Another woman at the helm

This Republic Day Celebrations will have Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra as the chief guest. The first woman in a country of 65 million to hold the top political job, Yingluck is enjoying a rare luxury in the often macho world of Thai politics, floating above the political snake pit and dismissing prickly questions with her winning smile. Yet, as one who has never held political office before, she is also one of the least experienced leaders to emerge in a major Asian country in decades, writes Mahendra Ved

   Apretty face always adds to the pageant at the Republic Day celebrations. There was some disappointment when French President Nicolas Sarkozy came as the Chief Guest, but did not bring along Carla Bruni

   However, the good news is that the celebrations will receive more colour and glamour with the presence this R-Day of Thailand’s first woman Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

   Her visit at India's invitation, coming a year after that of Indonesian President, Susilo Banbang Yudhoyono, underscores the push India is giving to its “Look East Policy” -- of reaching out to Southeast and East Asia.

   India's Look East policy from 1993 and Thailand's Look West policy since 1996 set the stage for a substantive consolidation of bilateral relations. The past few years since 2001 have witnessed growing warmth, increasing economic and commercial links, exchange of highlevel visits, and the signing of a large number of agreements leading to a further intensification of relations.

Yingluck Shinawatra

   Yingluck has belied her critics who dismiss her as a glam woman by valiantly fighting back the unprecedented floods in her country. It has been tough and someone who hacked her Twitter account, posted: “It is time already that our country changes for the better, not just for looking good for the pictures in order to capitalize for their own corporations, relatives and the others who benefit.”

   Another posted: “If she cannot protect her own Twitter account, how can this country be protected then? Think about it…”

   Like many Asian women leaders – India’s Indira Gandhi, Sirimavo Bandarnaike and Chandrika Kumaratunge of Sri Lanka, Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan and the battling Begums of Bangladesh – Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia – and Corazon Aquino of the Philippines and Indonesia’s Megawati Sukarnoputri -- Yingluck, too, represents the oligarchy of Asian political families.

   When she entered the select group of women heads of government this summer, New York Times described her as “A political novice out to prove she’s her own boss.”

   Like many Asian women leaders – India’s Indira Gandhi, Sirimavo Bandarnaike and Chandrika Kumaratunge of Sri Lanka, Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan and the battling Begums of Bangladesh – Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia – and Corazon Aquino of the Philippines and Indonesia’s Megawati Sukarnoputri -- Yingluck, too, represents the oligarchy of Asian political families. She is the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist prime minister who was ousted from office by the military and the political elite in 2006, charged with serious offences and exiled.

   Yingluck has begun, and will be watched as a proxy for her brother, a charge that she keeps denying.

   Young (she is 44), attractive and charismatic, Thailand's new leader is being hailed and described in poetic terms by supporters.

One writer in Bangkok Post, while describing Yingluk’s hairstyle, waxed poetic: “That side part perfectly grazes your ear like a young lamb gently skipping over a meadow.”

   The first woman in a country of 65 million to hold the top political job, Yingluck is enjoying a rare luxury in the often macho world of Thai politics, floating above the political snake pit and dismissing prickly questions with her winning smile.

   Yet, as one who has never held political office before, she is also one of the least experienced leaders to emerge in a major Asian country in decades.

   Because so much of her career has been spent inside the family business, most notably as the chief executive of Thailand’s largest mobile phone operator, unvarnished opinions by those who have worked with her are hard to come by.

   The victory of Yingluck and her Pheu Thai Party has sharpened divisions between rural and urban areas and started a debate over the significance of a woman leading the country.

   Yingluck has repeatedly said she is well qualified because she is a woman and thus more adept at listening and compromise, a logic that has irked some commentators.

   “I will repeat again that females are the symbols of nonviolence,” she said. “Another thing I would say is that a female is more compromising. A female can talk with anyone easily.”

   Visitors to Thailand, a tourist’s haven, were greeted by tanks on the Bangkok streets in 2006. The country has been turmoil since.

   A particular reason why Ms. Yingluck's rise to power is remarkable is that she does not have a history of active politics behind her and that she takes centre stage only five years after Thaksin, elder to her by 18 years, was overthrown by the military.

   As the country’s first woman prime minister, Yingluck has come as a breath of fresh air in Thailand’s murky political scene where the military is trying hard to make its presence felt in a big way.

   Her election is in a way a rebuff to the military and the political elite.

   Yingluck Shinawatra can take comfort from the majority she and her allies command in parliament, a total of 296 seats out of a potential 500. She has already demonstrated good political acumen by going for a six-party coalition, a sign of the pragmatism she means to bring into administration.

   In a country where 18 coups and attempted coups have undermined democracy since 1932, the new prime minister cannot but tread carefully.

   She takes office with so many expectations of her from her supporters. A particular reason why Ms. Yingluck's rise to power is remarkable is that she does not have a history of active politics behind her and that she takes centre stage only five years after Thaksin, elder to her by 18 years, was overthrown by the military.

   One reason behind her victory was the nostalgia in which poor, rural Thais hold Thaksin, whose government vastly improved social conditions for the country's impoverished and disadvantaged. It is that image she must live up to if she means to succeed in office.

   Yingluck has pleaded for patience.
With the controversial legacy of Thaksin both a boon and a potential barrier, Yingluck must now deliver on her party’s litany of ambitious populist promises: a sharp increase in the minimum wage, the construction of high-speed rail lines, providing free tablet computers to primary school students and revamping the health care system, among many others.