Exiled Thai leader's sister poised to become country's first female PM
Yingluck Shinawatra denies her brother, Thaksin, in exile to avoid corruption charges, is pulling the strings from Dubai
Songwan Khomwang has never voted before, but it did not take the 19-year-old long to pick a candidate for next Sunday's general election. "I would like a woman to lead the country," she declared, as her choice roused a cheering crowd of thousands in a dusty field outside the north-eastern village of Tumbol Yarng. "I've seen too many men in power."
Yingluck Shinawatra could become Thailand's first female prime minister. But that is not her sole attraction, conceded her admirer: "I hope if she gets in she will bring back Thaksin."
When the Puea Thai party unveiled the youngest sister of the exiled former Thai leader as its candidate, most people thought it would play into hands of the incumbent Democrats. Now the decision looks like a masterstroke, because Yingluck is putting a fresh, attractive, feminised face on her brother's brand.
"Thaksin thinks, Puea Thai acts," is one party slogan, while the billionaire Thaksin described his sister as "not my nominee but my clone" he later explained that he meant they shared the same ideas and attitudes. She is surrounded by his aides and advisers.
But even living 3,000 miles away in Dubai, Thaksin who won two landslide election victories but was ousted in a 2006 coup remains a bitterly divisive figure in Thailand. His supporters paint him as a champion of the rural underclass, who was toppled for challenging the elite establishment; his opponents says he was corrupt and authoritarian. He was convicted on corruption charges in absentia after he fled the country.
"I feel Yingluck basically follows in the footsteps of Thaksin, maybe because of her team," said rice farmer Thaitun Piwon as he watched the rally in Tumbol Yarng. "[But] I think because she is a woman she will listen to all sides."
The 44-year-old political newcomer has zoomed ahead in the polls while the Democrats have stalled. S! idestepp ing demands for a debate with the incumbent, Abhisit Vejjajiva where her inexperience might have become more evident Yingluck has sprinted through her tightly managed campaign with a permanent, dazzling smile on her lips, a relentlessly positive message and a string of ambitious spending pledges to improve rural life.
On Tuesday she zipped through eight speeches in three provinces in the north-east, a party stronghold. Crowds, tens of thousands strong, thrust red roses towards the stage, waved placards and cheered as she ran through a string of popular themes, such as soaring food prices and her brother.
Her very inexperience is touted as an asset: "I believe at this time people don't want me to be acting as a politician. I can use my experience from management," the businesswoman said.
She insisted that Thaksin would not pull the strings if she became prime minister: "Of course I have leadership and management and will make decisions. [But] why do we have to reject good ideas from him? It doesn't mean we have to rely on him ... the role he will play will be supporter."
Thaksin's critics say he is running the party from exile and is plotting his return; he has said he would like to return for his daughter's wedding this year. Yingluck refused to rule out an amnesty, repeatedly touted by Puea Thai colleagues. "Our priorities are, first, to solve the economic problems and, second, reconciliation to make Thailand united as one," she said.
"Reconciliation means we need to discuss it with every party involved ... If a committee decides to do that, my brother would be just one [person involved], the same as everyone else. We don't have any policy specially for my brother."
Even if Puea Thai tops the poll, it may not become the government: without an outright majority, it will have to scramble to form a coalition with minor parties. Opponents have already floated perjury claims against Yingluck which she denies in relation to the seizure of Thaksin's assets. And others b! elieve t he military may step in again; Thailand has seen more than a dozen coups in eight decades.
Earlier this month, the army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha urged voters to back "good people" who "know what is right and wrong", warning: "If you allow the election [outcome] to be the same as before, you will not get anything new and will not see any improvement." Puea Thai is understood to have approached the military to discuss a possible deal.
"I don't think we will have this kind of problem [a coup] occur," Yingluck said.
Analysts fear that the election is more likely to lead to fresh conflict than the reconciliation Yingluck promises. More than 90 people died in clashes last year when the military broke up anti-government protests by Thaksin-aligned redshirts.
Comments