Faction leader warns of rift among reds

Suda Rangkupan, leader of the faction concentrating on the release of political as well as lese majeste prisoners, said the decision by the pro-Thaksin Shinawatra Asia Update television station to pull the plug on programmes hosted by red-shirt co-leaders like Jatuporn Prompan will lure many red shirts to defect, as Jatuporn is popular and has many followers. 

Jatuporn was reported on Wednesday to be planning to launch a new show at another unidentified TV station.

“There’s that possibility [of a permanent split],” Suda said. “There’re [reds] who are dissatisfied with the Pheu Thai Party’s decision and the decision of the Asia Update station.”

Suda also distanced herself from the pro-amnesty red shirts, saying she doesn’t support the bill, although she doesn’t publicly oppose it as her concern is for the speedy discharge of the 30 political prisoners still held in custody in Bangkok and elsewhere as a result of the April-May 2010 uprising.

She criticised the Democrat Party, which is leading a campaign to scrap the bill, for wanting to overthrow the Yingluck Shinawatra administration as its ultimate goal. That can be achieved only through two channels – pressuring the government to dissolve the House, which the Democrats haven’t done so far, and relying on the military to stage a coup, she said.

Suda, an academic at Chulalongkorn University, said fighting the bill is fine but people should not confuse that with dismantling the democratic government through another military putsch.