Thaksin Sees Red

Thaksin's policy of denying funds to "red" zones in the South has drawn criticism from varied sources in Thailand, all of whom essentially agree it will lead to complete disaster.

The criticism has resulted in the first of probably many temper tantrums on the part of the Prime Minister during his second term. He has told his critics that they know nothing about the situation and that they should try going down to the region and living there for a month before reponding to the policy. He added sarcastically that he would pay for their life insurance if they went.

First of all, many of the critics of the policy are actually residents of the South and have already lived there for years, not merely one month, but Thaksin seems to take their advice no more seriously than anyone else's. Second, another major source of the criticism has been from the Democrats, who won almost every constituency in the South in the recent election and who have offered to share their own plan for peace in the South with the TRT to no avail. Finally, perhaps Thaksin should take his own advice and spend a month down there as I don't think he has ever spent more than a few days. I'm sure the Democrats would be willing to pay HIS life insurance (not that he can't afford it himself).

I predict that if Thaksin cannot learn to stop behaving like a spoiled child and come up with some responsible and workable solutions to the problems in South, Thailand could wind up having problems on at least the same scale as the Phillipines.