Word: padded
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Samak's unlikely ouster comes as thousands of protesters with the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have been besieging his office compound. Since Aug. 26, they've turned the manicured grounds into a rallying ground for opposition orators, and they greeted the court decision with loud cheers and claps. Members of the PAD staged daily protests in Bangkok since late May, calling for Samak's resignation. But they upped the ante when they stormed Government House late last month and forced Samak to abandon his normal offices. PAD leaders claim Samak, whose People Power Party...
...Although the cooking-show ruling is sure to please the PAD, Samak may not be out of a job for long. Thailand's ruling coalition holds the right to reinstate him as Prime Minister, something party officials have already vowed...
...Indeed, the judges' decision notwithstanding, there's little evidence that Thailand's political crisis is set to end anytime soon. And that's bad for Thai business. Since the PAD rallies began, the country's benchmark stock index has plummeted nearly 25%. After several nations issued travel warnings for Thailand last week, following a fatal street battle in Bangkok between rival groups of political demonstrators, many tourists have canceled trips, depriving the country of badly needed income...
...That reality infuriates many members of Thailand's élite, whose financial backing helps pay for all those free drinks and grilled squid at Government House. Indeed, even though the PAD's very name includes the word democracy, many of its supporters are skeptical of electoral politics. Some PAD leaders have advocated replacing an elected parliament with one in which some members are appointed, arguing that widespread buying of rural votes delegitimizes the polls anyway. "It's taken for granted in the West that democracy is the best system," says PAD leader and media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul, sitting...
...Back at PAD central, behind barricades made from coils of razor wire and stacks of tires, Sondhi muses on what he envisions for Thailand's political future. Maybe, he says, parliament could be rejiggered so that leaders from professional blocs sit alongside elected district representatives. Or perhaps, he continues, an unlikely national leader will emerge from the ranks of, say, teachers or human-rights activists. Then, Sondhi excuses himself. He goes and prays to the weather deities to ask them to forestall rain, lest the thousands of protesters at Government House get drenched by the monsoon. That night, Sondhi...