En intervju med Somsri Hananuntasuk.
Tidigare ordförande i Amnesty International Thailand och fd chef för Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL)
‘I cast my vote for Thaksin Shinawatra in 2001. He was a fascinating figure: a wonderful new face, young, intelligent, a visionary businessman who didn’t come from the old political class. Many of us thought his business accomplishments meant he could succeed in modernising Thai politics.’
Från att varit en stor beundrare av Takki,där hon berättar varför Takki blev så populär
till att några år senare vakna upp och inse vem han egentligen var och vad han ville med sin politik.
The macho man of the people began to tamper with the courts and fiddle with mainstream media. He cracked down on press freedoms and unlicensed community radio stations, launched defamation suits against critical journalists and kick-started a bloody assault on the Malay Muslim population in the southernmost provinces of the country.
‘Many of us began to feel that a strange new form of people’s dictatorship was being prepared.
Många av oss började känna att en främmande ny form av diktatur förbereddes.
Yingluck’s current popularity is fed by her highly disciplined efforts not to upset her brother. ‘She dodges questions in the parliament, talks about things in principle, sets up investigations, claims she doesn’t have adequate information, or is too busy.’ The dynasty that works together, stays together, she quips. ‘Thailand is surely the only country in the world where key decisions are made or sanctioned by a former prime minister in exile. It’s become our Thai way of doing politics.
We’re one country, with two prime ministers.’
