EDITORIAL
The anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) is making good on its threat to tackle the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej head-on with the ultimate aim of bringing down an administration it claims has no legitimacy to run the country.
Dubbed "the last whistle blow", the defining moment of the PAD's long anti-government campaign began yesterday with tens of thousands of protesters, most wearing yellow T-shirts, marching to state properties it considers symbolic of the administration, among them Government House, the Finance and Transport ministries and the state-run NBT television station, the former Channel 11.
In the wee hours of the morning about 80 men, reputedly PAD members, broke into the NBT's offices. Staff claimed they were threatened and told to stop work and flee the premises, but police quickly arrived and arrested the intruders. Later that morning, however, the station was taken over by protesters.
In the provinces, PAD allies blocked major highways in the North, Northeast and the South, disrupting traffic between the regions and the capital. Motorists were forced to divert to minor roads to get around the road blocks.
Despite the chaos and the hardship caused to innocent people, many of whom are simply bystanders in the bitter conflict between the PAD and the government, it is fortunate there has been no serious violence and no reports of serious injuries. A handful of people were reported to have been cut by broken glass at the NBT office.
The PAD's "last whistle blow" is unjustified, unnecessary, provocative and illegal. The seizure of NBT by the protesters who forced it off the air echoes the coup patterns of years past, in which control of the media was a prime objective in order to impose censorship. The rationale that the NBT serves as the government's mouthpiece and is biased against the PAD does not justify the protesters taking the law into their hands and seizing the station, let alone threatening the staff. The protesters' actions amount to a threat to press freedom and deserve condemnation. It is not as if the PAD doesn't have its own media outlet - ASTV - with which to air its opinions and, if it wishes, to engage in a war of the airwaves with the government and its proxies.
On the other hand, however, many of the PAD's accusations against the government are perfectly valid. Among them are the self-serving attempt to rewrite the Constitution, the usual outrageous practice of cronyism, interference in the Bank of Thailand in a move clearly driven by a hidden agenda, failure to address economic problems and suspicions of corruption in mega projects.
Although the PAD has always preached non-violence in dealing with the government, the use of aggression through the disruption of road traffic and government operations is undemocratic and illegal, and is causing unnecessary hardship to the public. In the long run, it will damage the economy. If the PAD really wants to bring down the government, it should do so through the parliament. That is the proper, democratic place to do it.
While the PAD is determined to go for broke, it must be said the police have shown admirable restraint in their handling of the protesters. The government, too, has been patient. We can only hope all sides in the conflict will exercise extreme patience, prudence and calm in order to prevent the current volatile political climate from exploding into open violence.
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