Layers of laws to stop Thaksin Part 1

There are not that many people in the world who can motivate the creation of laws. Each law that is considered has an underlying goal of stopping bad and promoting good, and the laws often deal with events that could be avoided or limited. But to have laws designed to stop a specific person’s self serving ambition at the expense of all others, says a lot about the person they are trying to stop.

It is no secret that Thaksin Shinawatra has been the single source of Thailand’s problems for a decade. His total disregard for others and self serving nature has caused significant hardships for many Thais. His behavior has now cause 2 Coups to remove him completely and several court rulings to either stop him from doing more or to punish him for what he has already done while in a position of influence.

The first layers of laws came after the September 2006 Coup. Thaksin had raped the country and was just hours away from having absolute power in Thailand. He had successfully removed all the checks and balances required to have a Democracy and had a very good run at draining the countries coffers. That is what motivated the Coup as Thaksin saw himself above the King based on his actions.

The 2007 Constitution was designed with Thaksin in mind and was given some sharp teeth to deal with people who would behave like Thaksin. Thailand had a very bad taste in it’s mouth from Thaksin and needed to insure it did not happen again. This was done before the outcome of the first post Coup elections that put the pro-Thaksin People Power Party (PPP) in power in early 2008.

The PPP was the first to get bit by the new 2007 Constitution as they were the first in power. They started off as if it was the same old Thailand and after just a few months in power, they discovered that they had already broken several new laws and procedures outlined in the Constitution and were about to feel the first bite.

As a result the Democratic party came to power near the end of 2008 as the PPP was dissolved by the court. They were much more cautious about the new laws and they double and triple check things before they made any moves. As a result things were a bit slow until they could get the hang of the new Constitution. There were no examples or precedence set as yet to guide them other than the knowledge of not to do what the PPP did.

Needless to say Thaksin was angry from being removed from power again and along came the 2009 and the 2010 Red Shirt riots attempting to force the Democrats out of power. Eventually as any politician who truly puts the people first, the Democrats agreed to call for a snap election. For that to happen the Red Shirts needed to behave and stop attacking people who had different views. Needless to say the Red shirts bit their lip and behaved long enough for the Democrats to be true to their word and called snap elections.

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