Of the founding members of Asean, Thailand is the only one where the military still plays a determining role in political life. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore are firmly under civilian control. In Thailand, by contrast, the army staged a coup in 2006 to remove Thaksin Shinawatra, who had been twice elected by democratic landslide, and were behind the collapse of two subsequent governments formed by his allies. These interventions have plunged the country into a prolonged political crisis, of which yesterday's peaceful rally in Bangkok by Mr Thaksin's supporters was the latest manifestation.
Three and a half years of turmoil have included the siege of Bangkok's airports by Mr Thaksin's "Yellow Shirt" opponents and the cancellation of an Asean summit following protests by his "Red Shirt" allies. The opposition is now demanding the dissolution of parliament within 24 hours and the calling of fresh elections, with a threat of demonstrations in the capital if the deadline is missed. The prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who came to power with military backing in December 2008 and has yet to put his popularity to electoral test, says he has no plans for a dissolution.
He, and the royalists, generals and members of the traditional political elite who support him, may prevail, at least in the short term. But deep divisions remain between them and the rural poor from the north and north-east who benefited from Mr Thaksin's policies. There is an obvious way to break this stalemate: hold elections. For the traditionalists, that runs the risk of bringing the former prime minister's supporters back into power, even if he, having been sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for conflict of interest, does not return. But that is part and parcel of the democracy which Thailand, conspicuous among Asean members, lacks.
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Published: 6:27AM GMT 15 Mar 2010
Comments 2 | Comment on this article
Of the founding members of Asean, Thailand is the only one where the military still plays a determining role in political life. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore are firmly under civilian control. In Thailand, by contrast, the army staged a coup in 2006 to remove Thaksin Shinawatra, who had been twice elected by democratic landslide, and were behind the collapse of two subsequent governments formed by his allies. These interventions have plunged the country into a prolonged political crisis, of which yesterday's peaceful rally in Bangkok by Mr Thaksin's supporters was the latest manifestation.
Three and a half years of turmoil have included the siege of Bangkok's airports by Mr Thaksin's "Yellow Shirt" opponents and the cancellation of an Asean summit following protests by his "Red Shirt" allies. The opposition is now demanding the dissolution of parliament within 24 hours and the calling of fresh elections, with a threat of demonstrations in the capital if the deadline is missed. The prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who came to power with military backing in December 2008 and has yet to put his popularity to electoral test, says he has no plans for a dissolution.
He, and the royalists, generals and members of the traditional political elite who support him, may prevail, at least in the short term. But deep divisions remain between them and the rural poor from the north and north-east who benefited from Mr Thaksin's policies. There is an obvious way to break this stalemate: hold elections. For the traditionalists, that runs the risk of bringing the former prime minister's supporters back into power, even if he, having been sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for conflict of interest, does not return. But that is part and parcel of the democracy which Thailand, conspicuous among Asean members, lacks.
Comments: 2
Nonsense - Burma, rebranded as Myanmar, joined ASEAN in 1997 and has been an horrendous military dictatorship for 48 years. The situation in Thailand is relatively benign. However the status quo represents a huge imbalance between rich and poor - and democracy must prevail if their system is to hold honestly to its model. However this almost certainly means a move into the very kind of socialist redistributive policies being resisted. For a country with few very rich and a vast rump of the very poor this kind of flattening too quickly can be deeply damaging if ill-managed.
What an accurate report... Btw, the "Opposition" consists of 150,000 people - mainly poor farmers - having no idea what a democracy is, as they keep on threatening the legitimate Primer Minister of their country. No one really cares much about red or yellow shirted partisans, except a small group of hysterical people funded by the former highly corrupted PM whose sole gole is revenge - and recovering of his frozen assets - Here, the journalist completely somewhat missed the point...
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