Reds hunt a million signatures this month

The red shirts yesterday set a target to gather one million signatures within a month to petition His Majesty the King to pardon ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Veera Musigapong, one of the red-shirt leaders, said the petition plan would be scrapped if his group could not gather enough support in one month.

He and other leaders of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD) called a press conference yesterday to discuss the plan to gather a million signatures in support of a request for Royal clemency for Thaksin.

Forms for the signature campaign would be distributed to the public today, he said.

Veera said Thaksin phoned in during the red-shirt rally last Saturday and complained about being homesick, lonely and wanting his supporters to help him return to the country.

"If we can help him come back and solve economic problems facing the country, it would good for the people,'' he said.

Nattawut Saikua, another DAAD leader, said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva should be ashamed that Veera rejected his invitation to join his weekly talk show, but the PM still tried to invite other red-shirt leaders to go on the programme.

"All the red shirts don't want to help boost the ratings of Abhisit's programme because they still remember how they were treated by the Abhisit government and the clash with the blue shirts [in Pattaya],'' he said.

Meanwhile, Democrat Party spokesman Dr Buranaj Smutharaks warned the red shirts the move to seek Royal clemency risked deepening divisions in the country. He said his party believed the move was not a desire of the public but simply Thaksin's wish.

"We believe most people in the country want to see Thaksin repent but we have not heard him admit that he was wrong."

He said the red shirts could not say that the public wanted a Royal pardon for Thaksin since Veera and Thaksin's legal adviser Noppadon Pattama were the ones came up with the idea.

"They are using mass support to pressure the institution that is above politics,'' he said.

Buranaj said authorities would have to keep a watch on the red shirts as Thaksin's phone-in indicated he wanted to bring down the government within three months.

"They did it during the Songkran riots and now they have shown intention to do the same thing by using mass support to pressure the government,'' he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said if Thaksin instigated his supporters to try to topple the government as urged in his phone-in, he would be charged with breaking the law.