PM condemns seizing of airport as illegal and threat to democracy
By Piyanart Srivalo
Naya Jaikawang
The Nation
Published on November 27, 2008


As the People's Alliance for Democracy came under fire for the seizure of Suvarnabhumi Airport, its rival, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, was defiant despite staring at what was looking increasingly like a dysfunctional government.

Addressing the nation on NBT from Chiang Mai last night, Somchai condemned the seizure of the airport as illegal, undemocratic and a threat to democracy and well-being of the country.

He vowed to convene an urgent Cabinet meeting today to discuss measures to bring the situation back to normal.

"We need to solve the problem. Unarmed gathering is always allowed, but the laws have been broken and armed people have caused damage to national interests," he said.

Somchai's chartered flight from Peru had to be diverted in the last minute to Chiang Mai late yesterday afternoon, and it was unclear how, where and when the scheduled Cabinet meeting will take place today. On top of that, Army chief Anupong Paochinda openly called for a House dissolution to end the damaging stand-off with the PAD.

Just how Somchai can go on running the country with paralysed air services, a defiant Army chief, and Cabinet members and lawmakers constantly on the run from belligerent protesters was the biggest question yesterday.

The Army chief's stand threw the ball back into Somchai's court, after the latter had put pressure on the general by appointing him head of a high-level multi-sector panel to monitor the political crisis. The Anupong panel's call for a House dissolution carried a thinly veiled message: the Army will not use force to dislodge the PAD protesters from Suvarnabhumi.

The Civil Court yesterday evening issued an urgent injunction to evict the protesters from the Suvarnabhumi International Airport. No immediate PAD reaction was available.

Somchai had seen the government's international work disrupted last week when PAD protesters surrounded Parliament and forced postponement of a session that would have addressed some foreign affairs commitments.

The PAD yesterday swarmed into the old Don Mueang Airport, which has been used partly as government headquarters since the movement seized Government House a few months ago, and managed to stop its fledging services as a temporary airport. This meant Cabinet members could not fly from Bangkok to join Somchai in a meeting upcountry.

Government strategists believe if Somchai can survive the next couple of days, great pressure will swing back against the PAD for its airport closure. The movement came under heavy local and international criticism yesterday, but the focus was on how Somchai would manage the crisis.

A violent showdown is feared today between the PAD and the pro-government red-shirt army, which was mobilising its followers to Bangkok yesterday.

Anupong, meanwhile, was ridiculed by both sides after his situation-monitoring panel made a dual call for the government to dissolve the House and the PAD to end its protests.

The panel, which brings together public and private-sector representatives including academics, expected the government to take the first move on the House dissolution, followed by the PAD to completely stop the opposition movement.

The proposal is based on the hope that should the government fail to heed the advice, the bureaucracy might resort to civil disobedience and stop implementing government orders. And in case the PAD fails to end the protests, social sanction will be imposed.

"The country is being affected by this crisis, which involves the government and the PAD," Anupong said. "It is therefore their responsibility to try and solve the conflict. The government should return power to the people and the PAD should end its activities. This is our proposal, not an attempt to put pressure on them."

Suraphol Nitikraipot, Thammasat University rector and a panel member, said he hoped society would come up with its own form of pressure if both sides remained stubborn.

"We think that if the government returns power to the people, the PAD automatically will have to end its campaign," he said.

In his NBT speech last night, Somchai also sternly asked government officials to strictly perform their tasks to help bring the country back to normal.

"My position is not as important as the country's law and order as well as democracy. This is a government elected by the people and we will keep doing our job to the best of our ability," he said.

Quelle