Letter from Thailand - January 20, 2008

Dear Reader,

Well it's been another interesting week in Thailand. Talk has mostly centered around the Supreme Court's decision on the December 23^rd general election. Since the election, a big chunk of politicians have had their victories found to be null and void. The reason given? Election fraud. Funnily though, most of the ones who were found 'guilty' of this supposed sin were members of the PPP (the People's Power Party), the party made up of the deposed Prime Minister's supporters. All voted in by an overwhelming majority by the Thai people. Through to the end, this illegal military government is still tring to control who gets to govern the country.

Finally on Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed all lawsuits against the December 23^rd election. This now opens the door for the opening of Parliament next week and the forming of a new coalition government. The new government will be led by the PPP, made up of friends of exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. My prediction? Thaksin will be back in Thailand legally with all charges against him dropped by the end of the year.

Thailand has had a huge problem with muslim extremists in the south for decades. This last year was particularly bad with many bombings and murders. Eight soldiers were killed by militants in Narathiwat last week. The government has announced the creation of a 'war room', which will head the forces against the militants. Kind of sad to see Thailand, which is supposedly a peaceful Buddhist country, have something called a 'war room'.