interests who want to continue to exploit the rural poor.
The extra constitutional objectives of the PAD are of course bizarre but would actually protect the interests of all Thais, including the rural poor more than this government which goes to the highest bidder and then ravages the country's financial interests.
The PAD is not supported by the Urban Business elite but by the urban middle class, urban bureacracy, the urban working poor. The urban commercial interests built the TRT party and the other parties that regularly sell out to the oligarchy that has monopolized the government.
The PAD is heavily supported by the unions, activists and intellectuals in Thailand.
The central committee of the PAD consists of:
Media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul
Major General Chamlong Srimuang
Activist Phiphob Thongchai
State enterprise labor union leader Somsak Kosaisuuk
University lecturer and social activist Somkiat Pongpaibul.<41>
Besides the five leaders, ten others were part of the PAD management committee: Pitaya Wongkul, Rewadee Prasertcharoensuuk, Rosana Tositrakul, Chaiwat Sindhuwong, Preeda Tiasuwan, Sirichai Maingam, Suwit Watnuu, Kochawan Chaiyabut, Weerapol Sopa, Ouychai Wata.
Other leaders include Khamnoon Sitthisaman and Campaign for Popular Democracy leader Suriyasai Katasila. Several current and former employees of Sondhi played a role, including Panthep Puapongbhant, Samran Rodpetch, Kumnuun Sidhisamann, Sarocha Pornudomsak, Anchalee Paireerak, Yuthayong Limlertwatee, and Torpong Sewatarm.
The current prime minister is a sock puppet for his brother in law who was involved in 1) 'extra judicial murders' 2) widespread vote buying 3) changing the law allowing him to sell Shin Corporation to Singapore interests.
On January 23, 2006, the Shinawatra family sold its remaining 49.6 percent stake in the company to nominees of Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government's investment arm, for US$1.88 billion.
The Shinawatra government faced frequent allegations of corruption, authoritarianism, demagogy, treason, conflicts of interest, acting non-diplomatically, tax evasion, the use of legal loopholes and hostility towards a free press.<10> Thaksin was accused of lèse-majesté, selling domestic assets to international investors and religious desecration.<11><12>
Independent bodies, including Amnesty International, who also expressed concern at Thaksin's human rights record. Human Rights Watch described Thaksin as "a human rights abuser of the worst kind", alleging that he participated in media suppression and presided over a violent campaign against drugs. After the coup, the military investigated the campaign but found that Thaksin had not been directly involved with any of these killings. The series of protests in 2005 and 2006 led by Sondhi Limthongkul and his People's Alliance for Democracy led to a decline in his popularity among Bangkok residents. He was also subject to several purported assassination attempts during that period.<13><14>
Chamlong SriMuang, the leader of the PAD, is an ascetic who lives in a home with no walls, served as Governor of Bangkok and has no commercial interests;
Major General Chamlong Srimuang (Thai: จำลอง ศรีเมือง, Traditional Chinese: 盧金河 Simplified Chinese: 卢金河, Lu Jinhe, born 5 July 1935) is a controversial Thai activist and former politician. A former military officer, he was a leader of the "Young Turks" military clique, founded and led the Phalang Dharma party, served for six years as governor of Bangkok, led the anti-military uprising of May 1992, and is a leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, a group dedicated to the overthrow of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and later of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. Chamlong supported the military junta that overthrew Thaksin in a coup. A devout Buddhist and supporter of the controversial Santi Asoke sect, he is celibate, a vegetarian, and claims to have no worldly possessions. He is married to Sirilak Srimuang.
You can learn more about Chamlong's long struggle for political justice here,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamlong_Srimuang