The weekend of December 5th we combined "business" and pleasure when we went to deliver 4 commercial grade sewing machines to 3 villages located north of Thaton. Kids Ark applied for a grant and was awarded 30,000 baht (US $900) which was used to buy the sewing machines. We drove up on Friday in a rental truck so we could continue to explore the area on Saturday/Sunday since Rita needed to return to CM that day.
The villages were very interesting to visit - 1 was red Lahu and the other 2 were black Lahu; there is at least one woman in each village who knows how to sew, and in each village there is a group of women who want to form a sewing cooperative so that they can earn money in between the rice growing/harvesting seasons when there is no work. At one of the villages the women would like Resa to come and teach more of them how to sew and we are going to look for funding for that project; in another of the villages they had already gotten orders for blankets and had to borrow a machine ( which broke), so at that village we delivered 2 sewing machines. There are 6 women in that village who work together - 2 cut, 2 do the preparatory hand- sewing and then the other 2 use the machines - before we left they were already trying out the new machines. For each blanket they make they earn 70 baht ( about $2).
At all the villages the women were dressed in their traditional Lahu costumes which were just beautiful, and we had lunch at one of the villages - the one where we delivered 2 machines. The villages are all off the main roads and even though they have electricity there is not much else in terms of services for them.
After that Rita, Cado and Resa returned to CM, but Tom and I stayed in Thaton and went to visit Ban Pak Qui, one of the villages we assist. House of Hope 2 is based there and we went to see what had changed since we were there last April. Ban Pak Qui is right on the Burmese boarder and has a shortage of water in some seasons, no electricity, and very few toilets. We found that since we were there the school teacher's friends had some volunteers from Singapore build 2 toilets, a shower stall and a canteen/school room. Other groups have also promised to help them but so far it is just talk.... The classrooms were all painted and now have new desks and chairs.
Here are some pictures of the school:
Here are some pictures of the villages where we took the sewing machines. Notice some of the villagers' costumes are more red and others black - hence Red Lahu and Black Lahu ethnic minorities.
On Saturday we drove to Mae Salong, which was the last hold-out of the Kuomintang army. We stopped at an orange plantation along the way - it is a beautiful drive along mountainous roads, and 30 years ago not accessible by car. We looked for and found the guest-house we had stayed there when we had made the trip on motor-bikes! it made for some very bitter-sweet memories of those days. We also visited Khun Sa's old head-quarters - Khun Sa was the notorious drug-lord who was wanted by the Americans for many years, and who is now dead. 30+ years ago the tea- plantations were poppy fields!
Phra Boromathat Chedi is a chedi built on a hill near the village, in honor of the late Princess Mother, Srinagarindra. There is an excellent view of the Myanmar frontier from the top, an area that was off-limits when it was under the control of the warlord Khun Sa.
Here are some pictures of Doi Mae Salong:
Here are some articles about Khun Sa
Article about his life and death and another article
http://www.burmainfo.org/regional/lintner200202g.pdf
http://www.asiapacificms.com/articles/golden_getaway/
Monday, December 8, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
A village funeral
On Thursday, Nov 4th we went to the last day of the funeral rites for Ya's mother in her village about 3 hours south west of Chiang Mai. Ya manages the House of Hope in Sansai and also oversees the House of Hope in Ban Pak Kwee. We left CM around 8:30 AM with Dang, Bev, Resa, Kado, and Kado's girl friend. Resa manages all the sewing, weaving and handicraft production for KA, and in the 9 years has worked long hours to train the villagers and the HIV womens' cooperative how to create high quality products. She spends time in many of the villages and has established a good rapport with the women in several villages. Dang was the first KA employee and most recently was responsible for the 2 year Red Lahu Reproductive Health Initiative. She worked with a team of young Lahu to visit the villages and teach about reproductive health issues in the Lahu language. We hope she can lead the clean water project that will train the villagers about hygiene and sanitation, and how to use the bio-sand filters.
On our way to Ya's village we heard from Ya that so many people had come the night before that we better eat before arriving, so we had lunch at a road side restaurant at 10 am! Ya's village is a relatively large village close to the road between Hod and Mae Sariang.
