Thailand's Prime Minister given 48 hours to resign

BANGKOK: -- Anti-Thaksin demonstrators led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) gave an ultimatum Tuesday evening that caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra resigns within 48 hours, or faces a decisive action to be ousted of office.

Sondhi Limthongkul, local media mogul turned arch critic against Mr. Thaksin, announced the ultimatum after a meeting of the PAD's core members.

"We'll give Mr. Thaksin this last chance to step down to pave the way for the country's second political reform. If he still insists to stay on, we'll take a further decisive action to oust him," he said.

Suriyasai Katasila, a coordinator of the Anti-Thaksin coalition, stressed that the PAD had a resolution to call for the embattled premier to step down within 48 hours.

“Unless Mr. Thaksin resign within 48 hours as demanded, we'll unveil a clear measure for a further major movement at 10:00 pm on March 23,” he said.

“For this moment, we'll assign a working group to gather opinions from academics and experienced persons toward ways to break the current political impasse so that they will be used to wrap up for a common approach in our next mass rally planned on March 25," he added.

Earlier, Maj. Gen. Chamlong, one of five core members of the PAD, invited members of the public to sign in a petition to be submitted to His Majesty the King, requesting the revered monarch to replace Mr. Thaksin with a new caretaker prime minister.

When rallying in Silom area and at the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Tuesday morning, the PAD's core members also invited members of the public to take part in the planned mass rally at Makhawan Bridge on March 25, from 02:00 p.m. onward, to show a strong people's power to force embattled Mr. Thaksin to resign.

Mr. Suriyasai conceded that Maj. Gen. Chamlong Srimuan raised the possibility of appealing for the royally appointed premier for discussion at the meeting. But it was not a main topic of the discussion.

He added that a proposal to move the anti-Thaksin demonstrators to Baan Chan Song La, a city residence of Mr. Thaksin, is also only a personal opinion of Maj. Gen Chamlong.

"We still stand firm to press for the resignation of Mr. Thaksin and the second political reform," he said.

The anti-Thaksin demonstrators plan to rally at the National Stadium here on Wednesday before moving to the headquarters of the Election Commission of Thailand (EC).

They have resorted to the new strategy of launching a roving campaign at many downtown areas since earlier this week to invite more people to join the PAD.

Meanwhile, a group of people calling themselves the "network of people who love peace", comprising of Bangkok residents and representatives of the private sector, demonstrated at the capital's downtown areas as well on Tuesday, calling for the anti-Thaksin groups to stop their rallies while inviting eligible voters to turn out for the early poll on April 2 to help determine the country's political direction within the democratic framework.

The network is a newly-formed one, separating from pro-Thaksin groups led by the "Caravan of the Poor", which have staged their rallies at Chatuchak Park and at some other areas in the city.

--TNA 2006-03-22


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* Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular?
* If God had meant us to travel economy class, he would have made us narrower.
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george
post Today, 2006-03-22 04:18:36
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Key leaders call for royal intervention

Sondhi, Chamlong want HM the King to appoint new PM, say Thaksin has 48 hours to step down

BANGKOK: -- In a new round of attempts to oust defiant caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, two leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) called for the first time yesterday for a "royally-sponsored prime minister".

However, all five core leaders of the PAD met over the matter last night and decided to give Thaksin a final 48-hour ultimatum to step down - before taking a formal stance on such a demand.

"We have finally decided to give Prime Minister Thaksin 48 hours and within that 48 hours if Premier Thaksin has not stepped down to allow political reform to take place, we will come up with a measure that will be made known to the public," Sondhi Limthongkul told the anti-Thaksin demonstration last night.

During an early-morning rally of more than 10,000 protesters on Silom Road, Sondhi and Chamlong Srimuang, on a six-wheeled truck, urged passers-by, residents and office workers to join the PAD rally on Saturday (March 25).

They said the rally, to be held at the Makkhawan Bridge on Rajdamnoen Avenue, would be the people's "unanimous decision" to ask His Majesty the King to solve the political crisis by replacing Thaksin with his "own prime minister".

The rally organisers also asked the crowd to sign a petition supporting the idea of a royally-sponsored premier.

Other PAD leaders including Somsak Kosaisuk, Piphop Thong-chai and Somkiat Phongphaiboon did not respond.

Somsak said PAD's only goal at the moment was to oust Thaksin and they had not resolved how the post-Thaksin era should be.

The issue of "His Majesty's intervention", which Sondhi campaigned for during his anti-Thaksin talk shows, has been opposed by several key members of PAD because they do not want the return of the old days when the country was run by an absolute monarchy.

However, yesterday's campaign by Sondhi and Chamlong was the first call for royal intervention since the alliance launched its anti-Thaksin campaign early last month.

Earlier this month there were calls from academics, descendants of King Mongkut and King Chulalongkorn, senators and civic groups for His Majesty to appoint a prime minister to replace Thaksin.

But their petitions to His Majesty have not been answered.

Meanwhile, PAD spokesman Suriyasai Katasila did not confirm that protesters would go to Thaksin's home in Soi Charansanit-wong 69 to pressure him to make a "major decision".

The PAD rally yesterday went from Lumpini Park and down Silom Road to the Singapore Embassy.

When it passed the CP Tower, the headquarters of the CP Group, the Thai Rak Thai Party's key financial supporter, Sondhi told the crowd that the company's owner, Dhanin Chearavanont, conspired with Thaksin so his company could benefit from government contracts.

Shortly after the rally reached the Singapore embassy at about noon, the protesters sang the Thai national anthem in protest at Temasek Holdings' buyout of Shin.

Meanwhile, Thaksin cancelled trips to Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya and Angthong. He will reportedly preside over a TRT meeting today.

--The Nation 2006-03-22

(sooo..... what about US?)

Talk about direct democracy.

We don't have a damn democracy anyway with this cabal in there.