Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [10]
In January 2001, billionaire and former police colonel Thaksin Shinawatra became prime minister after winning a landslide victory in nationwide elections – the first in Thailand under the strict guidelines established in the 1997 constitution. Thaksin’s new party called Thai Rak Thai (TRT; Thais Love Thailand) swept into power on a populist agenda that seemed at odds with the man’s enormous wealth and influence.
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COBRA SWAMP
If you arrive in Bangkok by air, bear in mind that the sleek glass-and-steel terminal you will most likely pull into was nearly 40 years in the making. Suvarnabhumi (pronounced sù wanná poom), Sanskrit for ‘Golden Land’, could hardly be a more apt name for Thailand’s new airport, particularly for the politicians and investors involved.
Thailand’s new international airport was originally begun in 1973 and the location chosen was an unremarkable marshy area with the slightly less illustrious working title of Nong Ngu Hao, Thai for ‘Cobra Swamp’. Despite the seemingly disadvantageous setting, over the years the flat marshland was eagerly bought and sold by politicians and developers hoping to make a quick profit.
It wasn’t until the self-styled CEO administration of Thaksin Shinawatra that work on the airport began in earnest. Thaksin harboured desires to make Bangkok a ‘transportation hub’ to rival Hong Kong and Singapore, and went on a spending spree, commissioning construction of the world’s tallest flight control tower, as well as the world’s largest terminal building.
The construction of Suvarnabhumi attracted allegations of corruption, including suggestions that faulty building materials had been used and a substandard runway constructed. Undoubtedly the most embarrassing scandal associated with the airport was the corruption-laden purchase of 20 CTX security scanners from a US company.
On 29 September 2005, Thaksin presided over a much-criticised ‘soft’ opening. The ceremony was essentially little more than a face-saving measure considering that the airport was still far from operational. Suvarnabhumi eventually began flights a year later, on 28 September 2006. In an ironic twist of fate, Thaksin, the main instigator of the project, was in exile in England, having been ousted in a military coup the week before, the junta citing corruption and shoddy construction of the airport among their justifications for the takeover.
Despite being the largest airport in Southeast Asia, and among the largest in the world, in March 2007 many domestic flights were relocated back to the old Don Muang Airport, officials citing overcrowding of runways and safety concerns as reasons for the move. With little foresight, a train link to the distant airport was only begun after its opening, and wasn’t completed until 2010. For details on arriving at Suvarnabhumi, see Click here.
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The sixth-richest ruler in the world as of late 2003, Thaksin owned the country’s only private TV station through his family-owned Shin Corporation, the country’s largest telecommunications company. Shin Corporation also owned Asia’s first privately owned satellite company, Shin Satellite, and a large stake in Thai AirAsia, a subsidiary of the Malaysia-based airline Air Asia.
Days before he became prime minister, Thaksin transferred his shares in Shin Corp to his siblings, chauffeur and even household servants in an apparent attempt to conceal his true assets. Eventually the country’s constitutional court cleared him of all fraud charges connected with the shares transfer in a controversial eight-to-seven vote.
In 2003, Thaksin announced a ‘War on drugs’ that he claimed would free the country of illicit drug use within 90 days. Lists of alleged drug dealers and users were compiled in every province. The police were given arrest quotas to fulfil, and could lose their jobs if they didn’t follow orders. Within two months, more than 2000 Thais on the government blacklist had been killed. The Thaksin administration denied accusations by the UN, the US State Department, Amnesty International and Thailand’s