Final showdown lacks knock-out blow for govt

It proved to be a one-sided show of force when ten of thousands of people marched to Parliament and successfully abort a session scheduled to amend the Constitution for various schemes sought by the cronies of fugitive convict Thaksin Shinawatra.

 Lines of police armed with anti-riot gear were passive. They refused to respond by resistance or using force as they did on October 7, when their uses of tear gas bombs killed and maimed scores of casualties. There was also a court injunction barring the police from violent crackdown.

 Of course, the police were spoiling for some action when they were booed and jeered right inside their metropolitan headquarters. The protesters surrounded the compound for five hours, with the police enduring electricity and water supplies cut.

 More significantly, the Cabinet session at temporary Government House at Don Muang Airport ended abruptly when a large number of anti-protesters headed towards the complex and later capture it without violence. The Somchai Cabinet went down in history as an administration losing two seats of power in one term.

 Despite the success by PAD, it was rather symbolic rather than a knock-out blow rending the Somchai Cabiness ineffective in its power to govern. Somchai, attending an Apec meeting in Peru refused to resign. He vows to stay put, shrugging off the impact of the crisis.

 PAD has to find out a workable solution to the adamant indifference and impassiveness - key weapons chosen by Somchai, not to mention the sense of shamelessness when he was embroiled in accusations of sexual escapades with video clips seen by all people on web sites including utube.

 No scholars or political pundits have yet to come up with right formula or antidote to overcome the people with shamelessness. Machiavelli might not have encountered such characters in his times of ruthless tyrants and barbarians when he wrote The Prince.

 The long-running battles by PAD against Thaksin and his two successors have been grueling and painful. Force and scheming were part of the power play, but all strategies gave way eventually to shamelessness - the absence of the good sense to differentiate right and wrong. 

  The Samak administration used shamelessness to resist pressure and demand to resign after exposures of scandals. Without a court ruling over his costly blunder, he would have continued the control of government until serious illness, as known later, forced him out.

 The Somchai Cabinet is using guile and shamelessness to brave all accusations of misdeeds, personal or otherwise. The sense of shame was eliminated during the Thaksin years when he introduced a new thinking which deviated from our traditional social norm and value.

 Thaksin Cabinet was the first to abandon shamelessness with audacity and callousness. Indifference and arrogance of power were exercised with gusto. After five years or so, people were familiar with graft practices, distinctively what became known as policy corruption.

 There has been a saying among Thais that "we may be able to win over anyone in the world, but never the shameless." It is obvious that this line of quip is being adopted and used with seriousness and intensity. Somchai must have found that he got away from troubles on a number occasions with this guile.

 Somchai has been prime minister without public recognition and probably self respect. If he could choose and is without family obligations, he might have called it quits for fear that his future does not promise rosy end, based on what is endured legally and physically by Thaksin and Samak.

 He is due back home tomorrow. It is funny for one to imagine that in case of unexpected political accident, he could be a third 'former' prime minister being out of the country at the same time. Thaksin is in Dubai trying to stay away from Thai jail while Samak is having medical treatment for liver cancer in the US.

  As of now, expectations of an abrupt end to Somchai's term without his resignation are something next to impossible. Reports say he has been told by Thaksin to cling on to power at any cost. Never mind the decay of political, economic and social structure as long as Thaksin still has some channels to regain his power.

 While away, Thaksin's cronies are struggling hard to fulfill the wish of the boss in return for generous pay. No means of persuasion can convince Somchai to see the light. Somchai is a vital bastion of power for Thaksin and the entire clan. The stakes are very high, in tens of billions of baht and a chance to escape imprisonment.

If Somchai succumbs to the pressure of shame, he too knows what awaits him. Certainly not a pleasant end and comfortable retirement. There is a specter of criminal charges with serious jail terms. As a former supreme court judge, he should foresee this possibility more than anyone else.