A bigger conflict awaits

The yellow shirts have embarked on a series of street demonstrations before, the first against fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was finished off by the military coup of September 2006. They came out onto the streets again to protest against former premiers Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat, who were both nominee leaders of the reincarnated Thai Rak Thai Party. Both prime ministers lost power in a hurry through political intrigues rather than directly from the yellow shirts’ pressure. 

Abhisit Vejjajiva of the Democrat Party rose to the highest office in a power play designed to polarise the country further. The red shirts then emerged as the real antithesis of the Abhisit government in general but of the monarchy in particular. They resorted to violence to inflict damage and casualties on the military in the street confrontations at Rachadamnoen in Bangkok in April 2010 before moving the theatre of conflict to Rajaprasong in downtown Bangkok. The military won that battle on May 19, 2010 by quashing the unidentified armed red-shirt forces at Lumpini Park. Before calling off their prolonged rally, the red shirts set fire to Central World department store and other buildings in spectacular attacks that some have compared to the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001.

The yellow shirts popped up one more time to protest against then prime minister Abhisit, who was seen as a traitor against the cause that put him into power in the first place. Abhisit clung on to the ropes until a fresh election was held. He lost to Pheu Thai, which fielded Yingluck Shinawatra as Thailand’s first-ever female prime minister.

We can see that the plot has been outlined and implemented so artfully to create deep divisions within the country. The theme is dialectical: the poor against the rich; the phrai against the ammart; democracy against dictatorship; freedom against censorship; freedom of expression against the lese majeste law.

The foreign interests – the foreign media, foreign governments and foreign institutions – have been active players in this dialectical process in Thailand. They support the “poor” against the “rich Bangkokians”. They back the phrai against the ammart. They promote “democracy” against “military dictatorship”. They support media freedom against censorship, even though the thousands of websites sprouting up against the monarchy are loaded with obscene language. And finally, they are in favour of amending the lese majeste law so that anybody can attack the monarchy freely.

It is all a double play – for the external factors that seek to influence the course of Thai politics have been benefiting from the pro-West and liberalisation policies of the Thai military, the Democrats and the Pheu Thai Party all the same. 

No matter which government is in power, it “must open up” the economy and country to foreign participation. This is the key.

But these external forces at play are still not happy with the status quo that they have already been in control of, from the banking sector, the stock market to the liberalisation of economic policies. 

The endgame is nothing more than complete control so that Thailand is reduced to the status of a slave country that becomes part of a broad alliance in the upcoming Third World War.