When Will Thailand Grow Up?

Thailand has been embroiled in a political stalemate for the past 3 years. Even by Thailand’s standards which have seen 18 military coups since the 1930s, the last three years has been one of utter political chaos. The popular Prime Minister then was Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a bloodless military coup backed by royalist and the business elite who claim Thaksin’s government were corrupt to the core.

They set up a group called People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD –also called the ‘yellow shirts’) but their actual goals was for less democracy instead of more. They opined that the rural poor were less educated to be involved in politics and suggested a political system where ministers were picked instead of elected by the people. This would lead to a situation where Thaksin’s support bases, who were mainly rural farmers making up the masses, would lose their politically voice (they are known as the ‘red shirt’ people). The elitist, judiciary and military would hence have a tight reign over the political landscape in Thailand; picking whomever they feel like to political office. It makes a mockery of their name, People’s Alliance for Democracy.

The charges against Thaksin for a long time were never proven, until lately when he and his wife were found guilty of corruption. By then the impartiality of the judiciary had been severely tainted by allegations of political biasness. After the military coup in 2006, fresh elections were held and a group closely allied to Thaksin was voted in to government. The PAD, did not like it and through the years waged a brutal political campaign to undermine the democratically elected government. The courts removed the serving Prime Minister, Samat Wongsawat from office by finding him guilty of hosting a cooking show while in office. Apparently, he contravened the constitution and had to be removed. Many saw this as an excuse by the courts to get rid of the Prime Minister. He was then replaced by Thaksin’s brother in law, Somchai Wongsawat from the People’s Power Party. He too was not acceptable to the PAD and was removed by the courts. He was found guilty of vote buying and the PPP dissolved with Somcahi and it’s executive members barred from politics for five years. This happened during a period of massive street demonstrations culminating in the capture of Thailand’s two international airports crippling its already weakened economy.

What the PAD did with the airport siege in any other country tantamount to treason, but they we rewarded in this case when Somchai Wongsawat was removed by the courts and the opposition alliance headed by Abhisit Vejjajiva came into power with a slim majority. The protesters, packed their bags, walked home and proclaimed victory. Not one of the leading organizers from the PAD was charged for any criminal wrongdoing although their irresponsible act plunged Thailand’s tourism industry into turmoil losing billions of dollars. This led many to believe that the PAD were being backed by a very ‘powerful figure’, but who could be that powerful?

Since taking office, Abhisit’s administration has been paralyzed by similar mass street demonstrations that saw him get into power. The ‘red shirts’ are looking to use the same tactics used by the ‘yellow shirts’ to topple government and their biggest ‘victory’ yet was the cancellation of the 16 nation Asian Summit, humiliating the administration of Abhisit who wanted to use the summit to show the world that he was still in control of Thailand. This backfired humiliatingly for him. Abhisit then declared that what the red shirts did was illegal and he was going to use force if necessary. He declared a state of emergency to restore order.

There seems to be no end in sight. The red shirts are asking Abhisit to step down and fresh elections held. Will this solve anything? Hardly, considering Samak Sundaravej and his coalition were democratically elected after the military coup and was later unceremoniously removed by the courts. As long as the Prime Minister from either alliance cannot be accepted by either side, we have a stalemate. The only person who can break this stalemate is Thailand’s revered King Bhumipol Adulyadej who has stepped in numerous times in the past to resolve political conflicts. This time round, the king has been suffering from ill health and has been steadfast not to interfere. The king’s intention is to let the political parties fight it out and in the process hopefully come out politically more mature. However, through the last three years with massive street demonstrations and airport sieges with no end in sight, Thailand's fragile economy has taken a severe battering with tourist and investors dollars scattering to safer more politically stable landscapes, it will unfortunately be a case where the king is forced to step in again and resolve Thailand’s political mess. Mature they certainly are not. More like kids having a tiff in the school yard, with seemingly grave consequences.