By Blaine Harden
Washington Post (USA)
BANGKOK -- Thailand is gripped by a drama involving an ailing king and a monarchy in jeopardy, a topless princess and a poodle named Fu Fu. It features mysterious assassins in black suits, drugs and thugs, and a billionaire former prime minister forced into exile, where he spent more than $160 million to buy a British soccer team and bankrolls thousands of protesters occupying the heart of this steamy capital city.
Seven weeks of episodic chaos have claimed the lives of 27 people and injured nearly 1,000, while scaring off tourists and infuriating commuters. It has also spooked investors in one of the best-performing economies in Southeast Asia, a bustling import-export center that has become, among other things, the second-largest market for pickup trucks, after the United States.
In the shadow of a fancy downtown mall that calls itself Thailand's "premier lifestyle shopping destination," thousands of Red Shirts, as the demonstrators are known, have brought commerce to a halt while building medieval-looking barricades out of sharpened bamboo poles.
The protesters, some of them armed, massage one another's feet, snooze sweatily in lawn chairs and make ferocious speeches about the universal importance of one-person, one-vote. They say they won't go home until new national elections are called. They have reason to believe they would win: Their rural-based party has won before, but the government they voted into power was overthrown four years ago in a military coup.
Beyond all the plot twists and colorful characters, the story of Thailand's spring of fitful discontent is fundamentally economic. After decades of economic growth, the country's rural populace thinks that the elites in the capital have selfishly hoarded Thailand's increasing prosperity.
It is a view not shared by those elites, who regard their country cousins as little more than hired muscle for the exiled former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who wants to return to Thailand and power. Those city-dwellers sometimes take to the streets to fight back, wearing competing Yellow Shirts, in what has become an unpredictable standoff with regular bouts of bloodshed.
Thaksin's Red-Shirt-supported government was ousted in a 2006 coup that had the broad support of business leaders and social elites in Bangkok. The unelected government, which is resisting the protesters' demands for an immediate election, is supported by those same urban elites.
The Red Shirts, though, have more than just the potential to win another election. Elements among them came to Bangkok in March with military muscle: rocket-launched grenades, improvised propane bombs and a shadowy force of trained fighters with military training.
The Thai army could not disperse them in an April 10 shootout that claimed 25 lives. The government and the military have since sought to contain the Red Shirts and wait them out. Leaders on both sides say the situation could spark widespread class-based civil conflict.
"The Red Shirts have tasted something that is real," said Sulak Sivaraksa, a Buddhist activist and political analyst. "They have experienced what it means to have power, and they will not be marginalized anymore."
The sticking power of the Red Shirts also raises questions about the future of the Thai monarchy. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is widely loved and has been a stabilizing figure in politics for more than six decades. But he is 82 and ailing.
The king's son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 57, is widely disliked, and his private life has tongues wagging. A recent documentary broadcast on Australian television showed the crown prince and his wife at a birthday party for his poodle, Fu Fu. The crown princess appears topless in the video.
Even Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said in Washington last month that "we should be brave enough" to talk about reforming the monarchy. Meaningful debate has been stymied for decades by a law that criminalizes almost any criticism of the king.
Leaders of the Red Shirts say many rural people have lost confidence in the king since the 2006 coup, which they suspect he supported. In rural areas, the king's picture has been removed from many offices and homes.
The rise of a strong, rural-based political movement in Thailand has its roots in five decades of growth and modernization. This country has become the world's leading exporter of rice and is a major manufacturer of hard disks and other computer parts. Universal education and the reach of communications technology have raised material expectations and political ambitions, while lowering tolerance for a central government that ignores rural needs.
"The Thai people now understand what politics can do for them -- and they believe it is a game not just for important people in Bangkok," said Jaran Ditapichai, a leader of the Red Shirts.
Still, for all their democratic credentials, the Red Shirts are beholden to Thaksin, a rich man with a grudge. More than any other politician in Thai history, Thaksin delivered services and redistributed government wealth in rural areas. He instituted universal health care, pushed debt forgiveness for farmers and gave cash to every village in the country.
