By Peter Janssen
DPA
Khon Kaen, Thailand - While red-shirted protestors ran amok in Bangkok last Wednesday, looting stores, breaking into bank branches and setting alight 36 buildings, a less publicized riot was underway in Khon Kaen, in northeastern Thailand, called Isan.
On May 13, hundreds of red shirt sympathizers burned down Khon Kaen City Hall and the office of the state-run National Broadcasting Television. Others attacked the palatial home of government politician Prajak Klaewklarharn.
In the assault on Prajak, who belongs to the Bhumjai Thai Party - a partner in the current coalition government - two protestors were shot dead by guards. Similar outbreaks were reported Wednesday in five other provincial towns, but Khon Kaen's uprising was the fiercest.
Khon Kaen is deemed the north-eastern capital of the red shirt movement, officially called the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), which launched a mass protest in Bangkok on March 12 to force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and hold new elections.
The protestors seized Ratchaprasong Road on April 3, turning the once posh commercial district of luxury department stores and five star hotels into a city of tents and makeshift sidewalk shacks, until troops finally dispersed the demonstration on Wednesday.
Hardcore members of the red shirts went on a rampage in Bangkok Wednesday evening after their leaders surrendered to authorities, raising serious concerns about Thailand's long term stability.
With many of the UDD leaders now under arrest, there are fears that the movement could take a more violent turn.
'Now that there are no leaders, the worm has gone underground,' said Yongyut Kongpatimakorn, a red shirt organizer in Khon Kaen, about 350 kilometres north-east of Bangkok. 'You've got a headless body that isn't being told where to throw its fist. What happens next is unpredictable and out of control, but it will not stop.'
Like most red shirt supporters, Yongyut, 74, is an ardent admirer of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose populist policies implemented during his two terms in office during 2001 to 2006 won him a mass following, especially among voters in Isan, Thailand's poorest region and home to nearly half the population.
Thaksin remains widely revered in Isan as the first prime minister to address some of their chronic problems, such as widespread indebtedness, giving them a sense of political entitlement that was missing before.
For many red shirts the protest in Bangkok was largely about hastening new polls that would bring in to power a new pro-Thaksin government. For Thaksin, who has been living in self exile to avoid a two-year jail term on an abuse-of-power conviction, the protest was a worthy investment.
'Thaksin spent hundreds of millions of baht to sponsor the protest by covering transportation costs and food supplies,' Yongyut said. 'The protestors weren't paid to be there, but they were happy to be getting three free meals a day.'
Now that the UDD protest in Bangkok has been dispersed, the government faces an uphill task in pacifying the red shirts.
'I believe the majority of people in the North-east didn't like to see the violence, the burning of buildings,' said Buapun Promphakping, a social science professor at Khon Kaen University.
'But meanwhile I think they still agree with the demands of the red shirts. They want democracy, they want equality, they don't want the traditional bureaucracy running everything and don't want double standards.'
Abhisit has promised to address some of these issues in the course of five-point reconciliation roadmap he will push through in coming months before holding an election, but given the widespread mistrust he faces in Isan, where his Democrat party has never won an election, there is skepticism that the roadmap can succeed in healing the now deep wounds.
'What will happen in the future is there will be resistance from red shirts, mostly in the North and North-east, but I won't say it will turn in to an insurgency like what we had 30 years ago,' Buapun said. 'That could only happen when you have support form outside countries.'
In the 1970s, the North-east was a hotbed for the Communist Party of Thailand, which had support from communist China.
The communist movement notoriously failed to ignite the passions of Thailand's rural masses. It remains to be seen how deep the red movement has sunk into the countryside, even in Isan.
'As I see it, the UDD leaders just took people from the villagers to die for them in Bangkok,' said Apichai, a former headman at Kam Pla Lai village, about 50 kilometres north-west of Khon Kaen city.
'In this province they don't all love the reds. There are some who love their opponents,' he said.
On May 13, hundreds of red shirt sympathizers burned down Khon Kaen City Hall and the office of the state-run National Broadcasting Television. Others attacked the palatial home of government politician Prajak Klaewklarharn.
In the assault on Prajak, who belongs to the Bhumjai Thai Party - a partner in the current coalition government - two protestors were shot dead by guards. Similar outbreaks were reported Wednesday in five other provincial towns, but Khon Kaen's uprising was the fiercest.
Khon Kaen is deemed the north-eastern capital of the red shirt movement, officially called the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), which launched a mass protest in Bangkok on March 12 to force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and hold new elections.
The protestors seized Ratchaprasong Road on April 3, turning the once posh commercial district of luxury department stores and five star hotels into a city of tents and makeshift sidewalk shacks, until troops finally dispersed the demonstration on Wednesday.
Hardcore members of the red shirts went on a rampage in Bangkok Wednesday evening after their leaders surrendered to authorities, raising serious concerns about Thailand's long term stability.
With many of the UDD leaders now under arrest, there are fears that the movement could take a more violent turn.
'Now that there are no leaders, the worm has gone underground,' said Yongyut Kongpatimakorn, a red shirt organizer in Khon Kaen, about 350 kilometres north-east of Bangkok. 'You've got a headless body that isn't being told where to throw its fist. What happens next is unpredictable and out of control, but it will not stop.'
Like most red shirt supporters, Yongyut, 74, is an ardent admirer of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose populist policies implemented during his two terms in office during 2001 to 2006 won him a mass following, especially among voters in Isan, Thailand's poorest region and home to nearly half the population.
Thaksin remains widely revered in Isan as the first prime minister to address some of their chronic problems, such as widespread indebtedness, giving them a sense of political entitlement that was missing before.
For many red shirts the protest in Bangkok was largely about hastening new polls that would bring in to power a new pro-Thaksin government. For Thaksin, who has been living in self exile to avoid a two-year jail term on an abuse-of-power conviction, the protest was a worthy investment.
'Thaksin spent hundreds of millions of baht to sponsor the protest by covering transportation costs and food supplies,' Yongyut said. 'The protestors weren't paid to be there, but they were happy to be getting three free meals a day.'
Now that the UDD protest in Bangkok has been dispersed, the government faces an uphill task in pacifying the red shirts.
'I believe the majority of people in the North-east didn't like to see the violence, the burning of buildings,' said Buapun Promphakping, a social science professor at Khon Kaen University.
'But meanwhile I think they still agree with the demands of the red shirts. They want democracy, they want equality, they don't want the traditional bureaucracy running everything and don't want double standards.'
Abhisit has promised to address some of these issues in the course of five-point reconciliation roadmap he will push through in coming months before holding an election, but given the widespread mistrust he faces in Isan, where his Democrat party has never won an election, there is skepticism that the roadmap can succeed in healing the now deep wounds.
'What will happen in the future is there will be resistance from red shirts, mostly in the North and North-east, but I won't say it will turn in to an insurgency like what we had 30 years ago,' Buapun said. 'That could only happen when you have support form outside countries.'
In the 1970s, the North-east was a hotbed for the Communist Party of Thailand, which had support from communist China.
The communist movement notoriously failed to ignite the passions of Thailand's rural masses. It remains to be seen how deep the red movement has sunk into the countryside, even in Isan.
'As I see it, the UDD leaders just took people from the villagers to die for them in Bangkok,' said Apichai, a former headman at Kam Pla Lai village, about 50 kilometres north-west of Khon Kaen city.
'In this province they don't all love the reds. There are some who love their opponents,' he said.
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