Thai Politics 2012

First off, I know that foreigners are never welcome participants in Thai politics! Thai's believe that their politics is there business. Right fully so, however it still doesn't stop people from having an opinion.

Last year the PTT of thaksin Shinawatra came to power under the guise of his Sister, Yingluck. Obviously Thaksin is still a fugitive and wanted on corruption charges. This isn't a healthy start really.

PTT were elected with about 50% of the popular vote, they promised the world to the poorer of thai Society. In all fairness, if I had of been able to vote it would have been for PTT, the Democrat Party alternative were never a viable option.

Since the election, PTT have returned to standard form for Thai Government. Behind the scenes strings are being pulled by the powerful and this is to the detriment of the normal person. Populist moves like freezing Diesel duty, whilst popular, miss the point that to improve the lot of normal people a good stream of revenue is needed. Never mind that corruption is at an all time high and those who should be paying tax get away with it.

PTT have increased the crack down on free speech with a Department set up purely to moniter the internet for any person breaking the laws on Les Majeste. This is a law which prohibits the critism of the Royal family. High profile cases have included a US citizen, a Web master and a 70 year Grandad being sent to prison for years at a time. The Thai press are very careful what they write so tend not to bother reporting many stories.

Recently the US Ebassy issued a terrorism warning based on solid info, The Thai foreign ministry went beserk and amazingly found a suspect the same day. The guy looks like more of a patsy than a criminal, but providing face as been saved in Thailand then that isn't a problem.

In a recent cabinet re-shuffle, one of the ministers is on a US black list for financial dealings with Zimbabwe and another is on a murder charge dating back to 2010. It seems, its not what you know, but who you know.

Finally, one of the back bone pledges of PTT was the raising of the minimum wage to 300 baht per day (£6), this as since been shelved. Add this to the terrible handling of the recent mega floods and the corruption on going without punishment and it seems that its business as usual in Thailand.

The latest is talk of another Military Coup. There hasn't been one for over five years, so one is due.

                                                        Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra