Thai PM 'will not jump ship'

Protesters react as they listen to Samak Sundaravej, the Thai prime minister, in a live radio broadcast outside Government House in Bangkok.

Bangkok // Samak Sundaravej, Thailand's beleaguered prime minister, went on the offensive today in the face of mounting pressure to resign. In a radio address to the nation, the bellicose Mr Samak said he would neither stand down nor dissolve parliament. He said he was standing firm to defend democracy and protect the monarchy.

The government has now approved a plan to hold a referendum as a way of ending the crisis. For over a week, thousands of protesters have been occupying key government buildings in Bangkok demanding that the prime minister resign. The protesters accuse Mr Samak's government of being a front for Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister, who was ousted in a military coup nearly two years ago. On Tuesday, Mr Samak imposed a state of emergency in the capital after his supporters and opponents clashed violently leaving one person dead and more than 40 injured.

"I will not jump ship, I will remain in control," he said in his 50-minute address. "I will not quit. I will not dissolve parliament. I will stay to protect the democracy of this country," he said. But the anti-government protesters - led by the umbrella group People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) - barricaded inside the prime minister's official compound in Bangkok were just as defiant. "As long as he insists on staying on, we will not go anywhere. It doesn't matter how many days or years, or even into the next life," Sondhi Limthongkul, one of the key PAD leaders and a media mogul, told a crowd of cheering supporters immediately after the prime minister's speech.

The prime minister's uncompromising stand has further inflamed the protesters. "The PAD will not hold talks with the government or anyone," another PAD leader, Somsak Kosaisuk, told journalists today. "The PAD will talk only after Samak has resigned." Most political analysts now believe that the two sides have effectively ended any chance of a compromise being thrashed out, and increased political tension seems to be the only certainty in the coming days.

"The heightened rhetoric and the philosophical differences between these two groups mean that the political crisis is unlikely to be resolved any time soon," said Titinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. Both sides claim to be defending democracy. "We are entering the 'Age of Darkness'," said Nattawut Saikur, the government's deputy spokesman. "It's a conflict between democracy and anarchy. It's an issue about who rules, not a difference of opinion between the government and the opposition," he said.

The protesters stand for mob rule with military intervention, he said. "We are on the side of democracy," Mr Nattawut said. PAD, however, accuses the government of having won December's polls through vote-buying and deception. Mr Samak's People Power Party (PPP) insists they won the elections fairly. "Everyone always accuses each other of voting-buying, but we are yet to see the evidence," Mr Nattawut said.

But this week, the Electoral Commission unanimously recommended that the PPP be disbanded for electoral misconduct. "This is not democracy. This is dictatorship by a majority in parliament," Mr Sondhi, the protest leader, said recently. On the streets of Bangkok, many protesters at the PAD rally are convinced they are there to rescue Thailand's democracy from being usurped by a corrupt government, which owes its allegiance to the former prime minister, Mr Thaksin, who is now in exile in England.

"I am here because we have to do the right thing for our country," said Nualnoi, who has been camped in Government House since the protest started 10 days ago. "If our voice is heard, we will finally get a good government - not one that is as corrupt." For many of the rank-and-file on the streets supporting the PAD, it is a moral issue, especially for the middle-aged women who are there in large numbers.

"This conflict between the government and the PAD is not about democracy - it is about morality," said Naruemon Thabchumpon, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University. "Many of the women who follow the PAD are from an older generation that are frustrated and cannot cope with some of the problems that are now plaguing the country, like corruption," she said. "They feel they have a moral obligation to change it. They see themselves as the country's moral warriors.''

But some analysts believe that this is really a battle between the elites for political power and has nothing to do with democracy. "I do not think the current struggle staged on the streets of Bangkok is between democratic and anti-democratic forces," said Giles Ji Ungpakorn, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University. "But rather it's a battle between a coalition of liberal-authoritarian elements [PAD] and a coalition of authoritarian capitalist and self-interest political elements [the pro-Thaksin supporters] for power," he said.

It seems certain Thailand's political crisis is likely to escalate further. "The government has very few political options left," Mr Nattawut said. "What is certain is that Mr Samak is not going to resign tomorrow, or next week, or next month for that matter. But I don't know how he will resolve the impasse," he said. It seems that the prime minister's last ploy, a referendum - allowing the electorate to decide what should happen next - may be his last card before facing the inevitable. [e-mail]