State of Emergency

Today the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency due to some red shirt protesters invading parliament and disrupting the proceedings.  The MP's and cabinet ministers retreated for their safety.

The state of emergency of emergency gives the government broad powers to temporarily (hopefully) suspend some civil liberties.  It allows the army to detain suspects for up to thirty days without a trial, prohibit news coverage deemed to threaten the public interest, impose curfews and prohibit public gatherings.

In related news, the red shirts are refusing to retreat from either their original protest base of the Phan Fa Bridge, or their new one at the Ratchaprasong intersection.  The government has already issued criminal summons for ten of the red shirt leaders and promises legal action against those who break the law.  Meanwhile, the head of the army has declared that under the current circumstances, the army will not use force to remove the protesters.

All in the Family

Alas, I'm not referring to 70's sitcom featuring the iconic Archie Bunker, but rather Thai politics. Today the Thai parliament avoided dissolution and elected PPP deputy leader Somchai Wongsawat as the new PM.

In addition to (or perhaps because of) his role as the deputy leader of the PPP, PM Somchai also had the qualification of being the brother-in-law to deposed PM Thaksin. Of course the PAD protestors are not happy with the decision, decrying Somchai as a Thaksin puppet.

Speaking of Thaksin, today the Thai Supreme Court also delayed the verdict against Thaksin and his wife on a land buying deal. The court postponed the verdict until October 21st, stating that the couple should be present for the verdict.

If anyone has any doubts about the verdict, this should certainly make it clear. The court is certainly not interested in their presence to apologize for wasting their time. I think its pretty clear that a guilty verdict and some jail time are on the way. Given that she has already fled the country after one guilty verdict, the chances of them coming back had the court rendered a guilty verdict are pretty slim.