Word: thailand
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...thumping election campaign he has not actually said what he stands for?aside from his vague blandishments about technology and the future. In his first few months in office he sent conflicting foreign-policy signals, telegraphing an isolationist message at an April conference in Bangkok where he said Thailand would reduce dependence on exports and look inward to solve its economic woes; then seeming to backtrack at the May FORTUNE Global Forum in Hong Kong where he pledged to keep Thailand's economy open. Now he insists he has always been a free trader, but that he wants to promote...
...Outside of Japan, Thailand has had perhaps the most disappointing succession of Prime Ministers of any major Asian nation. Since 1991 there have been eight other Prime Ministers, all of whom, at their best, conveyed an image of dull impropriety. (Quick, who was Prime Minister before Thaksin's predecessor Chuan Leekpai? Didn't think you remembered.) Thaksin, on the other hand, has managed to associate himself with wealth, with economic growth, with mobile phones and the Internet. And by now, even remote Thai villages that don't yet have Internet access know it is something they should want...
...that last, pre-verdict campaign-style swing through Northern Thailand, as he works the crowd at Sankampaeng village, where the locals, adhering to Thaksin's One Village, One Product program, are proudly displaying the reams of mulberry paper they have been making, he continuously reminds his constituents of his connection with all things futuristic, shiny and new. He vows to distribute more money without government interference, without a single baht unfairly withheld, without unnecessary delay. He says in his Northern Thai accent that he is one of them, that he knows they can't wait for the money, that they...
...That he has managed to define himself, somehow, as synonymous with Thailand's technologist tomorrow may be Thaksin's greatest trick. In these weeks before the verdict comes down, he crisscrosses the country, assuring rural voters that he and he alone can make Thailand prosperous. If this Constitutional Court rules against him, he implies, the people should not stand for it. Some members of his party publicly warn of mob violence in the event of a guilty verdict. Throwing Thaksin out of office would be like taking money out of your own sarong and burning it. This Constitutional Court, these...
...Thaksin ran against the court. And he won. When the verdict came down, there was a depressing predictability to it. In our most cynical moments we suspected it would turn out like this; that, just as it seemed Thailand was moving toward genuine democracy and true rule of law and an incorruptible judicial system, the nation would be lurched back to old-style Thai politics, and tainted justice?or even more familiar?sanctimonious injustice. Thaksin had been charged with failing to declare assets when he was Deputy Prime Minister in 1997 and parking those hundreds of millions of dollars worth...