Thai Politics (1)

I’ve been writing only (non)sensical blogs about entertainment business. Now let’s try something new. This is my first intellectual post here. It’s about Thailand’s political (mess) situation.

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This is my personal paper written back in 2008 when Samak Suntorawech was the Nominee Prime Minister to a friend in Japan who was interested in the political situation of Thailand.

First, I’ll prefer if you don’t use this mail as a reference but use it as a tale of a typical Thai student. This letter consisted of both the true story and parts of it are my own opinion, so I’ll inform you later if there are any changes or false news. Anyway I can assure you that everything I’m writing here is true.

I’m going to start from the beginning where we have to trace back about 10 years ago. Thaksin Shinawatra was a very successful business man. He’s a billionaire who was not satisfied with Thai police. Back then (even up-till-now) police are like thieves, they suck our blood. If you have a business, you need to bribe them to let you work, if not they’ll accuse you of selling drugs and/or contraband. Thaksin hated this, so he became a politician with Mr.Jumlong Srimueang (Now, the head of PAD)’s guidance.

And then he became Prime Minister. The first period was great. Thaksin was clever; he had done a lot to develop this country, Thailand became well-known for its selling-points such as tourism, silk, festivals, etc. The economy was also getting better. Many people adored him for that. But suddenly things went bad.

Thaksin wasn’t happy with our HM the King as he is well-loved by people all over the world and started corrupting, cheating, lying and insulting our King. He didn’t declare his property when got noticed that he got unusually richer, that incident later called “the honest mistake”. His next session was worse because he’s more powerful, almost absolute power in both Legislation and Governance. He put his men (mostly his relatives) in charge of every organization that supposed to exist to observe and check the government. So they can corrupt systematically and almost openly. [Once, there’s even a TV show which showed and taught us how to corrupt and get away with it like Thaksin did] and no one can do anything about it. The consequence was the coup d’état by the military in 19 Sep, 2006. Thaksin had to live abroad for a while.

The next government (Old-Ginger Gov.) wasn’t as smart and at the same time there’s an economic crisis. Many people were upset and went back supporting him. [Seemed like they forget what he has done before so quickly] and later his nominee government got elected and manipulate this country again. Sometimes I think they’re even worse than Thaksin himself. And Thaksin came back to Thailand.

Later he was sued by the Office of National Anti-Corruption Commission. And his wife was sued as well. Seeing they couldn’t get away easily, Thaksin’s lawyers went so far as trying to bribe the judge but just end up humiliating themselves. This incident was later called “3-million snack”. This was the main reason he, together with his family, have to flee away. However, with this government running the country, I don’t think we can put him in jail any time soon.

Above are the causes, now I’ll talk about the present. Back in 2006, there’s a group of people trying to put Thaksin and his companions into the course of justice. They called themselves “People’s Alliance for Democracy” (PAD). They’re not just typical mob or gangster. This organization mostly consisted of elite people who love the king. They do everything systematically and legally (but started getting out of their ways a few months ago). They have alliances all over the country, so they become a very large organization. And they offer something new; the heads call it “the new way politics”, which believed to be more effective and transparent.

As I inform above, one of the PAD’s head is Mr.Jumlong Srimueang, Thaksin’s former supporter, mentor and teacher. Mr.Jumlong said he must be responsible for what he did to Thailand (navigating Thaksin into political field). You can learn more about them at this link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Alliance_for_Democracy

Besides that, there are also Thaksin’s lovers. They call themselves Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship (DAAD). It is the anti-PAD actually. Personally, I see them only as a gangster or yakuza. They’re violent and rude, and most of them didn’t join in because of what they believe but because of money (according to many respectable rumors). They say the Samak’s nominee government pays some bullies and homeless to gather people against the PAD. Anyway, there’re also people who truly believe and support Thaksin. The DAAD are not only support Thaksin but also insult the king, saying he’s the one that can help Thaksin to return to Thailand but he didn’t do so. [Why does the King have to help a nation’s prisoner anyway? Thaksin corrupted more than 70 billion baht for cry out loud! And those money were of us, Thai people!] They went so far creating websites to disdain HM the king and cursing him on stage or TV, which, in terms of Thailand’s Constitution laws, are illegal.

I guess you may find it amusing that we, Thai people, respect and love our king truly, dearly, and deeply. It’s all because of what he has done for us. He’s very down-to-earth, caring, intelligent, charming, having a great sense of humors and only thinking of his people.

There are a lot of touching stories about the king. About 20 years ago, if someone drive/walk/travel pass or in the area of the royal palace, they might see our king driving along; get stuck in traffic jammed like everyone else.

My relative who has a connection in the palace tell us that the day HM the king had a spine surgery was the day a big storm coming, he ordered them to get prepared for any emergency, so when he become conscious he can work on it in time.

These are only a few reason of why we love our king so much.

April 21, 2010 | Categories: General | Tags: 2008, bhumibhol, coup d’état, government, king, PAD, politics, red shirt, siam, siamese, thailand, thaksin | 1 Comment