To achieve their mission to unseat caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) first has to create unity among its leaders.

The action of Dharma Army chief Chamlong Srimuang and media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul in leading about 100 protesters to try to break the police blockage late on Sunday night sent a message that there is a rift among the leaders of the PAD.

Somsak Kosaisuk, one of the five members of the PAD council, admitted he was shocked by the action of Chamlong and Sondhi, since they went ahead without consulting the other leaders. According to Somsak, the PAD agreed earlier they would peacefully negotiate with the police to open the way for the crowd to walk to Government House.

"However, this doesn't mean there is a conflict among us. They [Chamlong and Sondhi] just made the decision to move too quickly," he said.

Somsak, a veteran union leader with long experience in mobilising protests, admitted one of the difficulties in organising the anti-Thaksin movement was the difference in style of the PAD leaders.

"Apart from the perspective of those who have experience in organising protests, we do have different aspects from military trained and business-minded figures," he said.

Besides Somsak, other prominent members of the PAD are Pibhob Dhongchai, an adviser to the Campaign for Popular Democracy, Somkieat Phongphaibul, an academic from Rachabhat Nakhon Ratchasima, plus Maj General Chamlong Srimuang and Sondhi Limthongkul, the media mogul who founded the Manager Group.

Anyone who was at Phan Fa Bridge must have heard the announcement from the commander of Metropolitan Police Division 1, who was in charge of the bridge, saying that less than 300 police were there to keep order, and were not to confront the rally. Some representatives of the PAD were negotiating with the police to open the way, so there was no reason to try and break through the police lines.

There's no doubt that the actions of Chamlong and Sondhi created a bad impression among journalists.

Jeong Moon Tae, a veteran Korean journalist who has reported on conflicts in many countries, said the action of Chamlong and Sondhi was like "very stupid show-offs".

The PAD has to realise that a clash of leadership styles could bring many undesired results.

With images of the bloodshed of the 1992 May uprising still fresh in his mind, Bunnakorn Thanarat-trakul, a company employee who joined the anti-Thaksin rally, was afraid that the same phenomenon would happened again in the on-going movement to unseat Thaksin, if there is conflict among the movement's leaders.

"However, it's good that there are different opinions among leaders, so they can compare the strengths and weak points of each others' ideas. The outcome will be one good strategy," he said.

The PAD's leaders have often insisted they want the crisis to be resolved peacefully. If they cannot create unity among themselves it might pave the way for violence.

They also have to be aware that violence might give the chance for "extra" powers from outside the democratic system to intervene.

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation