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Political stability comes first for Thai expats
Some are willing to forego democracy as long as country returns to normal
- By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:25 December 2, 2008
Dubai: Thai expatriates in the UAE are willing to forego democracy as long as the political problems - which have seen dozens injured, airports shut down, tourists stranded and a government ousted - are resolved.
Pasan Teparak, Thai Consul-General in Dubai, was sombre during the Thai National Day reception held on Monday night, apologising for his country's political troubles. "I [am] sorry for what was going on. Although we have a democratic government, we still have to struggle to fine-tune our democracy," he told Gulf News.
"People still have to learn to accept election results. This is comparable to US Republicans staging protests that Barack Obama won," he said.
Wat Yenklao, a Thai expatriate who has been in the UAE for 10 years, said this was an example of the few trying to decide for the majority. "The government came in because we voted for them. But a few people have problems with it. The anti-government protesters are not the majority," he said.
Wat and his family had voted for Somchai's coalition in last year's election. However, he did not see having fresh elections would help. "If they have some more elections, they're going to have problems because it will be the same people who will come in," he said.
"Nobody is [respecting] the election results," he added.
Instead, he favoured intervention from the army to stabilise the country.
Nita Haichonaw, another long-time Thai resident in the UAE, said she did not align herself with either factions of the struggle, pro or anti-government, as long as stability returned. "I have had problems with my work, because I can't get items brought in from Thailand," she said.
She added she did not care about losing democracy as long as things would return to normal. "I'm mostly worried about the king," she said.
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