The Ghost Of Thaksin
One of the problems that the current prime minister of Thailand, Abhisit, had with the red shirt protest of the last few months is that he is dealing with a ghost. The ghost has a name and it is Thaksin Shinawatra.
I do want to say that Thaksin is in fact alive. His spirit or ghost still exists in Thailand even though he has been in exile for the last two years. He is too chicken to go to jail for two years. He may not be here, but he is able to haunt Thai politics through good use of his money and through supporters he had in northern and northeastern Thailand.
When Thaksin was in power from 2001 to 2006, his policies partly helped people in the above-mentioned Thai regions. HE gave them everything that they wanted and he focused on them no other Thai PM had ever done before. He even had a program to give them free cows which meant a lot in the agricultural Northeast or Isaan as it is called in Thai. He literally gave them money There are pictures of him giving 1,000 Baht notes on the streets of Isaan streets in the Bangkok Post and the Nation. As a result, he viewed almost akin to a god in Isaan. Most red shirts come from Isaan and the Thai North.
Abhisit and the Thai government have to beat a person that is a legend, a spirit and a god. How do you beat such a person? You can’t use reason because he is above reason. You can’t kill him because he has become immortal in the eyes of his followers. You can’t argue with him because he is not here. It is very hard to beat somebody who is not even here.
Thaksin is like those ghosts in all those horror films. They can’t be touched. They can’t be killed because they are already dead. The protagonists of these movies like Abhisit will have to deal with the villains in the endless sequels of the original movie.
Thaksin is like Madonna. He has changed his image to suit his purposes. When he was in power, he was the decisive CEO dictator who squashed anybody in his way by using the Thai legal system. When he was out of power, he suddenly became an ardent supporter of the democratic concept. He and his supporters said that he was the victim of a mysterious third party that was out to destroy all that he stood for. After his money was confiscated earlier this year by the Thai courts, he is Jesus, a fighter for social justice and a victim of the elites. How do you fight a person who keeps on changing his stand?
Abhisit is fighting a person who is not here and who keeps on changing like a changeling. It is no wonder that the Thai government can’t deal with such a man.