2 responses to “Coming to Phuket?”

1. 

   Tim March 11th, 2010 at 05:50

   Woody-

   Sounds like you’re living in paradise. I’ve got a buddy who’s in Bangkok on business now and he’s been chatting it up on Facebook about some sort of uprising concerning what he calls Red-shirts Vs. Yellow-shirts. What’s that all about??

2. 

   woody March 11th, 2010 at 07:27

   Tim -

   It’s a long story, but the gist of it is that Thailand had a very powerful (and, I must admit, capable) Prime Minister who was very corrupt – he successfully stole billions of dollars from the Thai people. He was and is popular, particularly among people who benefitted from his largesse. They are the “red shirts” and they certainly number in the hundreds of thousands. On the other hand, many people believe that he’s a crook – he’s been convicted in Thai courts on several occasions – and that his current status as a wanted criminal is warranted. I, personally, side with the “yellow shirts” who want Thaksin out of Thai politics permanently – and wouldn’t mind seeing him extradited to face the music for his crimes.

   About a week ago, the Thai Supreme Court decided to confiscate more than $1 billion of Thaksin’s assets, leaving another huge pile in limbo pending legal action by the tax authorities, and companies he purportedly defrauded. The “red shirts” believe he was penalized unjustly, and want him to return from exile to take over the Thai government. The “yellow shirts” believe he should be in jail.

   Very, very few people in Phuket side with the “red shirts.” Almost everyone I know believes that Thaksin is a criminal, and should never be allowed back into Thai politics. The red shirts are poised to start a series of demonstrations in Bangkok, starting tomorrow. But they don’t have any backing at all, as far as I can tell, in Phuket.