As Thailand's problems grow by the day, a genuine democrat sees a long struggle ahead, writes Clifford Coonan
THE GRINS are getting thin in the country known as the Land of Smiles. It's been weeks of tumult in the Thai capital, with the leadership decamping to Chiang Mai in the north before a court dissolved the government amid violence and mayhem on the streets of Bangkok.
The country was effectively cut off from the world by the occupation of Bangkok's two main commercial airports by a loose alliance of anti-government groups known as the People's Alliance for Democracy, who want a "new form" of democracy, based on soundly non-democratic principles.
Meanwhile supporters of exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra took to the streets to call for their leader, convicted of corruption charges, to return.
So serious is Thailand's political mess that the country's king declined to give his traditional birthday address for fear of appearing to favour one side or another.
Kraisak Choonhavan, deputy leader of the opposition Democrat Party and a human rights activist, comes across as a genuine democrat in a country where the word has been ill-used of late.
His father, former prime minister Gen Chatichai Choonhavan, was toppled by a coup in 1991 and Mr Choonhavan is a staunch opponent of all efforts to undermine democracy in Thailand, regardless of whether they come from Mr Thaksin or from the army, and that includes the recent actions of the PAD.
"The political scientist would call them fascistic. What they did represent was an intolerance of abuse of power. Their madness was that they didn't think of the consequences of their actions. They were trying to create a coup, but the army doesn't want any part of this," said Mr Choonhavan, speaking at his Bangkok home.
Mr Thaksin has been able to use his network of large corporate farms in the northeast to disburse cash and favours and win votes, and he and his supporters are in a strong electoral position because their ability to read the common mood - and to provide incentives to voters.
Some comparisons have been made between Mr Thaksin and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi - populist tycoon-politicians linked to allegedly corrupt practices, with regional backing, nationalist leanings and control of media empires to further their interests.
However, Mr Choonhavan says Mr Thaksin is a much more extreme character. "Berlusconi hasn't had Muslims in the south killed," he said. Under Mr Thaksin's rule, thousands of Muslim separatists were killed in the south of Thailand, while thousands died in a war on drugs that was slammed by international rights groups.
Human rights lawyers working for Mr Choonhavan have disappeared, and the policemen he believes responsible for their deaths given brief sentences before being released.
"No body, no crime. There is one place near Petchaburi where they take people, put them inside a tyre and burn them, leaving no trace," he said.
The war against the Muslims in the south has meant a spending spree for the military, which is one of the ways that Mr Thaksin kept the army onside during his darkest hours, until the generals intervened in November 2006.
The next step is for the government to form a new temporary leadership, but with so many key figures out of power, it's getting harder for the pro-Thaksin lobby to appoint a cabinet.
"Their resources are drying up. They have lost so many senior people, I worry about literacy levels in the cabinet at some point," he jokes.
He believes Mr Thaksin's camp will try to annul the assets scrutiny committee behind the numerous investigations into his affairs. This will void previous probes and buy him time while freeing up his assets. Sitting in Dubai in exile, Mr Thaksin is not a spent political force.
Eight months ago, Mr Choonhavan joined the Democrat Party, Thailand's oldest political party, which has a centrist and royalist outlook. He is now its deputy leader and his task is to win more votes in the northeast, Mr Thaksin's stronghold.
Mr Thaksin's control of the media makes it difficult for the Democrats to win more than their current 30 per cent in the area, while he also said the party is not close enough to the poor. "But they have the most able people around. Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva is young. And patient."