Thai Leader Appears Isolated as Protests Continue
BANGKOK — Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej went on the defensive Thursday, asserting in a nationwide radio address that he would not resign despite mounting pressures against him.
Anti-government protesters outside Government House in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Demonstrators slept on the street outside the government compound in Bangkok.
“I have to stay in order to preserve democracy and to protect the monarchy,” he said, adding, “I have done nothing wrong.”
With protesters blocking him from his office for more than a week and with the army declining to enforce his two-day-old emergency decree, Mr. Samak appeared increasingly isolated and his options seemed to have narrowed.
Rumors had circulated that he would resign Thursday, and the newspaper The Nation carried a banner headline, “Samak on Brink of Exit.”
Mr. Samak responded with bitter humor, saying, “I have to apologize to the disappointed people who were waiting for me to announce my resignation today.”
In another sign that he was losing support, he confirmed that Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag had resigned after just seven weeks in office. He said Mr. Tej had acted under pressure from “high-ranking people” who oppose his government.
Protesters demanding his ouster have occupied the grounds of his office since Aug. 26 and say they will not leave until he resigns.
Responding to his address, one protest leader, Sondhi Limthongkul, told the crowd that the prime minsiter was “lying again,” a Thai news agency reported.
Mr. Samak acknowledged the humiliation of being barred from his office but said he had adapted.
“Am I ashamed that my office has been taken over?” he said. “I have to say yes, I’m ashamed. It is not convenient to work outside, but I can do it.”
In an attempt to bring the standoff to an end, Mr. Samak imposed state of emergency for Bangkok on Tuesday that banned gatherings of more than five people or of any group that might cause disorder. The army chief and the chief of police were given control of Bangkok.
But instead of enforcing the order, the army chief, Gen. Anupong Paochinda, held a long news conference at which he declared a neutral stance between his commander in chief and the protesters demanding Mr. Samak’s resignation.
“We are not taking sides,” the general said as dozens of senior officers sat behind him. “If the nation is the people, we are the army of the people,” he said. “But now the nation is divided into two parts. We cannot be with one side. We have to be with the people, all together.”
General Anupong said he would not lead an insurrection, although he was among a group of generals who two years ago carried out the country’s 18th coup and ousted Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister.
But a senior government official, speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, called the general’s passivity “a silent coup.”
“We think he is just playing along, just doing nothing,” he said “We were hoping he would use the emergency decree to at least ask the people gently to please leave. But that hasn’t happened, so we are keeping a close eye on the military right now.”
Duncan McCargo, a professor of Southeast Asian politics at the University of Leeds in Britain, who is visiting Bangkok, said he found the situation “very, very strange.”
“You would normally expect the military to at least go through the motions of saying, ‘I support the government,’ ” he said. “Mr. Samak, despite being both prime minister and defense minister, has not been able so far to order either the police or the military to do whatever it is he wants,” he said. “And that’s certainly interesting, to say the least.”
But he added: “Who knows how long Samak is going to be in power? People like Anupong have to be aware of the constantly changing nature of the political order and they have to position themselves.”
Despite the crisis, life in Bangkok maintained its normal rhythm on Wednesday. It was only on the grounds outside Mr. Samak’s offices, where thousands of people were sheltered under tents and awnings, that something unusual seemed to be going on. Throughout the day, vans delivered cases of drinking water, vehicles arrived to clean portable toilets, and big trucks hauled away huge mounds of plastic garbage bags.
A tough and experienced politician of 73, Mr. Samak has seemed a bit bewildered by the vigor of the opposition. Even as he asserted command on Tuesday and announced the state of emergency, he sounded a plaintive note.
“I beg you all, this is about the country,” he said. “Do not let your hatred of me — why, I have no idea — lead to more protesters gathering. I will keep this bitterness in my heart and I will learn in the future what happens in this country and why people who work for the country are detested by society.”
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