Thailand: ASEAN and Domestic Unrest

Members of Thailand’s Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship protesting in Bangkok on Dec. 28, 2008 (PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images)

January 6, 2009
StartFor (USA)

Thailand’s Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD), the so-called Red Shirts who support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, promised Jan. 6 to disrupt a Feb. 13-15 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.

Thailand’s persistent political tumult, now coming during a time of global economic crisis, is making other key ASEAN members impatient and hence more willing to proceed with regional economic initiatives without Thailand.

The Thai government saw a change in December 2008 when the Southeast Asian country’s Constitutional Court banned the pro-Thaksin ruling party after 10 months of large-scaled protests in Bangkok by the opposition Democrats. But since then, the Democrat Party took power, and now Red-wearing supporters of the former government are lodging protests of their own. Like the Democratic protesters of 2008, the Red Shirts have targeted the ASEAN summit because it is a high-profile event set to take place in Thailand, which they hope to exploit to force new elections.

The upcoming 14th ASEAN summit already has had a tough time. Originally scheduled for December in Bangkok, social unrest in the Thai capital caused officials to move the event far up river from the capital to Chiang Mai. But Thailand’s social and political turmoil worsened in the meantime, and ultimately Bangkok suggested that the foreign ministers of ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam) resort to an impromptu meeting in Jakarta to present the much-hyped ASEAN charter that transforms the group into a legal entity and defines its free-trade goals. After debating other dates, members rescheduled the full summit for February, and agreed to keep it in Thailand after the assurances from the country’s new Democratic leadership.

During normal times a delayed ASEAN summit would be an embarrassment to the host, but not geopolitically relevant. During a financial and economic crisis, however, the importance of the ASEAN summit increases. This is because it is one of the few venues of discussion and cooperation when countries are most inclined to slight each other in pursuit of their individual interests.

If the new government in Bangkok cannot take control, other ASEAN states will seek to dodge Thailand and hold meetings among themselves. Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia already have demonstrated a willingness to work around Thailand (and the latter three make up the bulk of Thailand’s inter-ASEAN trade).

While the group formally is committed to full equality among members, promising not to interfere in each other’s internal affairs, the seemingly interminable interruptions from Thailand are trying its patience. In December, six members (including the aforementioned) signed three deals covering trade, investment and services, while Thailand, the Philippines and Myanmar were left to catch up. Overall, member states are growing frustrated with ASEAN’s inability to act as a unit when it most needs to — and Thailand is increasingly part of the problem rather than the solution.

Pro-government rally raises the heat in Thai power struggle [Bangkok to fall? បាងកករលំ?]

Pro-government demonstrators dressed in red hold a rally to display their support of the Prime Minister (Photo: EPA)

Declaring their love of democracy, supporters of the Prime Minister stage their own show of force as explosions rock the capital. Oliver Wright reports from Bangkok

Monday, 1 December 2008
EPA

Thousands of pro-government supporters took to the streets of Bangkok yesterday in a significant show of strength, as tensions were further raised in the Thai capital by a series of explosions that left 51 demonstrators injured.

The explosions, which were not claimed, hit anti-government protest sites including Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's Bangkok office compound, which protesters seized in August, an anti-government television station, and a road near the main entrance to Bangkok's domestic airport, where protesters have been camped out for the last six days.

The Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD) said they will stay near the main government buildings for as long as the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) continue to occupy Bangkok's two main airports.

But their main fear is that the army, whose senior leaders are sympathetic to the cause of PAD, may try to topple the government, under the pretext of ending the crisis. They hope their visible presence on the streets will deter this.

By early evening at least 20,000 people had gathered, most wearing red which is associated with their cause. Videos of the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra were being sold, along with red T-shirts and banners with his picture on.

"We love Thaksin. He is our hero," said one banner. Mr Thaksin, who is Mr Somchai's brother-in-law, was deposed in a 2006 military coup and fled Thailand to escape corruption charges. However, he still holds huge sway among his supporters – many of whom are poor and come from rural parts of Thailand, in contrast to the urban business classes who tend to support PAD.

Duang Yao said she was intending to sleep out until the threat to the airport had been lifted. "I love democracy and support the government," she said. "We have to fight to keep it. I will not go till we are safe."

On Saturday night, attackers set off grenades at the PAD demonstrations in the government compound and an anti-government television station, wounding 51 people, four of them seriously.

Yesterday, in a largely symbolic move, police ordered the airport protesters to disperse, banning gatherings of more than five people and warning offenders that they would be jailed or fined.

Some airlines are using a small, former military airport at theU-Tapao naval base, about 90 miles south-east of Bangkok. But authorities there have been overwhelmed by the hundreds of passengers cramming into the facility, trying to get their bags scanned through a single X-ray machine. More than 450 Thai Muslims who had been stranded at the main Suvarnabhumi airport for four days were bused to U-Tapao yesterday to board an Iran Air plane for the Haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

On Saturday, hundreds of tourists gathered at Thai Airways' cramped ticket office looking for ways out of the country. Slumped in chairs, travellers swapped tales of being stuck in the airport for 23 hours. "As time goes on, it becomes more and more stressful," said Julie Lewis, 46, from Devon, who came to Thailand for a wedding. "This has really put a complete damper on the trip. Our last memory will be the fact that this happened."

"We have work to do, families to look after," said John Neilson, a 67-year-old computer consultant from Salisbury, Wiltshire. "I've got a £12,000 contract that starts Monday. If I'm not there, I don't get paid."

Some have taken buses hundreds of miles to airports on the southern island of Phuket, in the northern city of Chiang Mai or overland to neighbouring Cambodia and Malaysia.

Some Thais are looking to the judiciary for a way out of the crisis. The Constitutional Court is expected to rule soon on whether three parties in the governing coalition, including Mr Somchai's People's Power Party, committed electoral fraud. If found guilty, the parties would be dissolved immediately, and executive members including Mr Somchai would be barred from politics for five years.

Others are counting on the monarchy to end the standoff. Revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has repeatedly brought calm in times of turbulence during his62-year reign, will give his annual birthday-eve speech on 4 December.