PRAY FOR THAILAND
Please pray for Thailand and the political struggle that has been going on for months, but has increased in the last few days. Protesters have closed both airports in Bangkok, and are heading to Chiang Mai to confront the prime minister. The father of one leader of the dissenting party in Chiang Mai has already been killed.
CURRENT THAI POLITICS IN A NUTSHELL
Two years ago (Sept 2006) there was a bloodless coup that deposed the prime minister, Thaksin. He was accused of a variety of charges, most involving money. People are upset with him and also with his political party. Thaksin and his wife fled the country and have been living in Great Britain (who recently revoked their visas).
The prime minister who followed Thaksin was Samak. Samak was accused of being Thaksin’s puppet in government, so in August and September, protesters gathered at the government buildings in Bangkok to try to remove Samak. They caught him on a technicality – he had been on TV, on a cooking show, and had received payment for doing so; courts deemed that it was payment as an employee, and it is illegal for the prime minister to have another job; thus, Samak was out.
The newest prime minister is Somchai. He is Thaksin’s brother-in-law (married to his sister). So, people still aren’t happy. Somchai is currently in Chiang Mai, because yesterday he flew into the country from Peru and could not land in Bangkok because of the closed airports. I have heard from friends in Thailand that the protesting party is on their way to Chiang Mai by train, and there may be trouble once they reach the city.
Please pray…
– for Thailand to have peace – no bloodshed, and a quick resolve to the political turmoil
– for travel to and from Thailand. I am set to go to Thailand Dec 26-Jan 17, and I have a friend in Thailand who is coming to the States for Christmas Dec 16-Jan 3. Please pray that we will be able to travel safely, with no trouble or delays. Pray that this problem is resolved far before then!
– that in the midst of this struggle, people would turn to Jesus for TRUE peace.
Thank you for praying for Thailand!
Hey Lauren! I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and that your itineration is going well. I wanted to ask your permission to copy and paste your “Thai Politics in a Nutshell” onto my blog. I’ll give you credit, of course :), and include a link to your site. I just thought you did such a nice job summing it all up and I personally don’t know enough to explain it as well as you did. But, I’d still like my readers (all two or three of them) to know what’s going on in Thailand right now.
You can let me know on my blog http://chasetheworld.blogspot.com or on Facebook. Thanks!
[…] wrote a few blog entries last time there was political upheaval here, and you can read them here: 1) Nov 26, 2008; 2) Dec 1, 2008; and 3) Dec 2, 2008. Since these postings, Thailand has elected another prime […]