US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK7345

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 007345 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KPAO, PINS, PROP, TH, Media/Freedom of the Press 
SUBJECT: SONDHI'S TENTH AND LARGEST RALLY TO DATE ATTRACTS 
50,000 
 
REF: A. A: BANGKOK 7317 
 
     B. B: BANGKOK 7253 
     C. C: BANGKOK 7197 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Susan M. Sutton for Reasons 1.4 (d) 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Government critic Sondhi Limthongkul hosted 
his tenth "mobile talk show" from a monastery in Udon Thani. 
A crowd of approximately 50,000 gathered in Bangkok's Lumpini 
Park to listen to Sondhi offer revelations of new scandals 
concerning the Thai Rak Thai government. In the two-hour 
program, Sondhi alleged that shadowy "powers that be" had 
threatened his life. He also criticized the 2004 decision to 
appoint an "acting Supreme Patriarch" and offered a scathing 
rebuttal to Deputy Transport Minister Phumtham's accusations 
of disloyalty. He also slammed the RTG for trying to cover up 
the scandal involving PM Thaksin's younger sister Montathip 
and the C-130. Sondhi ended the rally with a call for 500,000 
people to attend his next show on December 9 to "show the 
government that it no longer has legitimacy to run this 
country". Barring any unforeseen developments, it appears 
unlikely that they could possibly attract an audience that 
size. END SUMMARY. 
 
NEW SCANDALS TARGET THAI FIRST LADY; DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER A 
"SHAMEFUL LIAR" 
 
2. (U) With Bangkok still abuzz with last week's scandalous 
revelations and passionate appeals for the general public to 
"fight for the King", Sondhi Limthongkul's "mobile talk show" 
in Bangkok's Lumpini Park has emerged as the place to be on 
Friday evenings. Political activists have been joined by 
curious onlookers, picnicking families and entrepreneurs 
selling unofficial paraphernalia. While the majority of 
people were clearly interested in hearing what Sondhi had to 
say, many in the crowd were clearly there to be entertained. 
Poloff remarked more "coming and going" compared to the 
previous week's show and many people left before the end. 
Better weather helped the rally achieve its largest numbers 
yet- Thai Police estimated that 50,000 people showed up. 
Sondhi's "Manager" newspaper reported a hopelessly 
exaggerated figure of 150,000, with a 150,000 more listening 
to the speech via the web. The speech is also broadcast via 
92.25 radio and a number of satellite cable TV stations. 
Police presence was beefed up considerably, and some in the 
audience were subject to seemingly random searches. As with 
previous events, the rally went on peacefully and without 
incident. 
 
3. (U) Sondhi himself did not attend the rally. Instead, he 
and his co-host Sarocha Pornudomsak did the show via 
satellite from the monastery of controversial monk Luangta 
Maha Bua in Udon Thani Province. The monk had invited Sondhi 
and PM Thaksin to a meeting at his monastery the previous 
day, although the PM declined citing other engagements. 
Sondhi's first scandal of the night consisted of allegations 
that the "powers-that-be", led by an unnamed "Master Lady", 
were seeking to silence him through threats of imprisonment, 
intimidation, harassment and unspecified attempts on his 
life. The "Master Lady" is widely suspected to be a reference 
to the Thai First Lady, Khunying Potjaman Shinawatra, who is 
widely known to be an influential adviser and confidante to 
her husband, PM Thaksin. Sondhi alleged that the "Master 
Lady" had verbally given the order to the 3rd Region 
Provincial Police Command to file lese majeste charges 
against him and his co-host. (Reftel A) Sondhi also alleged 
that police authorities in several Northeastern provinces had 
been ordered by Regional Commander (and former classmate of 
Thaksin) to file libel suits against him for publicly 
discussing the monarchy. 
 
4. (U) Sondhi called Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Kruangam a 
"shameful liar" for his move in January 2004 to appoint 
Somdet Phra Phuthajarn as acting Supreme Patriarch (more or 
less the "Pope" of Thai Buddhism). (Reftel C) Wissanu had 
stated that the incumbent Supreme Patriarch was ill and only 
able to work occasionally.  Sondhi showed a video of the 
incumbent Supreme Patriarch, supposedly taken the day he was 
replaced, looking perfectly active and healthy. (NOTE: One of 
Thaksin's lawsuits against Sondhi involves the publication of 
a sermon by Luangta Maha Bua which touches on the 
controversy. END NOTE) Sondhi alleged that the real reason 
for the appointment was an attempt by Thaksin to put 
supporters in high-level positions, including the sacred 
Buddhist clergy. 
 
5. (U) Sondhi also hit back at Deputy Transport Minister 
Phumtham Wechayachai, who had publicly made allegations that 
Sondhi's rallies were "practice" for a future coup d'etat. 
(Reftel A) Sondhi made a number of stinging accusations 
revolving around Phumtham's past activities as a member of 
the Communist Party in the 1970s, saying "(Phumtham) is so 
arrogant to think he can teach me about democracy, and can 
accuse me of dragging down the Monarchy for my own selfish 
purposes. I dare you to explain why you joined the Communist 
Party of Thailand if you really have any respect for the 
Monarchy." He also made references to Thai Rak Thai being 
committed only to a "4-second democracy" in which they buy 
votes in order to win democratic elections, and then rule 
essentially undemocratically. 
 
UPDATING OLD SCANDALS 
 
6. (U) Sondhi also offered new information on the two big 
scandals from last week. In response to charges that 
Thaksin's younger sister had used a Thai Army aircraft to fly 
her and her guests to a housewarming party (Reftel B), the 
RTG responded that the party had been allowed to tag along on 
an aircraft which was doing a routine mail run. At Friday's 
rally, Sondhi dismissed this as a cover-up noting that the 
only regular mail flights scheduled for that day were going 
to Udon Thani, not Chiang Mai. Sondhi also charged that the 
party had been flown to Chiang Mai on a plane with VIP seats, 
which were not available on planes doing routine mail 
flights. Sondhi also repeated charges made by an opposition 
MP earlier this year which question whether Thaksin had used 
state aircraft to fly home to Chiang Mai to celebrate Thai 
New Year with his family. Sondhi challenged Thaksin to 
release travel logs of Thai Koo Fah, the Thai equivalent of 
Air Force One. 
 
SETTING EXPECTATIONS TOO HIGH? SONDHI ASKS FOR 500,000 TO 
SHOW UP AT NEXT RALLY 
 
7. (C) Sondhi ended his show with an appeal to the Thai 
people to "show the government that it no longer has 
legitimacy to run this country" by having 500,000 people 
attend his December 9 rally. (NOTE: Sondhi announced that he 
is taking December 2 off in honor of the King's birthday. END 
NOTE) One English-language newspaper is claiming the December 
9 rally will be a "final showdown" between the PM and the 
pundit. This is a dangerous gamble for the opposition. If 
they can turn out 500,000 people, it would shake the 
government and have major repercussions for Thaksin. Barring 
some extraordinary new factor between now and then, we don't 
think they can do it. 
BOYCE