Army chief: a reluctant participant in PM's ploy to end crisis

Any use of force to disperse the protesters, who have occupied Government House since last Tuesday, might backfire. Moreover, Anupong has been reluctant to play along with the game of the prime minister, who appeared to prefer the use of force to quash the protesters.

Given Anupong's stance, there has been little progress in the implementation of the state of emergency. Members of the People Power Party now realise that the prime minister is standing on shaky ground because if he can't give orders to the Army chief, then he can't be in charge of the situation.

Samak announced the state of emergency, which only covers Bangkok, early yesterday morning following a pre-dawn clash between pro-government supporters and anti-government protesters at Makkhawan Rangsan Bridge, where one person was killed and about 40 others suffered injuries.

Samak would also like Anupong to close down ASTV, which is the mouthpiece of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and has been attacking his government. But Anupong, again, prefers to hold talks with ASTV and also NBT, the mouthpiece of the Public Relations Department. ASTV has been disseminating news and information to support the protesters, while NBT has been doing so for the government.

It looked almost like a perfect plot designed as a pretext to declare the state of emergency. Samak would like to have done so on Friday following the protesters' storming of Government House. But Anupong thought the police would be able to adequately handle the security task. The state of emergency will put the Army chief in the top command position in the crisis.

The pro-government supporters, known as the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, or Nor Por Kor, prepared all Monday evening to move from Sanam Luang in order to reclaim Government House from the PAD protesters.

Police did little, if not turning a blind eye, to prevent the pro-government supporters from confronting the anti-government protesters. Sanam Luang to Makkhawan Rangsan Bridge is quite a distance - some 4 to 5 kilometres. The police could have blocked the pro-government supporters from heading towards the PAD rally stage.

At around 1am, the pro-government supporters clashed with the protesters, resulting in one fatality and many injuries. Samak did not get any sleep at all as he followed developments. He then called Anupong to make known his intention to declare a state of emergency.

It was not until 5am that Anupong reluctantly went along with Samak's game plan. But he still insisted that he would work with the national police chief, Patcharawat Wongsuwan.

Samak announced the state of emergency at around 7am, saying that the stern measure would not last long. But he did not elaborate as to when he would like to end it. His intention was to quash the protesters occupying Government House.

"Life will go on as usual. But we have to do something against those people who do something at Government House," Samak told a foreign reporter.

In the afternoon, Anupong told a press conference after a meeting between senior military and police officers that officials would use democratic means to find ways to solve the ongoing political turbulence.

"Negotiations will be used in ending the problem, and not simply the force of law," he said.

He said the option of staging a coup had never been in his mind, as doing so would have damaging consequences. He also passed the buck by saying he would strictly work under the state of emergency as empowered to him and beyond which he would not have any mandate.

Anupong also said he personally believed that when both the administrative branch and the judiciary failed to end the conflict, the legislature, which is the last opportunity, should step in to do so.

"Parliament should be responsible for ending this problem," the general said. "If the problems cannot be resolved, the country can't survive."

On Sunday at a special joint session between the Senate and the House of Representatives, Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Democrat Party leader, proposed that Samak dissolve Parliament as a way out of the political crisis. Samak, however, insisted on staying in office.

Anupong has now sent out an implicit message that Samak should resign or dissolve Parliament to pave the way for the restoration of peace.