about that a fleet of buses as well as a train-load of PAD supporters are on their way here. There is a definite feeling that trouble is imminent in a city that so far has been relatively unaffected by the conflicts in the Thai capital. It would be ironic if after months of tension down south in Bangkok, it all came to a head here over the next couple of days...

Thailand - caught in a humiliating political farce

Thursday 27th November - all flights to Bangkok from Chiang Mai cancelled

Those worried about making a trip to Thailand would be justified in thinking that the country is caught somewhere between a state of dangerous anarchy and a Broadway farce, going by reports from the international news media. People sporting colourful T-shirts seem to be in control of different parts of the country. A succession of politicians spend a few months in power issuing edicts which no one listens to, least of all the forces of order, until they themselves get kicked out for crimes against the state such as being paid a few quid to cook badly on TV, or whatever dirty linen their opponents can dredge up. Current PM Somchai has been accused of bribery. Worst of all he's allegedly been filmed taking an unidentified young lady out for 'dinner'. Scandalous.

Few tourists in need of advice at Chiang Mai airport. Even the Tourist Police are dozing off...

Just to confuse foreign onlookers a bit more the party in power has to change its name every so often. After Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party got the heave-ho from the military in 2006, it reincarnated as the People's Power Party - which itself will probably have to disband soon as it is accused of electoral fraud from the last time the people were allowed a vote. It will no doubt soon be reborn under a new name, and the same supporters will back it for the same reasons that made it popular in the first place, ie Thaksin-initiated policies giving certain hitherto unknown rights to the urban poor and the underprivileged country-dwellers in the likes of Isaan (NE Thailand province). A complete waste of time and energy then.

A bunch of old ladies and kids wearing yellow T-shirts and brandishing umbrellas are allowed to take over international airports and government buildings at will, while the police smile happily and politely open the doors for them.

The elected government is forced out of its official offices to take up residence in a Don Muang airport VIP lounge - but that doesn't last long either. The yellow T-shirt brigade moves in yet again, so the PM is looking for yet another home. If anyone's got a lock-up garage they don't need, please contact Somchai, c/o his gran somewhere near Chiang Mai, where he's currently holed up.

No sign of him here at the PM's Public Relations Office in Chiang Mai first thing Friday morning. The place was deserted (except for a single muppet standing guard, bottom right)...

The PPP supporters have gone for a nice vivid shade of red for their T-shirts just to make doubly sure we don't confuse them with PAD - the People's Alliance for Democracy. PAD has a novel concept of democracy, which mostly boils down to the belief that only its own supporters are clever and educated enough to understand politics. This is of course entirely consistent with the democratic principle, as there will be universal suffrage for all those privileged to have the brains in the first place to know to vote for PAD-supported policies. Stands to reason, dunnit.

The PPP supporters are most upset over the suggestion that they're a bunch of country bumpkins, and are demonstrating their superior intelligence by setting thugs on 60 year old PAD supporters, such as near Chiang Mai airport last night. The man was beaten to a pulp, and died.

The PPP politicians demonstrate their own intelligence by replacing the TV cook PM with exiled leader Thaksin's brother-in-law Somchai, to ensure that the dispute with PAD could do nothing but worsen.

In the meantime accusations and counter-accusations are bandied back and forth about who paid what to vote for whom, as if such scandalous behaviour has always been unthinkable in whiter-than-white, corruption-free Thailand, and as if either side has a significantly better record than the other in that respect. Riiiight.

The Army itself seems clueless. All a frustrated military could do was show its muscle by engaging in a senseless spat with Cambodia over a few square metres of useless jungle near a pretty temple that was built by the Khmers in the first place.

On Thursday night PM Somchai declared a state of emergency in the areas surrounding the two international Bangkok airports. He seemed to suggest that it would be enforced by the police and backed by military Naval and Air Force units. No mention of the Army whose chief Anupong Paojinda has been making rumblings in recent days. The latter gravely announced on Wednesday that PAD should immediately vacate the airports and the government should resign. Both ignored his 'advice' and said they would do no such thing. Another in a long line of losses of face during this lengthy drawn-out charade.

To borrow a theme from Spike's excellent summing-up over on Pattaya Days, the red and yellow muppets involved should perhaps all put their sweaty T-shirts together in a boiling wash, and produce an orange muppet government of national unity, before the Thai military does its usual trick of sending in the tanks.

Other than some isolated incidents, if you didn't watch the news in Chiang Mai you wouldn't even know that there was a national crisis. Life goes on...