could lead to more turmoil in the country.
Despite an opposition boycott of the nationwide poll, Thailand’s billionaire prime minister expects to be re-elected but then suffer insults, allegations and condemnation by thousands of protesters determined to cripple his government and snarl Bangkok’s streets.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra hoped this Southeast Asian nation’s rural and urban poor would help re-elect his welfare-friendly Thai Rak Thai ("Thais Love Thais") party, which thrust him to power in 2001 and endorsed him in February 2005 with 19 million votes.
Clean-shaven Thaksin has been portrayed as Adolf Hitler by his enemies in speeches, published commentary, and huge posters caricaturing him with a swastika on his forehead and a black moustache — prompting a public complaint by Israel’s embassy.
LAW SUITS
After the election, Thaksin is expected to unleash lawsuits against his critics, whose speeches mixed legitimate issues with rants and unproven allegations. The boycott by opposition candidates could deprive Parliament of its necessary 500 members, because the three biggest opposition parties told Thais to vote "no" instead of avoiding the polls.
If a Thaksin candidate does not get at least 20 percent of the vote in a constituency, that Parliament seat remains vacant, and fresh polling must be held. The opposition hopes "no" votes will poke enough holes in Parliament to force a constitutional crisis blocking Thaksin’s return.
Some opposition leaders hope the king will then appoint a different prime minister. But the constitutional monarch has intervened in the prime ministry only after political bloodshed.
MASSIVE PROTESTS
Recent protests in Bangkok by tens of thousands of people have been peaceful, prompting some political analysts to insist King Bhumibol Adulyadej can not be used by Thaksin’s enemies. The opposition is already grappling with criticism over its "anti-democratic" boycott and refusal to kneel to majority rule.
"I must admit that I feel sorry about not running for re-election, because I fought so hard in the 2005 election to win this seat, and only had a year to serve my constituents," opposition Chart Thai politician Rattakit Paleepat told a reporter this week.
Before the election, Thaksin’s party held a whopping 375 of Parliament’s 500 seats, provoking fear among his critics that he could not be defeated at the ballot box. Thailand’s recently emboldened English language newspapers, meanwhile, have plastered their pages with anti-Thaksin stories, rhetoric and vitriol.
It comes at a time when the United States and other countries seek Asian support in the war against terrorism and Muslim extremish, which security officials say also threaten Christian churches in the country and across Southeast Asia.
CLOSE ALLY
Thaksin is a close ally of United States President George W. Bush and a former police officer who received a PhD in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Texas. The popular poster’s "reward" is 73 billion baht (1.8 billion U.S. dollars), the amount Thaksin’s family pocketed, tax-free, by selling their Shin Corp telecommunications empire on February 24 to the Singapore government’s investment wing, Temasek Holdings.
The sale attracted allegations that Thaksin manipulated tax loopholes to enrich himself, sparking weeks of street demonstrations demanding his immediate resignation. Thaksin insisted he and his family did nothing illegal, and that other Thai investors also use tax laws to maximize profits. Most of the sale’s profit went reportedly to Thaksin’s family, especially his son and daughter.
Earlier, when Thaksin became prime minister, he transferred many assets to them, and to household servants and staff, BosNewsLife monitored. Disgraced former Major-General Chamlong Srimuang, a main leader of the street protests, used his fringe Buddhist "Dharma Army" cult, including children, to rally people against Thaksin.
"SECRET WAR"
During the CIA’s so-called "secret war" in Laos, which it lost in 1975, "Chamlong worked hand-in-hand with American soldiers operating secretly in the area" alongside Thai forces "guarding a remote U.S. radar site in northern Laos," and gained "his first real combat experience" against communist Pathet Lao, according to Asia’s Ramon Magsaysay institute which hailed him in 1992 for government service.
Chamlong and a coup-installed military dictator were reprimanded on nationwide TV in 1992 by Thailand’s revered king, after Chamlong led a pro-democracy march in Bangkok to confront the military, which then shot dead more than 50 civilians.
Thanks to Chamlong’s previous campaigns, abortion is virtually illegal in Thailand. While prolife groups would praise that move, critics say not enough is done to avoid that thousands of desperate mothers are dumping unwanted babies at orphanages.
Chamlong portrays himself as married but celibate. Earlier this year, Chamlong led puritans in an anti-alcohol march to stop a liquor company being listed on Thailand’s stock exchange. Anti-Thaksin protesters include mostly Bangkok’s middle class, academics, critics of the current Thai-U.S. Free Trade Agreement negotiations, idealists, students and the urban elite. They have vowed to stage more street protests next Friday April 7. (Award-winning reporter, photojournalist and author Richard S. Ehrlich with website http://www.geocities.com/asia_correspondent/news.html has covered Asia for 27 years for a variety of media, including as staff correspondent for United Press International from 1978 to 1984, based in Hong Kong and New Delhi. He also co-authored the non-fiction best seller "HELLO MY BIG BIG HONEY!" — Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews. The book, reviewed by Time magazine and other leading publications, looks beyond the red light of Thailand’s nightlife, and gives a rare insight in the often tragic and difficult relationships between prostitutes and their clients. Ehrlich, who was born in the US and is currently based in Bangkok, received the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism’s Foreign Correspondent’s Award in 1978. He speaks some Mandarin, Hindustani, Urdu, Thai, Spanish and French. Ehrlich can be reached for assignments and/or more information via website: http://www.geocities.com/asia_correspondent/news.html )
