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Political and civil unrest have been prevalent throughout Bangkok now for over a week with parliment house blockaded and the Government meeting in a different location.
A State Of Emergency has been called several days ago and the military put on standby.
Will this turn into another coup like the 2006 coup ...
A brief run down is as follows, the previously deposed Prime Minister, Mr. Taksin was cast out by the military leaders in 2006 after 'compromising national security' by selling his telecom company to an overseas interest (Singtel). This among other things were given as the reason for him being deposed and his political party was outlawed due to corruption (mainly vote buying) charges.
The promised elections were delayed and delayed while the militarily installed government made constitution ammendments and made new laws, the economy suffered considerably during this period.
Eventually elections were held and the current PM Samak, was 'voted' in. Samaks party was formed from the remains of Taksins old Thai Ruk Thai (Thais love Thailand) party, and has been popularly seen as a front for the old party. Similarly many see Samak as Taksin's frontman, with Taksin pulling the ropes behind the scenes.
Whether this is true or not I cannot comment, it is just a popular opinion with many people.
Either way Samak was elected, again there were allegations of vote buying with the rural poor from the North East (Issarn) region.
Now the Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD) are up in arms, personally I am not sure of the exact reasons cited but it seems to be mainly urban and middle and upperclass peoples who support this party.
Currently Parliment house is blockaded and several other buildings, the other morning several TV stations were seized for several hours, both in the capital and upcountry, though the PAD denies involvement in this.
Airports in popular tourist destinations are blockaded with many flights cancelled from Phuket, Krabi and Hat Yai - southern beach locations.
Apparently there was a rail strike to the north and north east the other day, and public transport in the capital was reportedly free for a few days.
The powers that be behind the electricity and water companies have threatened to go on strike too to show that they do not support the current government. That could be interesting 6 million+ people in Bangkok without electricity would be amusing as the Thais would take it in stride, 6 million+ people without water for a day would cause a panic.
There are currently rumours that Samak would resign this morning, obviously disproven now it is night and nothing has happened.
Wesley Snipes is supposed to be in town soon to start filming a new movie, there is a chance that I'll get to work in a reasonably decent part in this. The problem is with the political situation the movie might be called off.
There are also a few more films slated for filming here this year, and again if the political situation worsens it'll put them off to.
For now no one is sure what is going to happen, at least Samak hasn't called the troops in yet as it was claimed he did to rioting students during the 1970's (which he recently refuted any deaths in an interview on CNN in relation to this - contrary to what many eye witnesses claim).
Lets hope that the situation settles down without any bloodshed, tourism in Thailand is already down 30% on official figures but ask any bar owner or check out the hotel situation and it is much worse than that.
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