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PP RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHCHI #0138/01 2720951
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 290951Z SEP 09
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1160
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 1244

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHIANG MAI 000138 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR WALTON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  9/29/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SOCI KDEM PROP TH
SUBJECT: RED-SHIRTS, YELLOW-SHIRTS BEGIN DIALOGUE 
 
REF: A. CHIANG MAI 132 (DOWNPLAY RECONCILIATION CALL) 
     ¶B. CHIANG MAI 93 (U.S. ACADEMIC DISCUSSES) 
     ¶C. 08 CHIANG MAI 178 (PRO AND ANTI-THAKSIN) 
     ¶D. CHIANG MAI 59 (COMMUNITY RADIO STATIONS) 
     ¶E. CHIANG MAI 32 (REDS SPOIL TWO) 
     ¶F. CHIANG MAI 24 (BY-ELECTIONS, REDS AND MIGRANTS) 
     ¶G. CHIANG MAI 18 (TOUGHER TIMES AHEAD) 
     ¶H. CHIANG MAI 3 (RED-SHIRTS FLEX) 
     ¶I. 08 CHIANG MAI 168 (POLITICAL TEMPERATURE) 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000138  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Alex Barrasso, Chief, Pol/Econ, CG Chiang Mai. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
-------------------------- 
 
Summary and Comment 
 
-------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C) Spurred on by a U.S. speaker program that focused on the 
role of opposition political parties and non-party actors (Ref 
B), members of red-shirt and yellow-shirt groups in Chiang Mai 
held an initial meeting on September 23 to iron out some 
differences and search for common ground.  Though they stressed 
the need to keep the dialogue low-profile for fear of a backlash 
from more extremist elements on both sides of the spectrum, 
participants agreed to meet again and to expand the circle to 
include private sector representatives and respected academics, 
with the goal of preventing local politics from further harming 
Chiang Mai's economy. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (C) Comment:  We are gratified that participants on both 
sides cited the Mission-sponsored speaker program (Ref B) as 
empowering them to realize that they should and could find 
common ground for Chiang Mai's benefit.  Though their meeting is 
a positive first step, much work remains to be done.  Extremist 
elements in both camps have personalized their political 
differences, and have personal interests that stand to be harmed 
if true political reconciliation takes hold.  We will 
nonetheless continue to impress upon actors on both sides that 
divergent views and the ability to express them, when done 
peacefully, is a large part of what makes democracies vibrant 
and flourishing, and to encourage their nascent reconciliatory 
efforts.  End Summary and Comment. 
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
Getting Red-shirts and Yellow-shirts Together 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  (C) Differences in the political views of anti-government 
red-shirts and anti-Thaksin yellow-shirts have played out on 
Thailand's streets several times in recent years, most notably 
during the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy's (PAD) 
2008 seizure of Government House and Bangkok's airports, and the 
red-shirt riots in Bangkok and Pattaya earlier this year.  In 
Chiang Mai, tensions have run particularly high, with the most 
egregious violence taking place in November 2008, when a mob of 
red-shirts took the father of the local pro-PAD community radio 
station out of his car and subsequently killed him (see Refs E-I 
for more on the dynamics between the red-shirt and yellow-shirt 
groups in Chiang Mai).  It wasn't until June 2009 that actors on 
both sides in Chiang Mai had a serious political discussion with 
each other.  That exchange of views took place as part of a 
Mission-sponsored State Department Speaker Program featuring 
University of California-Davis professor  Larry Berman, who 
spoke at various locales in Thailand last June on the role of 
opposition parties and non-party actors in a democracy (Ref B). 
When Dr. Berman visited Chiang Mai, the Consulate brought 
together a group of red-shirt and yellow-shirt leaders who, 
after Berman's remarks, engaged with him in a discussion of the 
institutional parameters critical to a functioning democracy. 
The participants later praised Dr. Berman's program, noting it 
had convinced them that they could and should work together to 
find common ground on social, economic and political issues. 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
 
Who Was At the Table? 
 
-------------------------- 
 
 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000138  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶4.  (C) This event was the catalyst for a September 23 meeting 
in Chiang Mai, at which representatives of the People's Alliance 
for Democracy (PAD) and Campaign for Popular Democracy (CPD) on 
the yellow-shirt side, and the Northern Grassroots Confederation 
(NGC) on the red-shirt side, met for two and a half hours to 
discuss their differences and search for common ground. 
According to a neutral participant who served as moderator for 
the meeting, the discussions were amicable, constructive and 
open-minded. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (C) Representing the yellow-shirts were CPD Acting 
Secretary-General Suriyan Tongnu-ied and PAD Chiang Mai 
Coordinator Phongphan Kongkham.  The red-shirt groups were 
represented by NGC Chairman Phromsak Saengpho, who also speaks 
for red-shirt community radio 89.5 FM, as well as Somchat 
Malaihuan (editor of "Red Front" magazine and spokesman for 
red-shirt radio 105.5 FM) and former Chiang Mai University 
professor Chiraporn Chankham.  The CPD's Suriyan claims to have 
close links to the PAD's Phiphop Thongchai (Ref C), while we see 
the NGC's Phromsak as very close to banned Thai Rak Thai 
politician Chaturon Chaisang.  Phromsak and his red-shirt group, 
though they do not advocate violence, believe that the elites 
and monarchy need to be overthrown, and subscribe to traditional 
Communist ideology. 
 
