“You can be assured that this government has every intention of moving the country forward, restoring order, making sure that our recovery is well on track, and that we will do so in a transparent manner," Prime Minister Abhisit said. Hence, an independent investigation into the unrest will be held, he added.
“We recognise that as we move ahead there are huge challenges,” especially, “overcoming the divisions that have arisen in this country,” he said. The roadmap for peace and reconciliation is part of this process. However, the promised November elections might not be possible Abhisit’s Secretary-General Korbsak Sabhavasu's announced because of the recent violence.
Two months of protests by sympathisers of ouster Prime Minister Thaksin, now living in exile, left 83 people dead and more than 1,900 injured.
A curfew imposed on the capital and 23 provinces will stay in place until Sunday.
Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij expressed confidence today that the economy would recover fairly quickly if the stability of the past 24 hours was maintained.
Speaking at a seminar in Tokyo, he acknowledged that the impact on the lucrative tourist sector this year will be disastrous.
Indeed, “the government should ensure that armed elements do not go underground and start a guerrilla war in Bangkok and around the country,” he said. This “would drive business away from Thailand.”
If the country’s economy does not recover, Thailand’s democratic model would lose much of its lustre as a model for South East Asia and the continent as a whole.
“What other countries take away from this crisis is that the Thai model is not one they'll try to replicate," said Nicholas Farrelly, associate lecturer with the Australian National University's Political and Social Change Department.
“Dictatorships in the region, the most extreme being the Burmese in Naypyidaw, will now be quite satisfied with themselves."