Thaksin on tour

The Truth Today TV programme is going up-country, raising the prospects of another election, as the coalition gets serious about constitutional change. BACKGROUND By Nattaya Chetchotiros

Nattaya Chetchotiros is president of the Thai Journalists Association and Assistant News Editor, Bangkok Post.

Some startling developments have come about since convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra spoke to his audience on Saturday.

A renewed rush to have the charter fine-tuned, the Truth Today TV programme going on tour, and Monday's siege of the Thai PBS station in Chiang Mai by a pro-government element have combined to produce a certain result. They are the sparks that could ignite the political time bomb.

The exiled Thaksin addressed the massive crowds that had converged on the Rajamangala stadium in Bangkok on Saturday night and said he was counting on royal kindness and the power of the people to secure a passage home for him.

The remark was met with an uproar from opponents, particularly the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who went line by line through the speech trying to interpret what Thaksin was telling his faithful.

Before they could finish decoding it, the government announced it was resuming efforts to amend the charter, instantly putting the opponents on the offensive.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin's brother-in-law, and Banharn Silpa-archa, leader of key coalition partner, the Chart Thai party, were taken to task for ignoring warnings that head-strong persistence in pushing for a panel to amend the charter at this politically volatile juncture would be perilous for the government and for the nation. It could provoke a level of violence far bloodier than Oct 7 when anti-government protesters, in their attempts to prevent Mr Somchai delivering a policy statement in parliament, suffered heavy casualties from the clashes with riot police.

Mr Banharn, who has sidestepped a slew of criticism against the government from opponents in the past, broke his silence yesterday. His rather audacious message was for the government to brace for the consequences of what will happen. He said if the yellow-clad protesters of the PAD surround the parliament again, "we have the red-shirt people to counter them", a reference to the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) members.

Mr Banharn hit the bulls-eye when he said the government would explain to the people that the planned charter alteration would not benefit Thaksin, nor would it tamper with the critically sensitive Article 190 which demands prior parliament approval of agreements the government enters into with foreign countries. The issue draws on the government's humiliating blunder in signing a joint communique with Cambodia on its plan to list the Preah Vihear temple on the common border as a World Heritage site without consulting Parliament.

Also prickly is Article 237 in the constitution which Mr Banharn maintains the government will keep clear of. The article pertaining to the dissolution of political parties is a thorn in the side of the coalition parties - People Power, Chart Thai and Matchimathipataya, which are going on trial in the Constitution Court for complicity in fraud committed in the previous general election.

Mr Banharn stressed the charter, put together by coup-installed drafters, was hostile to politicians contesting under a revised party list system. He spoke in support of reverting to the party list method under the abrogated 1997 charter which he felt was fairer to the poll contestants.

Despite his insistence against fixing the charter to serve Thaksin, his suggested focal point of amendment of the election method appears to revolve around politicians amid doubts as to whether the change would be meaningful to democracy.

The observation now has been about the possibility of the charter revision being one of the assignments Thaksin may have implicitly left for the government and supporters during his phone-in statement.

The government has been frantic about issuing a timetable for the charter rewrite.

The government whip gave a directive on Monday for the draft amendment of Article 291 of the constitution which allows for the establishment of the charter drafting assembly - to be discussed by coalition party leaders at a meeting today. The draft was to be submitted to Parliament on Nov 12 or 13, before the royal funeral of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana from Nov 14-16. It has now been deferred

Tension is expected to also escalate from the other Rajamangala "assignment".

Thaksin's mention of the power of the people was construed as meaning a large-scale mobilisation of supporters for his cause. The PPP and the pro-government UDD will be busy amassing a popular force.

It so happens that the co-hosts of the Kwam Jing Wan Nee (Truth Today) programme on the state-run NBT television have decided to take their political talk show upcountry, specifically to the PPP strongholds of Chiang Mai, Udon Thani and Khon Kaen.

The co-hosts, Veera Musikapong and PPP MPs Natthawut Saikua and Jatuporn Prompan, were behind the Rajamangala gathering which pulled in some 80,000 people.

Mr Jatuporn promises the upcountry Truth Today sessions will be organised on a scale comparable to the Rajamangala event. They will feature a replay of Thaksin's Rajamangala statements and it will be re-run through the community radio network nationwide.

The tour has been chided as taking the form of electioneering.

Mr Jatuporn made his comments fresh on the heels of the protest by the pro-government Rak Chiang Mai 51 group outside the province's Thai PBS station.

A source at the PPP admitted Rak Chiang Mai 51, the UDD and the PPP are the principal supporters behind mobilising "vehicles" for Thaksin which must cooperate to achieve the goal of the PPP ruling on its own.

There has been talk of the ground being prepared for an election, at the same time as mobilising supporters got underway now that Thaksin is back in the political picture.

The bottom line seems to be that the PPP must fare better this time to return Thaksin to a position of glory.