Veena Thoopkrajae
The Nation
Plot thickens as Army chief rejects Chavalit's call for a coup, and all but severes his ties with PAD in the process
The People's Alliance for Democracy turned against Army chief Anupong Paochinda Friday night following his pledge not to intervene in the political crisis.
Army chief Anupong Paochinda earlier in the day rejected former deputy prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's call for military intervention to break the political impasse.
Anupong said Chavalit should instead deal with the consequences of his command to crack down on protesters on Tuesday.
Chavalit told Anupong via a newspaper not to be afraid of staging a coup as the Army chief could pull out after a non-partisan government was set up.
"I'm not afraid of anything - he should know my background - but may I ask him to take responsibility for the wrong decision he made on the night of October 6-7?" Anupong said on TV Channel 3.
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Following Anupong's TV interview , he is accused by the PAD leaders of not taking the people's side.
PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul told the protesters inside Government House that Anupong was "no longer staying with people".
In a rare public statement showing his desperate desire for a coup, Sondhi insisted that there was such a thing as a good coup.
"How can he say that coup is not good? How can he put up with people being killed by police. Of course, the coup is not good if the military just does it for the sake of someone else's benefits," said Sondhi. His emotional speech responded to Anupong's comment that it is impossible to have the military fight the police.
"Taking a side will not end the story," said Anupong in the TV interview.
Sondhi and a number of PAD leaders on Friday night hinted that Anupong might have interests as his son is studying in London and is possibly taken care of by a millionaire in London. "Isn't your son studying in England? Before you still pay a mortgage but now you're damn rich," Sondhi said.
One really has to wonder what the end game is for the PAD. They believe they are above the law and act that way, they have contempt for democratic politics, they have brought the government to a standstill, and now they have pissed off the military. The only institution they have on their side is an idiotic court system that shamelessly enables their criminal behavior. It must be great to be a PAD thug. You are part of a privileged, untouchable class of people that can do whatever it wants and get away with it no matter how heinous the crime.
The only thing they have left is the hope that lower level military officers overthrow General Anupong and install a PAD puppet government. Is it plausible? Maybe. Probable? No.
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