What Did Thaksin Do For Thailand?

[anotherpeter]

I've been reading and posting on most of the political related threads in the last few weeks, and I have asked a few times:

What did Thaksin do for Thailand?

I am not looking for the bad things he did for Thailand. I have seen plenty of those posts.

I am not looking for anything related to the current government or the army or previous governments.

I just want to know what Thaksin did. What was good? Why was it good? And, was it a good long term action?

[Ricardo]

He raised the importance of the poor, as long as they live in Isaan or the North-West, in the eyes of future Thai politicians and power-groups, which may eventually have some trickle-down effect on their lives.

He tried to implement a village-level loans-scheme, but unaccountably failed to educate the potential small-scale entrepreneurs, or put proper audit/monitoring-systems in place, so much of the money went into financing consumer-spending instead.

He made hospitals & health-care more-accessible to the poor, but failed to fund this properly, a good idea but poorly carried-through.

He promoted OTOP, someone else's idea for selling locally-produced or craft-products to tourists or hi-so Thais, at higher prices than the usual middle-men give them.

He planned to sell-cheaply/give-away a million cows, and an awful lot of rubber-saplings, both schemes became mired in corruption.

He encouraged a much-needed 'War on Drugs', which led to a wave of unlawful murders, as provinces tried desperately to fulfill their quotas, but didn't get the higher-ups in the drugs-trade.

He introduced massive subsidies, for diesel-fuel, in the weeks & months leading-up to the 2005-election, but cancelled them immediately afterwards.

Coffee-time ! Over to someone else.

[Moonrakers]

He helped the poor.....

(That's about the only response that I ever get). Many just shrug their shoulders

Oh, I do hear about the 30 baht scheme but not only was it poorly executed, it wasn't his idea at all

[MaiDong]

Abhisit bashers please respond...

[MaiDong]

I suppose, when he first came to power he gave a lot of people hope

[prefabs]

One man's good is another man's bad. Although not a man Maggie Thatcher's policies inadvertently introduced or encouraged the greed factor into Britain for a few years. Jury out on that one, but certainly distateful.

[Jingthing]

It could be argued that he made the PM post a more powerful position. That could be good or bad depending on WHO is the PM.

[anotherpeter]

Abhisit bashers please respond...

I'm not looking for bad things (or good things) that Abhisit has done.

I'm just looking for good things that Thaksin has done.

[lannarebirth]

He's like that grain of sand that irritates the oyster into forming a pearl. That's an important role in Thailands political development. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be a role he thinks is important enough and instead pursues his own interests.

[MaiDong]

Abhisit bashers please respond...

I'm not looking for bad things (or good things) that Abhisit has done.

I'm just looking for good things that Thaksin has done.

Yes, sorry, just pre-empting

[Moonrakers]

One man's good is another man's bad. Although not a man Maggie Thatcher's policies inadvertently introduced or encouraged the greed factor into Britain for a few years. Jury out on that one, but certainly distateful.

Love her or hate her, Maggie made some very brave decisions to help bring the country out of a recession. It as afterwards that she really ballsed it all up. Although decisive, she definitely achieved things.

But this is about Thaksin, so what did he do for Thailand?

[johnh101]

I think the best thing he did was become a Montenigran Citizen.

If he's not Thai, he can't be PM.

[Samuian]

He helped the poor in getting him elected to steal what belonged to them once

and having the drug peddlers killed, well here a miss there a wrong one, a child,

2500 extra judicial killings, so the children of the poor don;t have to consume any

bad drugs anymore! The 30 Baht Health Care scheme, is much lauded, curing cancer

with paracetamol and a couple of shots of morphine if there is any left..... well and everyone

has a cell phone and Sat-TV connection, some even got money, a loan many did put their,

land titles in for collateral, for some it turned out not so well.... but then who cares, it's the economy

isn't it, there are always losers and winners, performers and non-performers, isn't it?

Sure, if he ever manages to come back, he will make anyone a rich and wealthy man, believe it, sure, promised,

and because of his ability, his incredible power of changing things, peoples life's many got afraid of him, specially the rich,

they are afraid of his unprecedented love for the poor.... so they made him go, banned him with the help of the army - a gigantic plot of the wealthy and powerful, who secretly rule the country and "exploit" the poor!

