The CEO of Thailand

...So far, Thaksin's actions have been acceptable to Buddhist Thais because the South has historically been the country's black sheep...

...They are worried because TRT is not so much a party with a clear, democratic ideology as it is the vehicle of a single man who has been handed an absolute mandate...

...Thaksin, who often subtly plays the nationalism card to chase away critics, did not gain his stature through a series of selfless acts, but by dominating national affairs and indulging his tremendous ego...

...He has, for example, pledged to eradicate poverty before his new term expires...

...But here Thaksin's detractors have greeted it as if it were amilitary coup...

...There have been no other governments after Oct 14, 1973, with such a high rate of human rights infringements," says PrachakKongkirati, a political science professor at Thammasat University...

...The prime minister has shrugged off this outcry as liberal hand-wringing...

...In fact, he has already demonstrated this in the case of the Deep South...

...Dire voices warn that Thailand could become a democracy in name only, holding elections every four years to reaffirm Thaksin's grip on power...

...Thai Rak Thai (TRT), the party he founded just seven years ago, won an astounding 377 of Parliament's 500 seats, giving Thaksin not only another four-year term but the ability to form a single-party government...

...That he continues to be trusted is testament, in part, to his keen sense of what Thais will support...

...The reality, although Thaksin's critics are loath to admit it, is that by Thai measurements his first term was largely a success...

...In most Southeast Asian countries, such an election would be viewed as a great achievement of democracy...

...But will he now modify those disturbing characteristics of his first term...

...Unlike Europeans and Americans, Thais do not demand idealism from their politicians, nor do they eat up sweeping rhetoric that defies the reality on the ground...

...Thaksin responded by cracking down harder in the Deep South...

...In the process he has created a vacuum in Thai politics that he alone can fill...

...The media are in a precarious position as well...

...he asked two days before the balloting...

...They paid dearly for their begging, managing to secure only 92 seats, a humiliating defeat that has led to the resignation of party leader Banyat Bantadtan...

...Another ugly massacre reminiscent of the incidents in 2004 might trigger retaliatory bombings in Bangkok or the tourist areas by international Islamic terrorist organizations...

...Where in the world is a single-party government called a dictatorship...

...One voter, quoted in the Bangkok Posi, said, "We hope this will make the government stop and think how they have so far failed to stop violence and help people in the South...

...In the weeks following the election, however, after adding just a few new faces to the Cabinet, he reverted to form and doled outmost posts to TRT factional leaders and other longtime allies...

...Thaksin has thus transcended the old politics by projecting himself as a visionary capable of tackling the issues troubling Thai society...

...Following the devastating tsunami last December 26, he made several high-profile trips to the Deep South and expected a political bounce in return...

...During the campaign Thaksin signaled a willingness to challenge the status quo by filling government ranks less through nepotism and more on the basis of expertise...

...He is not expected to cross the line and meddle with the Fourth Estate directly, if only because he has proven adept at swaying coverage indirectly...

...They are willing to accept Thaksin's means in the name of the desired ends...

...Many consider Thaksin a serious threat to Thai democracy—a leader whose ego, charisma and deep pockets could return Thailand to virtual dictatorship only five years after its landmark 1997 Constitution was established to prevent that possibility...

...More than ever, the press will have the responsibility of chronicling the conflicts of interest, nepotism and excessive force that have become far too common under his rule...

...Thais feel that by serving as prime minister Thaksin has put his country's interest before his own so they are lucky to have him...

...Instead, a record turnout of over 70 per cent of eligible voters swept the prime minister to an unprecedented landslide victory...

...Thaksin's New Mandate The CEO of Thailand By Nicholas Grossman Bangkok Soon after Thaksin Shinawatra's election in 2001 as prime minister of Thailand, international journalists, local academics and watchdog groups began sounding alarms: They decried his record on human rights, his conflicts of interest, his government's lack of transparency, and his handling of the press...

...Thus [the PM's] actions there lack a certain accountability...

...Thaksin will play his hand in several other areas, too...

...Thaksin's mandate is unique in Southeast Asia...

...Kavi Chongkittavorn, writing in the Bangkok daily the Nation, elaborated: "It is an open secret that the government wants the estimated 300 blacklisted local leaders, religious teachers and collaborators arrested or killed...

...Despite irrefutable reports of extrajudicial killings, the public never ceased to back it because they were so impressed by his having the guts to confront the mighty narcotics network...

...The 2003 drug war is a stark example...

...Thaksin's new single-party government (TRT holds together 13 different factions) is not a piece of good fortune delivered by unexpected popularity...

...The effect of Thaksin's cult of personality cannot be ignored either...

...In one of the cleanest elections in the nation's history, women took 50 seats in Parliament, their greatest number ever...

...Except in the South, the PM still possesses the most important political commodity: the respect, trust, even awe of the people...

...A nation has freely elected its richest citizen to do as he sees fit...

...in the Deep South, heavy-handed tactics exacerbated an armed Muslim insurgency...

...Ten days after the election he stirred outrage by visiting the region and announcing that hundreds of villages deemed sympathetic to the militants would be designated "red zones" and denied funds from his SML (Small, Medium, Large) village loan project...

