Thailand, sad to say, is in a terrible mess. With the very future of the monarchy at risk the stakes could not be higher. The country is deeply polarised with goodwill, moral authority and the truth itself in desperately short supply. Thailand could be heading for a very hard landing.
05 Apr 2009
By Thomas Bell in Bangkok
The Telegraph (UK)
One side is led by Thaksin Shinawatra. The former telecoms billionaire and deposed prime minister is a dubious champion of democracy. During his six years in power Mr Thaksin launched a "war on drugs" in which up to 2,000 alleged dealers were summarily executed by the police.
In government he was dogged by corruption allegations, apparently unable to distinguish his own business interests from those of the country. He was no friend of the free media, although censorship is worse now than it was in Thaksin's day.
On the other side is... who? Mr Thaksin has many vehement enemies among the middle and upper classes. It is difficult to tell how many because in Thailand opinion pollsters never ask the only question that really counts – who would you vote for?
They particularly object to Thaksin's alleged corruption and his government's challenge to Thailand's rigid social hierarchy. Qualms over the deadly "war on drugs", on the other hand, are mostly limited to hand-wringing foreign liberals.
These well-healed opponents control most major institutions. They also claim they are acting to "protect the king", and this is where it gets difficult.
Strict laws make any criticism of the monarchy punishable with up to 12 years in jail – in practice almost any discussion of the monarchy is prohibited. Last week a man, the breadwinner for his family, was jailed for 10 years for posting "insulting" pictures of the royal family online.
King Bhumibol, 81, is "above politics" and he is widely and sincerely loved. Many Thais credit him with steering their country's modern development and intervening to solve periodic crises. The country's official doctrine of "sufficiency economics" is the king's own invention.
When politicians claim to act in the king's name they often accuse their opponents of disloyalty, potentially punishable by 12 years in jail. That can make politics very hard to talk about. Bhumibol, for his part, has been mostly silent.
In 2006 Mr Thaksin was accused of disloyalty to the king and overthrown by a military coup. Nevertheless, with Thaksin in exile, voters returned his supporters to power in elections at the end of 2007.
Mr Thaksin's one great virtue as a democrat is that he and his supporters have won each of three elections so far this decade. He is popular because for the first time in Thai history he campaigned on policies aimed at the rural majority – and then delivered. He earned massive admiration for schemes such as affordable health care.
The pro-Thaksin government elected after the coup lasted less than a year. Protesters, some of them armed with golf clubs, bombs and guns, overran first Government House and then both Bangkok's airports, costing the economy untold millions. They wore the royal colour, yellow, and claimed they were acting to protect the king from Thaksin's alleged republicanism. The movement received the public endorsement of the queen.
The People's Alliance for Democracy, as the movement is misleadingly called, argued that democracy does not work in Thailand because the peasantry are too simple to vote. They want a "new politics" in which 70 per cent of parliament is appointed.
Last year's protests found widespread support among the conservative media which, in its rush to finish the Thaksinites for ever, abandoned factual reporting.
Thaksin denies that he is a republican, although some of his supporters undoubtedly are – or they are now.
At the end of last year a court dissolved the elected government and the army brass summoned political bosses to hoist a new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, to power. The leaders of the airport protests were never punished – one even became foreign minister.
Now Thaksin has dropped his bomb. In live video addresses to rallies around the country he identified two retired generals who are close advisers to the king and a small group of top judges as the conspirators who plotted his 2006 ousting and have allegedly been invisibly pulling Thailand's strings ever since.
The government is in a funk, panicking about how to block the transmissions. The army is said to be furious: Thaksin has broken the omerta and the government could not stop him. Commentators say he has gone too far and newspapers are openly demanding censorship to stop the revelations being heard.
Yet although the people Thaksin named have offered desultory denials, no one is seriously disputing the truth of his revelations. Apparently that it is not the point – in Thai politics the truth is not meant for public consumption.
Thailand aspires to be a serious country, a Western ally and a destination for tourists and investment, yet in the past few years the "land of smiles" has been more like the land of lies. A light cast on what takes place in the comfortable sitting rooms of power is long overdue.
05 Apr 2009
By Thomas Bell in Bangkok
The Telegraph (UK)
One side is led by Thaksin Shinawatra. The former telecoms billionaire and deposed prime minister is a dubious champion of democracy. During his six years in power Mr Thaksin launched a "war on drugs" in which up to 2,000 alleged dealers were summarily executed by the police.
In government he was dogged by corruption allegations, apparently unable to distinguish his own business interests from those of the country. He was no friend of the free media, although censorship is worse now than it was in Thaksin's day.
On the other side is... who? Mr Thaksin has many vehement enemies among the middle and upper classes. It is difficult to tell how many because in Thailand opinion pollsters never ask the only question that really counts – who would you vote for?
They particularly object to Thaksin's alleged corruption and his government's challenge to Thailand's rigid social hierarchy. Qualms over the deadly "war on drugs", on the other hand, are mostly limited to hand-wringing foreign liberals.
These well-healed opponents control most major institutions. They also claim they are acting to "protect the king", and this is where it gets difficult.
Strict laws make any criticism of the monarchy punishable with up to 12 years in jail – in practice almost any discussion of the monarchy is prohibited. Last week a man, the breadwinner for his family, was jailed for 10 years for posting "insulting" pictures of the royal family online.