"They" won't allow him to do his charitable work!

"Believe me he is a genuine good guy, always tells the truth, straight, honest, open minded,

a future Samaritan, who is hindered by the "elite class",that why his supporters have to call for a "class war",

last April he got so excited about the uproar his supporters created in Bangkok Streets, that he called for a

"peoples revolution", well a wee bit carried away, by his emotions, is like a good football match.... and the crowd goes:

"goal!".... but so far he and his entourage hasn't really scored.... yet - and it looks as the other team is very capable, not only it's defense but also can deliver some well organized forward attacks, so let's wait and see how this game will find an end!

Edited March 26, 2010 by Samuian

[anotherpeter]

OK ... enough of the sarcastic replies.

I'd really like to hear from the Thaksin supporters out there. I know there are some ...

There must be some reason you want Thaksin to come back.

[Soutpeel]

And who could forget the "Thai Elite" card....look what that did for well heeled farangs in Thailand...LOL

[MaiDong]

Maybe all the thaksin supporters are outside having fun

[WinnieTheKhwai]

While not a Thaksin supporter I could add some things. Note that I'm focusing on the positives only, as per your request in the OP.

- He was elected to get Thailand out of the economic crisis it was still in, and implement a business CEO style in government. That was very successful

- He was the first PM to make a serious impact against drugs. Possibly the first time in history that a 'war on drugs', while draconian, actually worked; if you were around in the Pre-Thaksin years, Ya Ba was dirt cheap and rife. Even today it's much harder to find and expensive.

- In addition to being tough on drugs, he was tough on other vices as well, and putting a stop to kids hanging in bars until dawn. This was the social order campaign which was actually very popular among the Thai middle classes, but probably THE point where most bar-stool Farangs started to seriously dislike the man.

- Leverage the skills and crafts of rural people and companies through the OTOP program, to bring their products to a national and even international market.

- Several programs to bring benefit to the rural poor.. access to health care, education, roads, development loans.

- In general he was good for business and investment, also internationally. Thaksin lives and breathes 'business' and as such provided a lot of confidence to investors.

- Opened up the airline industry... Thai Air used to be a stale monopoly; look at the aviation business in Thailand today.

- Suvarnabhumi Airport.. Don Muang had been in the claws of the military for so long, stifling the development of a modern airport that can grow with Thailand's needs.

Those are the ones that immediately spring to mind. Again, there are a LOT of qualifications and negatives you can add, both to the points above as well as in general. I'm sure others will be quick to point those out so I don't have to do it.

Edited March 26, 2010 by WinnieTheKhwai

[anotherpeter]

<snip>

- Several programs to bring benefit to the rural poor.. access to health care, education, roads, development loans.

<snip>

While some of your points certainly had pros and cons, I wonder if you could elaborate on the point quoted, particularly education, roads and loans.

[Moonrakers]

Winnie.

You have actually just listed a number of things where it could be said he was detrimental to the country and deep into corruption.

Suvarnabhumi, for example, was a laughing stock for so long.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

<snip>

- Several programs to bring benefit to the rural poor.. access to health care, education, roads, development loans.

<snip>

While some of your points certainly had pros and cons, I wonder if you could elaborate on the point quoted, particularly education, roads and loans.

Sure!

Education: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policies_of_t...cation_policies

Loans / Economic incentives:

Thaksin's government designed its policies to appeal to the rural majority, initiating programs like village-managed microcredit development funds, low-interest agricultural loans, direct injections of cash into village development funds (the SML scheme), infrastructure development, and the One Tambon One Product (OTOP) rural small and medium enterprise development program.

Thaksinomics, Thaksin's economic policies, helped accelerate Thailand's economic recovery from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and substantially reduce poverty. GDP grew from 4.9 trillion baht at the end of 2001 to 7.1 trillion baht at the end of 2006. Thailand repaid its debts to the International Monetary Fund two years ahead of schedule.

