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Travelers leave behind a Thailand still in crisis
Associated Press - December 6, 2008
Grant Peck, Bangkok – Thailand's main international airport may take more than a month to resume full operations, an official said Saturday, while the abrupt return of exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's powerful ex-wife threatened to deepen the country's political crisis.
The reopening of the airport, still partially crippled after a weeklong siege by anti-government protesters, had raised hopes Thailand was emerging from the chaos of the past months. However, many Thais were also following with trepidation the health of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, regarded as crucial to the country's stability.
The palace announced Friday night that the 81-year-old king was suffering from an inflamed throat and fluctuating fever after he failed to give his annual birthday address.
Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport – Thailand's main gateway to the world – officially reopened Friday following a siege that trapped more than 300,000 travelers. The occupation of the capital's two airports by the People's Alliance for Democracy dealt a heavy blow to the country's tourism-dependent economy.
The airport was operating at only about 50 percent capacity Friday. An airport public relations official said operations were stepped up Saturday, but it could be at least a month before traffic was back to normal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the media.
A travel agent confirmed that air traffic was still limited. "Now you can fly anywhere in the world, but there will be fewer choices of departure times. It has to do with taking care of stranded passengers both here and in other countries first and safety concerns," said Somkiat Thongnoi, a travel agent at Pacific Travel Management Co.
Meanwhile, the return to Bangkok on Friday of Thaksin's ex-wife, Pojaman Damapong, who faces a three-year jail term on a tax evasion conviction, added another complicating element to the political crisis. Thaksin, ousted in a 2006 military coup, remains at the center of the country's instability.
Thai media speculated Pojaman might rally the ex-leader's supporters following a court decision that dissolved the ruling political party made up of his allies and drove the prime minister from office.
But a spokesman for the ex-prime minister, Pongthep Thepkanchana, said Pojaman had returned solely to visit her sick mother, "not to manage the problems among factions in the party."
A number of members of ousted Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's People Power Party have regrouped in a new party, Pheua Thai, and retain the right to name a new prime minister within 30 days if they retain a majority in Parliament.
Local media said the party would meet Sunday to put forward a leader amid behind-the-scenes scurrying among several parties and factions.
Any move to reinstate Thaksin's allies would likely set off more protests from the anti-government alliance, which charges that the party and the recently toppled government are merely a front for Thaksin.
The ex-premier and his ex-wife, a highly influential figure during his years in power, are hated by many of the country's elite, who charge that they were trying to usurp royal authority. Their November divorce is widely regarded as a ploy to reduce their individual legal liabilities and preserve the family fortune, made in telecommunications.
But Thaksin is still popular among the rural masses, reflecting the deep divide between the urban elite and the country's poor.
Friday night's celebrations of King Bhumibol's birthday – marked by fireworks and crowds of people holding candles – were dampened by the news of his illness. He has been put on a liquid diet, a palace statement said.
The king's traditional birthday remarks had been eagerly anticipated this year because of sharpening social and regional divisions fostered by the militant campaign to purge the country of Thaksin's influence.
The monarch has historically been the country's sole unifying figure in times of crisis. The protesters have repeatedly claimed defense of the throne as one of their motivations.
Although street protests ceased – at least temporarily – with the end of the occupations of the airports and the prime minister's office by the protesters, the political situation remains extremely unsettled.
Thais have long looked to the king to guide the country through times of trouble, even though he is a constitutional monarch with moral authority rather than legal powers. Talk of his mortality has long been avoided in public.
Thitinan Pongsidhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, said the event "should force Thais to rethink and come to terms with their own conflict because the king will not be around forever."
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