 
 
------------------- 
 
What Was On It? 
 
------------------- 
 
 
 
¶6.  (C) The NGC's Phromsak admitted that the national red-shirt 
movement was largely "disoriented, lacking an agenda, and 
fraught with violence."  The movement served politicians' 
interests, he added, not those of the people.  Achievement of 
its political goals via violence was not a victory for the Thai 
people, and was also not sustainable, he opined.  Phromsak 
characterized national red-shirt leaders Veera Musikapong, 
Jatuporn Prompan and Nattawut Saikua as representatives of the 
opposition Phuea Thai Party, not the people.  Phromsak made 
similarly derogatory statements about the leader of the local 
Rak Chiang Mai 51 (RCM51) red-shirt group - Phetcharawat 
Wattanapongsirikul - saying that he was more interested in 
money-making than benefiting the masses.  RCM51 relies only on 
money from Thaksin, Phromsak noted, adding that the politicians 
know how to take advantage of the people's loyalty to him. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (C) For his part, the yellow-shirt CPD's Suriyan focused his 
initial comments on what he called Thailand's evolving center of 
power .  The main issue at hand was the question of succession 
of "the most revered institution" (an overt reference to the 
King).  Focus on those individuals at the center of the 
succession issue threatened to sideline both the red-shirts and 
yellow-shirts, he opined.  The "blue-shirts" (associated with 
former Thaksin ally and current government coalition partner 
Newin Chidchob) were also a concern, Suriyan speculated, as they 
could target both the yellow and red-shirts in an effort to 
assert themselves as the predominant force in Thai politics. 
 
 
 
¶8.  (C) "Red Front" magazine's Somchat opined that the two sides 
shared common ground in that they both wanted "new" politics and 
to see the Thai State recreated, with the goal of realizing true 
democracy.  Somchat noted that one area both sides agreed on was 
that land-grabbing by foreign capitalists at the expense of 
farmers had to be stopped.  Somchat and yellow-shirt Suriyan 
also both agreed on the need to curtail the influence of 
politicians, and strengthen local people's participation in 
politics. 
 
 
 
¶9.  (C) Both groups agreed on two principles moving forward: 
they must be free to peacefully express their political views 
without fear of intimidation/harassment from the other; and they 
should seek common ground around which they could hold joint 
activities and bring outsiders into the fold.  Furthermore, they 
agreed that the successful organization of a particular activity 
by one group did not necessarily mean a defeat for the other. 
Rather, it highlighted the need to respect each other's rights 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000138  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
and freedoms. 
 
 
 
¶10. (C) Participants discussed two concrete areas in which they 
could immediately begin working together to reduce tension - the 
media and local economy.  With regard to the media, they agreed 
on the need to counter "misinformation" spread by the red-shirt 
RCM51 radio station and its pro-PAD counterpart (Refs C-D). 
Somchat and Phromsak noted that a total of five red-shirt 
stations could join this effort, hopefully marginalizing RCM51. 
More importantly, print publications associated with these five 
stations would also follow suit and try to counteract false 
propaganda.  Both sides agreed that the next step would be to 
counter misinformation in the general public, and that these 
measures would be more effective than strengthened law 
enforcement measures undertaken by Provincial authorities. 
 
 
 
¶11. (C) Regarding Chiang Mai's economy, participants agreed to 
explore holding a public forum to discuss problems facing the 
urban middle class, and to include private sector 
representatives in the discussion.  Their goal is to reestablish 
Chiang Mai's image as a thriving, peaceful area, rather than an 
"unruly" one.  They expressed interest in having representatives 
from hotel and tourism associations participate in the forum. 
 
 
 
--------------- 
 
What's Next? 
 
--------------- 
 
 
 
¶12. (C) Both sides agreed to meet again to discuss the proposed 
program of work in greater detail, and to expand the dialogue to 
include selected business community representatives.  Chiang 
Mai's Chamber of Commerce and Federation of Thai Industries were 
mentioned as possible partners.  (Per Ref A, these groups had 
joined local academics and hotel/tourism groups to issue a 
public statement calling for reconciliation between Chiang Mai's 
yellow-shirts and red-shirts).  Participants also stressed the 
need to keep the dialogue low-profile for now, fearing that 
publicizing it could lead to a backlash from more extremist 
elements on both sides. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
Provincial Government, Private Sector React 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
 
 
¶13.  (C) Chiang Mai's Vice Governor for Security Affairs told 
Pol/Econ Chief on September 25 that he expected things between 
red-shirts and yellow-shirts to calm down.  He sung the praises 
of strengthened law enforcement, noting that in the wake of the 
agreement he struck with community radio stations in May (Ref 
D), their rhetoric had toned down significantly.  On September 
24, the head of the local chapter of the Federation of Thai 
Industries told P/E Chief that he too expected both groups would 
step back from confrontation.  (Note:  it's unclear whether 
either contact was aware of the September 23 
red-shirt/yellow-shirt meeting). 
 
 
 
¶14. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Bangkok. 
MORROW