Pro-Thaksin groups prepare to confront their PAD allies

mid-town Udon Thani last Saturday. They call it the Udon Model.

More than 1,000 locals were mobilised to the rally site in only a few hours to oust local PAD leader Charoen Mookachornphan from the city. Earlier, Charoen had taunted local anti-PAD leaders by saying he was not afraid of their threat to expel him from Udon Thani if he did not stop holding mini-rallies against the government.

The anti-PAD group, calling itself "We Love Udon", can be labelled Thaksin supporters. They claim to have learned from the fall of Thaksin in September 2006 that pre-emptive strikes should be carried out to prevent any anti-government sentiment from gaining ground.

The PAD used Udon Thani as a major base from which to attack the Thaksin administration in the upper Northeast from early 2006 until that government's downfall.

Then, during the Surayud Chulanont government, key PAD member Chaiwat Sinsuwong led a rally in Udon Thani, appealing to the government to stop selling Thai sovereignty to Singapore, which was using Udon Thani Airport as a flight-training base.

He alleged that Thaksin had allowed Singapore to benefit from Thai soil.

Now, the anti-PAD group in Udon Thani wants to ensure that history does not repeat itself and the pro-Thaksin PPP government to enjoy a smooth, untroubled term in office.

By rejecting the mainstream media that oppose Thaksin, its leaders have come up with a new political tool to boost their campaign against the PAD: local radio station FM 97.5, the programmes of which are also broadcast via www.weloveudon.net.

Last Saturday from early morning, two programme hosts urged listeners to leave home and gather at the rally in front of PAD-leader Charoen's gold shop and also at his house on Baan Huay Market Road.

Some phone-in callers who wanted to join the rally but lived far away were told they would be provided transport in pickups.

The station is apparently free from watchdog agencies, so it was no surprise to hear one caller say - without realising she was on air - she was on her way to the rally with two pistols. If some bullets were directed at the PAD supporters, she said, no one would be arrested, because: "No one will know who did it."

Fortunately, no shooting was reported.

PAD supporters who went to Charoen's house for the rally found themselves outnumbered 10 to one by We Love Udon members, allegedly backed by a local politician who is a brother of a PPP Cabinet member. Charoen's house was closed, and he reportedly had left

town.

The occasion nevertheless became a tense and noisy stand-off between supporters of both sides, separated by scores of police officers. There were moments of hostility as the rally lasted through the night. Eventually, the demonstrators drifted away at about midday on Sunday after Charoen showed no signs of returning.

Pro-Thaksin groups across upper Thailand are hailing the events in Udon Thani as a major defeat for the PAD's new round of rallies against the pro-Thaksin government.

They have vowed to apply the Udon Model whenever there's a need to "control" the PAD's mini-rallies in provinces like Chiang Mai and Nakhon Ratchasima.

Although the strategy will not work in the southern strongholds of the Democrat Party, they say they want to ensure that the PAD is paralysed in

the PPP strongholds of the North, Northeast and Central regions.

It is now becoming a dangerous game of "an eye for an eye".