Bangkok to Red Shirts: Shit or Get Off the Pot

Picture Courtesy Bangkok Post

While the past two weeks of protests by the Red shirts have been largely uneventful and even looked upon favorably by a lot of Bangkok’s citizens, the welcome is definitely wearing thin. With several bomb blasts from grenades at two TV stations including the larger NBT Television and the Army-run Channel 5 and a grenade attack reported at the Customs Department in Klong Toey soon the atmosphere will not be exactly friendly to the Red shirts.

As I said before they would have done well to stage their less than million man march last week and then sit down for peaceful talks with the government. Instead they have decided to continue their protests and make what was once considered a friendly protest into as more prolonged siege that will undoubtedly not go well for them.

With the peoples backing they had the ball in their court but now the people of Bangkok are getting pissed off and showing their displeasure with their countrymen. Once more the Red shirt leaders know this and have started to pull back from some of their promises such as storming the government house.

A Bangkok communities consortium statement was released a few days ago calling for a halt to protests and for peaceful negotiations. The businessmen for democracy society has added their voices to the long list of Bangkok residents tired of the protests and even staged a protest of their own headed by their president and over 30 members to protest the protests.

A somewhat more influential contingent, the Federation of Thai Industries, also voiced their concern and disapproval of the Reds’ disruption, via their chairman, Santi Vilassakdanont, who, according to the Bangkok Post, highlighted the negative psychological impact the continuing rallies are having, suggesting that the UDD consider using parliamentary procedures instead of street rallies, with the admonishment that “In a democracy, we must respect the rights of others.” – The Bangkok Post

Of course Thaksin is keeping the pressure on the Red shirt leaders to continue because after all he is one selfish son of a bitch that only cares about his own money and political future. The Red shirts would do well to remove their current leaders and sit down with the government peacefully before this turns into something much bigger and much more nightmarish.

The Red shirts would also do well to remember that while they do have grievances that must be heard they themselves are hurting everyday Thai’s in Bangkok due to their efforts. Tourism in Bangkok is down and many Thai’s are affected by these daily tantrums. If the Red shirts don’t soon “shit or get off the pot” then they will lose not only the respect they had earned but they will also lose the right to have their grievances heard.

The Red shirts are represented in the government by the Puea Thai Party and should look to them to remedy the concerns of the rural Thai’s and if they cannot then they need to find new leaders that can. Thaksin is most assuredly not the answer and everyone is getting tired of hearing about his plight…the poor man must find it hard to live on the millions of dollars he still maintains.

Picture Courtesy Bangkok Post