A nation bordered by strategically important South-East Asian powers such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, and Myanmar – all of which are the breathing grounds of the South-East Asian identity – Thailand, for sure, has been divinely blessed to rest amidst the who’s who of that geopolitical sphere. Thai means free, a nation that has never been ruled by any foreign power, and was known as Siam in the ancient ages. Recently, the Thai Parliament has elected Anutin Charnvirakul as the Prime Minister of the nation, that has been embroiled in countless controversies, all because of its incessant power struggles.
A nation that has never been home to political stability for an extended period of time, a nation that defied all foreign powers but is not able to completely resolve domestic differences, and a nation that holds so much potential for the future of the South-Asian region, Thailand for sure is in an intricately woven mesh of troubles and frictions. The parliamentary vote held on 5th September allowed Anutin to breeze past the parliamentary session and trounce the previously dominating Shinawatra family’s candidate in a vote that is being seen through moral and ethical lens as well, ending a week of boiling tensions, and turmoil that needs no introduction and description. The Bhumjaithai Party surely has a lot to celebrate after Anutin won, but a lot more to pick up as scrambles and join the stability dots of a politically charged nation. Pheu Thai party, on the other hand, lost a lot.
The Shinawatra clan has been the mainstay of Thai politics, but has since a very long time also been dealing with in-fighting and lost alliances. Bhumjaithai party is but one of them. While Thaksin left for Dubai, his party did not even get to keep the pieces of what was once the most important and strongest alliance of Thai politics – the Shinawatra-Bhumjaithai alliance. The loss was triggered early this year but got compounded by the dismissal of Paetongtran Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter, by the Constitutional Court. Not only that, but Anutin won on the vote by pleasing his loyalists and some from over the fence too, emboldening his image as a conservative but also a reformer, basically who opened the gates of the Thai nation to marijuana retailers much more than anyone else.
Thailand has always had a noted difficulty in holding a stable governance structure, but this year’s events have really upped the ante. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, and from 1992 until the 2006 coup, the country was legally considered a functional democracy, and certain constitutional changes were also made in the governance apparatus. The King in Thailand is considered the most powerful direct symbol of unity and governance under the country’s structural and functional apparatus, but also that Thailand’s government blends a mixture of Thai principles of administration and western laws. It must also be noted that in the backdrop of the current crisis, Thailand and its neighbour Cambodia have also confronted each other in the limited conflict over the Preah Vihar case, that had to be stopped with continuous efforts of the neighbouring nations and western alliance partners.
On July 1, the then Thai Prime Minister Paetongtran Shinawatra was suspended by the Constitutional Court, which was followed by a leaked phone call with former Cambodian premier Hun Sen. This particular case was brought in by over 30 lawmakers, who accused Shinawatra of being defiantly uninvolved in resolving the cross-border crisis with Cambodia, when she referred to the Cambodian Premier as “uncle”, which was not at all proper and diplomatic for a State Head leading war negotiations. This incident was the breaking point between Shinawatra’s party and the Bhumjaithai alliance, and exactly after this, Anutin broke away from this alliance and, as a result, became the Prime Minister of Thailand.
In a leaked internet record posted by the Cambodian Premier, Shinawatra was recurrently referring to Thai military general and, in an opaque reference, accusing the Thai military general of inaccuracies, which was not accepted and did not really go down well with the Thai army. The Thai army has considerable clout over the government and its policies, and this was not to be seen as something ignorable by the same. Not only this, Shinawatra’s actions were derided by the Cambodian Premier as well, who considered it an insult to the army, from the monarchy’s side. This left Shinawatra with little to no supporters, lost military support, and a family reeling under a list of accusations by the army. Shinawatra’s father also is set to be present in the court from Dubai, who is too accused of insulting the Thai military. The father-daughter duo, it appears, have irked the army beyond limits in a country where insulting the army and making baseless comments on the same can lead to real crisis as well as strict punishments under the law of the land.
Cambodia and Thailand share an 800-km long border with a lot of disputes, Preah Vihar being the biggest and the most contended one of them. Ms. Shinawatra not only inherited a collapsed Thai political structure but an endangered economy as well. Add on to that the Preah Vihar struggle, her father’s self-imposed exile, her predecessor’s removal from office by the Constitutional Court, and her own shaky alliance. Thailand thus is in a very politically embroiled state right now, but the solution to all that lies in finding a lasting political solution. However, the same has not been possible up until now because of the many turmoils that have taken place in the nation since the military coup. Shinawatra’s exit, and the Cambodian Premier’s statement on the issue have really compounded the matter.
How far shall Anutin’s government hold the parliament in confidence needs to be seen. However, any conflict in India’s neighbourhood surely shall have many repercussions for the greater India Act-East Policy as well. That is why peace in the neighbourhood is likely to keep the Indian diplomatic relations at peace, and in good warmth, indeed.
