Yearbook 2007
 Thailand. In June, the Constitutional Court ordered the
former ruling party Thai straight Thai ('Thais love Thais')
to be dissolved for cheating in general elections in 2006.
At the same time, its 111 most prominent leaders were banned
from working politically for five years. One of those
excluded from the political arena was former Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra, who has lived abroad since he was
deposed in a military coup in September 2006. A few days
later, the ban on normal political activity was lifted for
the country's other parties, which could thus start
preparing for the job. the new election promised by the
military government in December.
According to
CountryAAH, a new constitution was adopted in a referendum in August.
However, the opposition was strong in northeast Thailand,
where Thaksin has the most followers. The constitution was
considered to be clearly aimed at preventing the former
prime minister from returning to power, mainly by
prohibiting the head of government from holding large
shareholdings in private companies. Thaksin was charged,
among other things. for buying votes and political support
with the help of his large private fortune. It will also be
easier to put a prime minister before the national court.
A major winner in the parliamentary elections was the
previously insignificant People's Power (PPP), whose success
was explained by attracting those who previously worked for
or voted for Thai straight Thai. The party missed its own
majority with a dozen mandates and started government
negotiations with smaller parties. These negotiations were
still in progress at year-end.
In southern Thailand, the separatist Muslim uprising that
has been going on since 2004 continued.
That the revered king Bhumibol Adulyadej, who turned 80
in December, should not be criticized, the Internet site
YouTube experienced. Thai authorities shut down YouTube in
April after images that were believed to offend King
Bhumibol had been posted. Only in August could the site be
reopened after those responsible promised that similar posts
would be filtered out.
A few months after Bangkok's new major airport
Suvarnabhumi was inaugurated in the fall of 2006, technical
problems created such difficulties that the aviation
authorities were forced to reopen the old airport Don Muang.
From May 2014, the dictator spoke every Friday on TV at
the best broadcast time to explain the dictatorship's
policy. Often these were "broadcasts" of more than an hour's
duration. In March 2015, the dictator declared that he was
tired of speaking and that weekly broadcasts would be
reduced to 20-30 minutes.
The armed conflict in the southern part of the country
escalated during 2014. 162 civilians were killed during the
year. In November, the dictatorship delivered 2,700
semi-automatic weapons to civilian militias in the area.
In August 2015, a bomb at the Erawan Temple in Bangkok
killed 27 and wounded 120. No one subsequently took
responsibility for the bomb. United States for the
investigation. It fueled speculation that it was the
dictatorship itself that was behind the bomb.
The country's economy has been in recession since 2013
and was further hit by the Chinese devaluations in August
2015.
In the summer of 2015, a comprehensive criminal
organization of traffickers, abductors, murderers and slave
traders was revealed in southern Thailand. The organization
smuggled people from Bangladesh and Rohingya from Myanmar
into Thailand, and in some cases to Malaysia. But the
smugglers placed most victims in secret camps in the jungle,
where they were then forced to call relatives in Myanmar or
Bangladesh who were forced to buy them for € 2500-3500.
Several hundred refugees this failed for were killed. The
organization was discovered when authorities in southern
Thailand found mass graves with hundreds of victims. The
2015 investigation revealed that dozens of Thai government
officials and businessmen were involved in the organization.
The most prominent of these was Lieutenant General Manus
Kongpan. However, the link to the military quickly
jeopardized the investigation. In December 2015, the Chief
of Investigation, Major General Paween Pongsirin, fled the
country and sought asylum in Australia after facing threats
from the military. After a lengthy trial, in July 2017,
dozens of small and large fish were sentenced in the case -
including many public servants. (Thailand convicts
traffickers after 2015 mass graves discovery, Guardian
19/7 2017)
Military dictatorship created a new "constitution" which
in August 2016 was adopted in a "referendum" with 61% of the
vote. The dictatorship banned criticism of the draft
constitution in the period leading up to the vote. 120
politicians, journalists and activists who nevertheless
broke the ban were arrested and sentenced by military
courts. The dictatorship also prohibited monitoring the
elections.
King Bhumibol died in October 2016 after more than 70
years on the throne. After a grieving period, his son
Vajiralongkorn formally assumed the throne on December 1st.
He was expected to be crowned a year later. The newly
inaugurated the king asked for a large number of amendments
to the just-adopted dictatorship constitution, and they were
voted through in parliament by a large majority in January
2017.
The dictatorship continued the trial of former Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for alleged criminal
wastefulness in managing the state's rice subsidy program.
In October 2016, the government ordered her to pay a $ 1
billion fine. US $ for losses due to the program.
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