During the Thaksin tenure and the red riots, I always was on the anti-Thaksin side. 

I felt he was corrupt and I read the "Thaksinisation of Thailand" which claimed his early deals like the Police Computer System were corrupt and therefore he got wealthy on corrupt deals. I was influenced by the authors (other Westerners like me). 

 

Now though - I look at it differently. 

 

Thaksin didn't create the rather unique way things work in Thailand - he just played the game well. There was plenty of competition too. He played the game so well, he became a billionaire. If any deal he was involved with did involve Tea money - does anyone think another player existed that could have got the deal without it?

 

So I look at the history of his business and his rise in politics as someone playing the game very well. 

 

Then the populism in Isaan  - 30 Baht healthcare, free Buffalo's, loans for micro-businesses. Was it just an attempt to buy people's love? Did he really care? No idea - BUT - if it was a play - he didn't create the state of affairs that left those people feeling neglected either. Either way - they got something tangible and beneficial. These people were disenfranchised and by my count - he made them feel like their votes counted but he also created a situation where he needed to maintain that voting base - something he could only do long term by continuing to positively impact their lives. 

 

I look at stuff like Clinton Foundation contributions dropping to nothing when she lost the election. Donors giving money to both sides. The $1 billion dollar cost of running a US presidential campaign. The wealth that politicians in US attain during their tenure and I think.

 

If Thailand is corrupt - at least it's out in the open. We aren't kidding ourselves about it. 

 

He's no angel - I'm not saying he should come back or anything - but I do now look back and think that he played the game really well - but we tend to think he did things on his path that wouldn't just have been done by someone else. 

 

As for stuff like Tak Bai - that was very unfortunate - but I don't believe he ordered people to be suffocated in a truck. It was a screw up lower down. If you wanted to kill people - death by truck suffocation is a bit hit and miss. 

 

For stuff that occurred after he was ousted. I can't excuse that. But I'd made my mind up on things waaaaay before that - and I am still mulling it over.

Who cares 

Word around Isaan is that he is coming back to lead them out of Covid.

So no doubt hes been fast at it making more empty promises.

I just can fathom how/why those folk keep believing him

He was the first Thai Politician to use populist policies to win elections,

before politicians spent their own money to buy votes.

 

He realised hand Government money out to the poor of Issan and the North

his base, you will always win the elections, many poor people thought he was

spending his own money to help them , I really don't know if he wanted to help

the poor or himself....

regards worgeordie

Well......love 'im or hate 'im, he [and his very broad circle of influence] does know how to keep his exposure continuous. 

 

Frankly, I believe there's much too much consciousness - pro or con - regarding the Shinawatra clan. 

Time to move on. 

Taksin filled his own pockets at the expense of the traditional Bangkok oligarchy. He was crooked but no more than all the other politicians. His mistake was to give help to to wrong people- the poor of Isaan and Lanna who are looked down on by the Bangkok elite as untermenschen.

CLOSED

 

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