Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the watershed 'people's constitution' that enshrined human rights, freedom of ex-
pression and granted more power to a civil society to counter corruption. (The 1997
constitution was thrown out during the 2006 coup.)
By the turn of the millennium, the economy had recovered and business interests
had succeeded the military as the dominant force in politics. The telecommunica-
tions billionaire and former police officer Thaksin Shinawatra ushered in the era of
the elected CEO. He was a capitalist with a populist message and garnered support
from the rural and urban poor, and the working class. From 2001 to 2005 Thaksin
and his Thai Rak Thai party transformed national politics into one-party rule.
Monsoon rains, Bangkok
ANDREW LUBRAN/LONELY PLANET IMAGES ©
The Ongoing Crisis
Though Thaksin enjoyed massive popular support, his regime was viewed by urban
intellectuals as a kleptocracy, with the most egregious example of corruption being
the tax-free sale of his family's Shin Corporation stock to the Singaporean govern-
ment in 2006, a windfall of 73 billion baht (US$1.88 billion) that was engineered by
