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SCANDINAVIAN TRAVELER | EXPLORES | BANGKOK
T
he taxi driver doesn’t want to reveal
his name, or give his opinion
on the military regime currently
running the country, but what he
does say lets us know he’s not that
pleased with the way things are.
“It’s so unfair. Every time one of
our political parties wins an election, it is kicked out
by the military or the courts,” he says.
He has reason to be cautious.
In August, a Bangkok taxi driver was sentenced
to 2.5 years in jail after a discussion with a passenger
on inequality in Thai society. They had a difference
of opinion, and some time later the passenger
handed a cell phone recording of the conversation
over to the police.
The criminal court found the driver guilty of lèse
majesté, or insulting the king.
F
rom being a beacon of democracy in
Southeast Asia, Thailand is yet again
under the control of the military after it
kicked out an elected government in a
bloodless coup on May 22.
Mass arrests, censorship, martial law and an
initial curfew effectively put Thailand’s – and
Bangkok’s – reputation as a tourist paradise with an
anything-goes attitude on ice. There’s no longer a
curfew, but martial law is still in force.
Even though Bangkok seems the same, the decline
in the number of tourists is obvious.
“Foreigners don’t like military coups,” says our
taxi driver.
“We have been hit twice.”
The army says it wants to reform Thailand and
end years of political turbulence and street violence,
but critics see the takeover as an attempt to wipe
out the influence of Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s
most popular politician.
He was ousted in a coup in 2006, amid allegations
of abuse of power, corruption – and disrespect for
the king.
Thaksin’s supporters – the United Front for
Democracy Against Dictatorship (red shirts) – and
opponents – the People’s Alliance for Democ racy
(yellow shirts) – have struggled for power at the
ballot box and in the streets, sometimes violently,
ever since.
The army said it needed to seize power from an
elected pro-Thaksin government in May to restore
order after more than six months of sometimes violent
antigovernment protests and political turmoil.
But since taking power, the army appears to have
sided with the yellow shirts, introducing political
reforms that are aimed at blocking his return to
SCANDINAVIAN TRAVELER | DECEMBER 2014
‘It’s so unfair.
Every time one
of our political
parties wins
an election, it is
kicked out by the
military or the
courts’
Protest movement:
Yellow shirts march on
Government House during
a rally aimed at unseating
PM Yingluck Shinawatra.
Seen by many as a puppet
of her brother, she was
forced to step down in May
power and quashing dissent, threatening or arresting
critics of the coup.
S
wedish entrepreneur and mixologist
Thomas Anostam is used to Thailand’s
cyclical political crises. Seven years ago,
on a stopover in Bangkok, he ran into old
friends and got involved in the local bar
scene. Today, they work as consultants to bar and
restaurant start-ups.
Their latest project, the Siwalai Rocket Coffeebar
in Central Embassy, one of Bangkok’s newest
upscale shopping malls, opened two weeks before
the coup.
The accompanying curfew severely affected business,
but it wasn’t anything new.
“In 2008, we got stuck in Kuala Lumpur on a
consultancy trip,” says Anostam recalling how the
yellow shirts had occupied and closed down Thailand’s
main airports for more than a week.
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