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THAILAND ROCKED BY A COMBINATION OF PRO-DEMOCRACY AND COVID-19…
THAILAND ROCKED BY A COMBINATION OF PRO-DEMOCRACY AND
COVID-19 PROTESTS
Thailand was the first country to suffer from economic collapse in the 1998 Asian financial crisis. Since
then, industrialization and exports have driven economic growth, making Thailand one of the emerging
economies, held up as a success story for globalization linked to economic development, with the help
of inward FDI. Thailand also has a thriving tourism sector attracting visitors from all over the world.
However, when Thailand’s overall economic, social and political environment is taken into account, a
much less rosy picture emerges – and one that reveals a worrying level of instability and inequality.
Thailand was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave rise not just to a health
emergency but also to political instability. Protesters aimed to topple not just the government but
underlying institutions, including the monarchy and the military establishment. These upheavals were
not a surprise – the country has a history of military coups – but were a dramatic indication of the ways
in which an unstable country environment is vulnerable to the shock of a health crisis.
Two decades of economic growth up to 2017 helped Thailand to reduce levels of extreme poverty and
raise its GDP per capita to $6,600, which places it in the category of a middle-income country. Its high
level of inequality and rural poverty, however, indicate that development has been far from inclusive:
the top 10% of the population own 49.5% of the wealth and the bottom 50% own just 13.4%. The wealth
from its economic success has flowed mainly to its economic and political elite. In Thailand, that elite
comprises business and political leaders and, equally important, the monarchy and the military.
From 1932, Thailand has had a written constitution that introduced representative government under a
prime minister. The assets of the monarchy were removed from the king’s private wealth and placed in
the Crown Property Bureau (CPB) for the benefit of the country. However, the monarchy has remained
powerful and is backed by the military. The king has traditionally enjoyed almost universal respect
among the population of 69 million people. Bur since the death of the revered King Bhumibol in 2016
and the accession of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, respect for the monarchy declined and voices criticizing
the royal family started to be raised. In Thailand’s strict law of defamation, or lèse-majesté law,
criticizing or showing the merest disrespect for a member of the royal family is a crime that, if
prosecuted, carries a heavy prison sentence. The new king took steps to strengthen the monarchy,
taking back the assets of the CPB into his own personal wealth and taking command of two army
regiments. A military coup in 2014 had overthrown the elected government and the new king seemed to
think that the military would be crucial in maintaining stability. Despite his assertion of renewed power,
the new king lived abroad, in Germany.
Prayut Chan-o-cha, a former army general, became the new prime minister in 2014, after the coup, with
King Bhumibol’s support. Peaceful pro-democracy protests mainly by students soon gathered pace,
echoing the protests that had taken place in Hong Kong. Thai pro-democracy protesters criticized the
monarchy as much as the government, fully aware of the strictness of the law. In elections held in 2019,
opposition parties that favoured democratic reforms were targeted by the authorities for a variety of
alleged legal infringements, and a leading opposition party, Future Forward, was dissolved in 2020. With
the curtailment of civil liberties and press freedom, it looked as if absolute rule backed by the military
was returning.The regime came under pressure from persistent protests but the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic
amplified the falling confidence that Thailand’s population has in their traditional institutions to
maintain peace and prosperity. Early in 2020, the government responded to the early impacts of the
pandemic by introducing restrictions on movement. However, prodemocracy protests continued and
were met with strong measures by the prime minister. He declared a ‘severe’ state of emergency on top
of the COVID-19 emergency already in place. These measures allowed the police to detain alleged
protesters for 30 days without charge and without access to lawyers.
In 2021, the surge in COVID-19 cases became a focus of attention for protesters, who held the
government responsible for failing to control the spread, especially in respect of controlling the borders.
By March 2021, Thai police were using water cannons, teargas and rubber bullets against protesters,
many of whom were injured. On 7 August, there were 22,000 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total
to 736,000, with 6,000 deaths. The death toll was highest among people over 80. It was also high in the
hospitality sector and among migrant workers living in camps, especially construction workers.
Thailand has an ageing population: the median age is 40.1, which is similar to that of the UK at 40.5.
Thailand’s healthcare system has been praised internationally and getting vaccines to older people
would have been possible: many countries were engaged in mass vaccination programmes in the
summer of 2021. But Thailand’s government was slow to react and critics blamed the government for
the rise in deaths that could have been avoided through more vaccinations. Thailand’s hospitals faced
severe pressures as the number of infections surged. There were also criticisms of the lockdown
measures imposed by the government, including restrictions on gatherings, the closure of businesses
and the imposition of curfews at night. The economy was contracting and unemployment was rising. As
economic hardship grew, many people joined protests to express their criticism of the government’s
handling of the crisis.
Demonstrators demanded that the budgets of the monarchy and the military be cut in order to pay for
vaccines, which seemed to be in short supply. Siam Bioscience, a company owned by the king, was
producing the AstraZeneca vaccine, but it started production belatedly and produced only 5-6 million
doses, far less than had been announced. Moreover, the company was fulfilling contracts to deliver
vaccines to other countries. As of 22 October 2021, only 37.9% of the population had received two
doses and only 53.3% had received one dose. Nonetheless, the prime minister was optimistic that the
country could reopen for tourists in the autumn. Tourism chiefs held firm that infections would need to
be decreasing and vaccinations would need to reach 70% of the population before such a move was
contemplated. The government relented, projecting a reopening for late 2021 or the start of 2022. In
the meantime, continued economic hardship took its toll on the economy.
Questions
Why have Thailand’s democratic reforms tended to fail?
Why has the monarchy been the target of particular hostility among student protesters?
In what ways do pro-democracy and anti-government COVID-19 protests overlap?
Assess the prospects for reforms in Thailand, including democratic elections, the monarchy and the military establishment.
