Phibunsongkhram was also responsible for promoting the use of forks and spoons instead of hands for eating and adopting more Western attire. Indeed, up until a 1940 Thai Cultural Mandate, the common traditional costume for women, especially in rural areas, was a wrapped sarong and little else. Despite being the son of a Chinese immigrant, he was also responsible for the launch of numerous anti-Chinese policies and the closing down of Chinese schools all over Thailand. Many older Thai people remember him for his simple and easy to remember mandate of ‘Wear a hat and become civilized.’
Like his political nemesis Pridi, Phibunsongkhram died in exile, his final years being spent in Japan.
Field Marshal Luang ‘Plaek’ (Strange) Phibunsongkhram
THE COLOR OF POLITICS
Thaksin Shinawatra is a former prime minister of Thailand (2001–6) who remains both revered and disliked. After courting previously neglected rural Thai voters, he won two landslide election victories and arguably changed the face of Thai politics forever. Many of his policies, including providing universal affordable health coverage and low-interest agricultural loans, were hugely effective and consolidated his support base among the poorer classes.
Thaksin’s emerging power and popularity unsettled the élite, the middle classes and Thailand’s traditional establishment who had, almost exclusively, been in the political driving seat for decades.
Thaksin is also controversial for leading Thailand’s ‘War on Drugs’, which saw around 2,275 drug traffickers and addicts killed over a three-month period in 2003. The government claimed that only 50 deaths were the result of police actions, the rest being assassinations and revenge attacks by drug dealers and gangs. In 2006, the telecommunications billionaire was stripped of his family fortune of $1.4 billion by the Supreme Court after being found guilty of corruption. Since then, half has been returned. He lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai following protests led by the conservative royalist People’s Alliance for Democracy (its supporters known as Yellow Shirts), which overthrew his government in December 2006 while he was abroad—one of 19 military coups and attempted coups since the founding of the constitutional monarchy in 1932.
After Abhisit Vejjajiva from the People’s Alliance for Democracy replaced Thaksin as prime minister, supporters of Thaksin, made up of mostly poor and rural Thais, known colloquially as Red Shirts, have clashed many times with the Yellow Shirts. During the tenure of what the Red Shirts consider the illegal, undemocratic and unlawful appointment of Abhisit, there have been numerous Red Shirt protests. The most notable occurred in 2010, when hundreds of thousands of Red Shirt protesters took to the streets. Violent clashes between the protesters and the military left 92 dead and more than 2,000 injured.
A protestor waves a flag at the popular pro-democracy site, the Victory Monument, in Bangkok.
Thousands gathered every day in the capital, listening to speeches, attending rallies and mainly blowing whistles.
Many of the protesters in 2013–14 were unified in their anti-Shinawatra sentiments.
In 2011, Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra, leader of the Pheu Thai party, was elected prime minister. One of the populist policies on the Pheu Thai party’s agenda for 2013 was to pass a blanket amnesty bill which would have retroactively exonerated political criminals from crimes they had committed. This would have allowed her exiled brother Thaksin Shinawatra to return to Thailand without fear of charges. Needless to say, the Thai people opposed and supported the plan in equal numbers.
Support for Sale
The Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts are not officially aligned with any political party. Rather, they are independent supporter groups. Many believe that the two high-profile supporter groups could one day officially launch their own political parties.
WHAT TO DO BUT LAUNCH A COUP
When Yingluck Shinawatra, the leader of the Pheu Thai Party, won a landslide victory in the 2011 elections, many Thais were prepared to give her a chance despite the fact that she was the sister of the deposed Thaksin Shinawatra. For others, old wounds heal slowly and allegations came swiftly that she was merely a puppet for a political party that Thaksin would still be controlling.
The final straw for the non-believers came in November 2013 when Yingluck attempted to pass a broad amnesty bill that would, in effect, allow Thaksin to return to Thailand where he would not face any charges nor serve the two years in prison that he was sentenced to in absentia, and, most controversially, have all his seized assets returned. Anti-government protests quickly formed up and down the country, especially in Democrat stronghold areas like Bangkok and Phuket, with pockets of protesters traveling to Bangkok to join the street marches. Their aim, as seen on various items of merchandise made quickly available, was to Shut Down Bangkok in order to Restart Bangkok.
SUTHEP STEPS UP
Former Democrat Party Secretary-General Suthep Thaugsuban quickly became a figurehead and spokesperson for the anti-government protesters, and later formed the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC). Fearing that the present government was so corrupt that any elections or attempted reforms would be rejected or dealt with unfairly, he called for Yingluck to be ousted in favor of installing an unelected people’s council. His aims were dismissed, mainly by outside foreign and international observers, as fanciful and unrealistic. Despite this, Suthep and the protesters, clad in merchandise emblazoned with the Thai flag, continued marching every day, whistles blowing. Donations were collected, often by Suthep himself, which went to cover the cost of providing food and water for the faithful. Protesters set up camp on the streets and even in Lumphini Park and there were regular concerts and speeches to boost morale.
In December 2013, Yingluck dissolved the House of Representatives and scheduled a general election for February 2014. She ignored plans to step down in the interim, maintaining that it was her duty to continue to lead the country as a caretaker prime minister.
DON’T VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY
In the run up to election day, February 2, anti-government protesters called on the Thai people not to vote and on the day itself blocked many polling stations, preventing people from voting. They feared that despite all their whistle blowing, the vast majority of Thais (in the rural north of Thailand at least) would go ahead and vote in a party that was sympathetic to the Red Shirt (Thaksin Shinawatra) cause and all the marching and blowing of whistles would have been for nothing. It was a minor victory for the PDRC but not for democracy, as the elections were nullified in March. This enraged pro-government supporters and there were numerous Red Shirt protests held in retaliation, mainly in the north. As the weeks progressed, there were also mounting rumors that the protesters might be heading to Bangkok. In the meantime, skirmishes between protesters and riot police in the capital had turned violent, leading to 28 deaths, including those of two child protesters. Each group blamed the another and accused the police of siding with the opposing faction.
IT’S NOT A COUP (REALLY...)
Something had to be done. In May 2014, following six months of protests, Yingluck and nine other ministers were removed from office by the Constitutional Court. A few weeks later, martial law was imposed under a law promulgated by King Rama VI almost a hundred years earlier to the day.
Like many generals before him, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Commander of the Royal Thai Army, launched a coup d’état against the caretaker government. The junta was known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
From the outset, General Prayut was quick to point out