Attempts to institute populist democracy

Thaksin Shinawatra

In parliamentary elections held in January 2001 the Thai Rak Thai (TRT; “Thais Love Thais”) party, created in 1995, became dominant, and its founding leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, moved to the centre of Thai politics. Thaksin exemplified the new politician of the post-1992 period. A Sino-Thai from Chiang Mai in the north, he cultivated a constituency among up-country people in northern and northeastern Thailand that became the foundation of his party. As a highly successful entrepreneur and founder of the country’s largest telecommunications company, Thaksin and his political network also drew much support from Thailand’s wealthy business community.

Thaksin, with his immense financial resources, was able to fund political campaigns that employed sophisticated advertising methods. Because the TRT often used funds from its own bank accounts to ensure strong voter turnouts, it came to be accused of buying votes. Thaksin’s popularity in rural areas, however, was based less on monetary incentives than on the TRT commitment to providing reasonably priced health care for the poor, devolving more-centralized authority to local governing organizations, providing substantial loan funds for villagers, and making larger investments in education.

In elections held in early 2005 the TRT won an absolute majority of seats in parliament, the first time this had ever happened in Thailand in an open election. Although Thaksin seemed positioned to shape Thai politics for the foreseeable future, he made some decisions that ultimately undermined his authority and led the country toward a political crisis. Notable among these was his order to use military force to suppress the insurgency in the Malay-Muslim populated areas of southern Thailand without also attempting to pursue political solutions to the problem. The move exacerbated the conflict, and, as the violence intensified, key military figures, as well as the king and queen, became openly dissatisfied with the strategy.

Thaksin himself was publicly respectful of the monarchy, but he clearly began to position himself to play a decisive role for when King Bhumibol would pass from the scene. As the king’s 60th year on the throne approached in 2006, the public was acutely reminded that he would not be monarch for too much longer. The looming royal transition appeared to give Thaksin the opportunity to increase the power of an elected government with strong popular support at the expense of the old military and royalist elite.

However, it was Thaksin’s willingness to use his power to manipulate both the parliament and the regulatory bodies created by the 1997 constitution to protect his and his family’s wealth that led to his ouster. Many members of the urban middle class were deeply angered at the end of 2005 when it became public knowledge that the telecommunications corporation owned by members of Thaksin’s family—but viewed as a national asset—had been sold to a Singaporean holding company without the family incurring any tax liability. Protest rallies were staged in Bangkok, led by the urban-based opposition People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD)—who came to be known as the “yellow shirts” for the colour they wore during demonstrations—and grew steadily in size. Because Thaksin had lost the loyalty of many ranking military officers, he was unable to order that force be used to suppress the demonstrations. Instead, he called a snap election to show that he had wide popular support throughout the countryside. The vote of April 2006, however, proved meaningless, as all opposition parties boycotted the election; the results were subsequently invalidated by the Supreme Court.

Thaksin remained in charge of a caretaker government for the next several months, while the public prepared for the celebration of the king’s six decades as chief of state. However, in September 2006 military forces led by Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin staged a coup while Thaksin was abroad. The junta, with the king’s backing, appointed retired general Surayud Chulanont to head an interim government. The 1997 constitution was abrogated, and a carefully selected group was appointed to draft a new constitution; this document was ratified by a popular referendum in August 2007, and parliamentary elections were held in December. Although Thaksin’s TRT party had been outlawed earlier that year, a new party backing the ousted prime minister—the People Power Party (PPP)—clearly won the most seats in parliament, which effectively amounted to a popular rejection of the coup. The head of the PPP, Samak Sundaravej, became prime minister.