Politics, Thai-Style

By now many of you have probably heard something about the current political unrest in Thailand. Thai politics are pretty complicated, but there are good summaries for novices at Time magazine's website and BBC News.

The protests haven't really had much of an effect on us -- we live a few miles away from Government House, where the protesters have focused their attention. However, we hear a lot about it from the Thais around us. According to reports in the news, tourist numbers are down 20%-30% since the crisis started. The Thai economy depends heavily on tourism, so the drop has made a lot of people nervous.

The other day, we took a cab to work and heard a 10-minute tirade from the taxi driver about the situation:

"Thailand crazy! Many problem, government no good! Look -- no traffic, no tourist coming! Today I make 200 baht -- I start three o'clock in morning! [It was about eight a.m. at this point.] Normally make 1200, 1500 baht!"

He wanted to know where we were from; when we told him we're American, he said, "Oh, America good!" Well, sometimes, we said. "No, American people good, like Thai people -- Thai people good. Only government crazy! Bush crazy -- like fighting, all the time! Everywhere -- Iraq, Afghan -- always fighting, fighting! Bush crazy, like Thaksin crazy."

No one yet seems to be sure where the current crisis is headed, but so far the coolest heads on all sides seem to be prevailing. Meanwhile, the Thais are playing to their strengths in coping with the chaos -- this week we got this brochure from the spa across the street:


"Sawadee-ka, you like foot massage?"