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Thai PM orders emergency meeting

The Thai parliament convened an emergency session yesterday at the request of the country’s embattled prime minister, who acknowledged that his administration was unable to control spiraling anti-government protests.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej’s People’s Power Party said it planned to present a compromise in parliament to appease the thousands of protesters occupying his official compound for a sixth day.

Protest leaders dismissed the parliamentary session as a “joke” and said they would not back down until Samak resigns — which he has repeatedly refused to do.

Few expected an immediate solution from the parliamentary session, which began yesterday afternoon with heated debate and was expected to last for hours. Samak’s six-party coalition government controls more than two-thirds of the seats in the 480-seat lower house.

The protest organizers, the People’s Alliance for Democracy, have accused Samak’s government of corruption and of serving as a proxy for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 military coup. Thaksin recently fled to the UK to escape an array of corruption charges.

Opposition lawmaker Jurin Laksanavisit summed up the protesters’ complaints in comments to lawmakers, saying Samak’s aggressive demeanor had fueled the crisis and urging him to step down.

“I think it is time for the prime minister to look at himself and decide whether he is still fit to be prime minister,” said Jurin, a senior member of the opposition Democrat Party. “If he still holds onto office, the problems of the country will escalate.”

Samak then took the microphone.

“Aggressive behavior is my nature — it is not indecent behavior,” he said.

“I did not do anything wrong and have the right to continue my work as prime minister,” he said. “My behavior has not caused damage to the country.”

Earlier in the day, Samak said he hoped lawmakers could succeed where he had failed.

“Since the government cannot resolve the problem ... the joint session of parliament is the best choice for finding a solution,” Samak said in his weekly TV program.

Samak received key backing on Saturday from his ruling coalition, which said it would not dissolve parliament to call new elections.

Samak led Thaksin’s political allies to election victory last December and their assumption of power triggered speculation that Thaksin would make a political comeback on the strength of his continued popularity with Thailand’s rural majority.

The protesters say Western-style democracy has allowed corruption to flourish and want a new government with a parliament in which most lawmakers are appointed and only 30 percent elected.

Chamlong Srimuang, one of the protest leaders, dismissed the parliamentary debate as “a cheap joke,” saying it was too late for lawmakers to appease the protesters.

“People don’t care about what’s happening in parliament,” Chamlong said, repeating demands for Samak to resign.

“Their meeting has nothing to do with us,” he said.

Since Tuesday, protesters have been camped outside the government’s headquarters, known as Government House, turning its once manicured grounds into a muddy mess of tents, portable toilets and piles of garbage.

More than 1,000 government supporters staged a counter rally yesterday in front of parliament, about 1km from Government House.

The unrest peaked on Friday when police fired tear gas to stop thousands of protesters from attacking the city’s police headquarters, which is near Government House.

In other parts of the country, rail workers joined the protest by halting service on dozens of trains. Protesters forced airports to close at two of the country’s most popular beach destinations for two days.

Phuket airport reopened yesterday afternoon, airport spokeswoman Kanokwan Jongrak said. It closed on Friday after protesters blockaded the runway.

Krabi airport also reopened after a two-day closure.

Samak flew on Saturday to meet King Bhumibol Adulyadej at his seaside palace in Hua Hin, south of Bangkok.

He said he wanted to brief the monarch on the country’s crisis.

Bhumibol is a constitutional monarch with no formal political role, but has repeatedly brought calm in times of turbulence during his 60 years on the throne.
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