Word: thai
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...godly. Thaksin benefits from being one of the country's richest men, with a fortune estimated at more than $1.2 billion and interests in sectors ranging from cell phones to satellites. His confidence is that of a man who has had vast, bankable successes. His election campaign inculcated in Thais the idea that if he could make billions for himself, then surely he could generate a few thousand baht for the bar girls, farmers and noodle sellers. During his campaign, almost every neighborhood seemed festooned with his Thai Rak Thai (Thai Love Thai) party's red, blue and white logo...
...Forum in Hong Kong where he pledged to keep Thailand's economy open. Now he insists he has always been a free trader, but that he wants to promote policies that encourage efficient deployment of domestic capital, to close what he sees as a gap between foreign producers and Thai consumers. To that end, his economic advisers have promoted a policy of higher interest rates, insisting (heretically, to Westerners used to Keynesian pump priming) that is the only way to grow the economy. "We have to create an incentive to save, for money to stay in the country...
...best, conveyed an image of dull impropriety. (Quick, who was Prime Minister before Thaksin's predecessor Chuan Leekpai? Didn't think you remembered.) Thaksin, on the other hand, has managed to associate himself with wealth, with economic growth, with mobile phones and the Internet. And by now, even remote Thai villages that don't yet have Internet access know it is something they should want...
...proudly displaying the reams of mulberry paper they have been making, he continuously reminds his constituents of his connection with all things futuristic, shiny and new. He vows to distribute more money without government interference, without a single baht unfairly withheld, without unnecessary delay. He says in his Northern Thai accent that he is one of them, that he knows they can't wait for the money, that they need the Internet, that they need e-commerce. His voice is a nasal tenor, the run of his rambling vowels is corralled by strong, pronounced consonants. "Do you know what...
...depressing predictability to it. In our most cynical moments we suspected it would turn out like this; that, just as it seemed Thailand was moving toward genuine democracy and true rule of law and an incorruptible judicial system, the nation would be lurched back to old-style Thai politics, and tainted justice?or even more familiar?sanctimonious injustice. Thaksin had been charged with failing to declare assets when he was Deputy Prime Minister in 1997 and parking those hundreds of millions of dollars worth of his Shin Corp. shares in his drivers' and maids' accounts. Thaksin's defense consisted...