Thai student protesters gain upper hand as Prayuth government reels from Covid-19 and tourism crash
- Six weeks since Thailand’s pro-democracy movement demanded reforms, the government has yet to respond, seeking to wait out the protesters
- The government is said to be holding off on a crackdown – its usual course of action – even as the king assembles a coterie of military loyalists
The moment protesters strayed into the forbidden territory of the monarchy, many Thais thought the countdown to a crackdown had begun.
The dates of bloody crackdowns – 1973, 1976, 1992, 2010 – mark the tragic course of Thailand’s faltering democracy struggle, serving as reminders to the 2020 protesters of the risks of taking on the Thai establishment.
But Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy can ill-afford a violent political crisis as it contends with a record economic contraction due to the Covid-19 crisis – estimated at 8 to 10 per cent by the end of the year – and the stigma of street violence as the government tries to usher back vital tourism revenue and much-needed foreign investment.
“The government has been restrained because they want to hold onto power as long as they can,” said Thammasat University student Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, “Apart from buying time, they’ve got no game.”
It was Rung’s calls during protests at the university on August 10 that transformed an angry pro-democracy movement into an existential threat to the status quo.
