Profile: Thailand's PAD
Al Jazeera English | 11/26/2008 4:23 PM
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The wave of anti-government protests that have gripped Thailand for several months have been led by a group known as the People's Alliance for Democracy.
Founded in 2005 by Sondhi Limthongkul, a former media magnate, the PAD is a disparate collection of liberal democrats denouncing corruption and authoritarianism, and right-wing royalists who would welcome military rule with royal patronage.
Its street protests in 2006 led ultimately to the military coup that toppled the then elected prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, and it has led campaigns against subsequent governments it says are acting as Thaksin proxies.
The group's supporters are mainly urban, middle- to upper-class who are relatively rich compared to the majority of Thailand's rural population and are regarded as Thailand's traditional elite.
Nobody knows who is really backing the PAD, but most analysts suspect the group has deep pockets and is connected to some powerful business and political figures.
The group says it is funded by public donations, but there have been suggestions its main backers are anti-Thaksin business interests.
Some have also suggested it is supported by the monarchy, but King Bhumibol Adulyadej has neither publicly backed nor condemned the group.
Certainly the PAD has a slick media and public relations operation, owning a radio station, a satellite TV channel as well as running a slick and popular online operation.
Democracy rollback
Critics however have said the group's name appears to be a misnomer as its opposition to the results of three elections show it is neither populist nor does it want representative democracy.
Instead, Sondhi and the PAD advocate the scrapping of the one-man-one-vote system in Thailand and say only 30 per cent of parliament's members should be directly elected by the people.
The remaining 70 per cent should be chosen from various occupations and professions and be appointed, they say.
Similar ideas have been floated before, most notably in 1983.
The general who was then serving as prime minister, Prem Tinsulanoda, now an adviser to the king, found himself frustrated by having to compromise with the elected politicians in his cabinet.
Sondhi has said that the PAD hopes to "teach the politicians a lesson that just because they have the majority vote, doesn't mean they can do whatever they want".
Supinya Klangnarong from the Campaign for Popular Media Reform, a Bangkok-based lobby group, told Al Jazeera that the PAD was going against democratic principles.
"It is obvious now that the PAD proposal is very anti-democratic because they no longer believe in the politicians who are elected by the people," she said.
Sondhi, who has also argued for an expanded role for the military, was largely responsible for instigating similar street protests in 2006 against Thaksin Shinawatra, the then prime minister.
Thaksin's empowerment of the poor rural majority by implementing welfare programmes such as a universal healthcare scheme and cheap credit sparked fears in the country's elite that the wealth gap that gave them their lives of privilege could evaporate.
So his elitist, royalist opponents exploited Thaksin's weaknesses: corruption, heavy-handedness in dealing with alleged drug lords, accusations of manipulating the media and rumours of plans to turn Thailand into a republic.
The 2006 PAD-led street protests eventually triggered the bloodless coup that overthrew Thaksin in favour of a military-backed government.
Now the PAD accuses Samak Sundaravej, the current prime minister, of being a Thaksin proxy and perpetuating his policies.
In May the PAD launched fresh street protests demanding Samak resign for seeking constitutional amendments it says were aimed at helping Thaksin return to power.
The group upped the ante in late August when it raided a TV station, surrounded three ministries and occupied the compound of the Government House, the prime minister's main offices in Bangkok, in what it called its "final war" against the government.
