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Travel to Thailand — Unbiased reviews and
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Kingdom of Thailand
Ruler: King Bhumibol Adulyadej
(1946)
Prime Minister: Abhisit Vejjajiva
(2008)
Current government officials
Land area: 197,595 sq mi (511,771 sq km);
total area: 198,455 sq mi (514,000 sq km)
Population (2007 est.): 65,068,149
(growth rate: 0.7%); birth rate: 13.7/1000; infant mortality rate:
18.9/1000; life expectancy: 72.6; density per sq mi: 329
Capital and largest city (2000):
Bangkok, 6,320,174 (city proper)
Other large cities: Nonthanburi,
304,700; Chiang Mai, 175,500
Monetary unit: baht
Languages:
Thai (Siamese), English (secondary language of
the elite), ethnic and regional dialects
Ethnicity/race:
Thai 75%, Chinese 14%, other 11%
Religions:
Buddhist 95%, Islam 5%, Christian 1%
(2000)
Literacy rate: 96% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $519.4 billion; per capita $7,900. Real growth rate:
4.8%. Inflation: 2.2%. Unemployment: 1.4%.
Arable land: 28%. Agriculture: rice, cassava (tapioca),
rubber, corn, sugarcane, coconuts, soybeans. Labor force:
36.9 million; agriculture 49%, industry 14%, services 37% (2000
est.). Industries: tourism, textiles and garments,
agricultural processing, beverages, tobacco, cement, light
manufacturing such as jewelry and electric appliances, computers and
parts, integrated circuits, furniture, plastics, automobiles and
automotive parts; world's second-largest tungsten producer and
third-largest tin producer. Natural resources: tin, rubber,
natural gas, tungsten, tantalum, timber, lead, fish, gypsum,
lignite, fluorite, arable land. Exports: $105.8 billion
f.o.b. (2005 est.): textiles and footwear, fishery products, rice,
rubber, jewelry, automobiles, computers and electrical appliances.
Imports: $107 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): capital goods,
intermediate goods and raw materials, consumer goods, fuels.
Major trading partners: U.S., Japan, China, Singapore,
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 5.6 million (2000); mobile cellular: 3.1 million (2002).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 204, FM 334, shortwave 6 (1999).
Radios: 13.96 million (1997). Television broadcast
stations: 5 (all in Bangkok; plus 131 repeaters) (1997).
Televisions: 15.19 million (1997). Internet Service
Providers (ISPs): 15 (2000). Internet users: 1.2 million
(2001).
Transportation: Railways: total: 4,071
km (2002). Highways: total: 64,600 km; paved: 62,985 km;
unpaved: 1,615 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 4,000 km principal
waterways; 3,701 km with navigable depths of 0.9 m or more
throughout the year; numerous minor waterways navigable by
shallow-draft native craft. Ports and harbors: Bangkok, Laem
Chabang, Pattani, Phuket, Sattahip, Si Racha, Songkhla. Airports:
111 (2002).
International disputes: completion of
boundary demarcation with Cambodia hampered by accusations of moving
and destroying boundary markers, encroachments, initiating border
incidents, and sealing off Preah Vihear temple ruins, awarded to
Cambodia by ICJ decision in 1962; demarcation complete except for a
1 kilometer segment at the mouth of the Kolok River in dispute with
Malaysia; demarcation with Laos complete except for certain Mekong
River islets and complaints of Thai squatters; despite continuing
border committee talks, significant differences remain with Burma
over boundary alignment and the handling of ethnic rebels, refugees,
and illegal cross-border activities.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Thailand occupies the western half of the Indochinese peninsula and the
northern two-thirds of the Malay Peninsula in southeast Asia. Its
neighbors are Burma (Myanmar) on the north and west, Laos on the north and
northeast, Cambodia on the east, and Malaysia on the south. Thailand is
about the size of France.
Government
Constitutional monarchy.
History
The Thais first began settling their present homeland in the 6th
century, and by the end of the 13th century ruled most of the western
portion. During the next 400 years, they fought sporadically with the
Cambodians to the east and the Burmese to the west. Formerly called Siam,
Thailand has never experienced foreign colonization. The British gained a
colonial foothold in the region in 1824, but by 1896 an Anglo-French
accord guaranteed the independence of Thailand. A coup in 1932 demoted the
monarchy to titular status and established representative government with
universal suffrage.
At the outbreak of World War II, Japanese forces attacked Thailand.
After five hours of token resistance Thailand yielded to Japan on Dec. 8,
1941, subsequently becoming a staging area for the Japanese campaign
against Malaya. Following the demise of a pro-Japanese puppet government
in July 1944, Thailand repudiated the declaration of war it had been
forced to make in 1942 against Britain and the U.S.
