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Leaders of the Red Shirts, very clear in their demands for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return to the country and to the nation’s premiership, have recently been making precise accusations against individual members of His Majesty’s Privy Council, notably its president, retired General Prem Tinsulalonda, himself a former prime minister. The Red Shirts, however, saved the term “Big Dog” for one of the other Privy Council members who had earlier in the week made remarks critical of Thaksin.
Never before in the history of Thailand have public accusations of such magnitude been made against privy councilors. In reply to some of these charges, the council’s president, Gen. Prem, has been reserved, stating to date that he does not intend to press charges, but recently saying that people should not make comments about councilors.
Correspondingly, there is speculation as to the motives for his reserve. Some reason that further angering of Thaksin will only lead to more charges against Prem, while a different view holds that Thaksin is just blowing smoke and doesn’t have much more to blow.
But the Red Shirts are not of that opinion. They have set aside April 8 as a day of reckoning, calling in tens of thousands of supporters from across the country to bring about a reversal of Thailand’s government – that is, putting it back into the hands of the Thai Rak Thai Party and Thaksin Shinawatra.
Simultaneously they have called for the immediate resignation of five of the country’s elites, including the president of the Privy Council, two other Privy Council members, the foreign minister and finally, the prime minister.
Red Shirt leaders appearing on stage recently have referred to the popular Privy Council President Prem Tinsulalonda as “Ee Prem,” the prefix an insulting diminutive, the “ee” not dissimilar to “jerk.” These insulting and yet continuous demands over the last couple of weeks have set tempers on edge on the one hand, and posed warnings of violent strife on the other.
The People’s Alliance for Democracy leader, Sondthi Limthongkul, an ultra-monarchist, has informed the public that his organization would stand by and let the next several days, April 8-10, pass in the hope that the Red Shirt movement will have petered out by then.
For April 8, the criminal fugitive and yet highly popular Thaksin has promised a “surprise” for his supporters. What that means is open to contention. Does it mean that Thaksin himself will return and demand the freedom to walk around despite a warrant out for his arrest? Or does it mean he will open up the can of worms a bit more and name more names in what he alleges are plots to undermine his reputation and good deeds for the nation?
That Thaksin recently named names – at the same time being careful to indicate that he felt His Majesty the Thai king was not aware of plotting by some of his innermost advisers – proves that he is committed to putting things back in order, his way. His opponents fear that Thaksin may actually make a successful comeback, wrest power back from the military Privy Council members he alleges to have been involved in plots against him, and then quietly but surely get even with his enemies and others who sided with them.
When in power, Thaksin left well over 3,000 dead on Thailand’s streets and back alleys and homes, most as a result of his war on drugs, but also many in efforts to pressure Muslims in the southern region to roll over and play dead, at least to stay out of his way. How Thaksin deals with people with whom he has differences is no secret.
Thais must ask themselves whether getting Thaksin back is worth duplicating the same conditions that led to his 2006 overthrow.
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(Frank G. Anderson is the Thailand representative of American Citizens Abroad. He was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer to Thailand from 1965-67, working in community development. A freelance writer and founder of northeast Thailand's first local English language newspaper, the Korat Post – www.thekoratpost.com – he has spent over eight years in Thailand "embedded" with the local media. He has an MBA in information management and an associate degree in construction technology. ©Copyright Frank G. Anderson.)
