A POLITICAL NUMBERS GAME

As of last Saturday, the Democrat Party — one of whose MPs is a PAD leader — said it had cobbled together the numbers to have its 44-year-old Oxford-educated leader and MP Abhisit Vejjajiva voted prime minister. Party leaders said they had the necessary majority numbers from its members, smaller political parties and defectors from the disbanded PPP (who explained that they were switching sides for the country) and wanted Parliament to convene Dec. 8 to proceed with the vote. On Monday, it submitted a request to the House, which needs royal clearance to convene the chamber.

Many former PPP members have also been busy trying to regroup under a new party called Puea Thai in a bid to keep the majority they had led in Parliament. But the military and some influential figures are said to be bent on thwarting such efforts — and preventing yet another round of PAD protests — by getting politicians to juggle the political balance of forces in the House.

In the meantime, Pokpong notes that while the courts have ruled on electoral matters, the leaders of PAD have not so much as been taken to equal task for their protest actions. There has been a lot of talk about prosecuting leaders for damages, but this remains to be seen.

“Many are asking why the militant (PAD) and alliance leaders and supporters have not been brought to justice for grossly unlawful acts,” Pokpong says. “The (PAD) is responsible for the siege of Thailand’s Government House and airports and those are serious breach of laws.”

Media reports estimate financial damage to the international airport alone to reach some 350 billion baht ($10 billion). At the Government House, where public property was destroyed, repair costs could be around 22 billion baht ($628.5 million). Damage to the tourism industry, a major dollar-earner for Thailand, will be deep and painful going into the new year.

At the very least, the airport closure — some called it an “invasion” and others a tamer “sit-in” — was nothing less than strange, going by forms of protests around the world. Airports do not usually close during peacetime and they are among the first places that states instinctively secure during emergencies.

Even airport officials have been at a loss on how to assess what happened.

ThaiAirAsia chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld has been quoted by local media as saying, “It is unclear to me whether the airport demonstrations can be classified as a riot or civil unrest, which may or may not entitle us to sue them.”

As for the residents of this throbbing, modern Asian city, an office employee here echoes the sentiments of many of them in saying, “I’m not on either side, but one does not have to be in order to say the truth, that this has been so embarrassing for Thailand.”

Unfortunately, PAD members seem oblivious to the implications of what they have started and promise to keep on doing if their demands are not satisfied. Still swept up in the euphoria of what to her was a victory, one PAD protester said recently: “Oh yes, I’m willing to go back and do it all over again, because I’m doing this for the good of my country.”