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Six days, 63 million ideas. 300 phone lines set up for 12 hours a day. This is the latest effort of Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Prime Minister of Thailand, to bring calm and progress to a politically volatile Thailand. Abhisit hopes his weeklong project will enable people to voice their needs and suggestions directly to the government and help the country return to normalcy after a spate of anti-government protests in recent times.
Elected in December 2008, the 45-year-old, British-born Abhisit became Thailand’s youngest Prime Minister in 60 years. In the 15 months prior to Abhisit’s election, Thailand had seen four prime ministers, all of whom were unable to patch up the divided politics and fractious nature of the country. With a squeaky clean reputation, Abhisit was looked upon as the answer to Thailand’s myriad political and economic problems.
The fledgling Prime Minister was immediately faced with the global financial crisis, which by then was in full swing. Thailand had suffered huge setbacks from plunging exports and international markets entering deep slumber. What’s more, tourism, one of Thailand’s mainstays, waned further with political tensions always bubbling.
Abhisit, a trained economist from Eton and Oxford, immediately set about to untangle the country. To step up trade, Abhisit enhanced foreign relations with the U.S., China and Japan who are Thailand’s primary trading partners. Working together with his Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, Abhisit approved fiscal stimulus measures worth $61.2 billion while fortifying government spending on infrastructure in the long term. Known as the “Strong Thailand 2012” package, the plan is expected to include more than 6,000 development projects. An additional stimulus package to step up tourism was launched in early 2009. The initiative included a three-month waiver on visa fees, a reduced landing charge and a 50% discount on entry fees to the country’s tourist attractions. To finance his stimulus programs, Abhisit even drew back a law that banned the government from borrowing more than 20% of its spending money. Checks worth $75 were issued, albeit just once, to people making less $500 a month. Apart from these measures, Abhisit promised to promote free healthcare and education, cheaper rural loans and a higher minimum wage.
The results of Abhisit’s prompt efforts were visible by the end of the first quarter of 2010 when the Thai economy expanded 3.8% more than the fourth quarter of 2009 and at 12% year-on-year, the fastest rate since 1995.
I can assure you that my government will be guided by the principles of
democracy, good governance, transparency and respect for justice and
the rule of law.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, 2009
However, Thailand’s economy remains shaky, mired in a hotbed of political unrest. Anti-government protestors, named the “Red Shirts”, took to the streets in April-May 2009 when ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra claimed that Abhisit had come to power with the help of the military and other government officials. Today, this has become a bone of contention with the Red Shirts, resulting in a stand-off.
And that has been the root of most of the recent political turmoil in Thailand. The new Prime Minister, known as Mark Vejj to his Oxford college mates, has been blamed for catering to urban Thais and the foreign business community, while neglecting the rural areas whose support wholeheartedly lies even today with Shinawatra.
Mending this rift remains Abhisit’s prime task ahead. “Bridging this [urban-rural] divide is Abhisit's biggest challenge,” points out Chaiwat Satha-Anand, a political scientist at Bangkok's Thammasat University. Encouragingly, Abhisit has not forgotten his campaign slogan “Putting People First,” despite being pummeled by the political turbulence. And to this end, he recently outlined a five-point road map for political reconciliation. The plan includes addressing social and economic problems, providing more freedom to the media, and offering methods for a peaceful resolution of the political fissure. In a bid for legitimacy, Vejjajiva has also proposed a November 14 election date to end the stand-off. While the Red Shirts demand that elections be held in the next three months, Abhisit still stresses, “I'm convinced that it will not take long to achieve national reconciliation. I think this is the best solution at the current time.”
He could be right. Although the Red Shirts are still undecided whether to wait until November for the elections, they have reacted positively toward Abhisit’s road map, a step forward. And with this, there is hope that it may not be too long before Thailand once again becomes the “land of smiles.”
Image Credit: thaigov on Flickr under a Creative Commons license
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