Reuters: Thai women cheer first female prime minister:
Yingluck Shinawatra, a 44-year-old businesswoman who wasn't even in politics two months ago, is poised to get the top job after the stunning election victory of Puea Thai (For Thais), whose de facto leader is her brother, fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Hopefully Yingluck will help transform Thailand which has reeled from political upheaval for several years. Many Thais are doubtful, though:
"It's obvious who she represents," said Puttasa Karnsakulton, a 37-year-old clothing shop owner.Thaksin, a twice-elected prime minister who is now living as a fugitive from Thai justice in Dubai, has said he wants to come home, and one of Yingluck's policies is an amnesty for political offences."I can't accept it if having the first female prime minister means she'll come in to benefit one person. There are doubts in my mind that this is simply a woman in front of a man," Puttasa said.
If Yingluck is able to secure her brother's return to Thailand, I suspect that there will be a shaking out in the Puea Thai political party. I don't think it can handle two Shinawatras. She should plan her future political career with that in mind.
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2 comments:
Don't stop there!
"Thailand's Democrat government has conceded defeat in Sunday's election – putting Yingluck Shinawatra on course to become the country's first female leader, five years after her brother Thaksin was toppled as prime minister in a coup."
"Preliminary results suggest a remarkable turnaround for Thaksin, a billionaire now living as a fugitive in Dubai. Although Yingluck is putatively leader of the Puea Thai party, she is regarded as his proxy."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LE13Ae01.html
And
http://www.infowars.com/thailands-thaksin-shinwatra-marxists-and-the-nwo/
Yes it's info Wars, but a good one...
@turnrite,
Thanks for those links!
During the red shirt protests in 2010, I noticed some Che t-shirts, but those were the exception. There wasn't much commie symbolism.
Thailand is complicated. The role lese majeste laws (it's a crime to speak ill of the royal family) add a level of indirection and subterfuge that western political junkies are not used to.
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