Protest Update

Yesterday, the government sacked the police chief because of his failed response to the terrorist taking of the airport. Yes, these people who so "love" Thailand are behaving like terrorists. The new chief officially ordered the PAD to leave the airports.

The PAD leadership responded that they would not leave, and would fight to the death. I only hope that if that is true, that the PAD core leadership is in the vanguard that clashes with police. Somehow I think that they are much too humble for such a fate, and would leave the honor of dying for their cause to their simple followers.

The government has been completely inept. Only three days before you officially tell them to stop breaking the law, disrupting commerce and making Thailand look like a third world backwards country. Its not completely their fault, as the police and military have not been responsive. Still, its been reported that each day this is costing Thailand one hundred million dollars. The long term impact could be even great. Still, the government looks like a bunch of fools. The Prime Minister returned from his trip to Peru and only barely mentioned anything about this situation.

The PPP, the dominant party in the government, has just stumbled all over itself since last year's election. First it elected Samak as the PM. Samak, who is known for his controversial statements and clashes with the press essentially said that the PPP was a proxy party for the party of the deposed PM Thaksin. If the goal was to try to bring about national unity, that wasn't the right approach. If the goal was to stir up a hornet's nest, then it was the right approach.

Then, after PM Samak was ruled ineligible because he had a cooking show on TV (he received money for it), the PPP selected Thaksin's brother-in-law to replace him. The second or third largest party in the government coalition then selected Thaksin's cousin as its party leader. You have to wonder if they were just doing it to piss off the opposition or they really don't trust letting the power out of their hands.

The government also keeps pushing to change the 2007 Constitution, drafted under the authority of the 2006 Coup. They are motivated in large part because if they do not, there is court case pending that could dissolve their party and the government.

The big problem is that the government does not have complete power over the military or even the police. In the U.S. and most western democracies, the military is under the command of the civilian government. Here its not legally or traditionally that way. This makes the government extremely ineffective when dealing with a situation like this. While the head of the military has said there will be no coup, he has suggested the government step down.

For all the government's flaws, the PAD is absolutely wrong and must be stopped. They government should attempt to use peaceful means to resolve this, but violence could become necessary. The government cannot agree to resign or to hold new elections without rewarding the PAD's despicable behavior. Even if they held new elections, there is not guarantee that the PAD will like the next one.