Anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban's decision to storm state offices will give the government the upper hand in the current political crisis, National Security Council (NSC) chief Paradorn Patanatabut says.
Paradorn: Govt will have upper hand
The government has been on the back foot since the protests, initially against the blanket amnesty bill, kicked off three weeks ago.
Mr Paradorn said the anti-government rallies had enjoyed a certain level of legitimacy until Monday.
The protests had at least been peaceful and remained within the bounds of the law, he said.
That advantage, however, had been heavily eroded after Mr Suthep, who escalated his protest to include civil disobedience measures, led a group of demonstrators on Monday to occupy the Finance Ministry and force state officials there to stop work, the NSC chief said.
Mr Paradorn believed Mr Suthep has carried his civil disobedience action too far for his supporters to follow in good conscience.
"An invasion of a state property is a crime," he said.
Since the protest leader is telling his supporters to commit a crime, Mr Paradorn believes many people will back away from his demonstration.
The NSC chief admitted the government has been on the defensive since Mr Suthep started the protest on Nov 4 after the Pheu Thai Party passed the blanket amnesty law that would have whitewashed all political wrongdoings since 2004.
The government must try to avoid confrontation, he said.
He said the government will have to reorganise its protest handling strategy. It will have to work harder to communicate to protesters and convince them not to join illegal activities. The government must counter negative campaigns that the protest leaders have levelled against it more effectively as well, he said.
One of the Ratchadamnoen protest leaders, Sathit Wongnongtoey, does not see any setback to the protesters' campaign.
Mr Sathit, a former PM Office's minister and Democrat MP, said the protesters will push on with the "peaceful takeover of government offices" nationwide.
"We won't stop even if all nine of us are arrested for treason. We won't go home empty-handed. We will fight until we win," Mr Sathit said.
He admitted there are some differences of opinion among protest leaders regarding Mr Suthep's move to seize government offices.
He insisted the leaders remain united in pushing for true reform of democracy. Tactics can be adjusted to suit the situation at hand, he said.
Pheu Thai key figure Chaturon Chaisaeng views the current confrontation as one that is likely to become entrenched.
Mr Chaturon, who is also education minister, agreed the seizure of state agencies during the past two days has chipped away at the protest leaders' legitimacy especially regarding their promises of no violence.
Still, he does not see the tactic as one that will ruin the protest as a whole.
"A large number of people still support the protest leaders. Many people are still gathering with them," Mr Chaturon said.
He added that the protest leaders have succeeded in consolidating anti-government feeling among the public.
He said there is little the government can do. If it uses force to evict the protesters from the public buildings, the government will have to go because it would have lost its legitimacy.
Mr Chaturon said Mr Suthep's refusal to call off the protest even if Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra resigns or dissolves the House has made any solution to the standoff through democratic means more remote.
"What he [Mr Suthep] demands is more than what the government can do within the bounds of the constitution," Mr Chaturon said.
The minister claimed that Mr Suthep is setting a condition for a non-democratic intervention to resolve the political confrontation.
The deviation from democracy will cause further conflicts within society.
"Society will have to overcome some long-standing conflicts to get through this confrontation.
"It's likely that violence will become unavoidable," Mr Chaturon warned.