Thai Rak Thai IV

As promised, I file this report from Bangkok. I flew there on courtesy of a senior member of Thai service. Though press reports claimed situations were under control, the scars remain very visible. Emergency laws remain in place, and from where I stayed, and areas that I visited, the activities were visible soft. Bangkokians are fearful about their safety while army practically patrolling in every aspect of their life.

I was stopped and questioned twice, once outside my unit at Langsuan and another at Nonthaburi. My southern Thai dialect had certainly attracted undesired attentions. Luckily, I was accompanied by a senior member of Thai service.

I had a breakfast with Sondhi’s son Jittanart Limthongkul and he told me that the shooting incidence was merely a warning and said there is a new form of war by a group who want to create a new government consisting of the police and army in neutral gear and basically they are not friendly to either ‘red’ or ‘yellow’ teams. When I related my ‘detention’ to him at Nonthaburi, he confirmed that I was witnessing the work of this ‘third’ team, which is putting up military barrier on the outer ring to prevent Thaksin Shinawatra from returning while blocking Premier Abhisit with an inner ring.

In fact, he claimed that incident at the Interior Ministry last week when Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva came under attack had been planned "to kill the prime minister -- and put the blame on the red-shirts”.

Local media, depending which magazines or newspaper that I read, have become more pronounced, their coverage more partisan, and their opinion-makers seemingly more sure of themselves even as things get less certain.

I also talked to couple of local, including some staff at factory and basically they were at loss on who to trust at this stage. They can’t make up for the paucity of trustworthy periodicals and professional broadcasters. Not only that, some websites on Thai news are blocked and until time of this filing, they remained un-accessible.

I was told that Mr. Abhisit and his backers still seem reluctant to recognize the red shirts’ grievances. My sense this is a mistake and we can expect more chaos in the streets.

Abhisit relied on the security forces brought into the capital from upcountry such as Nakhon Rachasima, Kanchanaburi or Lop Buri with helps from veterans and some retired generals. Army Commander in Chief Gen Anupong Paochinda and police were sidelined.

Now the government had revoked Thaksin's Thai passport, we are now can expect Thaksin to run secret campaigns against the Democrat-led government, which can become too hot for Thailand to digest in all intent and purpose.