Trapped in Bangkok

Yellow Shirt Mob Occupies Airport

Monday, December 01, 2008 at 1:00 PM Bangkok time. Having lived through a military coup and ensuing dictatorship, the devastating tsunami, SARS, the bird flu, and the New Year's Eve bombings two years ago at tourist venues in downtown Bangkok, I should have been prepared for the shutdown of Bangkok's two airports by a mob of protesters, but I wasn't. None of the previous events had a direct impact on my life in Bangkok, which proceeded uninterrupted. That could have been the case this time, but with the holiday season approaching in the US, I had a confirmed seat on EVA Air to leave Bangkok for Arizona tomorrow, December 2.

When the mob of about 4,000 protesters took over Suvarnabhumi airport six days ago (Tuesday November 25 at about 9:00 PM), my initial reaction was that this couldn't be. After all, Bangkok's vast new airport, one of the world's largest, was too immense to fall to a few thousand middle-aged women, children, students, and assorted others, sporting a decidedly carnival atmosphere. As a regional transportation hub and Thailand's link to the rest of the world, especially its vital tourist trade (6-10% of GDP), Suvarnabhumi was too important to be closed, or so I thought. A temporary interruption, perhaps, but a complete shutdown, never. I was not concerned about my departure through Suvarnabhumi seven days' hence.

The mob, known as PAD ("Peoples Alliance for Democracy") or the "yellow shirts" (the color yellow is to signal their support of the Thai monarchy), had occupied government house (roughly comparable to our White House) for about three months, which had forced the Thai prime minister and his cabinet to move to the VIP lounge at Bangkok's old Dom Muang airport. It is incomprehensible to every Western observer I know or whom I've read, how a government could be ejected from its seat and not fight to retake it. Yet, within the last month, the PAD had moved on the parliament building and has forced the parliament to suspend its meetings. After that, the mob moved into Dom Muang airport and the prime minister and his cabinet fled to the northern city of Chiang Mai, where the prime minister has a house on a golf course (he played a round the day before yesterday while his country was falling apart.) He says he's afraid to return to Bangkok. Mob Takes Over Government House in Bangkok

In simple terms, here's what's going on. This is a battle between the Thaksin and anti-Thaksin forces. Former Prime Minister Thaksin, who was ousted by the military in a coup two years ago, enjoys the immense support of the rural poor and, to some extent, the international business community. Thaksin's supporters, , known as the DAAD ("Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship") also known as the "red shirts," who support the present government, want Thaksin back in power. The "yellow shirts," supported by the Bangkok elite and the urban middle class, truly hate Thaksin, are afraid of what would happen to them if he returned, and are determined to prevent it at any cost.

The immediate aim of the yellow shirts is for Prime Minister Somchai to resign from office. Somchai is Thaksin's brother-in-law (get the picture!) and his government, although popularly elected, is viewed by its opponents as a proxy for Thaksin. The PAD has vowed to keep the airports closed until Somchai resigns. Somchai says he's legitimate, hasn't done anything wrong, and will never resign. In the meantime, Thaksin was convicted by the courts for abuse of power, sentenced to two years in jail, and has fled the country to avoid prison. He's now a fugitive felon and living in Dubai at the present, because his British visa was revoked when he because a fugitive. His assets within Thailand, about $2 billion have been seized, but he's believed to have another $1 billion outside of the country.

About a month ago, Prime Minister Somchai decided he should do something about the yellow shirts' occupation of Government House, so he ordered the police to clear them out. What followed was a pitched battle between the protesters and the police, which the police lost after several people were killed. Somchai declared a state of emergency, but neither the police nor the army went along with it and the yellow shirts have continued their occupation.

The killing and violence shocked the Thai nation, and its organs of law and order have stated that they would not use force to disperse the mob. In fact, the head of the army has publicly called on the prime minister to resign and to dissolve parliament so that new elections can be held. The army chief has repeatedly stated that the army will not stage a coup, although many Thai's and foreign observers do not necessarily believe this. To sum it up: there have been no further attempts to dislodge the mob, and the two opposing factions are stalemated.

Last Tuesday night (November 25) the yellow shirts expanded their occupation of Bangkok to include Suwanabhumi airport. They faced no opposition. As soon as they arrived, the airline and airport staffs that were on duty fled and left about 7,000 passengers stranded in the terminal building. Although the passengers were free to leave and were not threatened with any personal violence, they understandably didn't know where to go nor what to do and it took the Airport Authority of Thailand ("AoT") two days for it to arranged hotel accommodations and buses out for the stranded passengers, mostly foreign tourists.

