Thai political loyalty up for grabs
NAKHON RATCHASIMA (Thailand): In his final days as a “Red Shirt” rabble-rouser Suporn Attawong urged farmers to take up martial arts in defence of Thai democracy as a coup loomed.
Now he is contesting national elections for a party aligned to the junta, which seized power weeks later — a political volteface in a nation where pragmatism often trumps ideology and cash coaxes voter loyalty.
“Politics is a competition. We used to be part of the previous government and now we are on the other side,” he says of his political reversal.
Turbulent Thailand is often cast as a country neatly split between political camps representing the prodemocracy movement and the armyaligned establishment.
But after two coups in
13 years — featuring rounds of paralysing protests and the demolition of several parties by the courts — the political landscape is more roughly hewn.
It is tacked together by influential local politicians with large vote banks and a knack for backing the winning side.
Suporn was dubbed “Rambo Isaan” by the media for his tough guy persona and heritage in Isaan — the poor, rice farming northeast, which carries the most votes in Parliament.
But his fortunes were imperilled by the coup that took out the civilian government of Yingluck Shinawatra.
At the time a lawmaker for her Pheu Thai ruling party, Suporn was detained by the military.
He emerged contrite, renouncing his previous affiliations on national television. His about-turn will be complete if he wins his district seat in Nakon Ratchasima province on March 24 for the junta-aligned Phalang Pracharat party.