A sigh of exasperation from Bangkok...
Thailand remains in the news for all the wrong reasons...
The yellow shirts (PAD - anti govt protesters)) who supposedly represent the middle class and Bangkok elite seem determined to ruin the tourism industry along with the credibility of Thailand. They have barbed wire barricades around the airport. There are reports that some PAD protesters are armed. There seems no willingness at all from either the military or the police to retake control of the airports.
It seems food and supplies are still being allowed into the airport to sustain the protesters and the utilities are still working. It seems hard to believe that there was no involvement or at the very least tacit support from the military / police in the PAD's seizure of the airport.
Media reporting here is lamentable. The Bangkok Post's website is not being kept up to date and there seems an unwillingness to editorialise about the situation.
The language being used is extremely disturbing - according to the Bankgok Post the leader of the PAD Mr Sondhi, a billionaire Thai tycoon, has been pronouncing that the PAD will 'fight to the death as their dignity depends on it.' I have not seen criticism of this kind of extremism.
CNN disappointingly, but perhaps predictably are making themselves the news, reporting that as yet there have been no explosions at the airport - but we are expecting them.... If it were an English speaking country, they would have a case to answer for trying to incite violence... The threat of violence is sufficiently real for any hyping of it to be quite irresponsible.
The red shirts - government supporters - are massing determined to stave off a 'coup by judiciary'. Tomorrow the Thai Constitutional Court will hand down a decision
on whether to disolve the government for electoral fraud charges. I expect it will bring matters to a head. The suggestion is that the courts, who apparently are Bangkok elite, will find against the government. Even if the govt. were to accept such a ruling, the massing of their supporters seems to indicates that their supporters may not.... The government are holed up in Chaing Mai in the north of Thailand and seem to be thoroughly incapable of exercising any leadership. They are unable to negotiate an outcome and they don't even seem to be trying to rally public opinion behind them. (It could be that my perception here is off as the English language media may not be an accurate reflection of the Thai media.)
It was notable today though that there were dramatically fewer people wearing yellow shirts out in the street - usually on Monday 30% or more of the population wear yellow shirts to honour the king.... Today I passed 2 songtheuw (ute crossed with a bus used for public transport), neither had anyone wearing a yellow shirt - very unusual for a Monday. It seems like people are avoiding public displays of allegiance with either side.
There is some talk among Thai that democracy is a western ideal and doesn't belong in Thailand. Obviously the people saying this are not offering to disenfranchise themselves.
While I hope common sense and national interest prevail tomorrow, I expect there will be violence at some stage. It will, I am expect be isolated and not affecting the city proper. At this stage I don't see things deteriorating to the point where general public safety is an issue. The king is due to make a birthday speech on Thursday night - neither side will want to be seen to be disregarding what he says - though there are reportedly some Republican rumblings in small sections of the reds. In the unlikely event that the king did take sides, I am not sure if people's loyalty to the king would be enough to stop the protests.
Looking on the bright side - if the situation appears too unstable, school will be cancelled and I will get time to write my exam papers...
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