In Thailand it is not surprising that the meeting between the Red Shirts and Prime Minister Abhisit did not go well. Abhisit is looking for a reasonable fix that the Red Shirts can enjoy without damaging Thailand, but the Red Shirts are either ignoring or are incapable of comprehending the huge negative economic fallout Thailand will be forced to endure if they get their wish with no strings attached.
From the sidelines this looks to be like getting night and day to exist at the same time. Abhisit wants what is best for Thailand as a whole, while the Red Shirts only have Thaksin’s interest in mind and screw everyone else. Respectively if you weigh all considerations Abhisit has both the moral and ethical grounds on his side as well as more closely matching the King’s formula of self sufficiency.
However this story is not about Abhisit or Thaksin or the Red Shirts, it is about the other players that are sitting on the bench watching the game. They would be the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the heads of the coalition parties. Each one has a different wish on how the game should proceed and not surprisingly each game plan serves their own interests best.
The coalition parties are pushing to see the Constitution amended because there are some parts that clearly are designed to stifle corruption during the election process. There are also a few other bits and pieces that make the straight and narrow path very straight and very narrow, and they would love to hack back the thorns that line the path with a change to the Constitution.
The PAD however is opposed to any changes that do not benefit all Thais equally, and the Red Shirts just want to toss the whole thing and bring back the previous Constitution that allowed Thaksin to rape Thailand. With that thought, Thaksin was getting ready to hack away at the old Constitution as well so he could use an ever bigger siphon hose to suck Thailand completely dry.
So now this brings us to the point of why is everyone on the side lines looking to serve themselves. The PAD are clear about what they want. They want to eliminate vote buying by requiring some reasonable education before the power to vote is given. Not exactly as easy as it looks and nearly impossible now because that block of voters has suddenly realized how politically powerful they are. Ultimately this looks to eliminate future Thaksin type people from raping Thailand again.
The coalition parties want to make it easier to get into office by adjusting how the constituencies are structured. In short put it back the way it was, however that does make vote buying easier and that was the whole reason that change was put into the 2007 Constitution to stop or severely hinder that behavior.
So it is clear to see not everyone standing with Abhisit has the same view on how to proceed. The only logical fix to all of this is to forget changing the Constitution, and forget dissolving Parliament and let the rest of the term proceed. It clearly looks like no agreement can be reached, so let the clock run out and let the Constitution govern what happens next. The longer this drags on the closer that automatic reset date gets.
