With a wonderful ceremonial display of arrogance, Thaksin has set the stage for the next round of conflicts. Thaksin still looks to take back what was never his to begin with.
With all the grandeur of a royal ceremony, Thaksin and his red shirt army ignored what scholaris and other prominent Thais have said is an improper method of accessing the King. The procedures and prerequisites are very clearly spelled out, and have been recited hundreds of times in recent weeks for those who may not have known. But even with all this explaining, Thaksin and his arrogance just ignored laws and procedures and did things his own way. It is that same arrogance in ignoring laws and procedures that got him in trouble to begin with. It is also this same heavy handed approach that lead to the unrest in southern Thailand.
In Thaksin’s mind he figures if he hits things hard enough they will bend to his will. So armed with allegedly 3.5 million signatures to support his arrogance, he has attempted access to the King in a way that lowers the King into a political fray. In Thailand the King is elevated above politics, but Thaksin could care less and has shown little if any respect for the King by ignoring what must be done. In short what Thaksin and the red shirts have done amounts to an assault on the King and may be subject to punishment. It is not like they did not know, it is that they did not care.
As now the screening process of the petition has started, the situation has been handed over to the government for evaluation. It goes without saying that the petition does not meet the criteria and will be rejected. This rejection will be the next rally cry for Thaksin to continue attacking and dividing Thailand.
As Connecting the Dots has noted, this is part of a choreographed chain of events similar to the events that lead up to the April riots. So when the petition is rejected for failing to use the door and come crashing through the wall, it will have been done so by someone other than the King. Ultimately they will be the focus of allegedly denying Thaksin access to the King. That will be completely twisted and distorted and laid out for Thaksin’s lesser educated supporters making the government look bad.
As events and reactions continue to unfold Thaksin will take advantage of them building to the next crescendo that seems to be targeted for October and November. It is a bit difficult to make a prediction at this point as to what the events may be, but for the most part we can expect more of the same frivolous attacks by Thaksin’s mouthpiece the Pheu Thai Party (PTP) and attempts to push Prime Minister Abhisit deeper into situations that may be seen has him overstepping his authority. Thaksin’s involvement of the King in one way or another will be part of this too.
It is very clear through all of this that Thaksin’s message has not changed. He still is portraying himself as the only man that can, and getting him cut loose is Thailand’s only hope. That unspoken message is subtly blended into all of this. The people of Thailand and particularly Thaksin supporters must understand that Abhisit appears to be competent enough to do the task, and has been doing so despite Thaksin’s sabotage attempts.
