Update: PAD postpones rally

via CAAI

Published: 3/12/2010

Online news:

The People's Alliance for Democracy has resolved to postpone its planned Bangkok rally from Dec 11 to Jan 25, PAD co-leader Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang said on Friday.

He said all core members of the PAD held a meeting and agreed.

The PAD initially planned to rally on Dec 11 at Makkawan Rangsan bridge on Ratchadamnern Road. The rally would now be postponed to Jan 25, starting at 10am, in front of the army headquarters on Ratchadamnern Nok road.

"We reached an agreement that Dec 11 is too close to Dec 5, the King's birthday. We want December to be the month of happiness. Moreover, there is still flooding in the South. So, we have rescheduled the rally for Jan 25," Maj-Gen Chamlong said.

"From now, we will be on tour to every part of the country to tell the people that if we do not do anything we will lose 1.8 million rai of land and marine resources to Cambodia," he said, a reference to the PAD's stand against parliament's approval for three memorandums of meetings of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission.

A joint House-Senate committee has been set up to look into the three JBC memos.

Maj-Gen Chamlong said that on Nov 2 the PAD called a rally in haste - for fear that Thailand would lose its territory to Cambodia - after the government tabled the three JBC memos in parliament when the South was badly hit by flooding.

"The PAD rally caused the government to postpone consideration of the memos. but postponement is not a way of solving the problem.

"We want the memos to be withdrawn from parliament. So we initially planned a rally for Dec 11," he said.

Maj-Gen Chamlong said at the Jan 25 rally the PAD would call for the government to withdraw from the World Heritage Committee and revoke the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding and all related documents signed with Cambodia.

"If our demand is not met, the rally will turn out to be a massive one. In our lifetime, there is nothing worse than losing our territory to Cambodia.

"The Jan 25 rally will be full scale and prolonged, with more people taking part than before.

The government must do its duty, otherwise the rally will not be called off," he added.