Income in the Northeast, the poorest part of the country, had been stagnant from 1995 to 200 but rose dramatically by 46% from 2001 to 2006.^[55] Nationwide poverty fell by half, from 21.3% to 11.3%, during the Thaksin years.^[4] Thailand's Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, fell from .525 in 2000 to .499 in 2004 (it had risen from 1996 to 2000).^[56] The Stock Exchange of Thailand outperformed other markets in the region. After facing fiscal deficits in 2001 and 2002, Thaksin balanced the national budget, producing comfortable fiscal surpluses for 2003 to 2005. Despite a massive program of infrastructure investments, a balanced budget was projected for 2007.^[57] Public sector debt fell from 57 per cent of GDP in January 2001 to 41 per cent in September 2006.^[58][59] Foreign exchange reserves doubled from US$30 billion in 2001 to US$64 billion in 2006.^[60]

( Roads and grass roots infrastructure development in rural areas came about primarily through the village development funds. )

General information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaksin_Shinawatra It's not actually hard to find LOTS of factual information on the Thaksin years.. Unless of course you only read this forum and some English language newspapers..

Edited March 26, 2010 by WinnieTheKhwai

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Winnie.

You have actually just listed a number of things where it could be said he was detrimental to the country and deep into corruption.

Suvarnabhumi, for example, was a laughing stock for so long.

Primarily because Thaksin was ousted when it opened.. With such a high profile project and his CEO mindset I have little doubt that Thaksin would have been a LOT more pro-active in ironing out the bugs, compared to the generals who were then in charge and allowed it to, in your words, remain a laughing stock for so long. (The generals of course favored Don Muang, which was (is) under their control). Talk about corruption.

[anotherpeter]

<snip>

General information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaksin_Shinawatra It's not actually hard to find LOTS of factual information on the Thaksin years.. Unless of course you only read this forum and some English language newspapers..

Yes, but for every "good" thing he has done, there is just as much information as to why it was "bad".

OTOP seems to be the only thing that I have seen that doesn't have a bad side.

[Moonrakers]

Winnie.

You have actually just listed a number of things where it could be said he was detrimental to the country and deep into corruption.

Suvarnabhumi, for example, was a laughing stock for so long.

Primarily because Thaksin was ousted when it opened.. With such a high profile project and his CEO mindset I have little doubt that Thaksin would have been a LOT more pro-active in ironing out the bugs, compared to the generals who were then in charge and allowed it to, in your words, remain a laughing stock for so long. (The generals of course favored Don Muang, which was (is) under their control). Talk about corruption.

So first you give him credit for the airport but when it is critizised (sod the spelling), it is nothing to do with him.

The guy gets to have his cake AND eat it.

[slapout]

Some questions just have no definitive answer, either due to the preponderance of, or the lack of, results/proof. Ask what use a mosquito is to (mankind) or insert (the natural order of things), then look at the various responses.

[anotherpeter]

Some questions just have no definitive answer, either due to the preponderance of, or the lack of, results/proof. Ask what use a mosquito is to (mankind) or insert (the natural order of things), then look at the various responses.

So are you suggesting that there is a lack of proof that Thaksin did anything for Thailand, or a preponderance of proof?

[elkangorito]

Thaksin has only done one good thing for Thailand...he inadvertently stimulated some people's brains into thinking a bit more. This has only become obvious since the red vs yellow incidents. Prior to Thaksin, 'thinking' was something that only subversives did & even then, the 'thoughts' were quickly quelled.

[Moonrakers]

And so this topic has been going for nearly six hours and except for one attempt which is full of logical flaws and contradictions, we still don't have an answer.

[elkangorito]

^I thought my effort was pretty good.

[Moonrakers]

^I thought my effort was pretty good.

Except that they are now following on his every word and answering to his beck and call, still as subversive as ever.

[elkangorito]

^The 'they' you speak of is simply one (small) faction of the vast number of people in Thailand. Nonetheless, I really do feel that people are certainly more aware of politics or wanting to be more aware of politics since his demise.

I am simply stating that I believe there is more political awareness now than there was before. Also, people seem to readily voice their disapproval moreso than before.

Sometimes it takes a storm to awaken the people. Thaksin was the storm.

Edited March 26, 2010 by elkangorito