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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Asia Sentinel: Thailand’s Constitutional Merry-Go-Round

Daniel Ten Kate

20 August 2007

The country’s 18th charter exposes Thailand's deep political divides


Thailand’s vote Sunday to accept the junta’s constitution highlights the country’s deep regional divide instead of serving as a ringing endorsement of a new dawn for the country’s immature democracy.


The country’s 18th constitution, spawned in the wake of last September’s military coup that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, clears the way for an election at the end of the year that will likely see a party of ex-generals led by retiring coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin attempt to cling to power.



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One thing seems clear. Instead of “restoring democracy,” the coup leaders have simply rewritten the rules to favor themselves—an abuse of power akin to that for which they tossed out Thaksin. Now the conflict looks set to continue as various groups struggle for power, and only a few continue to fight for a real democracy.


No doubt


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5 comments:

dizzy said...

To be continue when the next coup!!!!
dizzy

Anonymous said...

The country is divided that is true. At one corner, are those who depend and live on Thaksin bribes and handouts. At the other corner, are those who reject and condemn bribes and handouts.

There are exceptions . . . but I suspect those exceptions are few.

ChiangRaiMan said...

Matty, LOL, What planet do you live on? If it were only that simple... so black and white life would be soo easy wouldn't it?

Unknown said...

matty, funny comment! Are u serious? Do you really think that those who are at the other corner reject and condemn bribes and handouts? I have not seen that kind of division. You gotta be kidding.

Anonymous said...

Of course I am serious.

Take this Shark Fonzi who cannot bring himself to condemn, much less berate Thaksin Shinawatra for the extrajudicial rampage, for the Shinawatras & inlaws tax evasion streak, for that glaring conflict of interest AmpleRich-Shin-Temasek $1.8 billion sale deal, for Thaksin's high-handedness and ineptitude in the management of the Southern unrest that has brought more Muslim fundamentalist radicals to the fore, for Thaksin's divisiveness and Machiavelian tactics that nearly ripped Thailand asunder, for that butler-service to Shinawatra Thai Rak Thai party that was the Shinawatras doormat no more and no less, for the corruption spree being directed by Thaksin Shinawatra himself on nearly every government project from Suvarnabhumi airport to fire trucks to farm seedlings et al.

Sure the generals were bungling fools and we should be suspicious anytime these generals start running the country. But it was Thaksin's criminal abuses that provoked these generals in the first place . . . and Fonzi the Shark, Bangkok Pundit and those academics at New Mandala are all clearly being subsidized or funded by Thaksin Shinawatra. Why else would they be pro-Thaksin all the way despite what is already known about Thaksin's criminal deeds?

Defending democracy? That is a laugh coming from Fonzi, Bangkok Pundit and that Australian crocodile Andrew Walker of New Mandala . . .