Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [12]
In January 2007, an Assets Examination Committee put together by the junta found Thaksin guilty of concealing assets to avoid paying taxes. Two months later, Thaksin’s wife and brother-in-law were also charged with conspiracy to evade taxes. In May, a court established by the military government found TRT guilty of breaking election laws. The court dissolved the party and banned its executive members from public service for five years.
In July, growing dissatisfaction with the junta’s slow progress towards elections reached a peak when a large group of antigovernment protesters known as the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship lay siege to the residence of Privy Councillor and key royal advisor Prem Tinsulanonda, whom they accused of masterminding the coup. Several protesters and police were injured. Nine of the group’s leaders were sent to jail, the largest crackdown yet by the junta, which had previously tolerated small-scale protests.
Two months later the Supreme Court issued warrants for Thaksin and his wife, citing ‘misconduct of a government official and violation of a ban on state officials being party to transactions involving public interests’ in reference to an allegedly unfair land purchase in 2003. Thaksin’s assets, some 73 billion baht, were frozen by a graft-busting agency set up after the coup. However, despite his apparent financial troubles, in July 2007 Thaksin fulfilled a long-held dream when he purchased Manchester City Football Club.
In a nationwide referendum held on 19 August, Thais approved a military-drafted constitution. Although the document included a number of undemocratic provisions, including one that mandates a Senate not entirely comprised of elected politicians, its passage was largely regarded as a message that the Thai people wanted to see elections and progress.
Under the new constitution, long-awaited elections were finally held in late 2007. The newly formed People Power Party, for which Thaksin had an advisory role, won a significant number of parliamentary seats, but failed to win an outright majority. After forming a loose coalition with several other parties, parliament chose veteran politician and close Thaksin ally, Samak Sundaravej as prime minister.
Not surprisingly, Samak was regarded as little more than a proxy of Thaksin by his opponents, and shortly after taking office became the target of a series of large-scale protests held by the Peoples’ Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the same group of mostly Bangkok-based middle-class royalists who had called for Thaksin’s resignation in the lead up to the 2006 coup. By this point, the PAD had already begun wearing their trademark yellow to show their allegiance to the king, and were referred to as the ‘yellow shirts’ (see boxed text Click here).
In August 2008, several thousand yellow-shirted PAD protesters invaded and took over Government House in Bangkok, literally causing the prime minister to flee from his office. The takeover was followed by sporadic violent clashes between the PAD and the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), a loose association of red-shirted Thaksin supporters who had set up camp nearby at Sanam Luang. One incident in early September led to the death of a PAD protester, causing Samak to declare a state of emergency. The event also led to the royal family becoming involved in the long-running conflict when Queen Sirikit chose to attend the protester’s funeral, an action that many interpreted as a tacit show of support for the PAD.
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GETTING SHIRTY
Most Thais are aware of the day of the week they were born, and in Thai astrology each day is associated with a particular colour. However in the aftermath of the 2006 coup, these previously benign hues started to take on a much more political meaning.
To show their alleged support for the royal family, the anti-Thaksin Peoples’ Alliance for Democracy (PAD) adopted yellow as their uniform. This goes back to 2006, when in an effort to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Rama