Four days ago, the prime minister declared a state of emergency at the two airports and ordered the police to retake both facilities. The army refused to cooperate. Yesterday, the police set up a roadblock near the airport, but, when met by several hundred yellow shirts, the police fled on foot, leaving their vehicles, helmets and shields in the road. The mob kept the vehicles, but later returned the helmets and shields. The police have made no further moves.

Right now (Monday night 8:00 PM, December 1), the airport crisis has lasted for six days and there is no resolution in sight, nor is there a realistic estimate when I can leave Bangkok. The AoT announced today that it will take a minimum of a week to restart the airport after the protesters leave, longer if any of the computer systems have been damaged. A small military airport about 95 miles from Bangkok, called Utapao, with 100 parking spaces, two x-ray machines, six counters for customs services, one belt for arriving passengers and one crane to lift luggage into the planes, and a capacity for handling 400 passengers at a time, and 3,000 per day, has been opened as an alternative airport, and Thai Air and other carriers have scheduled flights to and from Utapao to try to get some of the stranded travelers out of Thailand, and for the estimated 10,000 Thais stranded abroad to get back home.

On Saturday, 20,000 potential passengers showed up to claim 4,000 available seats, thereby inundating the small airport. The line of cars into the airport extended for 2 km. and the scenes at the airport were described as "ugly," "unruly," "complete chaos and pandemonium," "Travelers who arrived here found crowds of tired and angry passengers, armed guards, piles of garbage, mountains of luggage." “The airline said as U-tapao airport has now been stretched beyond its capacity, SAS has deemed it is not possible to continue operations at U-tapao airport.”

Stranded Passengers Overwhelm Utapao

I've decided that, even though I probably can get on an EVA Air evacuation flight out of Utapao to Taipei later this week, I won't risk it. The situation at Utapao is beyond the control of the authorities, and I don't want to subject myself to the dangers of desperate passengers, who, by one account, if they can actually get to the terminal, will have waited 10 hours before they board their plane, that is, if they can actually reach the terminal. Bangkok and my neighborhood are safe, although I’m staying close to home. Still, I'm trapped in Bangkok.

Monday, December 01, 2008 at 4:00 PM Bangkok time. My travel agent, Franz, called to tell me that my EVA flight tomorrow from Suvarnabhumi has been cancelled. Oh big surprise. I've been rescheduled for a December 8 departure, provided, of course, the airport is operational. It's not much comfort, but at least I have a new date to focus on. Franz told me that he had heard that there would be a coup tonight, but I reminded him that daily coup rumors were a feature of every day life in Bangkok. He agreed. Right now he's dealing with a package tour of 19 Polish tourists who were supposed to leave for India last Tuesday and have been stuck in Bangkok for six days already. The big problem for them and for Franz is that everything was prepaid and they can't get refunds from India. Apparently, they just sit in Franz's office.

Monday, December 01, 9:30 PM Bangkok time. I went to the Internet cafe to check the news before I called it a day. There's been no apparent movement towards a resolution of the situation. CNN and other international TV networks have been reporting on two "favorable" developments during the day: (1) the PAD has agreed to release 88 stranded passenger and cargo jets from Suvarnabhumi, and 33 of them have already left, all empty; and (2) PAD has abandoned Government House, and has moved the protesters from there to reinforce its forces at the two airports. I don't see how either of these relieves the situation. The prime minister was not heard from today, and he and his cabinet remain eerily silent in Chaing Mai. However, he's supposed to come to Bangkok tomorrow (Tuesday) to take part in the annual trooping of the color ceremony to celebrate the king's birthday, which is on Friday. It will be interesting to see if he makes it (but, I can't imagine that he would be absent).

Tuesday, December 02, 6:00 AM Bangkok time. The big event today is the scheduled court hearing for final arguments on the case to dissolve the ruling PPP political party. If, as expected, the court dissolves the party because of election fraud, Prime Minister Somchai will be out of a job, and the main demand of the PAD protesters will have been met. Maybe they will then leave the airports. Many people expect a ruling from the court later today or tomorrow. The ruling will be a major turning point in the crisis.

