Thailand - Understand & Survival (Chapter)

HISTORY & POLITICS

HISTORY

1988

Chatichai Choonhavan

becomes fi rst elected

PM since 1976; trade

opens with Indochina.

1991-

General Suchinda

attempts to seize

power; King Bhumibol

intervenes to halt civil

turmoil surrounding

'Black May' protests.

1997

Asian economic crisis;

passage of historic

‘people’s constitution’.

2001

Telecommunications

tycoon, Thaksin

Shinawatra is elected

prime minister.

rights and religious freedoms. He also off ered amnesty to the armed

insurgents and implemented an economic development plan for the his-

torically impoverished region.

The Thaksin regime took another approach to the region, which still

ranks among the most economically and educationally depressed in the

country. Greater central control was exerted and was viewed as a thinly

disguised policy to break up the traditional stronghold of the Democrat

Party. The policy succeeded in weakening relations between the local

elite, Southern voters and the Democrats who had served as their repre-

sentative in parliament. However, it did not take into consideration the

sensitive and tenacious Muslim culture of the Deep South. In 2002, the

government dissolved the long-standing inspectorate and the Army-run

joint civilian-police-military border security offi ce – a unit often lauded

for maintaining peace and stability and providing a communication link

between the Thai government and the southern Muslims. In its place the

Thai provincial police assumed control of security though they lacked

perceived moral authority and support of the local population. In 2004,

the government responded harshly to demonstrations that resulted in

the Krue Se Mosque and Tak Bai incidents, which together cost the lives

of at least 180 Muslims, many of them unarmed civilians. In 2005, mar-

tial law was declared in the area.

It was widely believed that the 2006 coup, led a by a Thai-Muslim

general, could potentially settle the violence in the south but that has

not come to pass. Bombings and shootings continue and the region has

become a no-go zone.

TROUBLE IN THE TEMPLE FRONTIER

In 2008 Cambodia successfully petitioned Unesco to list the ancient Khmer temple of

Khao Phra Wihan (‘Preah Vihear’ in Cambodian; see p 432 ) as an offi cial World Heritage

Site. Remote and seemingly insignifi cant, the temple has long been a contentious issue

between Cambodia and Thailand. A 1969 International Court of Justice case awarded

Cambodia ownership of the temple, but both countries lay claim to a 4.6-sq-km area

surrounding it. Four years since the Unesco decision, troops have been deployed to the

border and periodically exchange fi re.

Running up to the Thai general election of 2011, border tensions increased partly due

to competing political interests in both countries. Cambodian leader Hun Sen is viewed

as a Thaksin ally and was accused of using the dispute to make the Abhiset government

look weak. Meanwhile anti-Thaksin groups in Thailand were accused of exploiting the

issue as a nationalistic wedge to discredit pro-Thaksin sentiments. The struggle seems

to have fi zzled with the Puea Thai electoral win and a 2011 Thai-Cambodian border com-

mittee meeting resulted in an offi cial statement of future cooperation.

For more

information on

the conflict in the

Deep South, see

the boxed text,

p 596.