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Thai "red shirts" call off march, stock prices jump
Nopporn Wong-Anan
BANGKOK
Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:23am EDT
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BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's "red shirt" protesters called off a march to Bangkok's business district on Tuesday after a stern warning from the army, but they threatened to stay in the capital's shopping district "indefinitely"
World
The supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra also said they had enlisted their own special forces to tighten security in the shopping district they have occupied for 18 days, raising tensions in a bloody six-week protest demanding new elections.
At least two luxury hotels in the shopping district announced they had closed for the rest of this week for safety reasons.
"We will stay here indefinitely," Nattawut Saikua, a protest leader, told reporters in the Rachaprasong district of high-end department stores and luxury hotels, adding they would only hold a rally at a second site in the business area if soldiers leave.
He called off the march following the army's deployment of hundreds of troops, many armed with M-16 assault rifles, and after comments on Tuesday by an army spokesman who said troops would be tougher and use their weapons if provoked.
Analysts say the protest has evolved into a dangerous standoff between the army and a rogue military faction that supports the red shirts and includes retired generals allied with twice-elected and now fugitive former premier Thaksin.
Despite the tensions, Thai stock prices rallied after falling 8.23 percent since clashes between troops and demonstrators on April 10 that killed 25 people. Foreign investors resumed buying this week, pushing the index up as much as 4 percent at one point, its biggest one-day gain in 15 months.
Brokers attributed the surge to a combination of factors: bargain hunting by foreign investors of Thailand's recently beaten-down shares, along with news the red shirts were calling off their march to the business district -- a development that pushed the market up significantly in the afternoon.
Analysts, however, doubt the rally indicates a new trend given few signs of a political compromise. They expect choppy trading until either side shows a willingness to back down.
"We are still highly cautious on the political situation and we're not in the market at this stage," said Voravan Tarapoom, managing director at BBL Asset Management in Bangkok.
Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer urged its clients to stay on the sidelines. "Uncertainty remains very high in the short-term and this alone will prevent the market from recovering significantly until a clearer political outcome emerges," it said in a note to clients.
BIG TROOP PRESENCE
While the protesters canceled their march to the business district, hundreds remained at the entrance to it, where they had stockpiled sharpened bamboo poles.
Several thousand other red shirts were dug in at the shopping district, about 2 kms (1.2 miles) away.
"We can no longer use the soft to hard steps," army spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters. "If they try to break the line, we will start using tear gas, and if they do break the line, we need to use weapons to deal with them decisively."
He said some protesters were armed with petrol bombs, planks, grenades and dangerous acids.
Late on Monday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva again rejected demands to call an election he would almost certainly lose, saying the red shirts must be brought under control.
Both sides want to be in power during a military reshuffle in September. If Thaksin's camp is governing at that time, analysts expect it would bring about major changes by ousting generals allied with Thailand's royalist establishment, a prospect that royalists fear could diminish the power of Thailand's monarchy.
Given the intransigence on both sides after more than a month of protests, analysts fear further violence.
"In all reality, it seems right now that another crackdown is the only way out," said Danny Richards, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The financial toll from the standoff, which has spawned rumors of a putsch in coup-prone Thailand, is growing.
Fitch ratings cut the country's long-term currency credit outlook to negative from stable on Monday.
Hotel occupancy is put at around 20 percent in a country heavily reliant on tourism for jobs.
"There isn't a guest left in our hotel now," said a receptionist at the Holiday Inn, one of the two luxury hotels that closed. "We are closing from (Tuesday) and plan to reopen on April 26 if the situation improves."
Amata Corp, Thailand's biggest seller of industrial land, said on Monday some Japanese clients had delayed signing land deals because of the political unrest.
The Thai baht firmed slightly, while bond yields eased further as investors bet the central bank would leave interest rates at a record low on Wednesday because the political crisis could hurt the economy.
(Additional reporting by Martin Petty and Viparat Jantraprap; Writing by Jason Szep. Editing by Bill Tarrant)
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See All Comments (9) | Post Comment
Apr 19, 2010 10:54pm EDT
(Late on Monday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva again rejected demands to call an election he would almost certainly lose, saying the red shirts must be brought under control.
“If we allow those who use force to threaten a political change, we will have a lawless country,” he said.)
