The floods have triggered a new health scare for some Thais

Thaksinophobia has reached an endemic level, particularly in Bangkok and major cities. Those who suffer from it are mostly in the middle and upper classes; they are well off and well educated, with university degrees. This phobia is, however, rarely found in the lower-middle class, those residing in the rural areas, or those with only a primary- or secondary-school education. It can be transmitted through close human contact and by overly consuming information from the media and social networking sites.

It has been more than five years since the 2006 coup that ousted the elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra, but his enemies still cannot get over him. If anything, they have become increasingly obsessed with Thaksin. They cannot stop thinking and talking about him. Thaksin is constantly in their heads – while they are awake or asleep. He has conveniently served as a legitimising tool for their continued political activities.

Why is this so? 

This is because, despite all kinds of weapons used to eliminate him – a military coup, judicial coup, and now possibly a “water coup” – Thaksin has proven to be a diehard creature. Even in his self-exile abroad, his political proxies have taken advantage of his remaining popularity among rural supporters to gain power through electoral politics. 

Thaksin’s enemies fully understand that they would not be able to compete with him and his proxies through democratic means. Thus, more devious ways have been sought. Among them is a plot to discredit the personality and dignity of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, rather than to criticise her real performance.

Anti-Thaksin forces are now showing their Thaksinophobia symptoms through their vicious attacks against Thaksin’s sister. They brand Yingluck a “stupid cow”, a “brainless buffalo” and a “laughable clone of Thaksin”. When she refuses to retaliate, they upgrade their strategies, using the mouth of the elite to insult her. Kalaya Sophonpanich, Siriwan Prasachaksatru and Mallika Boonmetrakul – three witches from the Democrat Party – launched coordinated attacks against Yingluck, condemning her for being a silly, crying baby.

Kalaya said: “Yingluck’s incessant crying degrades the astuteness of women.” Siriwan joined the bandwagon, accusing Yingluck of using tears as a cheap trick to divert attention from her supposed mismanagement of the flood disaster. Meanwhile, Mallika went further by saying that [emotional outbursts] revealed her weakness and that this damaged the good reputation of the country. 

Instead of assessing Yingluck’s ability to deal with the crisis, they choose the most despicable methods to belittle her. It takes little intelligence from self-proclaimed intelligent ladies, one of them having a doctorate degree, to assault their enemy in this way. Little do they know that as they look down on her, she gains more sympathy from her fans. 

In this animal kingdom, not only have the bitches played a nasty political game. Some alpha-male wolves are equally spiteful when it comes to striking at the female prime minister. Despite his own shady past, Ekeyuth Anchanbutr, owner of Thaiinsider.com, called Yingluck a “stupid bitch” who was brazen enough to take her position but should reconsider what job is suitable for her. He said: “Uneducated, lazy and stupid women from the North were likely to become prostitutes.” 

While women from the North heavily condemned Ekeyuth’s sexist remarks, many of the so-called feminists remained largely silent. The fact that the discourse in “Thai feminism” has been dominated by Bangkok ladies of esteemed status explains why Ekeyuth got away with his tasteless statement. Ironically, the three witches from the Democrat Party, who earlier claimed to defend the dignity of women, cowardly refused to respond to Ekeyuth’s male chauvinism. 

Following in Ekeyuth’s footsteps, Rangsit University Professor Jermsak Pinthong slammed Yingluck as being a useless prime minister. Jermsak believes Yingluck is stupid, a joke, the most humiliating prime minister in the country’s history, lacking in experience, and only achieving high position thanks to her family connection. It doesn’t take a genius to comprehend why Jermsak is not fond of Yingluck. This is the man who actively joined the anti-Thaksin movement in 2005, primarily to protect the interests of the Bangkok elite. From this view, Thaksinophobia may not be a recent phenomenon. Apparently, Jermsak has suffered from it for quite some time now. 

This line of attack is also adopted by Somkiat Onwimon, a retired academic, former senator and current news anchor. Somkiat picked on Yingluck for her English deficiency, berating her for failing to speak either good Thai or English. The point here is not so much whether Yingluck was able to engage with foreign leaders – and in this case, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; the objective was to insult her. But is Yingluck the first Thai prime minister to not have a good command of English? What would be an acceptable level for good English speaking? Should Somkiat’s excellent command of English now be the standard for all Thai prime ministers in the future? 

Ultimately, the bitching and backbiting are more political than the politics itself. Yingluck’s non-responsive reaction is gaining her the upper hand. The more they blaspheme her, the stronger she becomes politically. She can survive in the political game without having to do much, after all.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun is a fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Follow him at www.facebook.com/

pavinchachavalpongpun.