By the late 1960s the nation's problems largely stemmed from conflicts
brewing in neighboring Cambodia and Vietnam. Although Thailand had
received $2 billion in U.S. economic and military aid since 1950 and had
sent troops (paid by the U.S.) to Vietnam while permitting U.S. bomber
bases on its territory, the collapse of South Vietnam and Cambodia in
spring 1975 brought rapid changes in the country's diplomatic posture. At
the Thai government's insistence, the U.S. agreed to withdraw all 23,000
U.S. military personnel remaining in Thailand by March 1976.
Three years of civilian government ended with a military coup on Oct.
6, 1976. Political parties, banned after the coup, gained limited freedom
in 1980. The same year, the national assembly elected Gen. Prem
Tinsulanonda as prime minister. Prem continued as prime minister following
the 1983 and 1986 elections.
Fleeing from Laos, Vietnam, and the murderous regime of Cambodia's Pol
Pot, refugees flooded into Thailand in 1978 and 1979. Despite efforts by
the United States and other Western countries to resettle them, a total of
130,000 Laotians and Vietnamese were living in camps along the Cambodian
border in mid-1980.
On April 3, 1981, a military coup against the Prem government failed.
Another coup attempt on Sept. 9, 1985, was crushed by loyal troops after
ten hours of fighting in Bangkok. In Feb. 1991, yet another coup yielded
another junta, which declared a state of emergency and abolished the
constitution. A scandal over a land-reform program caused the fall of the
government in May 1995. A succession of governments followed.
Following several years of unprecedented economic growth, Thailand's
economy, once one of the strongest in the region, collapsed under the
weight of foreign debt in 1997. The Thai economy's downfall set off a
chain reaction in the region, sparking the Asian currency crisis. The Thai
government quickly accepted restructuring guidelines as a condition of the
International Monetary Fund's $17 billion bailout. Thailand's economy,
while far from completely recovered, continued to improve over the next
several years.
Thaksin Shinawatra, head of the Thai Rak Thai Party, became prime
minister in Jan. 2001. The hugely popular Thaksin, a billionaire
telecommunications mogul, was indicted in Dec. 2000 on corruption charges
but acquitted in Aug. 2001.
In Feb. 2003, Thaksin announced plans to eliminate the drug trade from
Thailand within three months. When the operation concluded at the end of
April, nearly 2,300 people had been killed. Government officials claimed
responsibility for about 35 of the casualties, blaming drug dealers and
gang members for the other deaths. Human rights activists, however,
suspected police forces had been overly aggressive in their campaign.
Violence has plagued Thailand's Muslim-dominated southern provinces
since the beginning of 2004, with armed insurgents attacking police
stations, security stations, and military depots. Nearly 800 people have
been killed in the attacks, which officials attribute to Islamic
militants. The violence intensified in July 2005, prompting Thaksin to
declare a state of emergency in the south. Pattani Province was rocked by
attacks in Feb. 2007, when some 30 coordinated bombs exploded at bars,
hotels, and electricity transmitters. While the insurgents have been vague
in explaining their motivation for such attacks, the most recent bombings
suggest they are targeting Buddhists as well as other Muslims.
On Dec. 26, 2004, a tremendously powerful tsunami ravaged 12 Asian
countries. Thailand reported about 5,300 casualties.
Thaksin made history in the Feb. 2005 elections, becoming the first
prime minister to serve two consecutive terms. His Thai Rak Thai Party won
in a landslide. He was criticized during his first term for alleged
corruption, for failing to control the insurgency in the south, and for an
ineffective response to Thailand's avian flu outbreak, but his deft
handling of the tsunami crisis increased his popularity in the days
leading up to the election. A year later, however, Thaksin faced intense
criticism when he sold his family's share of a communications company for
nearly $2 billion without paying taxes. About 60,000 demonstrators
gathered in Bangkok and called for his resignation. In addition, two of
his cabinet members resigned in protest. Facing mounting criticism over
the sale, Thaksin dissolved parliament in late February and called for
early elections. He announced his resignation in April, just days after
his Thai Rak Thai Party won 57% of the vote in national elections. After
leaving office for seven weeks, Thaksin again returned to the role of
prime minister.
In September 2006, the military, led by Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin,
staged a bloodless coup and declared martial law while Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra was at the meeting of the UN General Assembly in New
York. In October, Surayud Chulanont, a respected retired general, was
sworn in as prime minister. The military council that installed Chulanont
announced that a new general election will be held in late 2007, after a
new constitution had been written.
