Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [38]
As Governor of Bangkok, Chamlong had a large impact on making the city a more liveable place. He persuaded city street sweepers to sweep streets for the entire day, rather than just during the morning, and encouraged roadside hawkers, technically illegal, to stop selling their wares on Wednesdays. His anti-poverty projects included paving footpaths in squatter communities and establishing thrift stores for the poor. He even established a chain of vegetarian restaurants throughout the city.
In 1988, Chamlong established the Palang Dharma (Moral Force) Party (PDP), a largely Buddhist-based political entity, to contest nationwide parliamentary elections. The party went on to lose these, but Chamlong was able to hold on as Governor of Bangkok. Two years later, Chamlong was again voted governor, and his PDP won 49 out of 55 seats in the election for Bangkok City Council. It was during this term of office that Chamlong became the key opponent and protest leader of the 1991 military government led by army chief Suchinda Kraprayoon. Resigning as governor, Chamlong led massive protests, underwent a hunger strike and was even fired upon by the military before being publicly scolded along with Suchinda by the king on national TV.
Many thought that Chamlong’s political career was over after the incidents of 1991. However, in 2006 Chamlong once again gained the political spotlight in Bangkok when he became a key leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a coalition of protesters against the government of Thaksin Shinawatra. Although to Chamlong’s chagrin it was the military that eventually took his former protégé out of office, he was instrumental in leading protests in downtown Bangkok that quite possibly led to Thaksin’s demise.
In 2004, Bangkok gubernatorial candidate Apirak Kosayothin won a hotly contested race against a candidate backed by the ruling party, Thai Rak Thai. His victory was widely seen as a major loss of face for then prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, leader of Thai Rak Thai. Governor Apirak named the reduction of corruption and traffic congestion as his main objectives, and embarked on plans to expand the BTS, the city’s mass-transit system. However, some of his policies, including ‘smart’ taxi and bus stops, flopped, and his proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project saw little progress.
In March 2008 Apirak voluntarily stepped down as governor so as not to influence an investigation into a fire truck procurement scandal that allegedly involved him and then prime minister, Samak Sundaravej. Subsequent elections led to the landslide election of MR Sukhumbhand Paripatra, a former deputy foreign minister of Thailand and relative of Thailand’s king.
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MEDIA
Bangkok – and Thailand’s – first printed periodical was the Bangkok Recorder, a monthly newspaper founded in 1844 by American missionary Dr Dan Beach Bradley. Today Thailand has 38 newspapers, four political weekly magazines, four political monthly magazines, two Chinese newspapers, one newspaper for Muslims, and two English-language newspapers: the Bangkok Post and the Nation.
In 1955 Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to broadcast TV programs. Today there are six free channels and a variety of subscription channels. Thailand also has 523 radio stations, most of which are run by the Public Relations Department, which supervises Radio Thailand, the central government station responsible for broadcasting local and daily news.
The country’s previous constitution ensured freedom of the press, although the Royal Police Department reserved the power to suspend publishing licences for national