Thai One On

Thailand was an oasis of stability, hampered only by a language no one outside of Thailand spoke. This land was never conquered by any foreign power… ever! Smart monarchs found stealthy ways to play regional French and British interests against each other in the 19^th century to keep these colony-grabbing European powers from taking Thailand into their nefarious, resource-grabbing control. In World War II, they faced certain invasion by Japan, but they managed to thread the needle by becoming a Japanese ally during hostilities but immediately dissociating from the Land of the Rising Sun when the war ended… cozying up to the United States with a soft Thai smile afterwards.

Never particularly prosperous but with tons of food resources hanging off jungle trees or swimming in rivers, streams and an abundant ocean, Thailand did not have hordes of starving impoverished people scraping the bottom of the economic barrel. The land and the seas supported a sparse and well-distributed population… until late in the twentieth century when Bangkok’s urban sprawl brought all those massive urban problems – including poverty and instability – right into the Thai heartland. Rural poverty followed as farmers struggled in the fiercely competitive global marketplace. Lacking indigenous industry and culture-bound by an indecipherable language, Thailand watched as regional tiger-economies soared.. as they stagnated. When the Great Recession hit, Thailand was slammed with economic contraction, having never experienced the success that other regional powers experienced.

Enter a new and extremely unlikely populist hero, Thaksin Shinawatra, “a Thai business tycoon turned politician. He founded Advanced Info Service, Thailand's most successful mobile phone operator. He founded the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party in 1998 and became Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 until 2006 when he was overthrown in a military coup. Thaksin has since lived in self-imposed exile except for a brief visit to Thailand in 2008. He was convicted by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions of abusing his power to help his wife buy public land at an auction, and was sentenced to two years in jail. Various criminal charges also await him if he returns to Thailand. His younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was the Prime Minister of Thailand from 2011 to 2014.” Wikipedia

Thaksin, himself one of the richest people in the world, became the symbol of hope for the impoverished masses, who felt that all the wealth was controlled by an increasingly powerful  gathering of elite families at the expense of the majority of the Thai people. Thaksin introduced healthcare reform, created micro-credit facilities for poor farmers (providing low-interest loans), and had a general policy of reducing poverty and redistributing wealth… the latter drawing the wrath of the incumbent wealthy powers. The 2008 coup was orchestrated by those powerful families, and the nation lurched into militarily-controlled conservatism.

When free elections returned in 2011, Thaksin’s shadow government, represented by his sister, returned with a vengeance. But the power elites and populist movements failed to co-exist peacefully. The Thai Supreme Court disqualified Yingluck, pushing her from office. A caretaker government took power. The clash of wills turned violent. Hundreds were killed or injured in six months of tumultuous anti-government protests. On May 20^th, martial law was declared. Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha called the factions together to discuss a compromise. “ ‘In order for the situation to return to normal quickly and for society to love and be at peace again ... and to reform the political, economic and social structure, the military needs to take control of power,’ Prayuth said in the televised address.

“The general made his broadcast after a meeting to which he had summoned the rival factions in Thailand's drawn-out political conflict, with the aim of finding a compromise to end six months of anti-government protests… But no progress was made and Prayuth wound up the gathering by announcing he was seizing power, according to a participant.

“The Thai armed forces have a long history of intervening in politics - there have been 18 previous successful or attempted coups since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, most recently when Thaksin was deposed in 2006… Hundreds of soldiers surrounded the meeting at Bangkok's Army Club shortly before the coup announcement and troops took away Suthep Thaugsuban, leader of the protests against the pro-Thaksin government.” Reuters, May 22^nd.

What do these opposing factions want? “The anti-government protesters want to rid the country of the influence of Thaksin, who they say is a corrupt crony capitalist who commandeered a fragile democracy and used taxpayers' money to buy votes with populist giveaways… They wanted a ‘neutral’ interim prime minister to oversee electoral reforms before any new vote. [On the other hand, the pro-Thaksin] government and its supporters said a general election that it would likely win was the best way forward and it had proposed polls on Aug. 3, to be followed by reforms.” Reuters.

And the Thai generals want these factions to figure it out, adding a little pressure along the way: “A spokesman for Thailand's coup leaders says the army will detain former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Cabinet members and anti-government protest leaders for up to a week to give them ‘time to think.’” AOL.com, May 24^th. Time out! Sit in the corner… but resolving income polarization with a simple middle ground isn’t so easy.

To those of us on the other side of the world, this is a “little conflict in a small nation” that doesn’t seem to impact us here in the United States. But Southeast Asia is the battleground where China is seeking to expand her influence and smaller nations are seeking to maintain independence outside of this monolith’s growing sphere of effective control. Thailand represents one more destabilizing conflict where the only solution is to grow its stagnant economy, opening up hope for those current disenfranchised by a system that, like the United States, appears to be tilting in favor of a minority of wealthy players at the top of the food chain.

I’m Peter Dekom, and perhaps we can recognize this recurring pattern of economic polarization that seems to be spreading all over the world.