Word: thaksin
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...protesters are demanding that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva step down and call a new election. They are mainly supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006 and now lives abroad rather than serve a prison term for a corruption conviction. After protesters invaded the parliament building on Wednesday, Abhsiit declared a state of emergency and issued arrest warrants for 27 protest leaders. The order bans public gatherings and under its provisions the government shut down a television station run by protest leaders which the government claimed was broadcasting distortions. (See pictures...
...judicial branches, Thailand has long relied on a balance of power among several institutions, including the legislature, the bureaucracy, the monarchy and the military. While Thailand's governments have promoted modern democracy and most Thai citizens have come to expect it, attempts to radically upset this balance - as Thaksin did by appointing his loyalists to key commands - risk sparking the kind of reaction that resulted in the 2006 coup against him. (See pictures of the 2008 protests in Bangkok...
...Armed with this view, the military seemingly does not regard itself as beholden to the nation's elected leaders. The army has rejected orders from four different Prime Ministers to quash demonstrations against their rule - at the start of the Asian economic crisis in 1997, during street protests against Thaksin in 2006, in 2008 when protesters occupied the Prime Minister's office and, most notoriously, that same year when Bangkok's international airports were shut down by demonstrators in order to force Thaksin-allied Prime Ministers from office. Some believe the army refused to act because it did not want...
...Following Thaksin's ouster, the army clearly has become more involved in politics, despite ceding overt power to elected politicians after little more than a year. It played a key role in Abhisit's rise to the premiership, helping to broker deals among politicians who had been loyal to Thaksin so they would join Abhisit's coalition. The generals also used their troops to break up Red Shirt riots in April 2009 in Bangkok aimed at ousting Abhisit. Among the military's rewards have been large increases in budget allocations under Abhisit's administration and few questions about purchasing irregularities...
...Another irony is that Abhisit's Democrats have traditionally been the party to most strongly advocate having a professional military uninvolved in politics. But their interests have converged in an anti-Thaksin alliance as the ousted leader continues his involvement in politics while in exile, allegedly funding the current protests. The army appears to need Abhisit to stay in power: army chief General Anupong Paochinda is slated to retire in October, and his anointed successor, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, is known to be unsympathetic to Thaksin. Should Abhisit be forced from office by Red Shirt protests and Thaksin's allies...