Tourists currently visiting Thailand need to show caution in their clothing colour selection, as currently this is identified as showing support to one of several different political groups.
The two main conflicting groups are the
Yellow Shirts and
Red Shirts. The Yellow Shirts belong to the
People’s Alliance for Democracy. The Red Shirts are supporters of the
United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship. The Yellow Shirts are consistent critics of former Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted from power in the 2006 coup. Most of the Red Shirts
are supporters of Thaksin.
The Yellow Shirts adopted the color yellow as their protest color in honor of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the most revered figure in Thailand today. But it doesn’t mean the Red Shirts are opposed to the King. It also doesn’t mean that they are leftists. They adopted the color red just to differentiate themselves from the Yellow Shirts.
The Yellow Shirts accused two Prime Ministers last year of being puppets of Thaksin. To force change in government, the Yellow Shirts organized provocative street actions last August. They occupied the Government House for several months. They shut down
Bangkok Airports last December which crippled travel in the country. The Yellow Shirts agreed to end their protests when a court order disqualified allies of Thaksin from running for public office again.
A few days after the Yellow Shirts declared victory, the Red Shirts began to organize their own street actions. They also occupied the Government House a few weeks ago. They were able to gather tens of thousands of protesters in Bangkok. They were supported by taxi drivers who used their cars to block traffic in Victory Monument, a busy intersection in Bangkok. The Red Shirts succeeded in forcing the
cancellation of the ASEAN Summit in Pattaya which embarrassed incumbent Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. There is now a state of emergency in Bangkok, but the Red Shirts are defiant.
The Yellow Shirts got what they wanted by causing chaos and closing the national airport so the Reds (significantly made up of a strong presence outside of Bangkok) took this marker and went for the heart of the capital - closing roads and massively inconveniencing the city.
Who are the Red Shirts? What do they want?. There are various reports coming out that many Red Shirts are individually well-off, driving their own cars and living in and around the capital. Their demands are for a real democracy and a rooting out of the unelected elements that frequently interfere with the political process. However, they are not interested in a return of Thaksin and do not swear allegiance to him. The Red Shirts can no longer be abused and ridiculed as a monolith of “poor uneducated Thaksin stooges”, as was previously the norm in certain media quarters.
The Yellow Shirts are not active today. But the Red Shirts are being confronted by a different set of “colored” protesters:
The Blue Shirts.
The Blue Shirts emerged when the Red Shirts began to mount a serious challenge to the government. First, they said they only wanted to protect public utilities, like the airport. But the Red Shirts soon accused them as being thugs hired by the government. Nirmal Ghosh writes about the confrontation between the Blue Shirts and Red Shirts which may shed light about the real leaders of the Blue Shirts.
In the early morning they (Red Shirts) began marching up the hill to the Royal Cliff Resort, venue of the summit, but came face to face with a few hundred of the pro-government militia, well organized with freshly printed dark blue T-shirts saying ‘Protect the Institution' – institution being the a reference to the monarchy.
All the blue shirts were armed with sticks, clubs and iron rods.The face-offs occurred at two locations, each with around 1,000 red shirts against about 150 blue shirts. The men in blue held pictures of the king and queen.
The blue shirted men – clearly a militia – essentially took shelter behind the army, whose officers made no attempt to disarm them.According to two sources, the blue shirts had been organized by the mayor of Pattaya, who is the son of ‘Kamnan Poh' – a controversial strongman of the province.
What are the reactions of Thai residents who are not directly involved in the political crisis? When the Red Shirts were leaving the ASEAN Summit venue in Pattaya, a group of people wearing
black shirts began throwing stones at them. Who are they?
There is another option for Thais: wear pink.
The Pink Shirts want a political formation based on love. Pop singer Jintara has a music video for the song ‘Mop see chom-poo' which preaches the doctrine of the Pink Shirts.
Indeed, the situation is becoming more and more unpredictable. The red shirts are able to move their forces from place to place. While the yellow shirts - the ones who closed the airport last November/December - have not yet re-appeared, the emergence of the blue shirts cannot bode well. It is even more troubling that on their very first appearance, the blue shirts provoked violence.
One more thing: Do not go out on the streets wearing solid-colour T-shirts. Yellow and red already indicate political affinity, and now dark blue is another group. Who knows what new colours may become too “hot” to wear tomorrow.
What to do? - wear only floral shirts it is Songkran(Thai New Year) after all Sawadee Pi Mai(Happy New Year) !!.
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