Opinion

Some of the 14.5 million poor people who hold state welfare cardholders and the physically handicapped were elated this week as they withdrew  their 10,000 baht cash handout from a nearby ATM, thanks to the government’s cash handout scheme

Watching Donald Trump framing his Presidential Election battle against Kamala Harris, one can’t help but notice at least two similarities with Thai politics worth elaborating.

Seeing the devastating flash flood in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district unfold over the past week, one wonders if something could have been done to significantly mitigate the death and damages.

Less than 24 hours after the new Paetongtarn Shinawatra was sworn into office in front of the King, anti-government protesters decided to demonstrate in Bangkok yesterday.

In bringing in its longtime nemesis the Democrat Party to the fold as a coalition partner of the new government, PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Thursday calls for people to look into the future and put the bitter past behind.

First, they won the May 2014 general election, but then the Move Forward Party under the leadership of Pita Limjaroenrat failed to form a government. A little over a year later, on August 7, 2024, the party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court for pledging to amend the controversial lese majeste law and Pita, along with ten other party leaders, were banned from politics for 10 years.

Finally, Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been voted by members of parliament as Thailand’s 31st Prime Minister and became the youngest prime minister in Thai history at the age of 37.

Listening to Wednesday’s ruling made by the Constitutional Court as they ordered the dissolution of the main opposition Move Forward Party and ban party executive board members, including the charismatic former leader Pita Limjaroenrat, from politics for 10 years, one asks why the perceived existential threat to the Thai monarchy is so acute?

In the end, the Constitutional Court today acted out of fear, citing eventual concerns that the monarchy institution will be eventually abolished if the main opposition Move Forward

Three more days and we will know on August 7 whether Move Forward Party, the party with 14 million votes behind them, would be dissolved by the Constitutional Court, and their leaders, including the charismatic former leader Pita Limjaroenrat, will be banned from politics for 10 years, for having pledge to reform the royal defamation law.