Asia Banyan
By-election in Bangkok
Not with a whimper
Jul 26th 2010, 6:42 by S.M. | BANGKOK
BANGKOK held a parliamentary by-election on Sunday, the first test of public opinion since troops rumbled into the city centre to put down chaotic street protests on May 19th. The capital and much of Thailand’s north and north-east is still under a state of emergency. The voting itself went off without a hitch, if one wasn't put off by the sight of armed police commandos buzzing around on motorbikes. And the democratic result was in line with expectations: a victory for the ruling-party candidate over his rival, a jailed leader of the “red shirt” protesters, who conducted his campaign from behind bars and under threat of censorship. Though only 50% of the city’s eligible voters bothered to turn out, it was refreshing to see even a glimpse of democracy in action.
Sadly, the orderly day took a bloody jolt in its final hours. More succinctly than any voting could have done, a bomb blast spoke for the centrifugal forces that are pulling at the centre of Thailand today. A few hours after the polls closed, a single explosion ripped through a bus stop in a busy shopping district. Nine people were taken to hospital; one later died of his injuries. That the bomb exploded near the site of May’s bloody showdown between security forces and the red shirts strongly suggests a political meaning. The meaning itself however is obscure. All sides seem certain to deny any involvement and point the finger of blame at their enemies. It was the worst kind of spoiler for any election.
The man who won the vote, Panich Vikitsareth, is a former banker and was once the deputy mayor of Bangkok. He belongs to the Democrat Party led by Thailand’s prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva. Since the contested seat had been vacated by the death of another Democrat, Mr Panich’s victory will maintain the parliament’s precarious state of balance. It has a symbolic importance too. In his acceptance speech, after telling reporters that he will do his best to represent all the voters of his Bangkok constituency, Mr Panich made sure to frame his victory as an endorsement of the sitting government’s policies.
For the red shirts, the balloting provided a now rare opportunity to gather in public and vent anger. They remain furious over the military crackdown on their season of protest. The subsequent state of emergency has granted civilian and military authorities sweeping powers to arrest, suppress and monitor the country’s citizens. More than two months on, the army is reluctant to give up these powers. Hundreds of protesters remain in detention. Their leaders face charges of terrorism. In parallel, the hunt for anyone who might be accused of insulting the monarchy is intensifying. The government encourages Thais to rat each other out, and anti-dissent Facebook groups have sprung up to oblige.
Mr Abhisit has said that he favours lifting the emergency law, but gradually. His aides point hopefully to the law’s having been lifted in several provinces earlier this month—a step in the right direction, they say. But as they well know, the emergency’s prolonged enforcement in the capital dashes any pretence that the life of the country is back to normal. That also seems to be the message of Sunday’s bombing. During the protests of April and May, a series of grenade attacks around the city were blamed on mysterious armed men who seemed to move among the red shirts. But most of those attacks did little more than damage property. Detonating a bomb at a bus stop on a Sunday evening is heinous on a different order. In a gesture, it suggests that Thailand’s political turmoil is far from over.
In this blog, our Asia correspondents and our Banyan columnist provide comment and analysis on Asia's political and cultural landscape. The blog takes its name from the Banyan tree, under which Buddha attained enlightenment and Gujarati merchants used to conduct business
Advertisement
- Americas view | The Americas
- Babbage | Science and technology
- Bagehot's notebook | British politics
- Banyan | Asia
- Baobab | Africa
- Blighty | Britain
- Buttonwood's notebook | Financial markets
- Cassandra | The World in 2012
- Charlemagne's notebook | European politics
- Clausewitz | Defence, security and diplomacy
- Democracy in America | American politics
- Eastern approaches | Ex-communist Europe
- Free exchange | Economics
- Game theory | Sports
- Graphic detail | Charts, maps and infographics
- Gulliver | Business travel
- Johnson | Language
- Leviathan | Public policy
- Lexington's notebook | American politics
- Multimedia | Audio, video and videographics
- Newsbook | News analysis
- Prospero | Books, arts and culture
- Schumpeter | Business and management
Most commented
- Competition: Help us name our new China blog
- Will the euro survive 2012 intact?
- Banyan: Having it both ways
- China: The paradox of prosperity
- Pollution in China: Man-made and visible from space
- The politics of fairness: Fairly confusing
- Race in Brazil: Affirming a divide
- Tibetans and the Chinese state: No power to pacify
- Debating economic policy: Stimulus, austerity and the weltgeist
- Facebook: A fistful of dollars
Over the past five days
Most recommended
- China: The paradox of prosperity
- The future of teaching: Difference engine: Let the games begin
- Competition: Help us name our new China blog
- Pollution in China: Man-made and visible from space
- Race in Brazil: Affirming a divide
- Technology trade shows: Silicon implants
- Alcohol: Possibly the best travel tip ever
- A presidential cartoon: Riding lessons
- Scandal in Slovakia: The multi-million euro gorilla
- Fernando Henrique Cardoso on Brazil's future: More personal security, less inequality
Over the past seven days
Advertisement
Subscribe to The Economist's free e-mail newsletters and alerts.
