Love You all.

For instance Thailand has a facade for tourists, showing the beautiful side. Beneath that is a corrupt and ineffective police force, a self serving government, lack of good education for ordinary people, acceptance of prostitution, racism, inequality.

Thailand, financially, is not a poor country. It has enjoyed strong trade exports; it has vast minerals; it attracts strong investment; its tourism industry brings huge amounts of foreign currency. So why, I ask, with several decades of strong growth behind it, does it have such poverty and low standards of education? I think we all know the answer to that – a rich country, but with poor people. It doesn’t quite add-up really does it?

Thankfully some parts have the world have grown up, but Thailand? Thailand never grows up. Keep the poor people stupid and illiterate and there you have your solution – those in power will retain it.

In addition to this, in all my travels I have never encountered a country where people are so selfish and short-term thinking. The Thai way of thinking is to consider today only.

And that view shows in the occupation of the airport – selfishness for one’s own ends and thinking for the present only.

I hope Thailand pulls through these problems, I really do. But what prospects does it have? The rest of the world has woken up to the financial crisis and started acting.

And what does Thailand do, in preparation for a difficult 2009 and tough times ahead for every nation? It takes over the airport. Need I say more?

In US/UK, perhaps they could change to Obama/Brown, but is it a real change as he promised.

However, would they be able to get Bush and Blair tried at the Hague for the crime against humanities/Iraqi’s race, storming into another nation’s land, raiding on Iraq against UN’s resolution, for the Massive destruction weapons which have never been built/found. They bother less with Iraqi’s lives and Iraqi’s airports than their personal economy and the oil price.

One day…. if we look at the earth.. and see every country as the one. The world will be a lot better place to live in..

May I ask you, are you a reporter? from which press?

Point 2.That is the long story… Please look at About Us page.. and look at the top menu, “Articles -> New Politics”

Point 3.Yes… through a ASTV sattelite , community radio, networking of people and etc.. However, PAD mainly focus to cause pressure on government to resign. Another point is that PAD always tries to raise any government’s wrongdoings to the public.. so everyone will know and stand against them.

Point 4.Yes. one from HRH Princess Sirindhorn.. look at this page The second one was the attending of HRH Queen Sirikit to the funeral of a young lady killed in the clash on October 7. She also donated money to help any PAD injuries. You can find the story about it from the same page.

Point 5.Frankly, I don’t know how long.. but we expect police to disperse PAD at both airports. But it is weird now.. under the state of emergency, two policemen with lower rank were assigned to disperse PAD at both airports, they can ask for support from the higher rank soldier… Why is that?. Because the chief police officer and chief army are unlikely to obey the government anymore.

Personally, I think that this will end before December 5, because it is the king birthday.

Thank you

1. Does anyone have any contact with the PAD leaders? I have also seen reports that there are first, second, and third sets of leaders chosen in case a group of them are arrested. Other sources say that PAD lacks organization. What is your opinion on the leadership of the group?

2. I agree, the Red Shirt Gangsters should not have attacked the PAD protestors violently. There are, however, other Thai people who have expressed that they strongly disagree with PAD. Assuming PAD were to be able to establish the New Politics, how would that benefit the poor and uneducated people (particularly the majority who still support Thaskin)?

3. Has PAD considered any other methods for reform besides demonstration? Could they impliment their own campaigns, say, to help educate the rural poor and therefore hope to win their votes in a future election under the current system? Or do they prefer just to attract attention and hope these efforts will force the current government out?

4. Has the Thai royalty made any statements whatsoever about PAD? I have only found websites for them in Thai, not in English, so I am unsure about this.

5. On the current issue, how long does PAD realistically expect the airport holdup to continue? Do they have any other expectations for what the government might do to try and put an end to it?

Thank you!

First of all, here is my personal blog regarding PAD and our fight. I am not involving in any leader’s decisions. I will try to answer your question at my best

Point 1. I heard them call from the PAD stage that it was “ลับ ลวง พราง” plan (secret, deceive, conceal)

First of all, the government is too afraid to meet PAD. They moved their meetings from one place to another place everytime when PAD announced to go to meet them at any cabinet meeting. On that day, since their temporary government house (Don Muang) has been swamped by PAD, they secretly decided to move a meeting to Royal Armed Forces HQ, and since PAD spy is everywhere, so the leader team is informed …. and then they announced on the stage telling any PADs to go to Royal Armed Forces HQ.

The government is too afraid to be blocked inside, they canceled the meeting shortly after.. however, all the police and soldiers have been deceived, so they all focus there.

Without knowing a plan, some PADs (maybe up to thousand) actually show up at Royal Armed Forces HQ, but there were no core leader.. many PADs also complained about this… they didn’t know that core leaders set up another thousand of people to the airport. And that is it… more PAD later join the core group… the traffic is jam.. many police trucks were also blocked on the street by the traffic caused by PAD cars… so they didn’t stand a chance to prevent us at all.

