Thailand Turns Banana Republic
In Thailand’s current crisis, history is repeating itself, for the ruling PPP is the same party, under a different name, as that formed by the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Unless the anti-Thaksin elite can convince the rest of the country that they are serious about winning the hearts and minds of the poor, Thailand will remain on a knife edge.
BANGKOK – “Thailand’s future is up for grabs,” proclaimed the eminent Thai scholar Thitinan Pongsudhirak just before the country’s Constitutional Court ruled, in effect, that the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and its two smaller coalition partners are “illegal,” and hence must disband due to “election frauds” committed by party executives a year ago. Party leaders, including Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, are barred from politics for five years.
BANGKOK – “Thailand’s future is up for grabs,” proclaimed the eminent Thai scholar Thitinan Pongsudhirak just before the country’s Constitutional Court ruled, in effect, that the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and its two smaller coalition partners are “illegal,” and hence must disband due to “election frauds” committed by party executives a year ago. Party leaders, including Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, are barred from politics for five years.