Thailand is following in the footsteps of the US; their parliament has just elected an untested young, Oxford-educated politician as the country's new leader. 44-year-old Abhisit Vejjajiva won the vote by a margin of 235 - 198, to become the country's third leader in four months. He inherits a country whose economy lies in tatters after three years of off-and-on political turmoil, and he told reporters he will focus on the need to revive the economy and unite the country's political divisions. (Sound familiar?) But Thai political analysts are already decrying his lack of experience, and they point out that he doesn't seem to have any plan for how to solve the problems. His selection has already triggered a new round of violence, this time by pro-Thaksin forces, and, as the results of three elections proved, they vastly outnumber Thaksin's opponents. They've vowed to return to Parliament in two weeks, when Khun Abhisit gives his first speech.
And the anti-Thaksin forces aren't through yet either. Now that they've finally gotten a prime minister they like, they want to make sure they're able to hold on to that power -- they're proposing to restructure the government so that 70% of the Parliamentary delegates will be appointed. In other words, the coaliation led by the People's Alliance for Democracy has decided that the people can no longer be trusted with the responsibility of democracy. When given the choice, voters overwhelmingly elected a man accused of severe human rights violations, corruption, authoritarianism, demagogery, acting non-diplomatically and hostility towards a free press, and they did it twice. Wait a minute.......that also sounds familiar. Hmmm, maybe we should rethink this idea of democracy in the US, as well.
-- photo courtesy of www.abhisit.org
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