Not counting that in the early morning, PAD did bluff the police to secure the airport. The police use 500 men to protect airport at every entrance. They later moved out to protect other places during a day…. so that is all about “secret, deceive, conceal”

Point 2.The men you see are some angry PADs that couldn’t stand anymore for the red shirts to attack them alone.. Please notice that the red shirt gangsters attacked everyone who were suspicious to be PAD on the way to Don Muang airport.. .. So there could be some PAD stood out of the line causing such a tragic event. Please read more from PAD’s Revenge for pro-Thaksin Gangster Attacks (UPDATE 26/NOV) and look at the Final Battle album to witness red shirt gangster attacking PAD on the way to airport.. No need to mention they have constantly attacked us alone for many weeks.

And please note that PAD have continued this protest for more than 6 months now.. and most of the time they were all peaceful… If PAD Guards really carry hand guns around, Thai police would have already legally use their full force to end this marathon protest.

Point 3. Up till now, what I have heard from the stage is that they will negotiate only if Somchai resign without condition.. I don’t know what is after that.. However, there are some solutions announced earlier by some PAD academic and columnist, however no confirmation from any leader yet…

Point 4. PAD doesn’t really want the army to get involved… However, things are changing every minute.. PAD is now welcome the army to stand with PAD to protect Thai people.. PAD always ask the army to stand with the people to prevent violence… while the red gangster ask the army to get rid of PAD.

It now seems like the classic Chinese Three-Romance Kingdoms novel.. but happening now in Thailand.. one is the government, corrupt officers, and the red shirts , the second group is PAD, and the last group is the true army.

However, PAD will continue to protest if the army came out for Thaksin.

Please feel free to ask other questions you like to know

I’m currently researching the situation, but I have not been familiar with PAD before the airport incident.
I have a few questions for the organization regarding the taking over of airports:

1. How did they manage to get inside and take over? Did the airport personel cooperate with PAD, or was there a struggle?

2. I saw a report that PAD has gaurds who are carrying handguns. This site mentions in the top-10 list that PAD members believe in peaceful protest and only carry weapons like baseball bats for self defense. Is it true that they are carrying handguns as well, and are they only for self defense?

3. PAD refuses to negociate and claims they will not back down until Somchai resigns. How long will this go on if he does not resign? If Somchai does resign, what do they plan to do next (allow the air traffic to run again, make more demands, ext)?

4. Has PAD made plans for if the army gets involved? Do they not expect them to get involved?

You are as bad as any terrorist group out there that claims they are “fighting for a just cause”.

There are other way to do this than ruin good people’s lives. What did any normal citizen of Thailand or any tourist ever do to PAD. Only the pro-government supporters and the government have upset you. So why are you trying to upset the hard working citizens of Thailand and the rest of the world.

You are ruining the image of Thailand to the world, and even worse ruining the image of your party to your own citizens. What faith do can hard working citizen have in your party if they know that you are crippling their economy and making their lives harder.

If you want to win an election or be in power, you need to earn it. You can just use power to gain it, which is more like a dictartorship than a democracry.

Do the right thing by yourselves and your contrymen, and help Thailand. Do not make things worse. If you choose to voice your opinion against the government, then make sure it is directed only to the government, please do not ruin innocent civillains lives.

Show the world and your fellow countrymen that PAD are the smarter ones, and not the more aggressive ones.

BANGKOK – With its faithful followers now occupying Suvarnabhumi Airport, grounding all flights and bringing the tourism industry into a catastrophic standstill, the People’s Alliance for Democracy has mysteriously ordered 10,00 gallons of Kool-Aid, a US-made fruit-flavored soft drink.

“This is the final battle. This is the end of everything we have been fighting for, and soon we shall be liberated into paradise,” said PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul during a speech on a makeshift stage set up by the PAD in the Departures lounge last night. “Soon the pain will be over.”

With every newspaper in the country roundly condemning the PAD’s latest actions, as well as business analysts unanimously confirming that the airport seizure will cause massive economic damage to a country already in danger of recession, the PAD’s popular support has all but evaporated. Rumors of funding sources abandoning the movement as it has become more radical, and whispers about dissensions in the ranks leading to dwindling numbers of ever-more hard-core supporters have shadowed the headlines of the last few days.

“By seizing the airport the PAD has chosen to martyrdom over revolution,” commented an anonymous source in the army. Although the military has so far elected to stay out of the fray, calls by the PPP-led government to extract the PAD from the airport by force are believed to be backed up by a popular mandate of business owners and the Bangkok middle class that formerly supported the PAD.

The mood at the PAD protests remained defiant as of this morning, with the yellow-clad throngs singing songs, cheering speeches, and in many cases attempting to explain their cause in English to the some 3000 tourists who remain stranded at the airport due to cancelled flights. The PAD also appears to be well-stocked for food and beverages, which makes the order for 10,000 gallons of Kool-Aid rather strange.

“It may be some kind of prop,” speculated a reporter from Thai PBS. “Kool-Aid is blood colored, so who knows, maybe they plan to splash it on themselves symbolically. After that whole menstrual blood incident, anything is possible.”

Wearing white robes instead of the customary yellow shirts, the main five PAD leaders declined to be interviewed for this report, citing the need to prepare for impending “crucial” events. But PAD members were generally looking forward to whatever their leaders had in mind for their next move. “I would do anything to save my country and King from that devil Thaksin,” said one unnamed protestor. “Anything.”

I see something rotten in your brain.

that ’s just a comment from the selfish white tourists.
Thailand can survive without tourists for sure.