The New Prime Minister and Dictatorships

It seems the only military dictatorship Samak Sundaravej doesn't like is the one that overthrew Thaksin on September 19, 2006. Yet, here he is, a little over year later, the new democratically-elected PM of Thailand. The coup-makers have committed no massacres, and have handed power to an elected civilian government more or less on the timetable they specified went they sent the corrupt and self-serving Thaksin into exile.

Samak doubtless prefers the military dictatorships of the 1970s in which he was a sometimes participant, who massacred students and protestors on a regular basis, and who maintained their power until the late eighties when the most competent and enlightened of them all, General Prem Tinansulond, managed a peaceful transition to elected civilian rule.

There is some hope for those who opposed the elected-dictatorial rule of Thaksin Shinawatra however. Samak, elected as a proxy for Thaksin, is showing signs that he wants to be his own man and is showing signs that he would be quite happy if Thaksin never returned to Thailand.

Perhaps Samak may conclude that the September 19 coup was to his liking after all.

COUP! Goodbye Square Face!

The last post in this little blog was over eight months ago. A lot happened in that eight months, with the corrupt Thaksin getting into increasingly more trouble.

Unfortunately, his popularity among the farmers and taxi drivers remained intact, so his return to power after the delayed election in November seemed inevitable. That is until the military decided to take matters into their own hands yesterday while Thaksin was in New York, no doubt relishing the prospect of delivering a self-serving speech to world leaders at the UN.

The military really had no choice. Some believed Thaksin was attempting to subvert the monarchy, one of the last bastions against his taking total power. Thaksin had recently been meddling in the appointments of new generals and officers, something he had absolutely no business doing under the constitution. Ironically, in order to preserve their position outside of politics, the Generals had to take over. They have promised to return to civilian rule in two weeks time, and have elections this time next year.

Thaksin is a tenacious bastard however. He may still try to cause disturbances using his support base in Isaan. The story is not quite over yet.

No More Playing Politics

Says the PM -

“Whoever wants to play politics may play. Play to your heart’s content. [But] I will not. I will concentrate on performing my duties or I cannot defeat poverty. In the last half of 2009, I will focus on politics because of the upcoming general election,”

Free trade protests in Chiang Mai

About 10,000 people are expected to protest the bilateral free trade talks being held in Chiang Mai. Opponents of the agreement believe it will harm farmer's livelihoods by allowing patented genetically modified crops to flood the market and replace those currently being produced by small-scale Thai farmers who would not be able to compete.

Does the TRT really have concern for farmer's well-being?

Sanoh tells MPs to be independent

Snoh Thienthong has told MPs from his Wang Nam Yen faction (about 30 of them) to not vote for "those who do wrong to the country", clearly meaning Thaksin. It is believed that he is trying to get himself and his faction members expelled from the TRT so that they would be free to join another political party without being subjet to the 90 day rule, as they would be if they simply resigned.

It remains to be seen whether Thaksin will take the bait.

Apirak popular but TRT still leads in Bangkok

An ABAC poll shows a high level of approval of the performance of Bangkok governor Apirak of the Democrat party but also shows that the TRT maintains a significant lead over the Democrats in national politics (46% to 37%).

Empty promises from the PM

Thaksin has promised that he would give enough time to any MPs who wanted to leave TRT to join another party before calling a snap election, but is opposed to amending the constitution to do away with the 90 days rule. Given that the constitution requires an election to be held within 60 days of a dissolution of parliament, the PM's promise cannot be seen as anything other than complete bullshit.

Sanoh criticizes Thaksin

Sanoh Thienthong of the TRT's Wang Nam Yen faction has criticized Thaksin for not accepting calls to amend the 90 day rule. Sanoh's commented that the rule is useful when a good leader is in place but has become a virtual prison under a leader like Thaksin, who demands complete obedience.