UDD shrugs off Thaksin party ban use of Sanam Luang unsuitable, says BMA

BangkokPost/8 July 2009

By: ANUCHA CHAROENPO AND MONGKOL BANGPRAPA

Supporters of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra are threatening to defy City Hall’s warning against using Sanam Luang to celebrate his birthday.

Shinawat Haboonpad, a United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leader, yesterday shrugged off Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra’s decision not to allow the celebration to mark Thaksin’s 60th birthday.

“The red shirt protesters will gather on July 26 to celebrate the former prime minister’s birthday as planned,” said Mr Shinawat, who initiated the idea.

“This is part of our civil disobedience.

“Why can’t we use the ground to carry out activities for the former prime minister, who did a lot of favours for grassroots people?”

The leader of the Taxi Drivers’ Rights Protection Association is seeking permission from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to hold the birthday party for Thaksin at Sanam Luang.

The former premier is in Fiji for an international meeting, his legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said. Thaksin stopped off in Malaysia at the weekend on his way from Dubai.

But the governor opposed the plan, citing BMA regulations which state the ground is for royal ceremonies and activities held for organisations, not those serving the purposes of individuals.

The BMA is preparing Sanam Luang for the royal ceremony commemorating Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday on Aug 12, he said.

“It’s impossible for them [the red shirts] to hold the birthday party at Sanam Luang,” the governor said.

MR Sukhumbhand urged the red shirt leaders to think about the purpose of Sanam Luang and the ceremonial pavilion.

“Is it an appropriate place for the event [the birthday party]?” he asked, adding he wondered why they did not hold the event at a convention hall.

MR Sukhumbhand warned that if the UDD went ahead and held the celebration without the BMA’s permission, City Hall would be ready to take legal action against them.

Mr Shinawat said the governor should not claim Sanam Luang was reserved for important ceremonies as City Hall had never taken good care of the ground.

“Sanam Luang has become a slum packed with homeless people, street vendors and prostitutes,” he said.

Puea Thai Party MP Jatuporn Prompan, another UDD key member, questioned the governor’s decision not to allow the red shirts to have their party there.

The site was a public area to be used for all activities, he said.

“If this place is not open for public use, why does City Hall allow people to fly kites, among other recreational activities, there?” Mr Jatuporn asked.

The opposition MP said he was certain the pro-Thaksin group was being treated unfairly and unjustly by the Democrat Party-led government. MR Sukhumbhand is a Democrat.

In a related incident, Thanee Limthong, deputy director for medical administration at Nakhon Ping Hospital, yesterday lodged a complaint with Mae Rim police in Chiang Mai against red shirt supporters who, on Monday, blocked the way of a van they believed contained Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai.

Dr Thanee said the violent behaviour had frightened the hospital’s patients and their relatives.

Pol Col Somphot Sonkanok, Mae Rim district police chief, said police would handle the case openly.

In Songkhla’s Hat Yai district, supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy yesterday turned up in front of the Lee Gardens Hotel to jeer the former acting leader of the defunct Thai Rak Thai party, Chaturon Chaisaeng.

Mr Chaturon was invited by the Songkhla Lawyers for Democracy and the southern UDD network to address about 100 people at the hotel on the topic “Truth, Crisis, Democracy.”

About 100 southern PAD supporters gathered in front of the hotel holding placards and jeering people arriving at the hotel.

Sarawut Siwayawirot, a PAD leader in Songkhla, said his group came to protest against the UDD’s plan to ask for a royal pardon for Thaksin.

Mr Chaturon yesterday called for more respect for people’s rights to express their opinions. He warned that a lack of respect for opposing views would lead to more conflicts in the country.