View Larger Map
Once you leave the Chiang Mai valley the lime stone mountains are steep and covered with bamboo and other trees, with farms mixed in between. Ya's village is next to two other villages and I would guess 200+ houses and 3 temples - 1 for each village.
Thai Buddhist funeral rites usually last from 3, 5 or 7 days, depending on the wealth and status of the family. They are not usually somber events; many, many friends and acquaintances of the deceased and the family come together and spend the time eating, playing cards, etc. throughout the days and the nights.
In the slide show note the tables and chairs on the casket - these will be left at the temple after cremation.
The "little house" is a replica of Ya's house and the items inside will be used by the monks after the cremation. The model house is not burnt.
One side story from our trip was that on the Wednesday night a person from the village drowned, and there is a tradition in the village that if someone dies after the person who is being mourned that person should be cremated first. Since this would disrupt the cremation plans for Ya's mother the solution was to keep the body at the hospital, thus not bringing the body to the village until Ya's mother's cremation was complete.
On our way to Ya's village we heard from Ya that so many people had come the night before that we better eat before arriving, so we had lunch at a road side restaurant at 10 am! Ya's village is a relatively large village close to the road between Hod and Mae Sariang.
View Larger Map
Once you leave the Chiang Mai valley the lime stone mountains are steep and covered with bamboo and other trees, with farms mixed in between. Ya's village is next to two other villages and I would guess 200+ houses and 3 temples - 1 for each village.
Thai Buddhist funeral rites usually last from 3, 5 or 7 days, depending on the wealth and status of the family. They are not usually somber events; many, many friends and acquaintances of the deceased and the family come together and spend the time eating, playing cards, etc. throughout the days and the nights.
In the slide show note the tables and chairs on the casket - these will be left at the temple after cremation.
The "little house" is a replica of Ya's house and the items inside will be used by the monks after the cremation. The model house is not burnt.
One side story from our trip was that on the Wednesday night a person from the village drowned, and there is a tradition in the village that if someone dies after the person who is being mourned that person should be cremated first. Since this would disrupt the cremation plans for Ya's mother the solution was to keep the body at the hospital, thus not bringing the body to the village until Ya's mother's cremation was complete.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Politics Thai Style - New developments 12-2-2008
I am basically posting two articles that describe the situation. Many people have contacted us and are concerned about the killings. Please don't worry. All of the deaths have occurred in the political rallies and protests and there is no danger of us joining in that yet :-)
Hot off the Press - The PAD will leave the airports tomorrow by 10 am our time! Their goal of getting rid of the prime minister was accomplished by the Thai courts! Just added another article from Reuters at the bottom....
The first editorial was from Bloomberg and the second from the BBC
COMMENTARY - Philanthropist Thaksin wants to shape Asia's future
William Pesek
Move over Nelson Mandela. Step aside Bill Clinton. You, too, Bill Gates. Make room for a new thought leader and philanthropist: Thaksin Shinawatra.
That's not a joke, even if it does have TheOnion.com written all over it. Feel free to check for yourself at just how serious the ousted Thai leader is about his fitness to nurture the next generation of Asia's business and financial leaders and help draft development policy in the region.
Thaksin's Building a Better Future Foundation will have offices in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. That may be where extradition officials can find the man facing jail-time back home for a corruption conviction.
Give the man points for thinking big. He has already helped bring a nation to its knees and took on Europe as owner of soccer team Manchester City. (The UK recently revoked his visa.) Shaping Asia's future seems as big a goal as any for this self-made billionaire.
Thaksin is a better example of how not to lead or inspire Asia's future. Just as few would seek the advice of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on political correctness or US President George W Bush on diplomacy, Asians shouldn't look to Thaksin for pointers on building their future.
Look no further than the wreckage he left behind in Asia's eighth-biggest economy. It's disingenuous to blame Thaksin alone for Thailand's political crisis. Thaksin was elected and then went about bastardising Thailand's democracy over a five-year period. He was sentenced to two years in prison for helping his then-wife - the couple divorced last month - buy land from the government. And now he won't go away.
