Reactions

The Prime Minister came out and made his plea for cool heads and reconciliation, promising help to rebuild. The curfew is still in effect tonight. I don't know if there will be a curfew on Sunday night as well.

From what I've read on the blogosphere and in the English newspapers, people are divided, as is often the case in polarizing events such as this. There is much bitterness; bitterness for the Red Shirts that they did not reach their objective--although it must be admitted in hindsight that the dissolution of parliament was a long shot. Bitterness for the pro-government supporters that action wasn't swift enough and indignation that the government was powerless to prevent the arson fires that took place. Hundreds are jobless and perhaps ruined.

An enduring mystery is why the temple that was supposed to be a weapon-free zone had so many weapons and why there were six bodies there, all shot, one of them a young Red Cross worker. Then there are the pictures that got people buzzing: the Red Shirt leaders enjoying their incarceration in air conditioned bungalows at a border patrol camp.

Meanwhile, the person the government is accusing of bankrolling the protests is now denying he was in any way involved, much less its leader, though thousands saw and heard his night-time messages of encouragement. I am speaking of Thaksin, former Prime Minister and thorn in the side of every PM since his ouster in 2006, including his own party's. Not one has managed to hang on until the next election. His postscript is not yet written, partly because he has gone underground again, and mostly because he's so good at it. Pied Piper of Promises.

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Recommended reading The Wheel of Life Turns at Ratchaprasong by Jeffrey Race. Race sees parallels and missed opportunities in Thailand's past and present. It seems the country is doomed to repeat its past (isn't that what they say about history too?) or until a hero arrives to save us from ourselves. Such a person has yet to make an appearance. Some of my Thai friends have expressed a yearning for the bad old days of dictatorship. Wishful thinking that's also not new.