<div style="text-align: right;">Nawaminthrachinuthit Triam Udomsuksa Phatthanakan School</div> <div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="text-align: center;">27 January 2014</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Mr. Suthep Thaugsuban&nbsp;</div> <div>Secretary General of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC)</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Topic: &nbsp;Curiosity and anxiety of an ordinary student</div> <div>Dear Mr. Suthep:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>My name is Netiwit Chotiphatpaisal and I am a Grade &nbsp;11 high school student with an interest in political news. </div>

<p>Today’s Thai general election results are now looming, and with the Pheu Thai Party government positioned to secure a likely victory, anti-government protesters will be intent on finding more ways to delegitimise their nation’s political process. Over recent years, the Thai political system has been able to resist the pressure to concede much to the demands of the Bangkok protesters who still remain defiant.</p>

<p>OMG.&nbsp; I have only just realized.&nbsp; The insurrection on the streets, the slowly sinking economy, the political polarization that allows no dialogue … it’s all my fault.</p> <p>At first I thought that Suthep and his fellow demagogues were just doing the normal rabble-rousing, picking on the Cambodians as the bogeyman du jour.&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>This article deals primarily with the sacrosanct relationship between the electoral process and democracy, and how the PDRC’s attempt to seize power without the electoral mandate that is required by democracy will lead the country into civil war.</em></p> <p>When the PDRC claimed they were staging a “shutdown” in Bangkok, few anticipated this would also include a shutdown on any meaningful dialogue or conversation, but there you have it (and you can’t say they didn’t warn you in advance).</p>

<div>There is widespread concern about the high potential for violence on the February 2 elections in Thailand, where a protracted political crisis has dragged on with no immediately foreseeable end as tension continues to mount.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The rising tension has kept many citizens from speaking out because of risks associated or the unwillingness to contribute to further polarization, as each side has invoked the name of the people for their respective ends.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>As this crisis has unfolded over the past three months, a number of opportunities have been w </div>

<p>It’s been a deadly winter for British comedians.&nbsp; John Fortune died on New Year’s Eve, alas, and this week comes news of the death of Roger Lloyd-Pack.&nbsp; So nostalgia has us flipping through some of the best clips and lo and behold, there’s the clue to Thailand’s political problems.</p>

<p>In July 1945 a remarkable election took place in the United Kingdom.&nbsp; The war in Europe was just finished and the war against Japan was coming to an end.&nbsp; The national government, a mix of ministers from different parties, which had governed the country during most of the war, was no longer justified and it was time for politics as usual.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Constitutional Court of Thailand has recently adjudicated on 2 cases concerning alleged attempts to overthrow the country’s democratic system which is covered in Article 68 of the Constitution. In Case No. 15-18/2556, the Court stated that changing the senate from being half-appointed and half-elected to being fully elected is an attempt to overthrow the democratic system. And in the latest case, the Court rejected the amendment of Article 190 of the Constitution for the same reason.</p>

<p>Fuadi Pitsuwan, son of Surin Pitsuwan, former foreign minister, former ASEAN Secretary-General and a member of the Democrat Party, wrote an article, appeared in an online journal, PacNet, dated 8 January in response to what he saw as the <a href="http://csis.org/files/publication/Pac1403.pdf">“tyranny of global commentary.”</a> Fuadi is currently a fellow at the Asia Centre at the prestigious Harvard University.</p> <p></p>

<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Long as passing time, I'm buried,</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">Deep down inside my chest,</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">The voice hidden in my throat,</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">I shout out loud but there has no sound.</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"> </div>

<p>So how are we going to shut down the whole of Bangkok?</p> <p>It’s easy.&nbsp; Like Khun Suthep said, everyone will come out onto the streets and no one will be able to go anywhere, especially the Thaksin clique and corrupt politicians.</p> <p></p>

<p><br />Forces are aligning against the Yingluck led government. On Monday, the protest movement that destabilised the country at the end of last year will return to the streets to ‘shut-down’ Bangkok. At the same time, the military has failed to commit to the protection of forthcoming elections scheduled for 2 February, and official bodies such as the Election Commission and the National Anti-Corruption Commission are doing little to dampen fears they are about to kibosh the vote.</p>