In May 2007, a constitutional court found the political party of former
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Thai Rak Thai, guilty of election fraud
and banned it from participating in government for five years.
In the country's first referendum, held in August 2007, Thailand voted
in favor of a new constitution, which set the stage for parliamentary
elections and a return to democracy after a year of military rule. In
December's parliamentary elections, the People Power Party, which supports
former prime minister Thaksin, won 233 out of 480 seats in parliamentary
elections, a clear rebuke to military rule. Thaksin, who had been in
self-imposed exile in London, said he would return to Thailand but not
enter politics. Samak Sundaravej, of the People Power Party, was elected
prime minister by Parliament in January 2008, thus completing the
transition back to democracy. Samak, a controversial and contentious
figure, called himself a "proxy" for Thaksin and said he would work to
tackle poverty in rural Thailand. In the 1970s and 1990s, Samak supported
violent crackdowns on students and pro-democracy campaigners.
Thaksin returned to Thailand in February 2008 after 17 months in exile.
He said he was prepared to face corruption charges related to property he
acquired from a state agency during his tenure as prime minister. In July,
his wife, Pojaman Shinawatra, was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced
to three years in jail. Thaksin failed to appear for a court appearance in
August and fled with his wife to London. He left behind about $2 billion
in assets that was frozen by the military when it assumed power in 2006.
He said he would not receive a fair trial in Thailand.
In July, Unesco, the cultural arm of the United Nations, designated the
Preah Vihear temple, which sits on the Cambodian side of the
Cambodian-Thai border, as a UN World Heritage Site. The move stirred
nationalist emotions on both sides and fueled the tension between the
countries. Both countries moved troops to disputed land near the temple.
Squirmishing broke out between Cambodian and Thai troops in October 2008,
and two Cambodian soldiers were killed.
In August, thousands of protesters, called People’s Alliance for
Democracy (PAD), staged a sit-in outside the government buildings in
Bangkok, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej,
who they call a proxy for Thaksin. Demonstrators were seeking to change
the governing and electoral process that has empowered the rural majority,
who PAD members say are “ill educated,” at the expense of the
elite. The PAD has recommended introducing an appointed, rather than
elected, legislature. About a week into the sit-in, pro-government
protesters launched a counterdemonstration, which turned violent,
prompting the government to declare a state of emergency. The military and
police did not enforce the state of emergency, however. In a press
conference, army commander Gen. Anupong Paochinda declared neutrality in
the conflict. "We are not taking sides," he said. "If the nation is the
people, we are the army of the people."
Samak was forced to resign in September, when Thailand's Constitutional
Court ruled that he violated the constitution, which prohibits working in
the private sector while in office, by being paid to appear on the cooking
show "Tasting and Complaining." Somchai Wongsawat, the first deputy prime
minister, became acting prime minister. Parliament elected him prime
minister on September 17, 298 to 163.
The unrest took a dramatic turn on October 7, when two people were
killed and more than 400 wounded in fighting between security forces and
anti-government protesters. Demonstrators, tyring to prevent the
inauguration of Somchai, barricaded lawmakers inside the Parliament
building and the army was deployed. PAD protesters were buoyed by an
October ruling by Thailand's anticorruption court that found Thaksin
guilty of corruption over a land deal. The court sentenced him to two
years in prison. On November 25, the protesters shut down Bangkok's
Suvarnaabhumi Intnerantional Airport, creating a national crisis and
stranding tourists. The next day, Thailand's army chief, General Anupong
Paochinda, urged Prime Minister Somchai to resign and call new elections.
Somchai refused to heed Anupong's advice and then declared a state of
emergency and authorized the police and military to evict the
protesters.
Thailand's Constitutional Court disbanded the governing People Power
Party on Dec. 2, ruling that it engaged in fraud during the 2007
elections. The decision forced Somchai from power and banned party members
from politics for five years. Supporters of Thaksin maintained their
parliamentary majority and said they will attempt to continue governing by
forming a new party. The ruling prompted protesters to end their blockade
of Suvarnaabhumi Intnerantional Airport. First deputy prime minister,
Chaovarat Chanweerakul, became caretaker prime minister. Days later, on
Dec. 15, Parliament elected Abhisit Vejjajiva, the head of the Democrat
Party, as prime minister. Observers wondered if Abhisit, a member of
Thailand's elite, could address the problems of the country's rural poor,
who constitute a majority of the electorate.
See also Encyclopedia: Thailand.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Thailand
National Statistical Office www.nso.go.th/eng/index.htm .
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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