21 st Century  Simon Bolivar -  ex-Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra

     The former PM  had his power & position usurped while attending the yearly General Assembly of the United Nations by a military which was pending to be restructured upon his return from the U.N.  Leading to a disastrous Thai military led government headed by ethnic thai minority muslims.  The main crux of their public argument was the  sale of a so-so satellite by his family members who controlled his personal finances while he was the Prime Minister of Thailand.  In subsequent years his land dealings were the reported cause of his legal difficulties in Thailand. At present he is viewed as a fugitive from justice by the present court appointed government in Thailand.  Astonishingly though, there have been credible newspaper reports of a government plot to assassinate the former PM !  Does anybody still think proposed revamping such a military is a outlandish ?

     The pedigree of the present PM is not in question in this piece, yet the lack of  promised elections certainly does cause one to wonder. As an Ex-Pat American here the causes & effects for such delay does not really cause me much discomfort in my lifestyle.  Unsure how the average thai citizen feels about it, afterall it is their country and the implied lack of communication to non thai speaking individuals is not automatically conclusive of anything good or bad.  But the former PM, and his Red Shirt Political Party ( opponent yellow shirts, not to be confused with Thailand Monarchy Gold as the wonderful King of Thailand has reportedly grown tired of perpetual domestic political instabilities ) are overwhelming winners ( 80 % + )at the ballot box everytime there is a national vote taken.  Which the yellow shirted opposition are quick to take the results into the thai legal system to have them outlawed. Surprising ?  Not when you take into account that the Red Shirt Party traditionally represents the Farm, blue collar workforce throughout the kingdom, while the Yellow Shirt Party represents most of the entrepreneurs, educators, legal profession, medical professionals located mostly in Bangkok.

The one year anniversary of the yellow shirt parties militant protests which  began at Government House in Bangkok, spreading to the beautiful new international airport ( along with support roadway improvements and extension of a Bangkok SkyTrain to the new airport all begun by former PM T. Shinawatra ), the former int’l airport located just north of Bangkok , Don Muang, closing all at the height of the ‘busy’ season here in Thailand. Forcing the government to house all the tourists stranded in country until they could get everything up an running again.

Chang Mai airport, well north of Bangkok still operated throughout all the protesting, the former PM T. Shinawatra accomplished many new modernization programs in  that area of the Kingdom and was apparently planning on moving Government House from Bangkok to that location. The Thai government used it as a temporary seat of government during all the protests .  Of course it is not a great reach to see that his futuristic planning would have eliminated any group, large or small, from disrupting government in the country.

Utapao airport on the south eastern seaboard area of the country, situated conveniently near one of the countries largest tourist areas was utilized and reportedly to be upgraded as a medium size airport in this well populated area south of the present two Bangkok airports.

Now one year on and it has not been done, nor is it in the process of being done !

     The recent appointment of Mr. T. Shinawatra as an economic advisor to Cambodia leads me to believe that we could be potentially be witnessing the morphing of the former PM into a more potent economic force in the southeast asian peninsula.  Tho denied this day in the official world press by Sri Lanka government officials, it has been reported they also would like to hire Mr. T. Shinawatra as an economic advisor. One will have to wait-an-see how that plays out in this part of the world.

     The jewel of the SE Asia Peninsula is Thailand, none of its neighbors come even remotely close to its infrastructure !  The road system, especially in well used tourist routes, public transportation, modern day accommodations readily available, ATM & money changer facilities, state of the art Medical facilities, though not all entirely attributable to Mr. Thaskin Shinawatra’s political accomplishments, most of which are !  And , certainly there are many of his future plans put on  hold until the government can get a handle on them. But the Government of Thailand’s reaping the rewards of such improvements does not give them exclusive rights to the man or his vision for his beloved home country. 

     Laos, Viet Nam, Republic of the Union of Myanmar ( Burma ), and others can and should use Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra’s expertise incorporating the modern economic model into the ways & culture of this ancient civilized region.  The areas inhabitants will only benefit, as will the rest of us.  Outside of Thailand he  currently & correctly viewed as a ‘political victim’.  He has much to offer this part of the world, tho not with his small army like Simon Bolivar centuries before in South America .  But rather with his economic vision for his home country and what can and will be successful in this emerging part of the world for all the countries.
 

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

Kindly note:  Mr. Shinawatra's younger sister, Yingluck, was elected by 85 % of the popular vote recently, becoming first woman to be Thailand's PM.  Expecting her brother to be reconciled is certainly a viable option, both for their family and for the region.
Sadly both are in exile because of political situation in Kingdom.