The Thai people speak
THAILAND Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's resignation on Tuesday signifies a healthy triumph of people power in that vibrant Southeast Asian nation. A cascade of huge public rallies against Thaksin's manipulation of democratic forms finally led to the fall of a new kind of autocrat -- the oligarch who buys power and wields it as the CEO of an entire country.
The immediate catalyst for the billionaire tycoon's decision to step aside was, apparently, a well-timed nudge from Thailand's revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Despite a stunning level of opposition to his Thai Rak Thai party in Sunday's parliamentary election -- in which 10 million people cast no votes -- Thaksin initially pretended he nevertheless had a mandate to continue in office, since a majority of voters had voted for his party. But after being summoned to a ''special audience" with King Bhumibol Tuesday, Thaksin went on television to say he was stepping aside so as not to spoil the gala celebrations in June of the king's 60th anniversary on the throne.
The king, however, was only fulfilling the will of his people. In many constituencies, there were more ''no" votes than votes for candidates of Thaksin's party. This was the outcome in 26 constituencies of Bangkok and in 56 more in predominantly Muslim districts of southern Thailand. In 38 other constituencies, unopposed candidates from Thaksin's party failed to get 20 percent of the votes cast, a requirement for gaining a seat in Parliament. Hence, the election did not produce a new parliament in accordance with Thailand's Constitution, but it did deprive Thaksin of a mandate to continue in power.
The election results and the rallies that brought as many as 100,000 demonstrators into the streets were rooted in revulsion against both the domestic abuses of Thaksin's rule and his regional missteps. His government's extra-judicial murders of suspected drug traffickers, the massacre of Muslims in southern Thailand that infuriated neighboring Malaysia, his commercial dealings with a savage military junta in Burma that has been flooding Thailand with methamphetamine, and the corrupt granting of government contracts to well-connected cronies -- these were among the causes of popular disenchantment with Thaksin.
But the final straw was the sale of his family-owned conglomerate to the government of Singapore for $1.9 billion. Included were not only the satellite and mobile-phone branches of his business empire, but also an airline in competition with the Thai national airline. What shocked the Thai public was that Thaksin would pay no tax on the sale of his stock.
The Thais are showing the world that there is a crucial distinction between corporate culture and democratic culture. 