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History of Thailand
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History of Thailand : From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Premocracy
Much of the 1980s saw a process of democratisation overseen by the King and military strongman General Prem Tinsulanond.
In April 1981 a clique of army officers popularly known as the "Young Turks" staged a putsch, taking complete control of Bangkok. They dissolved the National Assembly and promised sweeping social changes. But their position would quickly crumble as Prem accompanied the royal family to Khorat. With the King's support for Prem made clear to all, loyalists units under the palace favourite General Arthit Kamlangek managed to recapture the capital in a bloodless counterattack.
This episode raised the prestige of the monarchy still further, and also enhanced Prem’s status as a relative moderate. A kind of compromise was therefore reached. The insurgency ended and most of the ex-student guerillas returned to Bangkok under an amnesty. The army returned to its barracks, and yet another constitution was promulgated, creating an appointed Senate to balance the popularly elected National Assembly. Elections were held in April 1983, giving Prem, now in the guise of a civilian politician, a large majority in the legislature (an arrangement which came to be known as "Premocracy").
Prem was also the beneficiary of the accelerating economic revolution which was sweeping south-east Asia. After the recession of the mid 1970s, economic growth took off. For the first time Thailand became a significant industrial power, and manufactured goods such as computer parts, textiles and footwear overtook rice, rubber and tin as Thailand’s leading exports. With the end of the Indochina wars and the insurgency, tourism developed rapidly and became a major earner. The urban population continued to grow rapidly, but overall population growth began to decline, leading to a rise in living standards even in rural areas, although the Isaan continued to lag behind. While Thailand did not grow as fast as the "Asian tigers" like Taiwan and South Korea, it achieved sustained growth.
Prem held office for eight years, surviving two more general elections in 1983 and 1986, and remained personally popular, but the revival of democratic politics led to a demand for a more adventurous leader. In 1988 fresh elections brought former General Chatichai Choonhavan to power. But Chatichai proved both incompetent and corrupt. By allowing one faction of the military to get rich on government contracts, he provoked a rival faction, led by Generals Sunthorn Kongsompong and Suchinda Kraprayoon, to stage a coup in February 1991. The military brought in a civilian prime minister, Anand Panyarachun, who was still responsible to the military in the form of the National Peacekeeping Council with General Sunthorn as chairman. Anand's anti-corruption measures proved popular. Another general election was held in 1992, as is customary after a coup in Thailand.
In March 1992, the military strongman General Suchinda accepted the invitation from a coalition of parties to become Prime Minister, in effect breaking a promise he had made earlier to the King and confirming the widespread suspicion that the new government was going to be a military regime in disguise. However, the Thailand of 1992 was not the Siam of 1932. Suchinda’s action brought hundreds of thousands of people out in the largest demonstrations ever seen in Bangkok, led by the former governor of Bangkok, Major-General Chamlong Srimuang. Suchinda brought military units personally loyal to him into the city and tried to suppress the demonstrations by force, leading to a massacre in the heart of the city in which hundreds died. The Navy mutinued in protest, and the country seemed on the verge of civil war. In May the King intervened: he summoned Suchinda and Chamlong to a televised audience. The result of this was the resignation of Suchinda.
Chuan LeekpaiThe King re-appointed Anand Panyarachun as prime minister until elections could be held in September, which brought the Democrat Party under Chuan Leekpai to power, mainly representing the liberal voters of Bangkok and the south. Chuan was a competent administrator who held power until 1995, when he was defeated at elections by a coalition of conservative and provincial parties led by Banharn Silpa-acha. Tainted by corruption charges from the very beginning, Banharn’s government was forced to call early elections in 1996, in which General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's New Aspiration Party managed to gain a narrow victory.
Soon after coming into office, Prime Minister Chavalit was confronted by the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. After coming under strong criticsm for his handling of the crisis, Chavilit resigned in November 1997 and Chuan returned to power. Chuan came to an agreement with the International Monetary Fund which stabilised the currency and allowed the economy to begin to recover. In contrast to the country's previous history, the crisis was resolved by civilian rulers under democratic procedures.
In the early part of the 21st century, Thai politics has been dominated by the populist Thai Rak Thai ("Thais Love Thais") party of telecommunications millionaire Thaksin Shinawatra. Chuan’s second government was as competent as his first, but he was no match for Thaksin’s demagogic appeal to the mass electorate. Thaksin campaigned effectively against the old politics and against corruption (despite being himself far from above suspicion in this respect), and in January 2001 he had a sweeping victory at the polls, winning a larger popular mandate than any Thai prime minister has ever had in a freely elected National Assembly.
In power, Thaksin has presided over the rapid recovery of the Thai economy. By 2002 Thailand, and Bangkok in particular, was once again booming. As low-end manufacturing moved to China and other low-wage economies, Thailand moved upscale into more sophisticated manufacturing, both for a rapidly expanding domestic middle class market and for export. Tourism, and particularly sex tourism, also remained a huge revenue earner despite intermittent "social order" campaigns by the government to control the country's nightlife.
Thus by 2004 Thai democracy and prosperity seemed firmly established, but the dominance of Thaksin, whose rule was highly personalised and in somewhat authoritarian, was seen by many commentators as an unhealthy development. Thaksin won an even bigger majority at elections in February 2005.
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