Thai govt sticks to Feb 2 snap election; Oust me by voting, Yingluck urges opponents

Thai govt sticks to Feb 2 snap election

Saturday, January 18, 2014 – 03:00

Nirmal Ghosh

Indochina Bureau Chief In Bangkok

The Straits Times

Thailand’s embattled government will go ahead with a snap election on Feb 2, raising the probability of more aggressive protests by groups intent on derailing it and forcing caretaker premier Yingluck Shinawatra out of office.“If people don’t want this government, they should go out and vote,” Ms Yingluck said after meeting 37 political parties. She said all agreed that the election should not be delayed. But neither the opposition Democrat Party nor the anti-government protest movement attended.

On Wednesday, thousands of anti-government protesters from the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) marched through the upper Sukhumvit-Ekamai area calling for Ms Yingluck to quit.

The Aeronautical Radio of Thailand (AeroThai), which controls all air traffic communications, said there would be no disruption to its operations despite threats from an aggressive student group allied with the PDRC.

The PDRC has asked the Network of Students and People for the Reform of Thailand, led by Ramkhamhaeng University student union leader Uthai Yodmanee and human rights lawyer Nititorn Lamlua, not to disrupt air traffic.

But there has been no assurance by the group – which has also said it may seize the Stock Exchange of Thailand building.

“We are confident we can continue working; we have three alternative operation sites ready,” Ms Duangta Samitsuwan, AeroThai vice-president, told The Straits Times.

Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipun said over the phone that if the student network tried to disrupt AeroThai’s work, the company’s first step would be to negotiate. Unarmed military units were in place in AeroThai’s compound, and backup power and locations were ready, he said.

Ms Yingluck said in a Twitter message that she would not resign. “Democracy belongs to the entire Thai people,” she said.

On Wednesday night, a small explosive device was lobbed at the home of Democrat Party leader and former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, causing no injuries. Mr Abhisit was not at home at the time.

PDRC leader Suthep Thaugsuban threatened last Tuesday to have the prime minister and Cabinet detained and told their families to evacuate “in case of an emergency”.

The PDRC wants the polls delayed and an unelected “people’s council” set up to run the country and institute reforms. It aims to “eradicate” the “Thaksin regime”, referring to the political dominance of former premier and Ms Yingluck’s brother Thaksin Shinawatra, who is in self-exile abroad. His supporters have rallied in the north and north-east, and even closer to Bangkok but not in the city, to back the Feb 2 polls.

Anger on both sides is high.

The stock market’s turnover on Wednesday was a sizeable 35.37 billion baht (S$1.37 billion), but the composite index ended down 18.84 points or 1.45 per cent, to 1,277.03 points, ending gains on Monday and Tuesday.

The election may still be derailed by legal challenges or fierce protests, said Chulalongkorn University political science professor Pitch Pongsawat. “The good thing is that the military has stayed out of it so far. But the PDRC will try and draw the military in.”

Political scientist Panitan Wattanayagorn from the same university, once a spokesman for Mr Abhisit, told The Straits Times that “the government is walking into another crisis on Feb 2”.

“There could be a big confrontation on Feb 2. There are elements in the PDRC who want to push the envelope. It is Mr Suthep’s job to keep them in check.”

Oust me by voting, Yingluck urges opponents

Friday, January 17, 2014 – 21:34

The Nation/Asia News Network

THAILAND – Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told foreign media Friday that the easy way to bring her down is casting the ballot in the coming election as other unconstitutional ways could not fix up the problems.

She told representatives of 15 foreign media on the on-going situation that if the country could pass through the February 2 election, the political conflict would be over.

Massive anti-government protest in the capital called Yingluck to step down ahead of the election paving the way for outsiders to set up care taking government to reform the country.

Asked if isn’t it time for the Shinawatra family to distant itself from Thai politics and shouldn’t she resign now for the good of the country, Yingluck said: “I’m here because my duty as caretaker prime minister until new government is elected. Cannot say I just step down. Using vote in election is the best way.”

She urged all conflicting parties to sit together to explore the way out and the protesters’ proposal could not be done constitutionally.

The coup, if any, to topple her government, would not be a solution. The government would do its best to maintain peace and order in the country, she said.

Asked if she consulted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, her brother about the situation, she said she did not but kept talking only with her deputies and security team.

Democrats call for Yingluck to quit

Friday, January 17, 2014 – 21:14

AFP

THAILAND – Democrat Party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut Friday called on caretaker Premier Yingluck Shinawatra to resign – to take responsibility for irregularities in the controversial rice-pledging scheme.

“She is losing the legitimacy to push for reforms. Who will listen to her? If she is sincere, she should step down. She can use this [NACC resolution] as an excuse [to resign] with her brother Thaksin,” he said.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) resolved on Thursday to press charges against 15 people involved in fake government-to-government rice deals claimed to have been signed by the government.

The NACC said it would also investigate Yingluck for alleged dereliction of duty for allowing corruption to plague the scheme.

Chavanond said the NACC decision showed the rice-pledging policy was wrong and could lead to corruption.

Former Democrat MP Warong Dechgitvigrom, who filed the complaint against Yingluck in relation to the scheme with the NACC, said the commission’s decision should serve as a lesson for civil servants to learn that they cannot get away with illegal behaviour.

Meanwhile, the NACC will officially inform Yingluck of its upcoming investigation into her alleged dereliction of duty in allowing corruption to plague the rice-pledging scheme.

The PM will also be given a list of people leading the inquiry.

The NACC issued a resolution to set up a subcommittee to investigate Yingluck, who is also caretaker defence minister.

“She will be informed of the NACC resolution and names of the subcommittee’s members,” NACC deputy secretary-general Vittaya Arkompituak said Friday.

Thai Prime Minister struggles to stay in power

BANGKOK – From inside her “war room” in a temporary office at the Defense Ministry, Thailand’s beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is watching television feeds of flag-waving protesters trying to bring down her government.

BY –

15 HOURS 4 MIN AGO

BANGKOK – From inside her “war room” in a temporary office at the Defense Ministry, Thailand’s beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is watching television feeds of flag-waving protesters trying to bring down her government.

The demonstrators have taken over key pockets of central Bangkok, blocking off their territory with sandbag walls guarded by supporters. They refuse to negotiate, and they’re trampling campaign billboards bearing Yingluck’s image amid increasing doubt that the election she called for next month can be held.

Yingluck can’t order a police crackdown for fear of triggering a military coup. And she is now facing a serious legal threat: The country’s anti-corruption commission has announced that it will probe her handling of a controversial rice policy, an investigation that could force her from office if she is found guilty.

What’s the best way to deal with it all?

“Keep calm. And stay cool,” Yingluck said, flashing a brief smile as she rode an elevator at the Defense Ministry this past week, headed for a meeting to monitor the crisis and discuss strategy with top advisers.

Thailand has been plagued by sometimes bloody bouts of unrest ever since then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – Yingluck’s older brother – was overthrown by the army in 2006 amid charges of corruption and alleged disrespect for the monarchy, which he denies.

The coup touched off a societal schism that in broad terms pits the majority rural poor who back the Shinawatras against an urban-based elite establishment supported by the army and staunch royalists who see Yingluck’s family as a corrupt threat to the traditional structures of power. Yingluck’s opponents – a minority that can no longer win at the polls – argue the Shinawatras are using their electoral majority to impose their will and subvert democracy.

The power struggle has taken place against what analysts also see as a battle for control over a crucial transition period when the country’s 86-year-old monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, passes from the scene. But for much of it, Yingluck had stayed out of the spotlight.

Just three years ago, she was largely unknown – the director of a family real estate business, a political neophyte with no experience in government. Today, she is in the political fight of her life – a besieged prime minister who cannot use her own office and whose government has been displaced to myriad backup offices across Bangkok because demonstrators have surrounded her ministries.

