Country in danger of collapse: King and Prime Minister separately call for unity
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Political dissent which came to the boiling point in Pattaya in April spread to Bangkok and then nationwide resulting in a recent multi-million signature petition to His Majesty caused King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 81, to make a rare speech to an audience at his seaside palace in Hua Hin on August 21. The widely revered king warned that the country could collapse if its feuding political factions do not unite, as the government braced for fresh street protests.
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"Recently I feel that our country could fail, because nobody is working in harmony. They are competing with each other and no one understands what the other is doing," the king said.
"I want to assure you that if everybody who is competent and has good intentions works together then we can make our country truly prosperous. So I ask all of you to cooperate, because if you don't our country will fall," he said.
"Our country will not collapse if everybody works together, especially all knowledgeable people," he said.
Acknowledging concerns expressed by His Majesty over the lack of unity and cooperation among his subjects, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on August 22 urged Thais to help solve problems facing
The revered King expressed his concern in his speech given to members of the National Research Council of Thailand that the country is “falling into ruin” and moving without direction due to the lack of cooperation among different sectors of society, but people could still save it from sinking further.
They were the king's first public comments since making a similar call for unity while swearing in Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. He failed to make his traditional birthday eve speech on December 4, citing poor health.
His speech came less than a week after the "Red Shirt" protesters submitted a 3.5-million-name petition seeking a royal pardon for fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Abhisit says the petition is unlawful.
His government has faced a string of protests by the Red Shirts, including mass riots in April which cancelled the ASEAN Conference here in Pattaya and forced a state of emergency in
On plans by anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) to demonstrate August 30 to pressure the coalition government to dissolve the lower house, Mr. Abhisit said the UDD should not create any more trouble to the country as several problems are being solved, especially the national economy which is now heading toward improvement.
UDD leaders then threatened to rally to pressure the prime minister to dissolve the House of Representatives; otherwise the group would collect up to 10 million signatures to impeach him.
United Front leader Nuttawut Saikua said the group’s August 30 rally will start at 1pm at
Mr. Nattawut claimed that the delayed appointment of a new national police chief recently proved that the premier lacked leadership and is a ‘puppet’ leader put into office by behind the scenes powers, and that he himself lacks power.
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