DPA
Bangkok - Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Thursday refused to resign his post despite growing pressure on him to step down after failing to evict thousands of protestors from Government House, the seat of power, for more than a week.
'I cannot leave because under a democratic system no one group can force me to resign,' Samak said in a broadcast to the nation Thursday morning. 'I will stay on to preserve the country's democracy. The whole world is watching us.'
Samak, Thailand's prime minister for the past seven months, has been under growing pressure to resign since Tuesday when pro-government and anti-government groups clashed in a pre-dawn street battle in Bangkok that left one person dead and 43 injured.
Samak's besieged government took another blow Wednesday night when Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag, a respected bureaucrat, tendered his resignation.
But Samak, in his broadcast, brushed off the resignation, claiming Tej was under pressure to quit from many people, including his wife.
Although Samak declared a state of emergency in Bangkok Tuesday and put the army in charge of solving the standoff at Government House, the military has announced it will not use force to evict the anti-government protestors who have seized the seat of government.
Army Commander-in-Chief General Anupong Paojonda told a press conference Tuesday that he would prefer to see the crisis solved by the legal system and parliament, throwing the responsibility back to the government.
Samak urged the public not to join the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a loose coalition of politically conservative groups, that seized Government House on August 26 and have occupied it since.
The prime minister described the PAD as a 'cult,' and asked Thais to question the movement's concept of democracy.
PAD leaders have proposed an alternative form of democracy called the '30-70 plan,' under which only 30 per cent of the members of parliament would be elected and 70 per cent appointed.
PAD followers, most of them middle-class people, claim to be fed up with Thailand's recent history of corrupt politicians who buy their way into power through the election system.
The PAD have insisted they will not leave Government House until Samak resigns.
The PAD first appeared on Thailand's political scene two and a half years ago when it led demonstrations to topple former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire populist politician who dominated Thai politics from 2001 to 2006.
Thaksin was overthrown by a military coup on September 19, 2006.
The PAD claims Samak is a stand-in for Thaksin, who is now living in self-exile in London.
'I cannot leave because under a democratic system no one group can force me to resign,' Samak said in a broadcast to the nation Thursday morning. 'I will stay on to preserve the country's democracy. The whole world is watching us.'
Samak, Thailand's prime minister for the past seven months, has been under growing pressure to resign since Tuesday when pro-government and anti-government groups clashed in a pre-dawn street battle in Bangkok that left one person dead and 43 injured.
Samak's besieged government took another blow Wednesday night when Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag, a respected bureaucrat, tendered his resignation.
But Samak, in his broadcast, brushed off the resignation, claiming Tej was under pressure to quit from many people, including his wife.
Although Samak declared a state of emergency in Bangkok Tuesday and put the army in charge of solving the standoff at Government House, the military has announced it will not use force to evict the anti-government protestors who have seized the seat of government.
Army Commander-in-Chief General Anupong Paojonda told a press conference Tuesday that he would prefer to see the crisis solved by the legal system and parliament, throwing the responsibility back to the government.
Samak urged the public not to join the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a loose coalition of politically conservative groups, that seized Government House on August 26 and have occupied it since.
The prime minister described the PAD as a 'cult,' and asked Thais to question the movement's concept of democracy.
PAD leaders have proposed an alternative form of democracy called the '30-70 plan,' under which only 30 per cent of the members of parliament would be elected and 70 per cent appointed.
PAD followers, most of them middle-class people, claim to be fed up with Thailand's recent history of corrupt politicians who buy their way into power through the election system.
The PAD have insisted they will not leave Government House until Samak resigns.
The PAD first appeared on Thailand's political scene two and a half years ago when it led demonstrations to topple former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire populist politician who dominated Thai politics from 2001 to 2006.
Thaksin was overthrown by a military coup on September 19, 2006.
The PAD claims Samak is a stand-in for Thaksin, who is now living in self-exile in London.
1 comment:
Oh! poor Thai, keep fighting untill both sides get what you wanted. Don't get me wrong I would say this is an punishment from boddah because Siam or Thai did all bad things to Khmer or Burma and Lao during these country engaged war.
And must be the spirit of the Khmer kings whos built the Preah Vihear temple and all other temple punished the Siam.
Wish Thai collape, and destroy every things.
You Siam now will be suffer for ever.
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