Thailand has a tumultuous Tuesday

Thailand has gone through a tumultuous Tuesday when former Prime Minister and billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Bangkok after 17 years spent in exile. He was given a tremendous welcome by his supporters at the airport. From the airport he was taken to the Supreme Court and from there the prison to serve a eight-year sentence.

And another tycoon from Thaksin’s political party, Pheu Thai, Srettha Thavisin was elected prime minister after the party joined hands with pro-military parties. Pheu Thai has been opposed to the military but it chose to make the compromise because the anti-military parties, though they have not won the election, have not managed to shake the hold of the pro-army parties in parliament. There is speculation that Thaksin had returned home because his political party had made the necessary concession to the pro-army groups. The new party, Forward Movement, could not push its leader as prime minister.

Thailand has had a troublesome tryst with democracy over the years. Thaksin’s party was modern and it wanted to push the army out of the political arena and check the powers of the monarchy. But Thaksin was convicted on charges of corruption. There is speculation that after his party has joined hands with the pro-army groups, there is a possibility that Thaksin’s prison term could be reduced, though all the parties concerned deny it vehemently. When he landed in the airport, Thaksin was seen showing deference to the portraits of the king and queen.

The army had been intervening in the political process whenever it felt that the political parties were on the verge of marginalising the army and the monarchy. It is after many years of military rule that Thailand had called for elections. And a new party, the Move Forward, swept the polls. But its leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, was not allowed to become the prime minister of the country.

The Forward Move party is a pro-reforms party, and it has won the support of the younger people. But it has not been able to form the government because of the stranglehold hold of the army on parliament. But a new generation of Thais are chafing at the role of the army in the country’s political arena. Despite massive victories, the army has been able to thwart the Move Forward party from assuming the leadership of the country.

Thailand occupies a special place in the region with its economic potential. The country has benefited hugely from the thriving economy, but its political scenario was always tangled due to corruption of leaders at the top. Thaksin Shinawatra’s political career is an archetypical one. He succeeded mainly because of his personal wealth but when he was in power he carried out populist measures benefiting the poor people.

He was however unable to help the middle class. And the army intervened to check Thaksin’s political power. Thaksin’s younger sister, Yinglick Shinawatra, had gone through the same cycle of electoral triumph followed by corruption charges and another case of imprisonment. Yinglick had decided to go abroad and stay in exile. She does not plan to return to Thailand as her brother did.

But time and again, the Thai people had voted decisively in favour of democracy in the country. And that gives rise to the hope that democracy will prevail in the country despite the army’s repeated attempts to interrupt democracy in the country. Thailand is also an important economy in the region, and it has attracted worldwide investment flows into the country after the baht meltdown of 1997. Thailand if given an opportunity would give rise to a strong market economy under democratic governance.