It would have been better if Thaksin had been removed by democratic institutions in 2006 rather than in a coup. And the leadership of the generals who grabbed power was just as opaque and unpredictable as Thaksin's.
More than two years later, the nation's power structure has devolved into a farce. Thailand is awash in the kind of political chaos observers said had become a thing of the past. Protesters have taken airports in Bangkok; Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who is Thaksin's brother-in-law, is on the defensive; grenades are going off in the capital; and investors are left with a stark question: Why bother?
The impact to the economy will be pretty severe, says Euben Paracuelles, a Singapore-based economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.
The only winners are Indonesia, Vietnam and other developing Asian economies. Thai leaders and the protesters fighting them are seeing to it that investors and corporate executives who planned to bet on Thailand look elsewhere in Asia instead.
It's not that Thailand's $246 billion economy lacks potential, or that great things shouldn't be expected of its 66 million people. Five years ago, Thailand was more of a success story than a cautionary one. Living standards were rising, stocks were buoyant and neighbouring leaders envied Thailand's progress.
That is a distant memory now.
Choosing Mr Somchai as prime minister in September was an act of provocation. It also solidified the view among opposition forces that Thaksin was a shadow leader.
One reason the People's Alliance for Democracy wants PM Somchai to resign is concern that Thaksin is plotting a return to power.
Many see Thaksin's new foundation as an attempt to counter his enemies' portrayal of him as a corrupt leader, says Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University.
Leaders in the capital and the protesters garnering global attention are unwittingly achieving the same goal: knocking the economy off the global radar screen and undermining the very people they purport to be looking out for.
The protesters claim they are the champions of average Thais and yet are trampling on the democratic process, blocking roads and forcing businesses and schools to close. By grabbing Bangkok's airports, they are killing key foreign exchange-earning industries such as tourism.
Most Thais will be worse off five years from now. Government leaders, meanwhile, are in over their heads. Their response to Thailand's worsening crisis has been unsteady at best. It's hardly an inviting environment for investors.
One has to be an extreme optimist to expect a more stable political situation in the short run.
Thais are anxiously awaiting Dec 4, when His Majesty the King will address the nation on the eve of his birthday. He is revered as a symbol of stability in a country that has endured more than 10 coups since ending absolute monarchy in 1932.
The timing of the latest dust-up couldn't be worse. The global credit crisis is infecting Asia with intensifying force. As governments try to shield households from the crisis, Thai leaders are distracted by chaos in the streets.
Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvej said the turmoil may cause damage of about 100 billion baht this quarter.
No single person gets all the blame for where Thailand is today. Yet the leaders of tomorrow should think twice before tapping Thaksin for insights. That is, unless one is looking for examples of how not to run a country.
William Pesek is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
-------------------------------------------------------------
This is from the BBC describing the latest developments 11/2/08 - today
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Top Thai court bans ruling party
Thailand's constitutional court has dissolved the governing People Power Party and two of its coalition partners for fraud during the last election.
The parties' leaders, including Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, were banned from politics for five years.
But under the constitution, most MPs can keep their seats under another party name, and have promised to form another government.
Earlier, an anti-government protester was killed at a Bangkok airport.
Local television reported that a grenade had been fired at Don Mueang airport, the capital's domestic hub, which has been occupied by the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) since last week.
PAD supporters accuse Mr Somchai's administration of being corrupt and hostile to the much-revered monarchy, and want the entire government to resign.
They also accuse Mr Somchai of being a proxy of his brother-in-law, exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Mr Somchai said he accepted the court's verdict.
'Political standard'
Earlier on Tuesday, a protest by hundreds of red-shirted government supporters forced the constitutional court to move its final hearing to Bangkok's administrative courthouse.
After fewer than three hours in session, the head of the nine-judge panel, Chat Chonlaworn, announced that the court had found the People Power Party (PPP), the Machima Thipatai party and the Chart Thai party guilty of vote-buying, and unanimously agreed to disband them.