Tuesday, December 02, 6:30 AM Bangkok time. A report in today's IHT, which cites Thai news sources, says this about Utapao: "...but the airport's limited facilities---the terminal can accommodate only 400 people---have caused scenes of chaos and stampedes of passengers, some of whom required medical treatment..." This reinforces my decision reached yesterday, that I'm not going to try to get out of Thailand from Utapao.

Tuesday, December 02, 7:30 AM Bangkok time. CNN reports that shortly after midnight, a bomb was thrown at the protesters at Dom Mueang airport, killing one and injuring 22, five of them seriously.

URGENT. Tuesday, 1:30 PM Bangkok time. The Constitution Court just ruled to disband three coalition parties, People Power, Chart Thai and Matchima Thipataya, and banned the three's party executives from electoral process for five years. This means that Prime Minister Somchai is out. The rest of today will be important, as it will provide a good indication of what will happen next, both politically and in the streets. Stay tuned.

Court Throws Thaksin's Brother-in-Law Out as Prime Minister

GOOD NEWS. Tuesday, 5:30 PM Bangkok time. After some initial hesitancy following the court's removal of the prime minister, PAD has announced that it will leave the two Bangkok airports by tomorrow morning. There is no reliable information about when flights will resume. I'm still trapped in Bangkok, but I now have hope of being home before Christmas.

Wednesday, 9:00 PM Bangkok time. "Thai flights resume after week of protest" proclaims the banner on CNN and other international news agencies, but the reality is something different. Yes, as promised, the PAD seizure of Bangkok's two airports did end today as the mob packed up and went home. Aside from a few token flights, mostly cargo, the airport is not functioning and news reports paint a confusing picture of when I can expect to leave Bangkok. The head of the airport authority was widely quoted as saying that it would take one to two weeks to reopen the gateway because of the requirement of extensive safety checks of the operational systems. However, other reports say that things will be back to normal on Friday. Physical damage to Suvarnabhumi and Dom Mueang airports appears minimal. In the meantime, several hundred thousand travelers (the estimates vary from 200,000 up to 350,000), which include me, remain stuck.

Today I spent a normal day and tried to put the situation out of my mind. My main activity was going to school and doing homework in preparation for my afternoon class. I'm content to remain largely in my neighborhood and to venture out to venues well-known to me. I'm in such better shape than almost all of the others waiting to leave, that it's hard for me to complain, but still, I'd like to get to Arizona.

Friday, 11:00 AM Bangkok time. The airport is supposed to be fully operational this morning. I still don't have a confirmed flight out, but I'm hopeful to have one tomorrow. Today is the king's birthday, a national holiday.

Saturday, December 06, 2008 at 2:00 PM Bangkok time. I just got a call from my Austrian travel agent, Franz, that I have a flight out on Monday at 8:00 PM from Suvarnabhumi on EVA Air. I have to stay overnight in Taipei, but I can't be fussy at this point. I arrive in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning (December 9) at 9:00 AM and I'll be in Arizona a little after noon on Southwest Air. It will be so good to be back in Arizona

Home At Last. Monday, December 8, 11:30 PM Arizona time. The trip back to Arizona was easy, a little hectic, but no problems. The disastrous impact on tourism of the chaos so recently ended, was immediately observable: Suvarnabhumi, normally crowded at 5:30 PM was quiet, there was no one ahead of me in the EVA Air check-in line, and at immigration, only three out of perhaps 15 stations was manned, and only one person was ahead of me in the immigration line as compared to the usual 10-15. There was no visible damage to the airport and no sign that a mob had occupied it as recently as 48 hours ago. Surprisingly, no looting of the duty-free shops, or elsewhere in the vast airport complex, had taken place. But, I wondered where the 350,000 stranded tourists had gone as there hadn't been sufficient time for all of them to have left the country as yet.

I was saved an overnight stay in Taipei because EVA Air held a Los Angeles-bound flight for 40 minutes for the few of us from the Bangkok flight to run, with the ushering of numerous EVA Air ground staff, from one gate to another. And in Los Angeles, also quite empty at 7:30 at night, I was able to clear immigration, customs, and transfer between terminals and board a Southwest flight all in 55 minutes from touchdown. Arriving one short hour later in Arizona, I was truly glad to be home. The trip took 19 1/2 hours door-to-door, the shortest time ever for me between Bangkok and Arizona.

Phoenix Looked Good