PAD lieutenants want no party

They cautioned yesterday against "following in the old-style politicians' footsteps" and called for the PAD to be reserved for occasional shows of force to protect the country's key institutions.

Chaiwat Sinsuwong yesterday expressed his opposition to the reported resolution by the group's five core leaders to set up a new political party out of the movement.

He said the core leaders had announced repeatedly that the PAD would not establish a political party and that they had no political ambitions. Chaiwat said the core leaders would be going back on their words if they got involved with the formation of a new political party.

Doing so, he said, would be following in the footsteps of old-style politicians who often did the opposite of what they said.

Chaiwat, who contested the recent general election as a Democrat Party candidate but failed to get elected, said that his view did not mean he was in dispute with the PAD's key leaders.

He also rejected as groundless media reports that he was forming a new political party called Pracha Phiwat with businessman-turned-politician Prachai Leophairatana and former Senate speaker Manoonkrit Roopkachorn.

Meanwhile the PAD coordinator for the South, Sunthorn Rakrong, yesterday also voiced opposition to the idea of setting up a new political party.

He said that it was better for the PAD to retain its status as a "pure force of the civil movement" and continue its role of scrutinising politicians.

"The PAD should not be lured into the trap of political power. If the PAD is involved directly in mainstream politics, there will be a rapid collapse of yellow-shirt power," he said.