PAD exploits members as 'bargaining tools'

A group of 40 academics has called on the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to stop using demonstrators as bargaining tools.

The group warned yesterday that the political stalemate was in danger of spinning out of control.

About 40 academics, formed loosely as the "network for public peace and morality", said the PAD had gone astray as a civil movement.

The group encouraged the PAD to obey the law and come up with democratic demands for change.

Political scientist Prajak Kongkirati of Thammasat University said the PAD core leaders' decision to lead thousands of demonstrators to camp inside Government House was a misplaced and illegal strategy which showed their intention was to goad the Samak government into using force against civilians.

"They should not use these people as bargaining tools because this could lead to further violence," he said, adding the nine PAD core leaders, who are wanted on arrest warrants for breaking into government offices, know the police will be cautious about arresting them as long as they are guarded by thousands of demonstrators.

If the authorities exercise force, PAD can claim justification for the elected government to be turfed out of office through undemocratic means, he said.

The PAD, fronted by media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul, Chamlong Srimuang and Somsak Kosaisuk, directed protesters to storm Government House on Aug 26. They have camped inside the compound ever since.

The academics said the government's decision to hold a referendum on the political issue is not a timely tool to solve the stalemate.

They called on the protesters to leave Government House, and the PAD core leaders to obey the law by turning themselves in to the police.

The group also urged the government to immediately lift the emergency decree and refrain from using force to disperse the protesters.

Since the police are not armed, the PAD's guards should also put down their weapons, the academics said.

But an unresolved political deadlock was unlikely to lead to civil war, as feared by certain groups, according to political scientist Thanet Aphornsuvan of Thammasat University.

"If the situation goes out of control, the worse-case scenario could be that the military stages a coup and there's more bloodshed," he said.

Prapas Pintoptang of Chulalongkorn University said PAD should have pressed the government for change through legal channels and peaceful means.

The PAD's "New Politics" proposal - a government with 70% appointed MPs and 30% elected - would lead to an undemocratic system which would reduce people's power and allow the country to be run by a small group of individuals, he said.

Bencharat Sae-chua of Mahidol University said the basic right to protest had been cited by both sides, but neither had opted for peaceful means.

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