While I was in San Francisco, I commented to someone that I hoped the political situation didn’t boil over before I returned to Khrungthep, so that I could be there to witness a coup d’etat first hand. 

Fortunately, the simmer did wait until I returned and, also fotunately, instead of a coup d’etat we just had a questionable election followed by the Prime Minister’s resignation.

Back story: Thaksin Shinawatra (the final “a” in his surname is not aspirated) had three years left in his second term as Prime Minister of Thailand.  Re-elected a year ago by wide margins, his Thai Rak Thai (literally, “Thais love Thais”) political party dominates the parliament and his position as PM was quite secure.  However, his popularity started sliding especially among the middle- and upper-classes of Khrungthep. 

The claim: his administration was chock full of the same corruption and cronyism that has plagued Thai politics for years and it had continuied to escalate.  The tipping point: Sinawatra and his family sold their 49.6% stake in AIS, the major mobile phone services provider, to Tammasak Holdings (the Singapore government’s investment arm), gaining a US$1.9 billion windfall – tax-free thanks to some questionable regulatory manoeuvering.

So a coallition of opposition politicians – including Thaksin’s political mentor – started leading a series of public rallies and protests demanding that he resign.  More covereage available here at 2bangkok.com.  These protests were plaguing the city for the past two months, with tens of thousands (and by some estimates as many as 300,000) of people blocking traffic and disrupting business. 

The protests had such impact on the city that the new Siam Paragon shopping mall closed its doors for two days as a weekend protest took place in the street outside.

In an interesting move, Thaksin called for snap elections – three years early – that were held on Sunday, April 2nd.  The three major opposition parties boycotted the elections and so in many electoral districts the Thai Rak Thai candidate was the only one on the ballot.  The ballot also included an abstention box, effectively a “no” vote against Thaksin.

While Thaksin’s popularity is weak in the Bangkok area and much of the South, it remains higher in the North and Northeastern parts of the country.  As such, TRT (and by extension, Thaksin) won the majority of the 364 seats in the election.  However, TRT received several million fewer votes than the last election, reflecting a significant drop in popular support nationwide.

Additionally and more crucially, in 36 constituencies (all in the South) TRT fielded the only candidates and those candidates failed to receive the constitutionally-required minimum number of votes, which is equal to 20% of the eligible voters in that district.  This means that parliament is short 36 members and, by law, the parliament cannot meet to select a new (or reaffirm the current) PM until all constituencies are represented.

(Take a careful look between the legs of the Thaksin charicature on the poster!)

And thus we reached a critical juncture in this saga…

Asking Tawn on Sunday evening what he thought might happen, he predicted, rightly, that Thaksin would wait for the election results, claim victory, and then make the magnanomous gesture of stepping down. 

Sure enough, on Monday evening after an audience before His Majesty the King (much speculation as to whether he had anything to do with this… most likely not overtly) Thaksin went on the nationwide television pool and announced that in a spirit of reconciliation, putting the intersts of the nation ahead of his own, he was resigning as Prime Minister.

His explained rationale: with the 60th anniversary of His Majesty’s succession to the throne less than two months away, it was necesary that all parties put aside their differences and come together for both the country and for the King.

So what does it all mean?  Well, keep in mind that TRT still won a large majority of the seats in Parliament.  Already, Thaksin has appointed his #1 deputy, Chidchai Wannasathit, as interim PM.  Thaksin will also remain a member of Parliament and the head of the Thai Rak Thai party.  As the headline in this morning’s Bangkok Post put it: “Total Break or Simply A Canny Ploy?”

It is not over yet…

Elsewhere, in other news, today is Wan Chakri or Chakri Memorial Day, celebrating the founding of the Chakri Dynasty here in Thailand.  April 6, 1782 was the day King Rama I ascended the throne after the death of King Thaksin.  The current King is Rama IX.  So today is a holiday in Thailand.  Businesses are closed.  Malls are open.  Malls are always open.  For some reason, Union Language School decided that instead of celebrating the holiday today, we would take tomorrow (Friday) off instead.  So I had to go to school today while Tawn stayed home and tomorrow I’ll stay home from school while Tawn goes to work. 