Isn’t he the prime minister because he used force to create political change? I guess it’s been a lawless country since then…
Oh the irony
cy_starkman
Report As Abusive
Apr 19, 2010 11:15pm EDT
other than military reshuffle, i haven’t heard or see any arguments on the fact that thai politicians in parliament also get 30% commission from all concessions and budgets which will also happend in september. that would be hundreds of millions in thier pockets. another main reason they don’t want dissolution now.
lafountain189
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Apr 20, 2010 12:03am EDT
no! he didn’t use force to create political change. and it is not the 30% commission as some said.
you guys better learn and consider what is the real problem in Thailand before attempt to justify anyone there.
the protesters you see wearing red in bangkok are not there for democracy, they are there to protect thaksin billion of Dollar that he robed from the country for over 5 years. and wow to bring back Chavez style of dictatorship.
thaksin is the beginning of the problem.
if you don’t know him, i recommend you to look at Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. the only difference between thaksin and chavez is thaksin kiss merican and the west asses, but chaves doesn’t.
i was in that country during Thaksin in power.
every one in that country know how corrupt thaksin government was. it was just onone can do a thing when thaksin and his people in power. thaksin was the law himself (with unlimited supply of money).
yes, Thaksin got a lot of populist programs like cheap medical care, loans and other financial breaks. which brought in a lot of support from the north and northeast. it sound good too, but if you see it in detail, you will find that the bid winner in “all” of those good government project ended up being taken control and managed by either thaksin family, thaksin and friends business until some people couldn’t take it any more that was the begining of anti-thaksin campaign when I was there.
it will always be those gain and loose. and thais act just like what the word thai really mean that why all of their government can please only their own divisions, not the country as one.
for thailand today, election won’t help any more until some consensus on how democracy should work has been sat and most importantly “agree” by both side then the parliament can lead the country as a country. Not thaksin’s country or anti-thaksin’s country.
blackout
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Apr 20, 2010 2:15am EDT
i am sure not all red shirts are there for thuksin. thailand should have been attending to the real problem, its root is the poverty.
thaksin corrupted just like all past and current politicians. stirred up the fermented bottom of the barrel of thai society is what he did in extra. (at least he met the real need of majority of thais or the poor)thai politics is a game for certain groups of people. they all in it because the power of money. thailand has been a developing country for the last 30 years ans still phathetically own the same title today. thai govenment system is a long term failure, incompetent to diagnose and solve problems. look at the whole picture, look at extra large percentage of poor. it is time to admit that thailand need an outsiders help to restructuring and reform the system. mud slinging is not a problem solving
lafountain189
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Apr 20, 2010 2:41am EDT
I am Thai, and I know full well that Thai politics is full of corruption. Not just Thaksin that was corrupt, but also are the royalists. For example, Prem Tinsulanone who is the president of the Privy Council, which advises the Thai king, also serves as an adviser to the Bangkok Bank, the largest bank in Thailand. Prem helped arrange financing through the Bangkok Bank for a golf course that encroached on the Khao Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary in southeastern Thailand. The corruption is not different between nowaday and the time of Thaksin.
Blackout, you underestimated the red-shirt protesters. It is true that one reason they protest is to bring Thaksin back but that is because Thaksin was the first politician who used the policy that helped the poor in the rural areas after being ignored in the past.
One reason that the military, and the royalists used to overthrow Thaksin from the premiership was Thaksin did not respect the monarchy.
The royalists will never accept the democracy. They don’t accept result of elections if the winner seems intimidating the power of the king.
I am worried very much for the current situation in Thailand. I had witnessed the cruelty in 6th October, 1976 massacre. The rulers used the soldiers to kill innocent students. The students were hung, burnt alive. This time, the army is bringing weaponry used in a war to fight with the protesters.
I hope the Human Right international, UN, and other international organization send the observers to Thailand. This will stop the mad elite classes from committing a mass massacre.
WHN
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Apr 20, 2010 3:55am EDT
WHN you’re right.
The red shirt protester love Thaksin because his policy helped the poor in the rural areas. And the current situation may lead to the same thing that happen in 6th October 1976.
