Good Luck, Yingluck!
Okay, where do I start with this. The Pheu Thai has won the Thai elections. That means Yingluck Shinawatra, the fetching youngest sister of Thaksin Shinawatra--or as he's known to the media, the "fugitive former prime minister"--has nominally won. So, what's my connection to this? Remote, but I worked for the original Asia Times back in its start-up days, which means at least I know how to pronounce Thaksin's name.
Asia Times was was backed by Thai media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul, who was a very tight Thaksin ally until well, he wasn't. Sondhi melted down in the financial crisis, then--telescoping events here--he became a leader of the anti-Thaksin movement and a key figure in the 2006 military coup that toppled Thaksin. Then in 2009 his car was ambushed, and, well, here's the account from Wikipedia, which I can vouch for only as much as I can vouch for anything on Wikipedia:
In April 2009, Abhisit faced massive anti-government protests which caused the Fourth East Asian Summit to be canceled and led to riots in Bangkok. Days after the Bangkok unrest was quelled by military forces, gunmen ambushed Sondhi's car, a black Toyota Vellfire at a petrol station, shot out the tires, and fired over 100 M-16 and AK-47 assault rifle rounds at the car. The attackers escaped from the scene when Sondhi's followers in another car opened fire on them. Sondhi suffered a head wound but was conscious, standing and lucid before being sent to a hospital for surgery. Sondhi survived the surgery, which involved removing several bullet fragments embedded about half a centimetre into his skull. He was visited by relatives afterwards. It was not clear who was behind the shooting, though Sondhi's son and PAD's spokesman speculated a faction of the military or police might have been behind it.
By comparison with Thailand, Turkish politics are quite sane.
Good luck with things, Yingluck. Everyone may think you're just a pretty tool of the traditional Thai power base, but you actually just got yourself elected prime minister of Thailand, and they didn't. You're in charge! I hope they rue the day they underestimated you.
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May '10
Re: Good Luck, Yingluck!
It looks like the Prime Minister has conceded defeat and congratulated Yingluck. If they can manage a peaceful transition if will be a step forward for Thailand, where the normal system is the army steps in and suspends the constitution for a while. Then they have another election after a couple years... Rinse and repeat.
I'm thinking of going to live in Thailand next year, so I hope that Yingluck pulls this transition off.
May '11
Re: Good Luck, Yingluck!
She's a pretty face on bread and circuses, but perhaps right now it's a good path for Thailand. If nothing else, a peaceful transition would do wonders for progress on other fronts.
May '10
Re: Good Luck, Yingluck!
Notice how light-skinned Yingluck is compared to all the surrounding people in all the photos. Maybe this is due to expensive makeup, but more likely it is due to the fact that her grandfather was Chinese and her grandmother was from the Na Chiangmai family (descended from the Lanna monarchy). Northern Thais are lighter than central Thais. In Thailand, being light-skinned is a good thing.
Edited on Jul 3, 2011 at 8:10am