Bangkok's Political Turmoil Needs King Bhumipol's Steadying Hand to Calm Things Down

Posted by Mari Nicholson Nov 25, 2008

Watching the television coverage of the news from Bangkok today, one is saddened for the people of Thailand, many of whom are as bewildered as the foreigners cooped up at the airport, as to why this has happened.

The divisions in the society run deep and it would seem that they are unbridgable. The ousting of former P.M. Taksin Shinawatra was meant to heal the body politic, but the government elected after his dismissal has been accused of being his puppet.

To outsiders it appears that the fight is based on more than a corrupt P.M. (and no one would deny that corruption was involved) but it also appears strange to outsiders that this was not an issue in earlier governments when corruption was rife.

The alliance of a city elite with the military against a mainly rural support for the deposed P.M. has riven the country. Things have now developed to such an extent that people are openly saying that only the revered King Bhumipol can heal the split. The much revered monarch is not a well man and the problems besetting the country which he hasn't left for many decades, will distress him deeply. He will be loathe to interfere, but what he might do, as he did before under different circumstances, is to advise the rival factions to think of the country and its future.

They would do well to heed him. The scenes at Bangkok's airport tonight were frightening, with people unable to find out when their flights might be scheduled. Tired and weary mothers held children and frustrated fathers demanded service from people unable to deliver. Outside, an angry armed mob controlled of the streets. It was ugly.

Was this the Land of Smiles? Was this Amazing Thailand? Was it for this its many visitors spent hours in 'planes traversing oceans? What happened to democracy?

We are all saddened that this has happened. However much disliked the new government is by some sections of society, it was legally elected and should only be dismissed by the ballot box.