Word: thailand
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...Thais know how to throw a good party - and the one unfolding in the center of Bangkok was a doozy. With the scent of grilled squid and beer in the air, thousands of citizens from across Thailand grooved to rocking guitar riffs and cheered until their voices grew hoarse. But beneath the revelry lay a measure of menace. These were not simple partygoers but protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who on Aug. 26 besieged Government House, Thailand's seat of power, vowing to occupy the manicured grounds until Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej resigned. At first...
...Even at the best of times, politics in Thailand hardly hews to the script of a mature democracy. But the current stalemate is rapidly reaching that of political farce, with a distinct possibility of degenerating into tragedy. The PAD demands Samak's ouster but it isn't entirely sure who should lead the country should he resign. The feisty PM has refused to step down, even if he can no longer work at his own office. The impasse has brought parts of the country to a halt. PAD mobs forced three airports in key tourist areas to shutter, and strikes...
...Sept. 2 skirmish marked the worst political violence to hit the Thai capital since 1992, when protesters were gunned down by security forces. But the tense face-off around Government House is about far more than the bloody airing of grievances. At stake is nothing less than Thailand's political future. Will it continue as a fragile democracy attempting, in however flawed a manner, to allow voters to choose their leaders through the ballot box? Or will it return to a past where the upper class took it upon itself to decide what is best for Thailand? "This...
...Populism vs. Elitism The brittle state of Thailand's young democracy was highlighted back in 2006 when the military masterminded a bloodless coup against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. That confrontation, which is echoed in today's showdown, pitted members of a traditional Bangkok élite against an upstart billionaire whose populist policies intoxicated many rural-poor voters. Although the military claimed legitimacy by accusing Thaksin of misrule, the appearance of tanks on the streets pulled the country back to the bad old days when putsches, not polls, were the mechanism for changing governments. Thaksin's party was banned...
...meantime, Sondhi is of the act-first-and-negotiate-later school of politics. It's a stance that gives him a rock-and-roll rebel aura at PAD assemblies, but his attitude surely plays less favorably among foreign investors and tourists, on whose pocketbooks Thailand's economy depends...