Reply #2: I lived in Thailand when Thaksin was elected... [View All]

[Imajika]

There really is a lot more to this story. I still have all the stickers of Thaksin's ticket number the cab drivers were handing out to anyone who was interested.

Not sure anyone is much interested in Thai politics, but I can comment a little about what I've seen.

Despite the court ruling here, if Thaksin could return to Thailand the rural poor (the majority) would vote him right back in to power.

He does seem to have been quite a crook, but he advocated social policies such as the 30 baht doctor's visits, micro loans for poor people, etc, that most rural and poorer people favored.

While a bad comparison, Thaksin was sort of Thailand's version of maybe someone like Mel Zelaya. He is too rich to be compared to people like Chavez or Morales. The problem here is that Thaksin does indeed appear to have been pretty corrupt. His policies however are still very popular with the poor, and it is a shame someone like Thaksin became the person to represent them because it probably set back the goals of the majority poor by decades.

The Red Shirts are what remains of Thaksin's advocates (again, mostly rural poor who turn out in Bangkok to protest on his behalf). The Yellow Shirts are mostly represented by the middle, upper and business class that don't want any changes since the current system benefits them just fine.

This ruling probably means Thaksin can never return, which is probably a good thing, but very sad how it all worked out.