Dozens of the PPP's executive members, including Mr Somchai, were also found guilty of personal involvement and banned from politics for five years.
Judge Chat said that he hoped the ruling would "set a political standard".
Outside the court, where a large crowd of pro-government activists had gathered after learning of the relocation, there was a furious reaction.
Prime Minister Somchai's supporters accused the judges of sabotaging democracy and going against the people's will.
Despite the presence of a large number of riot police, the protesters soon blocked all access to the building and vowed not to let the judges out.
One former minister said members of the PPP who had escaped the political ban imposed on its leaders would regroup and form another coalition government.
"The verdict comes as no surprise to all of us," Jakrapob Penkair told the Reuters news agency. "But our members are determined to move on, and we will form a government again out of the majority that we believe we still have."
Other PPP members said they would seek a parliamentary vote for a new prime minister on 8 December.
The BBC's Jonathan Head, outside the courthouse, says the court's ruling will provoke anger right throughout the heartland of the government's supporters in the north and north-east.
Shortly after the ruling, the government announced it was postponing a summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, due for mid-December, until March.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thai court disbands ruling party
Tue Dec 2, 2008 7:49am EST
By Nopporn Wong-Anan
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was banned from politics for five years and his party disbanded on Tuesday, plunging the country deeper into chaos and raising fears of a violent backlash by government supporters.
Party members vowed to "move on" and vote for a new prime minister on December 8, setting the stage for another flashpoint in Thailand's three-year old political crisis.
First deputy prime minister Chavarat Charnvirakul would take over as interim prime minister, a government spokesman said.
Unexpectedly, anti-government protesters who had blockaded Bangkok's two airports for the past week said hours after the Constitutional Court's rulings that they would end all their rallies on Wednesday.
People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leader Sondhi Limthongkul told a news conference the protesters would start pulling out of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports on Wednesday.
The PAD had refused to negotiate until Somchai steps down. They accuse him of being a puppet of his brother-in-law, ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
On Monday, the PAD began reinforcing their airport blockades with thousands of supporters moving from Government House, ending a three-month occupation of the prime minister's offices.
The court also disbanded two other parties in Somchai's six-party coalition for vote fraud in the 2007 general election and barred their leaders from politics for five years.
The rulings seemed to raise the risk of clashes between red-shirted government allies, who rallied outside the court as the verdicts were read, and thousands of yellow-shirted PAD protesters who have blockaded Bangkok's airports in a "final battle" to oust Somchai.
Hours before the court decisions, one person was killed and 22 wounded after a grenade was fired at protesters besieging the domestic Don Muang airport.
Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has intervened in previous political crises during his six decades on the throne, made no mention of the country's troubles during a short speech at a Trooping the Color military parade in Bangkok.
The annual ceremony, in which the king speaks about the need for military probity, was a picture of tradition and serenity in marked contrast to the chaos elsewhere in Bangkok.
STRANDED TOURISTS
Around 250,000 foreign tourists have been stranded by the week-long sit-ins at Don Muang and the bigger Suvarnabhumi international airport, which officials said will stay closed until December 15, eating into the key Christmas holiday season.
"The rally has caused massive damage to the country. We will try to open the airport as soon as possible," said Serirat Prasutanond, acting head of Airports of Thailand, before the surprise PAD announcement.
There was some good news for the air cargo industry which ground to a halt during the blockades, costing Thailand hundreds of millions of dollars.
A cargo flight bound for Kuala Lumpur left Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday, a welcome sight for a tourist- and export-dependent economy already suffering from the global financial crisis.
A senior airport official earlier said cargo flights could resume as soon as shippers and airlines were ready.
Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech told Reuters on Monday the economy might be flat next year, or grow by just 1-2 percent, after earlier growth forecasts of between 4-5 percent.
The travel chaos worried neighbors due to attend a regional summit in Thailand in two weeks, prompting the government to postpone the meeting until March 2009, a spokesman said.
The Thai baht edged up against the dollar and the stock market rose on optimism that political unrest might subside after the ruling, but shares soon fell back again.
"It's positive short-term as the government term has ended and the PAD may stop its protest," said Nuchjarin Panarode, an economist at Capital Nomura Securities.
"But in the longer term, there is still uncertainty as we need to wait for a new government and see its policies."
NEW PARLIAMENTARY VOTE
All six parties in the coalition government vowed to stick together and seek a parliamentary vote for a new prime minister on December 8, setting the stage for another potentially violent confrontation in the country's three-year-old political crisis.
Lawmakers who escaped the political ban would move to new "shell" parties to form another ruling coalition, a former minister said.
"The verdict comes as no surprise to all of us," said Jakrapob Penkair, a close associate of Thaksin, who was removed in a bloodless 2006 coup and is now in exile.
"But our members are determined to move on and we will form a government again out of the majority that we believe we still have," he told Reuters.
Only a handful of PAD members remained at Government House, where sandbag bunkers and car tires stacked two meters (six feet) high stood around makeshift tarpaulin tents.
Carefully manicured lawns and gardens were hidden by a sea of wooden pallets and cardboard sleeping mats.
PAD supporters left with no hint of remorse or regret.
"We need a new, clean government. We don't want corruption," said Tae Saekuay, a toothless, hunchbacked 67-year-old as he carried a plastic sack of clothes and bedding through the mess. he said.
Hot off the Press - The PAD will leave the airports tomorrow by 10 am our time! Their goal of getting rid of the prime minister was accomplished by the Thai courts! Just added another article from Reuters at the bottom....
The first editorial was from Bloomberg and the second from the BBC
COMMENTARY - Philanthropist Thaksin wants to shape Asia's future
William Pesek
Move over Nelson Mandela. Step aside Bill Clinton. You, too, Bill Gates. Make room for a new thought leader and philanthropist: Thaksin Shinawatra.
That's not a joke, even if it does have TheOnion.com written all over it. Feel free to check for yourself at just how serious the ousted Thai leader is about his fitness to nurture the next generation of Asia's business and financial leaders and help draft development policy in the region.
Thaksin's Building a Better Future Foundation will have offices in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. That may be where extradition officials can find the man facing jail-time back home for a corruption conviction.
Give the man points for thinking big. He has already helped bring a nation to its knees and took on Europe as owner of soccer team Manchester City. (The UK recently revoked his visa.) Shaping Asia's future seems as big a goal as any for this self-made billionaire.
Thaksin is a better example of how not to lead or inspire Asia's future. Just as few would seek the advice of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on political correctness or US President George W Bush on diplomacy, Asians shouldn't look to Thaksin for pointers on building their future.
Look no further than the wreckage he left behind in Asia's eighth-biggest economy. It's disingenuous to blame Thaksin alone for Thailand's political crisis. Thaksin was elected and then went about bastardising Thailand's democracy over a five-year period. He was sentenced to two years in prison for helping his then-wife - the couple divorced last month - buy land from the government. And now he won't go away.
It would have been better if Thaksin had been removed by democratic institutions in 2006 rather than in a coup. And the leadership of the generals who grabbed power was just as opaque and unpredictable as Thaksin's.
More than two years later, the nation's power structure has devolved into a farce. Thailand is awash in the kind of political chaos observers said had become a thing of the past. Protesters have taken airports in Bangkok; Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who is Thaksin's brother-in-law, is on the defensive; grenades are going off in the capital; and investors are left with a stark question: Why bother?
The impact to the economy will be pretty severe, says Euben Paracuelles, a Singapore-based economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.
The only winners are Indonesia, Vietnam and other developing Asian economies. Thai leaders and the protesters fighting them are seeing to it that investors and corporate executives who planned to bet on Thailand look elsewhere in Asia instead.
It's not that Thailand's $246 billion economy lacks potential, or that great things shouldn't be expected of its 66 million people. Five years ago, Thailand was more of a success story than a cautionary one. Living standards were rising, stocks were buoyant and neighbouring leaders envied Thailand's progress.
That is a distant memory now.
Choosing Mr Somchai as prime minister in September was an act of provocation. It also solidified the view among opposition forces that Thaksin was a shadow leader.
