via CAAI
Published: 3/12/2010
Online news: Politics
The People's Alliance for Democracy has resolved to postpone its planned 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 on the change.
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 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 oputsuide the parliament in haste - for fear that Thailand would lose its territory to Cambodia - after the government decided to table the three JBC memos in parliament at a time when attention was on the serious flooding in the South.
"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"We want the memos to be withdrawn from parliament.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 the 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 - which awarded Cambodia management of Preah Vihear temple - 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.
After the PAD's decision, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he still wants to meet yellow-shirt leaders to exchange information with them because they still see several matters differently.
It was not necessary for the Thai government to withdraw from the World Heritage Committee as demanded by the PAD because the committee could well address problems between Thailand and Cambodia over the Preah Vihear temple, he said.
Earlier in the day, 79 Democrat MPs submitted a petition to House Speaker Chai Chidchob asking him to request the Constitution Court to issue an interpretation of the law regarding the three controversial memorandums of understanding emerging from meetings of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC).
The petition was handed over via the secretary-general of the House Withoon Phumhirun by Songkhla MP Sirichoke Sopha.
Mr Sirichoke, a close aide of the prime minister, said the three JBC memos are being scrutinised by the joint House-Senate committee, and its members have different opinions on them.
“We want the court to give interpretation whether the three memos are international treaties requiring endorsement from parliament under Article 190 of the charter. The Constitution Court’s interpretation will be used as a guideline by the panel,” he said.
Mr Sirichoke denied that this is a tactic to prevent yellow-shirts from holding their mass rally, saying that he and his fellow MPs were just doing their duty on behalf of the legislative branch.
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