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Thai leaders planned this crackdown
The Guardian (UK) - May 17, 2010
The good old days of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, a savvy Oxford-educated politician often regarded as Mr Clean and Mr Polite, are over.
The Thai prime minister has ordered the bloodiest crackdown Thailand has seen in 50 years against the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). The redshirts, as the UDD are more commonly known, have been camping in the business district of Bangkok since March.
Operation Rajprasong, which started on 14 May, has claimed the lives of at least 36 demonstrators. The government called the protesters – armed with slingshots, rocks and Molotov cocktails against the soldiers with M-16s and long-range rifles – "terrorists". More than 100 have been injured in the crackdown, among them journalists and tourists.
Prior to the operation, political observers expected the situation to diffuse and eventually end in a political compromise. The government offered to dissolve parliament in September and call for a fresh election on 14 November. The offer seemed ideal, especially since the redshirts' last appeal was for the government to dissolve the house in 30 days.
However, within just one week, the government hastily brushed aside their offer and used a more combative approach. They imposed a state of emergency in Bangkok and 22 north and north-eastern provinces, which are known strongholds of the redshirts, and have sent in military snipers claiming to "end the protest once and for all".
Why did the Thai government swiftly shift its position of compromise to a more aggressive approach akin to that of its neighbour, the Burmese military junta?
The offer from the government was meant to be a show of force. It was a strategic step taken in advance to justify a well-planned massacre. The government knew well beforehand that it would be rejected. The kind of deals they offered would never have been acceptable to the redshirt leaders and their supporters. And they knew it.
The "peace deal" meant to barter fresh elections in exchange for slapping redshirt leaders with charges under the terrorism act for their "role" in the military crackdown on 10 April, which left 21 protesters and five soldiers dead. Abhisit and the deputy prime minister, Suthep Thaugsuban, on the other hand, would be able to run free with impunity. The terrorism charge is so serious that those slapped with it are rendered unbailable.
The redshirts, as a result, moved against the government with a counter-demand. They agreed to turn themselves in and disperse their followers only if the government leaders, particularly the deputy prime minister, were to be charged for murdering protesters.
Dr Kengkij Kitirianglarp of Kasetsart University's faculty of social science, said: "The assassination on Major General Khattiya Sawasdiphol [also known as Seh Daeng] is the last piece to a full-scale crackdown, as many believe that in the eyes of the government, the crackdown would be easier without Seh Daeng, the person regarded as the security strategist for the redshirts."
This indicates that, deep down, the government knew the deal would not go far. It was just a ploy to legitimise the planned crackdown, arguing that these "terrorists" want to create a civil war by rejecting the offers. The Democrat party, which dominates the government, knows that if a fresh election were held, it has a slim chance of getting back into power.
The redshirts' affiliate (but now defunct) People's Power party had won an overwhelming landslide in the last election. Only after the judicial coup dissolved the People's Power party did the military-backed Democrat party become government.
The story of the not-so-savvy clean man ends here. Abhisit schemes, knowing clearly where his plan will lead to. It is obvious that he will now carry on with it, not caring if dozens of people are killed. All this so he can continue being the head of government of Thailand.
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