Every day, in Bangkok, Thailand, I talk to Thais. People waiting for the bus, motorcycle taxi drivers, food stall vendors and store clerks. I do it to improve my Thai language skills, and to learn about local culture and Thai current events. During the flooding in Bangkok, my behavior has been the same. I’ve spoken to Thais all over the city, asking what they think of the government’s handling of Bangkok’s floods. Unfortunately, what I’ve heard hasn’t been surprising.
As Thai politics have been severely divided for the last five years, most Thais fall into one of two camps – red shirts, those who support the current government of Yingluck Shinawatra, and yellow shirts, or supporters of former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Of course, just like their political opinions for the last five years, what they think about current prime minister, Yingluck, and her government’s handling of the floods, usually falls along party lines too.
Thais who like Abhisit tend to hate Yingluck. So outraged are they that she was actually voted into office, it’s difficult to have rational conversations with many about Bangkok’s floods. The blaming of Yingluck and her party is too strong. For every neighborhood flooded. For every house underwater. For reservoirs too full, and dams overflowing. As hard as Yingluck’s party tried to keep flooding away from inner Bangkok, it just was never good enough.
The problem with this is Yingluck’s party only took office three months ago, when flooding had already begun in northern Thailand. Flooding caused by years of neglect of flood barriers and drainage systems, and a political system so rife with corruption, most of the money meant for flood prevention ended up in the pockets of shady government officials instead.
A prime minister in office for less than 12 weeks can hardly be held accountable for that.
On the red shirt side, people tend to be equally as biased, although in a calmer way. While not agreeing with everything Yingluck’s government has done during Bangkok’s month-long floods, they’re also not willing to cast much of the blame on her, but more than willing to throw it in Abhisit’s direction.
After all, with months of political demonstrations last year, culminating in military shooting deaths of more than 90 protesters, it was hell getting Yingluck into office in the first place. So, the chances of red shirt supporters lobbing blame in her direction – well, let’s just say I don’t imagine pigs flying over Bangkok any time soon.
As far as government handling of Bangkok’s devastating floods though, is Yingluck’s government really to blame? Or did the previous two years of Abhisit Vejjajiva’s prime ministership contribute?
With flood fighting initiatives still ongoing, and some Bangkok areas finally seeing floods recede, while others will be flooding themselves soon, it’s hard to say, but highly unlikely..
But, as one Thai man on a bus told me yesterday, “Yingluck has no experience. She try her best. But not good enough. Abhisit has experience but doesn’t use it. Instead, he talk and talk, blame and blame – do nothing. Doesn’t matter which one we have, it’s same, same, no different. Poor Thailand and poor Thais. We are the ones who suffer”.
You can’t really argue with that now. Can you?