Thailand’s military-installed government and supporters of deposed leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, are engaged in games of political chess centred on freedom of speech and political gatherings ahead of December polls.

A series of rallies called by the banned, satellite-based People’s Television (PTV) are beginning to draw small crowds. PTV is backed by former senior members of Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai Party. Speakers at one of the rallies last week railed against the junta, the Council for National Security (CNS), led by Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin.

Several of the corruption cases the junta alleges Thaksin was involved in are now being brought before the courts. In March prosecutors framed charges of tax evasion against Thaksin’s wife and moved to implicate his children. Thaksin’s family, in January 2006, benefited by selling 49 per cent stake in the telecom firm Shin Corp for $1.9 billion to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, but steered around paying taxes on the deal. But, so far, the junta has not been able to directly charge Thaksin himself of corruption, the main reason cited by the army for ousting him from power.

But may Thai people, especially the older generation, have great faith in the former leader and is spurred by hopes of a return of Thaksin’s populist economic policies that boosted incomes for the urban and rural poor. But they have largely been curtailed under the new government with the result that the Thai economy is seeing a slowing down. Many anti-government groups attended the rally and prominent among them was the ‘Saturday Voice Against Dictators’. Spokesman for the group Suchart Nak Bang Sai said the rally’s main purpose was to raise awareness among the general public. “The majority of the Thais don’t know what’s true. So we’re trying to educate them,” he said. But the group is also drawing public attention through a campaign to submit a petition to Thailand’s monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The group wants Prem Tinsulanonda, a senior member of the king’s privy council, to step down. They allege that the former prime minister and retired general was the mastermind behind the September coup and accuse him of ‘’taking advantage of his position”.

The attacks on Prem first occurred at a rally in late March. This led to interim prime minister Surayud Chulanont and Gen. Sonthi both denying that Prem had any role in the coup.

PTV organisers have distanced themselves from the signature campaign, but groups such as Saturday Voice hope to attract 100,000 signatures before submitting them to the king. On Wednesday the information and communications technology ministry warned it would shut down any websites seen to be violating orders announced by the CNS on Sep. 19. SCNS spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd was reported by the ‘Bangkok Post’ as saying the signature campaign against Prem was “inappropriate”. Sansern accused the “old power clique” — meaning supporters of Thaksin — of being behind the campaign. — IPS