“We’ve had to adapt the way that we work. I have ordered every ministry to adapt,” Yingluck said Thursday. “It’s like we are working by remote.”

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban – who is wanted by police on charges of insurrection – brazenly vowed to “capture” Yingluck and her Cabinet this past week. The threat is not taken seriously, but Yingluck takes no risks.

“I don’t go to anywhere deemed dangerous,” she said, responding to a question about her safety.

Since Monday, anti-government demonstrators have tried to keep up the pressure by marching across Bangkok, and seizing parts of the city. The protests have been peaceful, but violence has occurred nearly every night, with shooting attacks at protest venues and small explosives hurled at the homes of top protest supporters, including the city’s governor, a political rival of Yingluck’s.

On Friday, a grenade was hurled at marching demonstrators, killing one man and wounding dozens of people. Suthep, who was in the procession but was not wounded, quickly blamed the government. Yingluck urged the police to quickly make arrests, saying she opposed the use of force and was concerned that the situation was becoming increasingly chaotic.

Since assuming the premiership after 2011 elections, Yingluck has struggled to overcome allegations that she is her brother’s puppet. The Pheu Thai party’s landslide victory came largely thanks to Thaksin. The campaign slogan – “Thaksin Thinks, Pheu Thai Acts” – made the party’s political mechanics blatantly clear.

Yingluck’s opponents say she is carrying on the practices of her billionaire brother by using the family fortune and state funds to influence voters and cement her grip on power. But she has widespread support among Thailand’s poor majority because of the populist policies that have brought them things like virtually free health care.

During her first two years in office, Yingluck walked a careful tightrope with the army and her political rivals, managing an unspoken truce that kept the nation calm. But the last few months have badly shaken her grip on power. Critics say she brought much of it on herself with a badly misjudged attempt to rehabilitate Thaksin in a general amnesty bill that triggered widespread opposition. Thaksin, now living in Dubai, has lived overseas since 2008 to avoid a jail sentence on corruption charges that he says were politically motivated.

Yingluck’s economic competence has also come under attack, particularly over a disastrous rice pledging scheme that has cost the government billions of dollars, left it with massive amounts of unsold rice and drawn criticism from the International Monetary Fund. On Thursday, Thailand’s anti-corruption commission announced that it would investigate her role in it, saying she may have been criminally negligent.

A separate corruption case now under scrutiny could also see Yingluck’s party thrown out of office and its members barred from politics.

Although clashes between police and protesters have occurred, Yingluck has mostly taken a soft approach to dealing with the latest unrest, ordering security forces to avert violence. It is a strategy that risks making her appear weak, but one she must pursue because she does not want to give the army any reason to intervene.

Last month, Yingluck dissolved the lower house of Parliament and called Feb. 2 elections to ease tensions. But Suthep is demanding reform before any vote is held. The protesters want to install a non-elected council of “good people” to take power, while Yingluck says the constitution bars her from stepping down as caretaker prime minister and allows no legal means to delay the ballot.

The result is deadlock, with no clear way out.

“She’s not done a bad job, given that she has responded to everything that has been thrown at her,” said Chris Baker, a political economist who has co-authored several books about Thaksin. “I don’t think there’s very much she can do in terms of negotiation at the moment.”

The tone of the protest movement has become venomous in recent weeks. The Thai tradition of politeness has been cast aside, and Yingluck’s femininity, an asset at the start of her term, has been used against her in crude tirades from the protest stage.

The strain has been evident, and Yingluck has occasionally teared up in public, once asking: “Do you not want me to set foot on Thai soil anymore?”

On Friday, a confident Yingluck said she was doing her best.

“I don’t know what happened to democracy in Thailand,” she told reporters. “But we have to keep (our) democracy. That’s why we have to … have elections as soon as possible.” AP