The
interview with Suthep Thaugsuban, the politician who has been trying to
overthrow the Yingluck Shinawatra government, was set up essentially because
his self-styled People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) believes the
foreign media has been misunderstanding it, and therefore it is getting bad
press.
We sat
in his bus behind the main stage at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument – near the
backpacker area of Kao San Road - that is the hub of the movement.
Outside,
a rock band on the stage belted out songs excoriating Thaksin Shinawatra, and tens
of thousands danced in the carnival atmosphere that is typical of mass street
protests in Thailand.
Inside,
a big TV screen beamed Blue Sky TV, the network of the Democrat Party which
covers every minute of the PDRC’s activities.
“Let me
ask you, as a journalist, why do the Arabs have the right to stand up against
their governments in the Arab spring and why don’t Thais have the same
right?” Suthep said.
“The
Ukrainians stand up against their government and the US praises them.”
But
then he added: “We don’t blame the journalists because Thai politics through
the eyes of the West might not be easily understandable.”
The
PDRC in fact has very little support from the international community. Earlier
this week when it invited foreign diplomats to brief them on the movement’s
reasoning and objectives, less than five showed up. At least 40 foreign
countries have expressed support for Thailand’s mid-term general election on
February 2, which the PDRC wants it postponed.
I put
this to the PDRC supremo who responded with an expansive shrug and said: “Mai pen rai. Mai
pen rai.” It means “nevermind” in Thai.
Suthep,
64, spoke in Thai, with translations provided by his stepson, Oxford-educated
Akanath Promphan. He made out a case against the Thaksin “regime” and how the
self-exiled billionaire whose sister Yingluck is the prime minister, had abused
power, and managed to return to power again and again through proxy parties
despite dissolutions and bans for electoral fraud.
It had
become “useless” to fight Thaksin’s domination through the normal process, he
said. “They never fear consequences, even if they are banned from politics they
can send their relatives, their wives, their children, to take part on their
behalf.”
“The
Thaksin regime... has used elections as a means to get to power and they have
abused power. The most frightening part is now they have used a method of
indirect vote buying by populist policies – the one thing our reform process
must abolish because populist policies lead to corruption and ultimately damage
the country,” he said.
The
interview took place on Saturday, just half an hour after Abhisit Vejjajiva,
leader of the opposition Democrat Party, announced at a press conference that
the party would not contest the February 2 election – propelling Thailand even
deeper into crisis.
“Typically
you would expect people to take part in an election because it is a democratic
process,” Suthep admitted. “But this is not a typical situation, it is an
extraordinary situation in which you have the government rejecting the
constitution court ruling, and now is trying to use the constitution as an
excuse to tell the people to go back to elections.”
“If
there is to be an election on February 2, that means the Thaksin regime will
return to power... because elections under the same rules and regulations will
suffer from vote buying and electoral fraud.”
“We are
not against elections,” he insisted. “We want elections, but we want a free and
fair election with no electoral fraud. So we want to push forward reforms
before an election.”
“We are
not saying abolish the election, we only ask for it to be postponed.”
Despite
his claim to be speaking for the people at large, Thailand remained divided, I
reminded him. Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha himself said as much earlier
this week, noting that the country was so divided that he feared a civil war.
And the
response of government supporters to Suthep’s appointed “people’s council” to
run the country and initiate reforms was unlikely to be warm and might even be
regarded as a “silent coup d’etat”, I said.
“We
don’t want to engage in a civil war,” he said in response. “We don’t want
military involvement, we don’t want the military to come out. If you want to
call this a coup, it is strictly a people’s coup, a people’s revolution.”
As a
parting shot I asked how he was sustaining the movement, given the expense of
stages and sound systems and meals for tens of thousands of people, day after
day for weeks on end.
This is
a matter of speculation in Bangkok, where certain big corporations are
suspected – in whispers - of bankrolling the PDRC. The government has even
moved to freeze the bank accounts of PDRC leaders to interrupt the flow of
funds.
But
Suthep dismissed this and getting up, stomped off to his bedroom at the back of
the bus, reappearing moments later with a canvas bag. He unzipped it to reveal
fat wads of bank notes, saying these were what ordinary people had given him
personally on Friday alone, when he led a march in downtown Bangkok.
He
stomped off again and hauled out a second bag also full of cash. That day,
including donations received at the stage, the movement had collected around 10
million baht (US$306,465), he estimated. And it was all from “the people” not
corporations.
Then it
was his turn to go on stage, and as he left the bus someone gave him an
envelope full of money. He turned around triumphantly and showed it to me. “You
see?” he said.