Thailand's Conflict Is Far From Over | Newsweek International

ASIA
Northern Exposure
Lennox Samuels 12/31/2008 12:00:00 AM
Worrawit Saepu resents being characterized as a money-grubbing illiterate too stupid to vote. The 23-year-old grew up in a village in northern Thailand and still passionately supports Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist prime minister ousted two years ago in a bloodless military coup. Worrawit and millions of other grassroots folk twice elected Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai party in landslides. But critics insist their votes were bought and that they are not clever enough to choose their own representatives.
AMERICA AND ITS IMAGE
How to Save Democracy
Larry Diamond 12/31/2008 12:00:00 AM
The new U.S. President will face more than one kind of global recession. In addition to the economic downturn, the world is suffering a democratic contraction. In Russia, awash with oil money, Vladimir Putin and his KGB cronies have sharply restricted freedom. In Latin America, authoritarian (and anti-American) populism is on the rise. In Nigeria, the Philippines and once again in Pakistan, democracy is foundering amid massive corruption, weak government and a loss of public faith. In Thailand, the government is paralyzed by mass protests. In Africa, more than a dozen fragile democracies must face the economic storm unprepared. And in the Middle East—the Bush administration's great democratic showcase—the push for freedom lies in ruins.
WORLD AFFAIRS
Thailand Slides Toward Civil War
12/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
Last week, after Thailand's high court disbanded the country's ruling party and antigovernment demonstrators finally ended their weeklong occupation of Bangkok's two airports and their three-month siege of Government House, weary stranded travelers could have been forgiven for thinking that the political crisis was over. The estimated 350,000 foreigners who'd been trapped by the blockage have begun their journeys home. Yet for Thailand's citizens, its politicians, its business community and its foreign investors, nothing concrete has been resolved. Thailand remains a nation divided. Its beloved 81-year-old king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, is in decline and had to unexpectedly cancel his annual birthday speech last Thursday due to illness. King Bhumibol had never previously missed his birthday address, and his absence dashed hopes that he would use the occasion to help resolve the crisis. Instead, political extremism is now mounting, and a frightening new phrase has slipped into the political lexicon: civil war.
INTERNATIONAL
Limping Along
Lennox Samuels 12/3/2008 12:00:00 AM
A day after Thailand's Constitutional Court banned leaders of the three leading parties in the ruling coalition, Thais were expressing relief that their long crisis appeared over, but many were left wondering who is in charge. The confusion was understandable. By banning Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years, the court stripped him of his job. Deputy Prime Minister Chaowarat Chandeerakul is acting as premier but is widely seen as a stopgap figure. And all the while the prospect of more unrest loomed as the country's biggest party regrouped under a new name, setting up a collision with the alliance that helped bring down the government.
WORLD AFFAIRS
All Politics Isn’t Local
9/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
Among the thousands of protesters who have occupied Thai government offices in Bangkok since Aug. 26 is Chokchuand Chutinaton, a U.S.-trained pediatrician. He joined the demonstration out of a desire to oust the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, a close ally to Thailand's exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra. Although his animus toward both men is visceral, he also takes issue with their policies. "Thaksin's regime sold our sovereignty," he says, ticking off a list of betrayals that includes allowing "big companies … under foreign ownership," such as British retailer Tesco, to dominate the economy and sealing "trade agreements with other countries without [first] asking the people." He also laments culturally inappropriate imports, the decline of mom-and-pop shops in Bangkok and unfair trade. "This affects me," he says, "because I love Thailand and want to help my country."
ASIA
Crackdown
9/2/2008 12:00:00 AM
They've occupied the prime minister's office, stormed airports near popular beach resorts and crippled national railway service across Thailand. Next up, the coalition of antigovernment agitators calling itself the People's Alliance for Democracy vows to cut power, water and telephone service in the capital, Bangkok, then incite labor unions to declare a general strike. Though such tactics echo past "people power" uprisings in neighboring Indonesia and the Philippines, they're means to a very different end in Thai politics today: the People's Alliance campaign, launched back in May, aims to unseat a government put into power just seven months ago in elections widely hailed as free and fair.