Word: sondhi
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...unlikely command center. But a single piece of blue tarp laid behind loops of razor wire and stacks of tires serves as the makeshift headquarters of the anti-government alliance that has thrown Thai politics into anarchy. Sitting cross-legged on the sheeting, Sondhi Limthongkul, the co-leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), explains why thousands of protesters have occupied Bangkok's Government House, Thailand's seat of power, for more than a week to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. "It's taken for granted in the West that democracy is the best...
...Sondhi and his followers decided, instead, to take over Samak's offices, hoping that extreme trespassing would supplant the power of the ballot box. At first, the mood at the besieged compound was celebratory, with the Alliance supplying plenty of free food and drinks - and even veteran rock stars coming to entertain the crowds. But early on Sept. 2, the atmosphere took a sudden turn when a deadly street battle erupted between the PAD and a counter-protest group that supports the embattled Prime Minister. Dozens were injured as mobs attacked each other with whatever weapons were on hand - bamboo...
...clear who members of PAD, which is not a political party itself, want to lead the country after Samak. Although many of those barricaded at Government House support the opposition Democrat Party, their numbers lagged behind the PPP's in last year's polls. Even Sondhi isn't willing to name a single person whom he believes could successfully lead the country. "We know we have to change," he says, "but we don't know how exactly to do it yet." In the meantime, Sondhi is of the act-first-and-negotiate-later school of politics. It's a stance...
...Even before coup leader Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin called peace in the region "a top priority", hopes were high that some sort of truce could be reached. In December 2005, representatives from five Muslim insurgent groups met secretly with senior Thai military and intelligence officers in Langkawi, Malaysia to develop a peace plan for the South-a conference mediated by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. But now, a top member of Mahathir's mediating team tells TIME that the dialogue between the government and the rebels is at a dead end. And although Interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has made...
...Welcome to democracy, Thai style. Late on Tuesday evening, with satellite feeds of BBC and CNN intermittently jammed, a military spokesman announced on Thai TV that the armed forces, under the command of Army Chief Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, had taken over Bangkok and surrounding areas and was declaring martial law. The spokesman blamed the military's extreme measures on what he termed corrupt practices by Thaksin, alleging that the Prime Minister had hampered the workings of both parliament and the courts. Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a constitutional monarch, was reaffirmed as head of state, while the spokesman promised that...