Threat to occupy airports again shows govt must act against PAD

The main obstacle is not a tech-nical problem such as leaders' availability but Thailand's domes-tic political tension.

A series of humiliations endured by former prime minister Chuan Leekpai while campaigning in the North on Tuesday for Sunday's by-election was clear indication that political tension remains high and that anti-government protesters may have the capacity to jeopardise the summit.

The 'People in Red Shirts' group has threatened to obstruct the summit in a protest against the Abhisit Vejjajiva government.

They said they would surround the meeting venue, if not the inter-national airport, during the Asean summit in late February.

Former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama and former minister attached to PM's Office Jakrabop Penkair, who are close associates of the red shirt group, plan to launch a campaign to get the nine other states to boycott the summit. They claim the new government doesn't have the legitimacy to chair Asean.

While the two former ministers have no creditability to convince Asean leaders not to come, their move shows the depth of political problems in the country. They are threatening to use tactic employed by its rivals in the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which went to dramatic lengths to try to bring down the Somchai Wongsawat government.

Occupying Suvarnnabhumi and Don Mueang Airports caused the government to delay the summit, which was originally due to be held in Chiang Mai in December.

Prime Minister Abhisit addressed the problem wrongly when he begged Thai citizens to be good hosts of the summit, because chairmanship of the regional body belongs to the country, not his government.

His plea may not work since the spirit of unity in the national interest was destroyed long ago. The PAD yellow shirts set a prac-tice that may become the norm, if red shirts are allowed to freely assemble and repeat such acts of civil disobedience for their politi-cal benefit.

Seizing the airports in late November was against the law but no protesters were arrested. Inquiries to file lawsuits against the PAD and its supporters over the stunt have moved at a snail's pace and the government has not moved to speed up the case.

As long as protesters are able to use such damaging stunts gov-ernments will be vulnerable, especially if protesters aren't made to pay the cost of their acts. Why can't other groups do the same?

Thailand cannot afford another delay to the summit or change to the venue, as it is eroding the country's creditability. It could also ruin the 42-year-old regional grouping. Too many postpone-ments will damage the other business of leaders in member countries. Nobody wants to pay for our political mess.

The government has no option but to enforce the law and main-tain order to show people here and abroad that it won't allow groups to violate the law for polit-ical goals.

As former Prime Minister Chuan always says, "people are equal before the law". The law must be enforced equally for all. The gov-ernment needs to restore public confidence, including among the pro-Thaksin red shirts who want to illegally seized public places for political purposes. All must deserve equal punishment.

The red shirts would have no excuse to jeopardise the summit if they saw the same punishment was being delivered their PAD rivals before them.