My wife and I own a small import shop. I've been to Thailand six times in the last nine years - my wife's been there two additional times without me - our shortest visit was two weeks, our longest almost five. About two thirds of our inventory comes from Thailand -we buy direct from the craftsmen when we can - point being that my experiences in Thailand aren't the usual tourist experiences - I'm not going to claim that these experiences qualify me for having a better understanding of Thailand and it's politics - in fact, what my Thai trips have led me to understand is that I
don't understand Thai culture or Thai politics... but, I might have some insights into things that just aren't being covered in the MSM.
One of the first things I came to understand about Asia is that judging what goes on there by western precepts is a mistake. It seems a particular American conceit to view the rest of the world this way, and it's something that, indeed, I myself was guilty of during some of my earlier trips. So, in the interest of not letting my own western prejudices interfere, I have tried to give Thaksin the benefit of the doubt.
Thaksin is, indeed guilty of the corruption he's been charged with I'm sure, and no doubt he's also guilty of attempts to subvert the Democratic process there. OTOH, I don't find military coups very conducive to the exercise of democracy either. I would much rather have seen this whole situation resolved in a democratic manner. Also, it's not like corruption in Thailand is anything new.
The civil rights violations are also all true. Thaksin undertook to deal with a growing methamphetamine drug problem by ... well, basically killing all the drug dealers. No trials - no nothing. Pretty hard to defend that. Then again - this is Thailand - and I could tell you some stories that I've heard about the police and crime there that show Thaksin's anti - drug policy as hardly out of the ordinary - just on a bigger scale.
As for the expats all hating Thaksin - there's a reason for that. Thaksin also tried to curtail the sex trade - or at least the perception of Thailand as the sex trade capital of the world, mostly by placing a 1 AM curfew on the bars, a curfew that was stringently enforced. This resulted in a lot of the high end prostitution relocating to Singapore, and a decline in the number and quality, (if my sources are to be believed), of brothels catering to westerners.
Personally I think Thaksin's efforts in fighting the sex trade are to be commended - and there's no guarantee the military is going to keep up those efforts. It's a shame that the west views Thailand primarily through the lens of the sex business there, when I feel it has so much more to offer.
The last time I was in Thailand I spent most of my time around Chaing Mai in northern Thailand. Thaksin was very popular there - being from there, he had pumped huge amounts of money into the area, revitalizing native arts and crafts. I'm sure he's still popular in those areas, something you're not going to hear coming out of Bangkok.
There's another component to this whole thing that no one is talking about, and that's the class issue. Thaksin was a populist. He created many social programs that benefited the poor - a first for any Thai government. There are two classes of Thais - "true" Thais that came down from China - who are generally taller, thinner, and paler skinned. These are the ruling Thais - the one's with the money and the power. The other Thais are shorter and darker and make up the majority of the country's people - and all of it's rural poor. That's why you see the streetworkers in Thailand wearing ski masks and long sleeved shirts in 90 degree heat and 100% humidity. They don't want a tan to turn their skin darker. This also accounts for all the skin lightening products available there.
The last thing the ruling class in Thailand wants is for a populist like Thaksin to be in control. And it's not unlikely that he could have won another election. Polls taken in Bangkok back in April showed Thaksin to be at 45% popularity in Bangkok and with a positive popularity in the rest of the country.
The opposition to Thaksin regularly in the press refereed to him as "square face" and another word (that escapes me right now) that is an especially derogatory term for one of the hilltribes in the north - in effect calling Thaksin a peasant and pretty much the equivalent of the "N" word here. My point is that there was a class component to this that isn't being talked about in the MSM.
The people in the picture you posted upthread are wearing yellow... that's the royal color. It shows support for the King, not necessarily support for the coup, per se. Although in Thailand that amounts to the same thing.
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I'm not trying to defend Thaksin - he did some pretty bad things... all I'm trying to say with this post is, to go back to what I said earlier - it's problematic to make judgments about good and bad in a culture so alien to ours - and I hope what I've written will make you rethink your opinion of Thaksin somewhat.
on ed -
http://enews.earthlink.net/article/int?guid=20060921/45120e40_3ca6_1552620060921-776092842This troubles me. I don't trust the Thai military, which is very right wing. Why a year? Why suspend the constitution? Why disallow the formation of political parties?
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