Thailand's anti-government alliance vowed yesterday to take their campaign across the country and push for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's resignation with several more rallies this month.
Up to 20,000 protesters gathered in the capital on Saturday, in the second mass demonstration since a public furore erupted over the US$1.9 billion tax-free sale of telecoms giant Shin Corp by Thaksin's family.
The numbers were well down on the 50,000 who massed a week ago, but organizers claimed it as a success and announced a series of nationwide protests culminating in another mass rally in the capital on Feb. 26.
"I'd like to encourage people around the country to come here and make it the biggest demonstration in the country's history," campaign leader Sondhi Limthongkul told the cheering crowd in a midnight closing address.
"And this time we will not disperse until we claim victory," he said. "From provinces across the country will flow a sea of power to flood the government here in Bangkok."
Thaksin, who celebrated five years in office on Thursday, has repeatedly refused to quit despite the protests and the departure of two ministers, saying his family did nothing wrong by selling Shin Corp to Singapore investors.
Critics have attacked the deal for avoiding a 30 percent capital gains tax, and say it puts sensitive Thai telecommunications assets in the hands of foreigners.
Just hours before the latest rally Thaksin softened his stance on calls for constitutional reforms that could reduce the government's powers, proposing an April referendum on the issue.
However, academics and activists dismissed the gesture as hollow, saying the constitution was not a major issue and that the government would frame the referendum in such a way that would ensure its failure.
"The final answer from Thaksin must be his resignation as he clearly lacks moral authority. It is too late for him to do something else like revise the constitution," said Campaign for Popular Democracy leader Suriyasai Katasila.
Suriyasai, whose group is part of the protest alliance, said it would hold rallies in the northern city of Chiang Mai, the southern province of Songkhla, and the populous northern provinces of Khon Kaen and Nakhon Ratchasima.
"We expect a big change in Thai politics to happen on Feb. 26 when more than 100,000 people will join together at the protest in Bangkok," he said.
Saturday's eight-hour rally passed off peacefully with the crowd -- including families and many older people -- in a buoyant mood as they milled in the Royal Plaza.
There was almost a carnival atmosphere as vendors sold drinks, snacks and plastic sheeting to sit on, as well as flowers and incense sticks to place at the statue of a former king.
Many of them promised to return for the Feb. 26 protest.
"Why? Because the country's in crisis," said one woman, a serving army officer who asked not to be named.
"The way this government proceeds with its policies is for itself, it doesn't care for the people. It makes decisions without keeping the country's interests in mind," she said.
Anjalee Pattanain, a nurse from the resort town of Pattaya, was one of many protesters who said they were uncomfortable with the role of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party, which has become the most powerful in Thai history.
"The government has control over everything, the people can't do anything," the 55-year-old said.
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
STEADFAST DART: The six-week exercise, which involves about 10,000 troops from nine nations, focuses on rapid deployment scenarios and multidomain operations NATO is testing its ability to rapidly deploy across eastern Europe — without direct US assistance — as Washington shifts its approach toward European defense and the war in Ukraine. The six-week Steadfast Dart 2025 exercises across Bulgaria, Romania and Greece are taking place as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches the three-year mark. They involve about 10,000 troops from nine nations and represent the largest NATO operation planned this year. The US absence from the exercises comes as European nations scramble to build greater military self-sufficiency over their concerns about the commitment of US President Donald Trump’s administration to common defense and
RSS