This is a holiday-filled time of year.  Next week we celebrate Songkran, resulting in a 5-day weekend for most people.  ULS is only taking a 4-day weekend, but then what should I expect?  More about Songkran next week.

Yesterday evening we had dinner with Tod.  It was nice to see him again and we were able to drop off all of the things that Darrin had sent back with me from San Francisco: toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, CDs, and an iPod optical digital output line.  The dental items were a thoughtful touch, but just so everyone is clear: you can buy Crest products in Thailand. 

Dinner was a Zen, an inexpensive Japanese restaurant on Soi Convent just off Silom.  After a lengthy and very fun dinner, we decided to go for foot massages, winding up at a second story massage parlor that was somewhat less than reputable.  While the foot massages are on the up-and-up (they take place at the front of the building by the windows so no worries about anything untoward occurring) you can definitely get a full body oil massage with (ahem) extra services at a place like this.  (Left: Tod and Tawn enjoying a post-massage cup of tea)

The massage was relaxing, although I think I prefer the familiar and more conservative environment of the neighborhood massage shop we regularly patronize.  Although the foot massage at the place we went to on Silom was perfectly good, the setting was a bit seedy.  And I miss the friendly masseuses who have come to recognize us and who think my slowly-improving Thai is quite funny.

Friday evening before I left we had a party (three of five if my count is correct) for Emily’s third birthday.  Not sure how she managed to get five parties out of this, but between parties at day care, “immediate” family, the rest of the family, the other side of the family, and her non-day care friends, it added up.  For dinner I prepared pizzas from scratch, mixing the dough in the afternoon and letting it proof before heading over to St. Luke’s Hospital on the Plaza to visit my grandmother, who had undergone some surgery to improve blood circulation in her right leg.  All is well there.

Returning about six o’clock, I consigned my mother to serve as sous chef and started prepping the topings, setting up a mean mise en place.  In addition to a salad of spring field greens, we had the following pizzas:

Emily’s Choice – olives, Italian sausage and cheese

Margheritta – tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil

Hawaiian – Canadian bacon and fresh pineapple

Sauerkraut and Canadian bacon – a tribute to my father’s parents, who introduced this combination to me when I was a child

Arugula Salad – Italian sausage, bell peppers, mushrooms with fresh arugula added after cooking

Zachary’s Special – spinach and mushrooms inspired by the Berkeley pie shop

We were joined by Pat Goodfriend, a long time friend of the family who may be visiting us in Bangkok this autumn. 

Above, Pat poses with the Margheritta pizza, the perfect Betty Crocker image.  Other pictures from the trip:

Zoe lazing about in the sun in Jenn’s dining room

Enjoying birthday cupcakes at Emily’s day care

Jennifer and her two daughters at Grandma and Grandpa Tebow’s house

Emily opening a (big) present from Uncles Chris and Tawn

Kevin and Ava catch a late-night nap

Just as I was getting acclimated to the cool weather of early Spring in North America (and, I might add, as temperatures were brushing 21° C (70° F) in Kansas City) my time there came to an end and I returned to find the hot season very much underway in Khrungthep.  Yesterday the high was 35° C (95° F) and the overnight “low” was 27°C (80° F).

My trip from Kansas City was smooth, other than a 110 minute delay out of Kansas City that effectively eliminated my layover at O’Hare.  Which isn’t really a bad thing, come to think of it.  The entire trip took about 30 hours from the time I left my sister’s house in to the time Tawn and I pulled into our apartment car park.  By the time I unpacked my suitcases and went to bed, it was about 1:30 Monday morning.  Left: a snack somewhere over Anchorage.

Six hours later I was at Union Language School to continue my Thai language studies.  Exciting!

Of the thirteen students who started Thai with me in November, four of us are still enrolled at ULS.  Two of us are in the same class, repeating Module 3.  Another (Chihiro) is now in Module 4.  And one more (Yoichi) is in Module 5, now pretty fully able to read and write.  Oh, well, they tell us that each module is equivalent to one year of language learning in the Thai primary school system so I’m at, what, seven years old now?  Realistically, though, I think my comprehension rate is more like a pre-schooler.

It is good to be back in town despite the heat.  My tomato seedlings are making slow progress; I think they don’t get enough sun.  Tawn murdered one of houseplants but the remainder of them are doing well.