What's happening in Thailand?

You've probably heard about riots in Thailand on the news lately. I was in Bangkok, Thailand when crowds were camped outside of the Prime Ministers home in that city. If you were watching the news it looked like the city was under seige and rioters were out of control. I never saw even one picketer in my time there.

Recently demonstrations were held at airports. It did delay flights, I had a friend who was stuck in Thailand a few extra days as a result.

So, you may ask what is going on in Thailand? I have a different view than what seems to be portrayed by the media. In my assessment, this is a struggle for freedom.

Thailand has a prime minister and a king. The king is popular and by all reports I have heard he has been good to the people. He runs most things in the country, but he is old and the country does not have an acceptable succession plan. The princes' of Thailand, the king's sons, are not an acceptable option because they have a reputation for being corrupt and abusing their power. thus, the prime minister (PM) role will become more influential.

a few years ago Thailand altered their constitution to make a stand against corruption. They removed a party from power who had been convicted of corruption and the law says they cannot return to power (the party or individuals charged) for at least 15 years. So, the leaders of the party who lost power due to corruption formed a new party. The current prime minister is affiliate with this party. It is alleged that he bought votes (exchanging money for votes) to win the election. He is accused of many corrupt dealings, but none have been proved. One of the anti-corruption laws state that the prime minister cannot hold another job outside of being PM. the current PM has a televised cooking show, which would constitute a second job. the protests that were happening during my visit were to have him removed because he violated the anti-corruption laws and they could prove it based on the TV show. He didn't leave. The protests have continued. Now the man accused of corruption is giving the protesters a bad rap, like they are anti-government and threats to the nation. He is using this as an opportunity to alter the constitution. The protestors were at the airports to halt some of the key leadership from attending those meetings to change the constitution. they wanted to keep the anti-corruption laws intact.

My source for this information is not the news, it is nationals and those who have lived in Thailand for more than 20 years. This is not the story I seem to see portrayed on CNN. I thought you might like to hear the rest of the story...don't always trust everything you see on television.