Continuing abuse of power by Mr. Abhisit Vejajiva in Thailand

Dear friends and colleagues,

In response to the rising death tolls in Thailand (as of today, according to the BBC 22 protesters have been killed by the military and roughly 200 injured), myself and along with a few Thai scholars in Britain are coming up with this signature campaign. We wish to write to the Liberal International, Inter-Parliamentary Union, and Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (which the Democrat Party, the current government of Thailand is a member) to urge them to take action on the excessive uses of forces and abuse of power by PM Abhisit Vejajiva. We plan to release this letter by the end of this month, attempting to collect as much signatures of scholars, human rights activists, and individuals as much as possible.

We write to you calling for your help in the support in the pressure to this government to stop killing the protesters, so that Thailand will move toward the path toward democracy and rule of law. If you wish to sign on, please email your name, affiliation, or your organisation to pokpongl@gmail.com and pokpong999@hotmail.com

Thank you and please forward this email to your colleagues and contacts who would like to support this initiative.


May 2010

Dr. Neric O. Acosta
Secretary General and Interim Executive Director
Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
7-B Amorsolo Street,
San Lorenzo Village,
Makati City 1223 Philippines

Subject: Continuing abuse of power by Mr. Abhisit Vejajiva in Thailand

Dear Dr. Acosta,

We are a group of concerned scholars, civil society organisations, human rights organisations, students, and individuals who are writing to you to raise your concerns on the recent bloody crackdown by the Democrat Party-led government under Mr. Abhisit Vejajiva. Democrat Party is a member of the Council of Asian Liberal and Democrats (CALD).

There has been confirmed reports by international journalists and rights organisations of the military personnels under the order of Mr. Abhisit firing live ammunitions into the crowd of the about opposition protest group, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) also known as the “red shirt” resulting in the death of at least 22 unarmed protesters and at least 180 protesters injured, and the number is rising. There are also reports of at least 10 Thai and international journalists being injured via gunshot by the military. There are roughly 10,000 protesters in the site, women and children among them. This adds up to the death tolls in the 10 April 2010 crackdown by the government which claimed the lives of 20 protesters and more than 800 peoples injured.

In the past two months, Thailand has been ruled under the grip of the emergency decree giving the absolute power to the Prime Minister to summon and arrest anyone critical of the government. On 13 May 2010, Mr. Abhisit has signed an order in imposing State of Emergency in 15 provinces in the country in an attempt to allow Thai peoples to join the protest site in Bangkok. Human Rights Watch has reported that hundreds of opposition politicians, student activists, media workers, and individuals have been summoned by the government for questioning. Furthermore, more than 1,030 political and news website have been summarily shut down under the order of Mr. Abhisit.

We therefore are writing to you to express our utmost concerns about the recent bloody crackdown and for you to take immediate possible action with the leadership of the Democrat Party. The atrocities and excessive uses of forces to prohibit those voicing opposition to his government as committed under Mr. Abhisit will undermined the principle of respect for human rights and democracy as respected by CALD. Governments cannot simply shoot guns at its citizens who think different than them.

Furthermore, the continuing abuse of power by Mr. Abhisit is a direct contradiction to the charter of CALD and its Manifesto for Transparency, Accountability and Access to Information which calls for CALD members that “CALD member party must be in consistent with its policies of good governance when it is in power”.


Sincerely yours,


Signatories


cc. Member parties of CALD:
Liberal Party of Sri Lanka, member of CALD
Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, member of CALD
Liberal Party of the Philippines, member of CALD
Singapore Democratic Party, member of CALD

Sam Rainsy Party of Cambodia, member of CALD
Inter-Parliamentary Union Secretariat

Liberal International Secretariat