By Chris Beale
Thailand's longest serving elected government — just two and a half years old — fell on the anniversary of enormous pro-democracy demonstrations three years ago, which defeated soldiers bent on a massacre.
There's no doubt "democratic" Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's forced decision on May 19 to call a general election on July 2 is popular with grassroots activists.
Mass movements — the Campaign for Democracy, trade unions, student unions and angry poor farmers — have been calling for fresh elections for weeks. These calls have come amid ever-larger anti-government demonstrations.
In a country where 60% of people live off the land, land reform is the latest issue voters are incensed about after numerous sell-outs by Chuan's government.
Ten rich businessmen were recently given land titles supposedly only for the poor. The land, in Thailand's notorious sex-industry island of Phuket, was for hotel development, not farming. Some of the lucky recipients happened to be high-ranking members of Chuan's Democrat Party.
Chuan has been forced to the polls by a mass walkout, over land reform corruption, by his third largest coalition partner — the Palang Dharma (Moral Force) Party.
PDP leader Chamlong Srimuang was supposedly the "hero" of May 92. He is a former Bangkok governor, one-time major-general and now Buddhist ascetic.
His "holier than thou" image has been badly dented during the three years since he grabbed leadership of the May '92 uprising. For someone so devout, Chamlong has strange political bedfellows. Last year Palang Dharma almost split when Chamlong appointed a multimillionaire telecommunications tycoon as foreign minister.
This tycoon later became closely associated with a failed Cambodian coup attempt. Indeed Cambodia, and various other murky Cold War connections, hang round Chamlong like skeletons in a closet waiting to come out.
Chamlong's telecommunications tycoon was promoted after Prasong Soonsiri — Chamlong's first choice as foreign minister — retired. Soonsiri is a former mid-1980s chief of Thailand's National Security Council, during the time the Thai military did its most lucrative deals with Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.
Chamlong has had a hard time these past three years keeping his party from splitting. His walkout from Chuan's coalition is aimed as much at maintaining his own coalition of "back to basics" Buddhists and street-wise businessmen, as at bringing down Chuan.
Chuan's decision to go to the polls now has probably avoided an imminent military coup. Hanging over recent demonstrations has been the increasing likelihood that agents provocateurs would create an excuse for a coup. Thailand has suffered 17 coups since 1932.
Since General Chainarong Noonpakdi was appointed army chief a few weeks ago, talk of "unexpected incidents" or an "accident" have been rife in Thai language news journals such as Siam Rath and Thai Rath.
Noonpakdi was the general who gave orders for troops to fire on unarmed demonstrators during the May '92 uprising protesting against his brother-in-law, General Suchinda, becoming an unelected prime minister.
In just one example of extreme right-wing mischief-making, the leader of the fascist Apirak Chakri group has lauded his long-time left opponent, Chalard Vorachat. Vorachat has entered his sixth hunger strike against authoritarian government, this time protesting Chuan's Democrats' land reform corruption.
Vorachat is Thailand's unsung hero of May '92. He went on hunger strike from the day Suchinda tried to become an unelected PM till the day Suchinda resigned.
Vorachat's months of starvation, and his prestige among activists, stand in marked contrast to Chamlong's opportunistic one-week fasting gesture. Chamlong's fast was staged well after worker and student opposition to the military sparked the '92 uprising.
Now Vorachat is hunger-striking for the second time against the Chuan government's sell-out of genuine democracy. He certainly does not need friends like Apirak Chakri's leader. And probably not like Chamlong either.