Bangkok is very chaotic at this moment because for the past two weeks Thais have been demonstrating against the current Government situation. Prime Mister Samak Sundaravej should step down. People are not happy about his leadership and many believe he is just ‘a puppet’ of the former corrupt P.M. Thaksin.
Last week, in the evenings, tens of thousands of people mostly middle class people such as teachers, doctors and office job workers, used go out on the streets, speak on podia and mingle with each other. These protestors also blocked roads and bridges, occupied government buildings and airports. The demonstrations are mostly in Bangkok but also elsewhere in the country. At first Samak tried to have the Government buildings cleared up by the police but the court couldn’t comply with this order immediately. But after last Monday’s shooting incident, the Government has forbidden all public gatherings under the name of ‘public safety’.
The demonstrators have occupied Samak’s office for more than a week and they demand him to step down because corruption is proven. The Election Commission stated that this statement is correct and as soon as the Higher Court takes the Election Commissions advice Samak will have to step down and leave politics for five years. He is accused of election fraud in December 2007. However, it is very Thai alike that a convict from The Higher Court takes months.
The Unions now seem to have joined hands and announced that they that they are going to cut power at the Government buildings. There will also be actions against public transport and airports. So it is a Negative Travel Advice for Thailand will be likely soon, if not already.
What is my experience of the situation as a foreigner in BK? Is it safe?
In my opinion Thai are not violent people so that is why we feel that it is relatively safe here. Many schools in the center are closed for the next couple of days, some Universities were closed too. My students at the university know the situation but the shopping fair is still far more interesting of course. So far, students approached me once to ask me about my opinion about Samak and the situation.
The motorbike driver told me: “The country Thailand is boring because we are not allowed to demonstrate (express our opinion). It’s now forbidden.†He sounded very sad.
For this post I used information from: volkskrant.nl and nos.nl (Dutch news channels) feel free to comment.