Thai crisis shifts to king
2008-12-04 08:03
Bangkok - Thailand's crippling political
crisis shifted its focus on Thursday from Bangkok's gradually
opening Suvarnabhumi airport to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who
will address the nation on the eve of his 81st birthday.
The revered monarch, thrust into the centre of the
political fray by the anti-government People's Alliance for
Democracy's (PAD) persistent invocation of his name, is due to
make his remarks on radio after 09:00 GMT.
Bringing hope to 230 000 stranded foreign tourists,
Airports of Thailand said the four billion dollar Suvarnabhumi airport,
one of Asia's largest, would resume "full service" at 04:00 GMT
on Friday after a week-long shutdown by PAD protesters.
Thai Airways said it had 12 flights out of the 125 000
passenger-a-day hub on Thursday, but sources said other
carriers were being rail-roaded into getting back in the air
and were worried about short-cuts to safety and security
procedures.
"We are under enormous pressure to open - from the airport
authorities, from stuck passengers, from shareholders, from the
tourist industry," said one airline official who asked not to
be named. "But our genuine security concerns are being
ignored."
The airport shutdown has already cost the tourism- and
export-dependent economy hundreds of millions of dollars.
The central bank slashed interest rates by a shock 100
basis points to 2.75% on Wednesday, reflecting the
impact of the airport siege - the latest twist in a three-year
political crisis - on an economy already feeling the effects
of a global slowdown.
Whether the king can calm the waters remains to be seen.
Regarded as semi-divine by many Thais, he has intervened
decisively in politics three times during his six decades on
the throne, favouring both democratic and military
administrations.
His remarks in the last three years have been nuanced and
focused on the need for national unity, although his calls for
clean government were widely read as a swipe at Thaksin
Shinawatra, the populist prime minister ousted in a 2006 coup.
More trouble in store
Despite the return of relative normality, analysts said
more trouble was in store after the hiatus of the king's
birthday when Parliament meets on Monday to select a
replacement for Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, sacked by the
courts this week.
Somchai's People Power Party (PPP), which the PAD accuse of
being a front for the now exiled Thaksin, was dissolved in the
same ruling but most of its rank-and-file members simply
switched to another "shell" party.
It and the other five parties in the ruling coalition have
more than enough numbers in Parliament to form the next
administration, an eventuality that is bound to cause the PAD
to resume its street protests.
"I am sad that we are going," said Ranatip, 48, an
unemployed office assistant told Reuters as she packed up her
belongings at the PAD airport sit-in. "But I am ready to fight
for my king and my country. I will come back as soon as I am
needed."
With so many of the country's key institutions compromised,
analysts say the fundamental stand-off will persist between
Bangkok's royalist and military elite, and the forces of the
rural and urban poor broadly aligned with Thaksin.
"Thailand remains locked in this structurally flawed system
for the foreseeable future," said IHS Global Insight analyst
Kristina Azmi. "The risk of civil unrest is growing and with it
the accompanying risk of military intervention."