New Mandala

New perspectives on mainland Southeast Asia

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Thailand compared with the neighbours

April 2nd, 2009 by Nicholas Farrelly · 1 Comment

Thailand is still embroiled in the fallout from the 2006 palace-backed coup against the elected government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thailand’s political and economic future is now wrapped up in the succession once the crown passes from the hands of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and that may take years to resolve.

- Extracted from Jonathan Manthorpe, “Indonesia: A steady democratic light in a dark southeast Asian tunnel“, Vancouver Sun, 1 April 2009.

Tags: Indonesia · Malaysia · Thailand · Trans-Border Issues

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Nudi Samsao // Apr 3, 2009 at 11:17 am

    The way things stand, it would be extremely difficult for Thailand to be competitive in the international community, for the royal family and its privy council will go on acting as the regressive influence in any course of attempts by Thailand to become a truly free and democratic society.

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