...If there was a clear strike against the mandate given him by most of the country, it was the harmonious dissent expressed at the polls by the citizens of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani...

...As for human rights and freedom of the press, to the average Thai they seem heavy Western abstractions...

...Indeed, last year alone Thaksin's family fortune increased 76 per cent, while the country's stock market fell...

...Recent editorials in the major Thai newspapers have urged the PM to exercise more restraint and heed the advice of others...

...A former policeman turned telecommunications mogul, Thaksin was elected to heal the economy, not the embattled South...

...In his second term they can expect to see a PM further emboldened by the February vote...

...But Thaksin could be tempting fate...

...What is most disconcerting about their leap of faith is that it is misplaced...

...They envision him leading a principled charge against Myanmar's junta, peacefully ending Muslim discontent in the South, and decentralizing his own power in the name of the democracy that enthroned him...

...TRT united typically estranged blocs— the poor farmers of the northeastern plains and the middle-class businessmen of Bangkok—to score its overwhelming victory...

...Equipping his Cabinet with laptops and setting deadlines for his lofty goals, he has cultivated the posture of a political CEO...

...More important is his enormous business influence, which intimidates media owners and has led to rampant self-censorship in newsrooms...

...The violence escalated after Thaksin declared martial law in the region in January 2004...

...The likelihood of such a scenario, however, is nearly nil...

...Nicholas Grossman, a new NL contributor and former editor at the Bangkok Post, is a senior reporter for Thai Day...

...The Democratic Party now stands at the low point of its entire history...

...Respected for his entrepreneurial spirit and decisiveness, he cuts precisely the figure of the modern, savvy executive Thais craved after 1997's baht devaluation...

...When he assumed power in 2001, the singular event of importance was still the 1997 financial crisis...

...Even the leading pro-Thaksin daily, Thai Rath, has called on him "to listen to the voice of the minority and those who did not vote for the party...

...Yet when the people of Thailand (which means "Free Land") went to the polls on February 6, they did not throw him out of office...

...The most optimistic observers are hoping he will seize the opportunity to become Asia's great statesman...

...In a concurrent move, his Cabinet has approved the creation of a 12,000-strong security force to "protect" citizens in the South from the insurgency and also pursue the militants...

...Strong union resistance stymied his firstterm push in this direction, but labor is thought unlikely to prevail again...

...What's wrong with the people having faith in me...

...Aware of this perception, the Democrats staked their campaign on a plea that conceded overall defeat, asking voters to give them a minority of 201 seats—the number needed to impeach a prime minister—so they could form an effective opposition...

...And it has intimidated citizens through violence: A war on drugs resulted in the largely unexplained deaths of over 2,500 people...

...He wants to privatize public companies like the Electric Generating Authority of Thailand and the Telephone Organization of Thailand...

...He dominates newspaper and television coverage and his corporate-style leadership suggests a no-nonsense toughness that counters traditional images of the corrupt, incompetent bureaucrats who have long alienated Thais from politics...

...The rival Democrats are widely seen as political dinosaurs lacking a coherent platform...

...A Muslim insurgency has raged in these provinces for over a year, with almost daily bombings, kidnappings, murders, and arson...

...The government has confessed to covering up a deadly bird flu outbreak to protect its chicken exports...

...Although his tough stand apparently played well in the rest of the country, in the South voters removed all except one TRT incumbent, and they have urged a less militarized approach to the insurgency...

...The problem is not simply that Thaksin has never fully embraced the concept of a free press...

...Through his universal healthcare scheme, cheap credit extensions to small businesses and villages, and debt relief for farmers, millions of Thais have enjoyed tangible benefits under Thaksin's often creative governance...

...A master marketer, he complements his populist giveaways with conservative social crusades andsetsboldnational goals...

...After experiencing Thaksin's efficiency, voters feared returning to the inertia that had plagued Thai politics...

...In the light of what he might achieve, the shadows his mistakes may cast have been ignored by the pragmatic populace...

...Another reason for the prime minister's sweep was the weakness of his opposition...

...No one can use our money to separate [the Deep South] from Thailand," he declared...

...it is exactly what he requested in order to continue pursuing his policies with ruthless efficiency...

...He implemented a coherent, if risky, domestic economic policy based on reestablishing consumption with populist giveaways that succeeded in renewing confidence among Thais...

...IN the absence of a meaningful Parliamentary opposition, the bellringing of Thaksin's critics takes on added significance as the sole check on his power...

...Even in the Deep South where Muslim Thais turned out in force against TRT, they channeled their displeasure through the ballot box, forcing out the TRT incumbents...

...These programs, unique in Thai history, served to enamor him to the poor...

...Pointing to an enormous personal empire that controls telecommunications and television, and to his paternalistic authoritarian tendencies, they saw him as a combination of Italy's tycoon-turned-politician Silvio Berlusconi and Malaysia's notorious former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad...

...Kong Rithdee, a Muslim journalist in Bangkok, points out: "Thais outside of the South have always viewed the region with skepticism, as a troublemaker and not fully part of the country...