One reason the People's Alliance for Democracy wants PM Somchai to resign is concern that Thaksin is plotting a return to power.
Many see Thaksin's new foundation as an attempt to counter his enemies' portrayal of him as a corrupt leader, says Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University.
Leaders in the capital and the protesters garnering global attention are unwittingly achieving the same goal: knocking the economy off the global radar screen and undermining the very people they purport to be looking out for.
The protesters claim they are the champions of average Thais and yet are trampling on the democratic process, blocking roads and forcing businesses and schools to close. By grabbing Bangkok's airports, they are killing key foreign exchange-earning industries such as tourism.
Most Thais will be worse off five years from now. Government leaders, meanwhile, are in over their heads. Their response to Thailand's worsening crisis has been unsteady at best. It's hardly an inviting environment for investors.
One has to be an extreme optimist to expect a more stable political situation in the short run.
Thais are anxiously awaiting Dec 4, when His Majesty the King will address the nation on the eve of his birthday. He is revered as a symbol of stability in a country that has endured more than 10 coups since ending absolute monarchy in 1932.
The timing of the latest dust-up couldn't be worse. The global credit crisis is infecting Asia with intensifying force. As governments try to shield households from the crisis, Thai leaders are distracted by chaos in the streets.
Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvej said the turmoil may cause damage of about 100 billion baht this quarter.
No single person gets all the blame for where Thailand is today. Yet the leaders of tomorrow should think twice before tapping Thaksin for insights. That is, unless one is looking for examples of how not to run a country.
William Pesek is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
-------------------------------------------------------------
This is from the BBC describing the latest developments 11/2/08 - today
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Top Thai court bans ruling party
Thailand's constitutional court has dissolved the governing People Power Party and two of its coalition partners for fraud during the last election.
The parties' leaders, including Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, were banned from politics for five years.
But under the constitution, most MPs can keep their seats under another party name, and have promised to form another government.
Earlier, an anti-government protester was killed at a Bangkok airport.
Local television reported that a grenade had been fired at Don Mueang airport, the capital's domestic hub, which has been occupied by the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) since last week.
PAD supporters accuse Mr Somchai's administration of being corrupt and hostile to the much-revered monarchy, and want the entire government to resign.
They also accuse Mr Somchai of being a proxy of his brother-in-law, exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Mr Somchai said he accepted the court's verdict.
'Political standard'
Earlier on Tuesday, a protest by hundreds of red-shirted government supporters forced the constitutional court to move its final hearing to Bangkok's administrative courthouse.
After fewer than three hours in session, the head of the nine-judge panel, Chat Chonlaworn, announced that the court had found the People Power Party (PPP), the Machima Thipatai party and the Chart Thai party guilty of vote-buying, and unanimously agreed to disband them.
Dozens of the PPP's executive members, including Mr Somchai, were also found guilty of personal involvement and banned from politics for five years.
Judge Chat said that he hoped the ruling would "set a political standard".
Outside the court, where a large crowd of pro-government activists had gathered after learning of the relocation, there was a furious reaction.
Prime Minister Somchai's supporters accused the judges of sabotaging democracy and going against the people's will.
Despite the presence of a large number of riot police, the protesters soon blocked all access to the building and vowed not to let the judges out.
One former minister said members of the PPP who had escaped the political ban imposed on its leaders would regroup and form another coalition government.
"The verdict comes as no surprise to all of us," Jakrapob Penkair told the Reuters news agency. "But our members are determined to move on, and we will form a government again out of the majority that we believe we still have."
Other PPP members said they would seek a parliamentary vote for a new prime minister on 8 December.
The BBC's Jonathan Head, outside the courthouse, says the court's ruling will provoke anger right throughout the heartland of the government's supporters in the north and north-east.
Shortly after the ruling, the government announced it was postponing a summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, due for mid-December, until March.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thai court disbands ruling party
Tue Dec 2, 2008 7:49am EST
By Nopporn Wong-Anan
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was banned from politics for five years and his party disbanded on Tuesday, plunging the country deeper into chaos and raising fears of a violent backlash by government supporters.