Subscribe to The Economist's latest article postings on Twitter
See a selection of The Economist's articles, events, topical videos and debates on Facebook.
Readers' comments
The Economist welcomes your views. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers. Review our comments policy.
Sort:
Dear wilfred knight....livefromCA2 is right. Bankokkian likes me....my opinion...fundamental of long sustain is democracy...Thailand is for 60 mil...urban and rural...They might have different status but all must listen too each other...rural shouted out...we should listen...I'm trying to listen and hear them.
This victory means nothing. This was an election for a seat from Bangkok, a stronghold of the ruling group and the center of obstruction to aspirations of people from other parts of Thailand. The victory in no way reelects shifting sentiment or an exercise in democracy.
Two years ago bombs were set off in Bangkok during the Christmas holiday. At least one foreign tourist was killed and several were injured. The story was mostly spiked. This is nothing new.
"Grenades, RPG ,and automatic rifle fire, emanated from the red-shirts ranks. They torched millions worth of department store malls & merchandize."
My goodness, they use Grenades/RPG to torch department stores? That is certainly one way to "overthrow the government". Blink, blink.
Look, if there were fractions that use violence, then they should be caught and punished as criminals, but that has nothing to do with law abiding protesters.
Wilfred Knight,
The greater harm to tourism in Bangkok was caused by the subsequent government ordered curfew and the ongoing state of emergency.
More significantly, the Yellow Terror PADster's caused far greater economic harm to millions of Thai people when they seized and occupied the international airport in their bid to oust yet another elected government by force rather than anything like due process.
And it was those anti-democratic Yellow antics that led very directly to the Red protests.
It is the Yellow PADster mobs and their backers who bear most of the responsibility for Thailand's ongoing political malaise. That and a refusal to permit open discussion of matters of increasingly grave political concern to the entire Thai people.
Conspicuously, the PADster Yellow terrorists remain at large as usual, whilst the Red's similarly charged are in jail. Teh double standard could not be more glaring: hardly a recipe for reconciliation.
Okay, you have to admit that the latest incident was over the top. such actions should be reprimanded.But do keep in mind that a majority of the red dissidents surely resents the current govt yet they too denounced whatever happened a few months ago.
Despite setting ablaze several buildings and seizing the heart of Bangkok, the fundamental politics of Thailand remains ,as before, undemocratic.The emergency decree is being imposed,much worse than during the junta rule.
I had to agree with the economist as words coming of Mr. Abhisit's mouth is rather all pretence; he says all sugar coated words, but acts so far from reconciling. the decree is moreover being used to threaten several opposition MPs to defect (their bank accounts are suspended and they are not permitted to engage in any financial transactions.)
It could not get any uglier for Thailand and its democracy; its conservative roots have deeply entrenched and continued to hamper its political development.
...Define "protest" .
It has a spectrum of meaning . We are talking apples & oranges.
This was organized urban guerilla warfare , with intent to overthrow the government. It was an incitement to riot.
Grenades, RPG ,and automatic rifle fire, emanated from the red-shirts ranks. They torched millions worth of department store malls & merchandize.
This was not just a 'protest'.
It was not a 'protest' in the western sense of the word.
The Economist deliberately obfuscates what went down, & is called out for it in the Thai press repeatedly by ordinary Thai citizens, for one-sided reporting.
wilfred knight,
So no protest (or, only at places that no one cares about) because it is bad for the tourist industry? Are you from a democracy? I can't believe people gives up the principle of democracy for a few bucks.
.... The Economist continues to whitewash the enormous economic hardship the redshirts imposed on ordinary Bankokkians with their 'protest'
They basically shut-down the city centre , and the tourist industry.
Your reporters should talk to the taxi- drivers, hotel & bar staff, the night bazaar sales people, and all the little shops that depend on tourists. Hotel occupancies plummetted. Staff were cut to part-time-cutting their wages to the bone.
Please report this side of the red-shirt 'protest' and get a grip on these workers financial losses.
They are still hurting.
The tourists & their money has not yet come back.
Well, I have to say, the Economist was right back in 2005-2006, when it said that Thailand should have kept Thaksin Shinawatra. He needed to be judged at the ballot box - and possibly later in court - but instead of democracy, some anti-Shinawatra Thais chose instability.