BANGKOK – After almost five years of representing opposing political views and irreconcilable differences, the red-shirted UDD and yellow-shirted PAD are now both infuriated by the possibility that the two sides are starting to agree on things.
The latest agreement, that the government has staged the discovery of bombs supposedly intended to disrupt a PAD demonstration, has provided the last straw for many core PAD and UDD members.
“We reluctantly agree with the reds that this is a suspicious arrest,” Praphan Koonmee, a PAD spokesperson said. “However, we’d like to point out that our suspicions are much more sophisticated than theirs.”
Koonmee pointed out that while the PAD questioned the timing of the arrests, as well as jurisdictional conflicts in the police departments that handled the press conference, the UDD’s attacks on the government over the incident were “simple-minded, uneducated denials.”
Responding to the PAD’s comments, UDD leader Jatuporn Prompon said that the UDD’s accusation of conspiracy came first, and thus counts for more.
“The PAD is imitating us,” he suggested. “It’s irritating but what can you do?”
In addition to the agreement on the bomb arrests, the PAD and UDD have found themselves uncomfortably aligned on a number of issues, including demanding Abhisit’s resignation, accusing the police of incompetence and corruption, spotlighting the non-transparency of the courts, and questioning the legitimacy of the Democrat-led coalition.
Trying to re-establish their conflict-based relationship, UDD leader Veera Musikhapong has tried to steer the red-shirted core back to their anger-based, victim-mentality, class-warfare values in recent speeches broadcast on Voice TV.
“Do not be distracted by these, um, agreements with the opposition,” Veera said. “The government is the lapdogs of the elites. We just happen to not like that dog.”
Similarly, PAD leaders have done their part by focusing recent communications on hot-button anti-red issues. The last issue of Manager, in fact, consisted of nothing but pictures of deposed PM Thaksin Shinawatra, apparently intended to anger their base with reminders of their increasingly irrelevant enemy.
Ironically, the last issue of Red News contained the exact same content, apparently intended to inspire the red base with reminders of their increasingly irrelevant hero.