Party members vowed to "move on" and vote for a new prime minister on December 8, setting the stage for another flashpoint in Thailand's three-year old political crisis.
First deputy prime minister Chavarat Charnvirakul would take over as interim prime minister, a government spokesman said.
Unexpectedly, anti-government protesters who had blockaded Bangkok's two airports for the past week said hours after the Constitutional Court's rulings that they would end all their rallies on Wednesday.
People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leader Sondhi Limthongkul told a news conference the protesters would start pulling out of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports on Wednesday.
The PAD had refused to negotiate until Somchai steps down. They accuse him of being a puppet of his brother-in-law, ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
On Monday, the PAD began reinforcing their airport blockades with thousands of supporters moving from Government House, ending a three-month occupation of the prime minister's offices.
The court also disbanded two other parties in Somchai's six-party coalition for vote fraud in the 2007 general election and barred their leaders from politics for five years.
The rulings seemed to raise the risk of clashes between red-shirted government allies, who rallied outside the court as the verdicts were read, and thousands of yellow-shirted PAD protesters who have blockaded Bangkok's airports in a "final battle" to oust Somchai.
Hours before the court decisions, one person was killed and 22 wounded after a grenade was fired at protesters besieging the domestic Don Muang airport.
Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has intervened in previous political crises during his six decades on the throne, made no mention of the country's troubles during a short speech at a Trooping the Color military parade in Bangkok.
The annual ceremony, in which the king speaks about the need for military probity, was a picture of tradition and serenity in marked contrast to the chaos elsewhere in Bangkok.
STRANDED TOURISTS
Around 250,000 foreign tourists have been stranded by the week-long sit-ins at Don Muang and the bigger Suvarnabhumi international airport, which officials said will stay closed until December 15, eating into the key Christmas holiday season.
"The rally has caused massive damage to the country. We will try to open the airport as soon as possible," said Serirat Prasutanond, acting head of Airports of Thailand, before the surprise PAD announcement.
There was some good news for the air cargo industry which ground to a halt during the blockades, costing Thailand hundreds of millions of dollars.
A cargo flight bound for Kuala Lumpur left Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday, a welcome sight for a tourist- and export-dependent economy already suffering from the global financial crisis.
A senior airport official earlier said cargo flights could resume as soon as shippers and airlines were ready.
Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech told Reuters on Monday the economy might be flat next year, or grow by just 1-2 percent, after earlier growth forecasts of between 4-5 percent.
The travel chaos worried neighbors due to attend a regional summit in Thailand in two weeks, prompting the government to postpone the meeting until March 2009, a spokesman said.
The Thai baht edged up against the dollar and the stock market rose on optimism that political unrest might subside after the ruling, but shares soon fell back again.
"It's positive short-term as the government term has ended and the PAD may stop its protest," said Nuchjarin Panarode, an economist at Capital Nomura Securities.
"But in the longer term, there is still uncertainty as we need to wait for a new government and see its policies."
NEW PARLIAMENTARY VOTE
All six parties in the coalition government vowed to stick together and seek a parliamentary vote for a new prime minister on December 8, setting the stage for another potentially violent confrontation in the country's three-year-old political crisis.
Lawmakers who escaped the political ban would move to new "shell" parties to form another ruling coalition, a former minister said.
"The verdict comes as no surprise to all of us," said Jakrapob Penkair, a close associate of Thaksin, who was removed in a bloodless 2006 coup and is now in exile.
"But our members are determined to move on and we will form a government again out of the majority that we believe we still have," he told Reuters.
Only a handful of PAD members remained at Government House, where sandbag bunkers and car tires stacked two meters (six feet) high stood around makeshift tarpaulin tents.
Carefully manicured lawns and gardens were hidden by a sea of wooden pallets and cardboard sleeping mats.
PAD supporters left with no hint of remorse or regret.
"We need a new, clean government. We don't want corruption," said Tae Saekuay, a toothless, hunchbacked 67-year-old as he carried a plastic sack of clothes and bedding through the mess. he said.
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