Professor Borwornsak Uwanno began his presentation by stating that he would address the “Where to” part of the “Thai Political Situation: Where from and Where to”. We shall see later, however, that most of his presentation was devoted to analysing the cause of the political crisis (the “Where from”), rather than predicting what would come next (the “Where to”). At the end of the presentation, he would give some solutions that he believed would help Thailand out of what he called an “endless circle of political uncertainty and divisiveness”.

Professor Borwornsak laid out his interpretation of the cause of the current Thai political conflicts as follows. What on the surface seems to be the conflict between the pro- and anti-Thaksin movements, he said, was in fact a symptom of deeper socio-economic and ideological divides. In particular, the conflict was, in his view, a result of pervasive income inequality and a disparity between different conceptions of democracy held by different groups.

He then drew attention to some figures that would elaborate the economic imbalances that, he would claim, were the root of the political fray. He first cited the difference in income between the richest 20% and the poorest 20% of the population. In 1962, he said, the richest 20% earned 60% of the country’s income, while the poorest 20% lived on a 3% slice of the GDP, and the 2006 figures showed no improvement. He also cited that in terms of asset ownership the richest quintile of the population own 69% of the country’s assets, while the poorest quintile own only 1%. He also showed that the trend in Thailand’s Gini ratio (a measurement of income inequality) has been increasing, while those of several ASEAN neighbours have been falling. He argued that this equality of income had an impact on politics in that the poor would elect the local rich as their representatives, allowing them to accumulate more wealth through corruption.

Read the full article here http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2...-event-part-ii/

Interesting and informative, thanks. for anone interested here is the link to the rest of the discussion:

http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2...s-event-part-i/

Thanks for the link I'll read what the Thai experts, academics etc at SOAS London University are now saying about the state of LOS. Thanks again