INFORMATION KIT - Api-fellowships.org

Shinawatra to call for a snap election. The opposition boycotted the elections and Thaksin wasre-elected. Pressure continued to build, leading to a military coup on 19 September 2006.The junta abrogated the constitution, dissolved Parliament and the Constitutional Court,detained and later removed several members of the government, declared martial law, andappointed one of the King’s Privy Councillors, General Surayud Chulanont, as Prime Minister.The junta later wrote a highly abbreviated interim constitution and appointed a panel to draft apermanent constitution. The junta also appointed a 250-member legislature, called by somecritics a “chamber of generals” and others claimed that it lacks representatives from the poormajority. In this interim constitution draft, the head of the junta was allowed to remove thePrime Minister at any time. The legislature was not allowed to hold a vote of confidence againstthe Cabinet and the public was not allowed to file comments on bills. This interim constitutionwas later surpassed by the permanent constitution on 24 August 2007. Martial law was partiallyrevoked in January 2007. The junta continues to censor the media and was accused of severalother human rights violations.The ban on political activities was lifted in July 2007, following the 30 May dissolutionthe Thai Rak Thai party. The new constitution has been approved by a referendum on 19August, which led to a return to democratic elections on 23 December 2007.Samak Sundaravej’s People Power Party (PPP) won 228 seats in the 480-seat house,short of the 241 needed for an absolute majority. Correspondents say the result is a big setbackfor the military, which has tried to curb Mr Thaksin’s influence.EconomyTraditionally, Thailand is an agricultural country. From the mid-1980s, Thailand hastransformed itself from a purely agricultural country into an agro-industrial one. Ever since, theThai economy has been driven by a concerted export drive, and that has triggered anunprecedented economic boom. Backed by an attractive climate for foreign investment, Thailandhas largely developed to become an industrial economy, leading the world in exports of industrialparts. The United States, Japan and the Asian countries are the most important trading partners.The economic growth came to an abrupt halt in a chain of events that began in May 1997 withfinancial speculation against the Thai Baht. The government decided to float the Baht currencyin July 1997. By the end of the year, the economic bubble had burst and the Thai economy wasin the recession.However, with a well-developed infrastructure, a free-enterprise economy, and proinvestmentpolicies, Thailand appears to have fully recovered from the 1997-98 Asian FinancialCrisis. The country was one of East Asia's best performers in 2002-04. Boosted by increasedconsumption and strong export growth, the Thai economy grew 6.9% in 2003 and 6.1% in 2004despite a sluggish global economy. Bangkok has pursued preferential trade agreements with avariety of partners in an effort to boost exports and to maintain high growth. In late December2004, a major tsunami took 8,500 lives in Thailand and caused massive destruction of property inthe southern provinces of Krabi, Phangnga, and Phuket. In 2006, investment stagnated asinvestors, spooked by the Thaksin administration's political problems, stayed on the sidelines.The military coup in September brought in a new economic team, led by the former central bankgovernor. In December, the Thai Board of Investment reported the value of investmentapplications from January to November had declined by 27% year-on-year. On the positive side,exports have performed at record levels, rising nearly 17% in 2006. Export-orientedmanufacturing—in particular automobile production—and farm output are driving these gains.5-5. Social Norms53of