King Bhumibol, 81, is "above politics" and he is widely and sincerely loved. Many Thais credit him with steering their country's modern development and intervening to solve periodic crises. The country's official doctrine of "sufficiency economics" is the king's own invention.
When politicians claim to act in the king's name they often accuse their opponents of disloyalty, potentially punishable by 12 years in jail. That can make politics very hard to talk about. Bhumibol, for his part, has been mostly silent.
In 2006 Mr Thaksin was accused of disloyalty to the king and overthrown by a military coup. Nevertheless, with Thaksin in exile, voters returned his supporters to power in elections at the end of 2007.
Mr Thaksin's one great virtue as a democrat is that he and his supporters have won each of three elections so far this decade. He is popular because for the first time in Thai history he campaigned on policies aimed at the rural majority – and then delivered. He earned massive admiration for schemes such as affordable health care.
The pro-Thaksin government elected after the coup lasted less than a year. Protesters, some of them armed with golf clubs, bombs and guns, overran first Government House and then both Bangkok's airports, costing the economy untold millions. They wore the royal colour, yellow, and claimed they were acting to protect the king from Thaksin's alleged republicanism. The movement received the public endorsement of the queen.
The People's Alliance for Democracy, as the movement is misleadingly called, argued that democracy does not work in Thailand because the peasantry are too simple to vote. They want a "new politics" in which 70 per cent of parliament is appointed.
Last year's protests found widespread support among the conservative media which, in its rush to finish the Thaksinites for ever, abandoned factual reporting.
Thaksin denies that he is a republican, although some of his supporters undoubtedly are – or they are now.
At the end of last year a court dissolved the elected government and the army brass summoned political bosses to hoist a new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, to power. The leaders of the airport protests were never punished – one even became foreign minister.
Now Thaksin has dropped his bomb. In live video addresses to rallies around the country he identified two retired generals who are close advisers to the king and a small group of top judges as the conspirators who plotted his 2006 ousting and have allegedly been invisibly pulling Thailand's strings ever since.
The government is in a funk, panicking about how to block the transmissions. The army is said to be furious: Thaksin has broken the omerta and the government could not stop him. Commentators say he has gone too far and newspapers are openly demanding censorship to stop the revelations being heard.
Yet although the people Thaksin named have offered desultory denials, no one is seriously disputing the truth of his revelations. Apparently that it is not the point – in Thai politics the truth is not meant for public consumption.
Thailand aspires to be a serious country, a Western ally and a destination for tourists and investment, yet in the past few years the "land of smiles" has been more like the land of lies. A light cast on what takes place in the comfortable sitting rooms of power is long overdue.
10 comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RA1vg8EqYM&feature=related
Excellent article. Could not agree more. It is time Thais learnt the true version of their identitiies, including their history.
Thailand is embracing for internal issue soon. Cause the monkey king Bhumibol going to die soon.
I can't wait to see Thailand receive bad deed "bad karma" comes to them.
What's going around and sure it will come around.
It is time for Thailand to get them back.
Thailand is like time bomb, it is ticking and ready to explode.
KhmerPP,
History keeps coming.
I've heard in the South of Thailand "Yala" or most southern provinces going to declare independent soon.
They are having their own autonomy now.
Soon after the internal chaos in Thailand they will seek independent.
Khmer/Muslim
Go brothers Yala or Pattani in the Southern, rise up!!!
Thailand is getting ready for internal conflict in any time soon.
Khmer Surin,
Thaksin helped million of poor people many are Khmers and Laos origin. The monarchy is so afraid of this kind of love, because the country is so corrupted, Republic may take over. Thai economy is controlled by foreigners, Chinese and the West.
Thailand claimed to abandon the absolute monarchy but then cretaed "Lese Majesty" to crack down the anti-monarchy.
Thai military dictator is under umbrulla of King Bhumibol, this military dictator secretely killed many Thai people, no news to the public. King Bhumibol shot his own brother which is believed CIA behind not KGB. King Bhumibol ordered the massacre of 1976. That's the time Communist took Cambodia.
Many and many Thais wanted to free from absolute Monarchy died but no news. US wanted to keep Thailand for its own interest, afraid if China economic power take over SEA. May be the reason Thaksin was ousted.
Too many Thai children were sold and still sold and sell by their parents just to survive. Thailand may become another Burma who knows after Bhumibol dies.
thailand land of smile is no longer true anymore as that had changed to the land of lie and deceitful people! cambodia is now the new land of smile on the planet! please help spread the good news for cambodia on the planet! god bless cambodia.
the former land of smile is getting old and outdated and no long hold true as time changes! cambodia is the real new land of the smiley people! god bless cambodia.
You just don't really know what's going on in Thailand. Thaksin was once good but wealth ,powerand his ego let him wants to overthrow the King.
Please don't call our King, monkey because you wouldn't like someone to call your father a monkey too! You just don't know him and it is uneducated to criticize on someone you don't really know. Come and understand Thailand and you will love our King.
By the way, I'm a Thai but I don't see anyone selling their children to survive, you've been watching too much movies. Thailand is just like anywhere else in the world where you go to work, children go to school then come home. You go shopping in enormous department stores, you can eat anything you want to. It is the nicest place to live in the world with the exception of the weather.
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