BANGKOK — While business and political leaders continue to call for calm in the wake of this week’s stepped-up actions by the PAD, retired paramilitary soldier Wisutkayapong Chuantiyanon expressed deep dismay at the peaceful reaction by the police and non-interference by the army.
“We didn’t put up with that kind of thing in ’73 and ’76,” he recalled while watching television news from his Rangsit house. “We just opened fire on the bastards and let the streets run red with Commie blood.” Now 65, the Vietnam War and mercenary veteran lives on a pension and devotes his time to gardening, listening to classical music, and reminiscing about the glory days of extra-judicial slaughter of unarmed protesters.
“I keep listening to Samak on the radio hoping for the call,” he says, referring to the current prime minister’s direct role in inciting the October 1976 massacre. “But all he talks about anymore is himself.”