NATSKI13
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Apr 20, 2010 4:21am EDT
lafountain189, my 20+years over there can tell that, thaksin corrupted is not just like all past and current politicians.
i think(but not sure) the current government doesn’t have time to corrupt yet.
as for the past goverment, yeah they did corrupt, but that will be depended on where they came from. the government based on north and northeast “seem” to corrupt more. if you remember asian financial cries 10+ years ago that bankrupted thailand, you might remember that the thai government at the time has thaksin as Deputy-PM, and 99% of people taken part in that gov was later also in thaksin gov. amazingly businesses belong to thaksin and many people in that government got away unharmed!
and the government that came to fix and fundamentally work on “the plan” that finally get thailand out of debit were the same people as thailand’s current government! (thailand was so financially messed up, it impossible to fix it all in a government life. so they did plan it well enough so that the country can be free from IMF in the following government and it did.)
the second time thaksin come back, they ideally spite the country to 2!
why? to understand why i say that, all you have to do is understand how poor thai in north and northeast live their live, and how well thaksin understand it and play with it to gain his political muscle.
at first i didn’t really get too why thai farmer keep making same mistake on investment. what tell poor thai from northeast spend all of their monthly salary in a night or two then live on debit for the rest of the month. why so many north and northeast thai keep on skip work after long holiday up to a week at a time with out notice.(result in they being kicked out.) why don’t this people care about their future?
on the other hand why some middle class thai can do very well and can be very professional at work place. those people seem to be a very moderated type and absolutely hate corruption. and many of them was poor, but with their hardworking they could build their own life in less than a generation.
it seem like they came from a difference country! it only make sense when i ask where they originally came from!
the way thais in difference part of the country live their life can be so much difference. to really do a long-term help the poor in some area, to me i think education is the key. and it had been talk and push by many government but not thaksin government.
thaksin know how to please people in some area fastest with maximum positive result to his own power. the answer is the money. he feed in money. keep people happy with fast and easy lone. keep them in debit, and invest less on education.
some people in that country don’t care where the money came from and how they will have to pay the debit one day in the future. for as long as some body can get money to their hands fast they will support the man. whoever try to take the easy money man from them, it automatically turn to their enemy.
that why you see thailand today break apart into mainly 2.
1.first are those disagree with corruption in any form because they know where their hard earning money gone after they pay tax.
2nd are those constantly asking for help and support. because they have been living under an idea of asking for money (many time cheating) is always easier than making it them-self. by those idea they didn’t only make them-self financially poor, they also make them-self morally poor, and they also support the corruption system that end up make the whole country unable to develop anywhere farther.
no offense there, if you every go to bangkok. see those try to cheat foreigner tourists in Bangkok or anywhere in thailand, and ask where they originally came from. you will see what i am talking about.
i don’t think any country in the world will need an outsider to help build the country.
thailand doesn’t need an outsider developer too. many people in thailand has already seen what keep them at where they are. many of them did speak out and try to change. but their number is still far less than those easily accept fast money and view corruption as a necessary evil.
and i don’t think it is a developed country run by corrupted system with support from morally poor population.
every developed countries i can see are engined by middle-class that pretty much like thai’s middle-class. ask the middle class in any developed world about corruption and education and see their answer.
blackout
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Apr 20, 2010 4:31am EDT
WHN, I wonder how could you view that poor-thai was ignored in the pass?
Because thaksin say so?
I have seen so many program try to help the poor in thailand long before thaksin took office as a PM.
What about people in the south? Many of them also poor and I know that it was thaksin politically mistaken on handling the insurgency that result in more than 5000 dead up until today.
No word on that? Whoever don’t support thaksin doesn’t deserve to be counted as poor-thai?
And if you hate corruption that much, why your people turn blind-eyes when thaksin and his family did it?
blackout
Report As Abusive
Apr 20, 2010 4:45am EDT
If your people take it at a very beginning of the problem, you will see that
1the middle-class in bangkok did support thaksin when he first took office.
They even help pressure the thai (very weak) justice system to let thaksin get away with his first financial wrong doing (he was intentionally hidden his income and report less before he took office.)
2 if thasin did do massive corruption and turn himself to the untouchable PM, the middle class thais would have no reason to hate him.
3 if no one hate him then there would not be an anti thaksin protester as you call them the Yellow-shirt.
4 without the yellow-shirt protested in bangkok the military wouldn’t have a good reason to step in and kick thaksin out. And people wouldn’t support the military action too.
Thaksin abuse of power = people hate him = military step in with mass support from anti-thaksin = thaksin loose power = pro-thaksin come and protest in bangkok = bangkok is rampaged!
Thailand is such a mess!
blackout
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