 Thai govt rejects army call to go
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-27 07:46 Thailand's army chief told the government yesterday to step down and call a snap election as a way out of a political crisis threatening to spiral out of control after a gang shot dead an anti-government activist. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat rejected army chief Anupong Pachinda's call to dissolve parliament. He said in a national television address last night that the Cabinet would hold an emergency meeting today to discuss "measures" against protesters in Bangkok who have broken the law. Somchai also refused to heed the army call for him to step down and call a snap election, saying his government was democratically elected and would continue to work for the good of the country. Somchai returned to Thailand from an Asia-Pacific summit to find tempers flaring across the country and threatening to explode into civil unrest. A gang of government supporters in the northern city of Chiang Mai shot dead an anti-government activist yesterday, the first serious violence outside Bangkok. The victim, a man in his 50s whose son ran a small anti-government radio station, was dragged from his car before being shot, said police lieutenant-colonel Atipol Thongdaeng. Increasing the pressure on Somchai, Anupong told reporters in Bangkok the prime minister "should dissolve parliament and call a snap election" to end a crisis now in its fourth year. The general also told the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) street movement to end its crippling siege of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, where all flights were cancelled, leaving thousands of tourists stranded. Anupong repeated that he would not launch a coup two years after the military removed former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, saying a putsch would not heal the basic rifts between the Bangkok elite who despise Thaksin, and the rural masses who love him. He and other top military brass made a similar intervention on television last month, fuelling frenzied speculation of another military takeover in the coup-prone country. Now, as then, the government dismissed the idea. PAD spokesman Suriyasai Katasila also rejected the plan. "We won't pull out, we won't leave if Somchai does not quit," he told reporters. Thai media speculated Somchai may declare a state of emergency in Bangkok, although as with a similar declaration in September, it is unlikely the army would be willing to take any action. After masked PAD members stepped up their action by breaking into the control tower at Suvarnabhumi airport, a pro-government group said it would launch its own street action, raising the prospect of clashes. Agencies (China Daily 11/27/2008 page12) |
