WHO CAN SAY ONLY THE WEST HAS COMPLICATED POLITICS?
I realize that I am fixated on the May 14 Thai parliamentary election as I was in Bangkok that day and got caught up in the excitement. Nonetheless, the election has failed to result in the formation of a government, and we are now into August. Every morning I quickly turn to The Bangkok Post which is my source of information on the ongoing political saga. The majority winner, the Move Forward Party (MFP), has been forced to stand down and forego their majority position to form a government with their leader, Pita Limajaroenrat, as Prime Minister. The MFP stated platform of curtailing the rights of the monarchy and reforming the Thai military was totally unacceptable to the Thai senate which must approve the new government. The fact that the Thai military appointed many of the senators should have been a clue that the MFP would not be well-received by them. Pita Limajaroenrat is shown below waving goodbye as he exits parliament following his failure to obtain sufficient senate votes to become Prime Minister of Thailand.
The Pheu Thai Party, the runner-up to MFP, sought to offer an alternative by leaving MFP in their coalition and putting Strettha Thavisin forward to be the Prime Minister. Quickly, there was a reaction to leaving MFP in their coalition which created an impasse to any coalition that reflected the composite election results. Moreover, the former massage parlor baron, Mr. Chuvit shown below, as an advocate for decent and honest government since he chose the path of the righteous Buddhists, accused Mr. Stretta of tax evasion.
The smiling, charismatic property developer, Mr. Strettha shown below, then became embroiled in trying to defend an obscure major land acquisition that had allegedly created an unusual structure to minimize excise tax that would be payable to the Thai government. To make a long story short, Mr. Strettha and the Pheu Thai Party are trying to put together a suitable coalition government that would exclude MFP and most likely include some of the military parties. He may be crying inside but he has a great smile for the press.
In the meantime, General Prayut, the former Prime Minister, is shown below perhaps wondering if he might slip back into his former position. By the way, it was General Prayut who led the 2014 coup to remove former Prime Minister Thaksin’s sister’s government in 2014.
Thaksin’s daughter, along with Mr. Strettha, led Thaksin’s former Pheu Thai party to their second-place position in the May 14 election. Thaksin had announced that he was returning to Bangkok on August 10 to see his grandchildren. He was promised good health care in prison as he is a fugitive from the Thai legal system. With all the confusion in the formation of a government which will entail additional time and horse trading, it comes as no surprise that Thaksin announced that he will defer his return until he understands the lay of the land back home.
It seems that Thai politics may be more intertwined and complicated than most anywhere else. If anyone is interested to get relief from their own political issues, subscribe to The Bangkok Post for comfort that there is a more difficult and complex “democracy” in the wonderful Kingdom of Thailand which many of us consider our second home. The reporting of The Bangkok Post is nothing but the facts as one could not make up this political saga.
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