Thaksin: Power before People

Anyone that has been familiar with Thaksin Shinawatra has seen his behavior. When it comes to power, Thaksin makes it his top priority. But in a unique twist, for the first time word has come through the Thaksin ranks that Thaksin has now given this directive to the Pheu Thai Party (PTP) to hold on to power at all costs. This means that now the spoken word has come down the line that Thaksin does not care about the people, and never did. But wait it gets better.

In light of the efforts of most Thai people who were properly rubbed the wrong way by Thaksin’s self centered Amnesty bill, huge crowds of people have flocked to the Streets all over Thailand seeking to remove his influence. Many of those people that now swell the anti Thaksin ranks have recently worn a red shirt. With the nationwide numbers at or near 2 million protesters, this is perhaps the single biggest political movement in Thailand’s history.

If there is anything Thaksin excels at, it is making enemies. For the most part after the Amnesty push, we would guess that 65% or more of Thailand now wants Thaksin gone. Considering the number of people that felt motivated enough to attend the anti Thaksin rallies, that is a lot.

But now we can start to expect much of what happened in the months leading up to the 2006 Coup. Thaksin will no doubt use his Red Shirt army to attack again, as it has already started. Thai blood is already being spilled once again. If the government fails to respond, the military will have no choice but to step in to restore order. So perhaps you could call what is going on Coup Soup soon to be served up.

Some of the names that were associated with the 2006 Coup are already starting to appear in the news again. Also the military has been publically silent and is standing back to see how this unfolds. But with Thaksin’s order to hold on to power at all costs, violence is one of his more popular options.

As Red Shirt violence has already been deployed on anti Thaksin protesters just outside of Bangkok, it is a given that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Once again this matches Thaksin tactics of the past. So with all things considered, things will get worse before they get better.

This all spells a level of desperation for Thaksin. The fact he has disappeared from view only to emerge at some later time simply reads there is another round coming and with Thaksin’s own words, he has no reverse.

That also means that any attempt at having some sort of negotiation to resolve the political crisis has already failed before it started. Based on Thaksin’s behavior in the past, any negotiations would just be a sham to buy time as that has already been seen before. Thaksin has no intent of giving up anything and that included the money taken from him by the court. Nearly every political cartoon reflects he want that money back with good reason.


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