Thaksin also delivered for himself, his family and his cronies. He used the power of the government to pad his fortune while allowing widespread human rights violations by security forces. During his "war on drugs," more than 2,000 people were killed in unexplained circumstances, according to Human Rights Watch.
After he was removed from power in the coup, he was convicted of corruption and banned from politics.
Since fleeing into exile, Thaksin has paid salaries to some Red Shirt leaders and periodically flies them out of the country for strategy consultations.
"Thaksin is a kind of tractor for us," said Jaran, who said that he has traveled to Dubai with other Red Shirt leaders to meet with Thaksin. "If we didn't have him, we would still be using a shovel. Anyway, it is meaningless who pays. We are fighting a war. We need money."
In the current round of protests, Thaksin has secretly seeded the Red Shirts in Bangkok with former military personnel, said Viengrat Nethipo, a supporter of the Red Shirts who is an assistant professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. A number of government officials and independent observers share her view.
Thai police and army forces have seized caches of rocket-launched grenades from the Red Shirts. During the army's failed attempt on April 10 to move the protesters out, several fighters in black uniforms sprang into action on the Red Shirt side, according to videotape evidence.
Autopsies after the shootout showed that high-velocity bullets, many of them fired with precision to the head, neck and chest, had killed and wounded several members of the army, including the most senior officer at the scene. The lethal targeting suggested a high level of military command and control among the protesters.
Leaders of the Red Shirts say they do not know who the black-shirted fighters are or where they came from. Government leaders say that is absurd.
Kraisak Choonhavan, a member of parliament and a deputy leader in the government, said Thaksin's policies benefited rural people. But now, he said, "he employs killer-hunters who come from the military."
Although the stalemate continues in the streets of Bangkok, both Kraisak and Jaran said negotiations between the Red Shirts and the government are quietly underway.
Seven weeks of episodic chaos have claimed the lives of 27 people and injured nearly 1,000, while scaring off tourists and infuriating commuters. It has also spooked investors in one of the best-performing economies in Southeast Asia, a bustling import-export center that has become, among other things, the second-largest market for pickup trucks, after the United States.
In the shadow of a fancy downtown mall that calls itself Thailand's "premier lifestyle shopping destination," thousands of Red Shirts, as the demonstrators are known, have brought commerce to a halt while building medieval-looking barricades out of sharpened bamboo poles.
The protesters, some of them armed, massage one another's feet, snooze sweatily in lawn chairs and make ferocious speeches about the universal importance of one-person, one-vote. They say they won't go home until new national elections are called. They have reason to believe they would win: Their rural-based party has won before, but the government they voted into power was overthrown four years ago in a military coup.
Beyond all the plot twists and colorful characters, the story of Thailand's spring of fitful discontent is fundamentally economic. After decades of economic growth, the country's rural populace thinks that the elites in the capital have selfishly hoarded Thailand's increasing prosperity.
It is a view not shared by those elites, who regard their country cousins as little more than hired muscle for the exiled former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who wants to return to Thailand and power. Those city-dwellers sometimes take to the streets to fight back, wearing competing Yellow Shirts, in what has become an unpredictable standoff with regular bouts of bloodshed.
Thaksin's Red-Shirt-supported government was ousted in a 2006 coup that had the broad support of business leaders and social elites in Bangkok. The unelected government, which is resisting the protesters' demands for an immediate election, is supported by those same urban elites.
The Red Shirts, though, have more than just the potential to win another election. Elements among them came to Bangkok in March with military muscle: rocket-launched grenades, improvised propane bombs and a shadowy force of trained fighters with military training.
The Thai army could not disperse them in an April 10 shootout that claimed 25 lives. The government and the military have since sought to contain the Red Shirts and wait them out. Leaders on both sides say the situation could spark widespread class-based civil conflict.
"The Red Shirts have tasted something that is real," said Sulak Sivaraksa, a Buddhist activist and political analyst. "They have experienced what it means to have power, and they will not be marginalized anymore."
The sticking power of the Red Shirts also raises questions about the future of the Thai monarchy. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is widely loved and has been a stabilizing figure in politics for more than six decades. But he is 82 and ailing.
The king's son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 57, is widely disliked, and his private life has tongues wagging. A recent documentary broadcast on Australian television showed the crown prince and his wife at a birthday party for his poodle, Fu Fu. The crown princess appears topless in the video.
Even Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said in Washington last month that "we should be brave enough" to talk about reforming the monarchy. Meaningful debate has been stymied for decades by a law that criminalizes almost any criticism of the king.
Leaders of the Red Shirts say many rural people have lost confidence in the king since the 2006 coup, which they suspect he supported. In rural areas, the king's picture has been removed from many offices and homes.
The rise of a strong, rural-based political movement in Thailand has its roots in five decades of growth and modernization. This country has become the world's leading exporter of rice and is a major manufacturer of hard disks and other computer parts. Universal education and the reach of communications technology have raised material expectations and political ambitions, while lowering tolerance for a central government that ignores rural needs.
"The Thai people now understand what politics can do for them -- and they believe it is a game not just for important people in Bangkok," said Jaran Ditapichai, a leader of the Red Shirts.
Still, for all their democratic credentials, the Red Shirts are beholden to Thaksin, a rich man with a grudge. More than any other politician in Thai history, Thaksin delivered services and redistributed government wealth in rural areas. He instituted universal health care, pushed debt forgiveness for farmers and gave cash to every village in the country.
Thaksin also delivered for himself, his family and his cronies. He used the power of the government to pad his fortune while allowing widespread human rights violations by security forces. During his "war on drugs," more than 2,000 people were killed in unexplained circumstances, according to Human Rights Watch.
After he was removed from power in the coup, he was convicted of corruption and banned from politics.
Since fleeing into exile, Thaksin has paid salaries to some Red Shirt leaders and periodically flies them out of the country for strategy consultations.
"Thaksin is a kind of tractor for us," said Jaran, who said that he has traveled to Dubai with other Red Shirt leaders to meet with Thaksin. "If we didn't have him, we would still be using a shovel. Anyway, it is meaningless who pays. We are fighting a war. We need money."
In the current round of protests, Thaksin has secretly seeded the Red Shirts in Bangkok with former military personnel, said Viengrat Nethipo, a supporter of the Red Shirts who is an assistant professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. A number of government officials and independent observers share her view.
Thai police and army forces have seized caches of rocket-launched grenades from the Red Shirts. During the army's failed attempt on April 10 to move the protesters out, several fighters in black uniforms sprang into action on the Red Shirt side, according to videotape evidence.
Autopsies after the shootout showed that high-velocity bullets, many of them fired with precision to the head, neck and chest, had killed and wounded several members of the army, including the most senior officer at the scene. The lethal targeting suggested a high level of military command and control among the protesters.
Leaders of the Red Shirts say they do not know who the black-shirted fighters are or where they came from. Government leaders say that is absurd.
Kraisak Choonhavan, a member of parliament and a deputy leader in the government, said Thaksin's policies benefited rural people. But now, he said, "he employs killer-hunters who come from the military."
Although the stalemate continues in the streets of Bangkok, both Kraisak and Jaran said negotiations between the Red Shirts and the government are quietly underway.
5 comments:
Srirasmi's video naked at the pool.
How Pumipon can speak to his people looking down on Khmers during riots in PPenh saying "If they are barbarians we must not react like them"
His son is a playboy has Aid and he slept with his 3rd wife a former porn star using condom, and why did she have a child?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODsmo7C4U0&feature=related
The snipers in black uniforms could be the government's tactics supported by the CIA to put the blame on Red Shirts.
Thai people start to remove Pumipon's pictures from their homes. Finally they know the real coup's mastermind.
Plus Thai series bomb blast is so much fun.
Chakri family has finally picked up a porn star named Srirasmi from the bar to be their next queen. Srirasmi's topless is not the only one, Pumipon's grand daughters are too, and she even posted her naked photos online.
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