Thailand

[Michael]

I find it interesting that there is little discussion of the situation in Thailand.

What is going on now is that there was a coup that removed the democratically elected Prime Minister and then a combination of demonstrations and court actions removed the majority party and allowed a minority party to take over.

The minority party has lost every election that has been held, whenever it has been brought to the people for the past 10 years, they have not won.

There certainly has been corruption in the process (on all sides) in the past.

Recently, protestors claiming to represent the majority that was denied the ability to rule occupied an important part of Bangkok and pressed for elections. After about 6 weeks of this, the current government used the army to break up the demonstrations, killing quite a few people in the process. The demonstrators rioted and burned quite a few building in Bangkok.

I have been to Thailand quite a few times and have some Thai friends (who are split on both sides of the issue).

In my opinion, the King and the Bangkok elite have moved to push aside an inconvenient result once the poorer people up North actually started voting. I would expect more action and words from Western governments that are quick to complain about places like Iran.

Michael

 

[Thump553]

I was suprised how far the government let the situation go, but I was even more surprised to turn on the evening news and watch government troops actively gunning down unarmed demonstrators in a wholesale manner. And then the demonstrators retaliated by setting roughly 30 fires in major buildings downtown. The whole situation seems spinning out of control. It seems like they are trying to rival Burma/Myanmar as the #1 f*cked up country in the world.

Any idea where they are headed? Any outside countries (like China) have any influence?

 

[ElFenix]

i was there about 2 months after the coup.

wikipedia suggests that the PM deposed in the 2006 coup is behind the current red shirt uprising

 

[werepossum]

I haven't commented on it simply because I am unable to separate the good guys and the bad guys. I hate to see it though, Thailand always seemed like a cool country.

 

[Zebo]

I think a far more troubling problem is the 2000 or so per year clip Buddhist monks and other Thais getting head chopped in the South by fundis (not Amish).

 

[JS80]

I haven't commented on it simply because I am unable to separate the good guys and the bad guys. I hate to see it though, Thailand always seemed like a cool country.

^^ same here. I have no idea how to dissect the situation. My Thai friend basically said "are you with the King or against the King?" To which I replied, it would be awesome if Lebron signed with the Clippers.

 

[Zebo]

The reverence fo the king there is very engraned. Every car business and home I was in had his portrait even in the north like Chiang Mai and north of that so I'm not sure they have revolutionary spirit to buck the royals like our patriots. i.e. start shooting less protesting will never happen there.

 

[her209]

President Obama doesn't care about Thai people.

 

[rchiu]

Yeah it's very unfortunate that a few powerful people playing the people and made a peaceful and foreigner/investor friendly country so chaotic.

Sorry to say that it seems Thailand is not ready for democracy. Thailand political system has been run by powerful businessman and generals. The change in their constitution in 1997 and the subsequent election of Thaskin suppose to change that. Unfortunately when there is disagreement, those political elites do not let the voters decide but go back to the old way of using arm forces and abusing court systems to their advantage. It's just a vicious cycle and the people are just being played as puppet and suffers.

 

[Noobtastic]

i think it will pass.

the islamic insurgency is far more of a threat than whatever lame coup is going on.

does this shit happen every decade in thailand?

 

[Michael]

I think that the big difference this time is that the previous coups have been one group of elites taking from another. This time the much more populous north of Thailand has been brought into the fray. Plus the king is quite ill and getting older and older.

Michael

 

[Slick5150]

I was in Thailand last year when they were protesting, and I have family living in Chiang Mai. They all tell me (and it was true last year as well) that even though the clips make it sound like all of Thailand is engulfed in chaos, it's really limited to the central area of Bangkok. Even it other parts of Bangkok (let alone the rest of the country) they are just going about their daily lives.

Everyone seems confused on who to support at this point. The Red Shirts basically got what they wanted, but then decided they wanted more and kept rioting. The end result is that their efforts damaged the economy due to a huge dip in tourism, so anyone whose business was effected by that started to get a tad peeved and they lost their support.

In any case, Thailand is one of the friendliest, nicest places I've ever visited.

 

[Exterous]

does this shit happen every decade in thailand?

Seems like it.

I am a bit surprised it doesn't get more than passing lip service from the MSM but maybe America just has an aversion to anything SE Asian since Vietnam