Tensions Rise in Thailand as Yingluck Trial Begins
Supporters protesting outside, ousted Prime Minister Yingluck pleaded not guilty to charges over rice program
Ousted Thai leader Yingluck Shinawatra leaving court Tuesday through a sea of supporters after pleading not guilty to charges related to a botched rice-subsidy program. PHOTO: THANYARAT DOKSONE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Political tensions in Thailand ticked up a notch Tuesday as former leader Yingluck Shinawatra pleaded not guilty to charges she failed to act to prevent billions of dollars in losses from a botched rice-subsidy program.
The trial got under way just a few days before the first anniversary of the coup d’état that ousted her government and brought the current ruling junta to power, and security was tight at the Supreme Court complex in Bangkok’s northern suburbs where the hearings are taking place. Dozens of Ms. Yingluck’s supporters gathered there in the early morning, many chanting “Fight! Fight!” in a vivid display of the new leaders’ failure to heal the wounds from last year’s putsch.
“Ms. Yingluck devoted herself to the poor. She isn’t a criminal and she will not run away,” said 52-year-old Pruk Pruksunan.
Ms. Yingluck told reporters, “I hope the court will give me justice and follow the rule of law.”
If found guilty, Ms. Yingluck could face up to 10 years in prison—a sentence that could further widen the political fault lines that have divided Thailand since her brother, billionaire businessman Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted in an earlier coup in 2006.
Ms. Yingluck’s ill-fated rice policy is a significant part of the dispute. Launched in 2011 after her landslide election win, it involved buying rice from farmers at up to double the prevailing market prices. Ms. Yingluck has defended it as a way to transfer wealth to the countryside and boost rural incomes.
Critics, though, viewed it as an extreme extension of the populist vote-winning policies pioneered by Mr. Thaksin, who now lives overseas to avoid imprisonment on a corruption conviction. When Ms. Yingluck’s stockpiling operation failed in its goal of steering global prices higher, Thailand was left with mountains of rice that it couldn’t sell except at a steep loss—further fuel for the middle-class protests against Ms. Yingluck’s administration that helped pave the way for last May’s coup.
Finance Ministry officials calculate the total loss so far at over $15 billion.
Ms. Yingluck’s legal team said the trial could take two years. Some analysts theorize that the procedure is meant to pressure Mr. Thaksin to rein in his millions of supporters at a time when Thailand’s economy is faltering. First-quarter gross domestic product was up a weaker-than-expected 3.0% from a year earlier, as exports sagged and consumer confidence remained low despite a series of interest-rate cuts.
Chaturon Chaisang, a former minister in Ms. Yingluck’s government who faces up to 14 years in prison for challenging the legitimacy of Thailand’s military regime, recently said in an interview that whether protests do erupt in the coming months or years “will partly depend on what condition the economy is in.”
Bail for Ms. Yingluck was set at 30 million baht, or about $900,000.
The trial got under way just a few days before the first anniversary of the coup d’état that ousted her government and brought the current ruling junta to power, and security was tight at the Supreme Court complex in Bangkok’s northern suburbs where the hearings are taking place. Dozens of Ms. Yingluck’s supporters gathered there in the early morning, many chanting “Fight! Fight!” in a vivid display of the new leaders’ failure to heal the wounds from last year’s putsch.
“Ms. Yingluck devoted herself to the poor. She isn’t a criminal and she will not run away,” said 52-year-old Pruk Pruksunan.
Ms. Yingluck told reporters, “I hope the court will give me justice and follow the rule of law.”
If found guilty, Ms. Yingluck could face up to 10 years in prison—a sentence that could further widen the political fault lines that have divided Thailand since her brother, billionaire businessman Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted in an earlier coup in 2006.
Ms. Yingluck’s ill-fated rice policy is a significant part of the dispute. Launched in 2011 after her landslide election win, it involved buying rice from farmers at up to double the prevailing market prices. Ms. Yingluck has defended it as a way to transfer wealth to the countryside and boost rural incomes.
Critics, though, viewed it as an extreme extension of the populist vote-winning policies pioneered by Mr. Thaksin, who now lives overseas to avoid imprisonment on a corruption conviction. When Ms. Yingluck’s stockpiling operation failed in its goal of steering global prices higher, Thailand was left with mountains of rice that it couldn’t sell except at a steep loss—further fuel for the middle-class protests against Ms. Yingluck’s administration that helped pave the way for last May’s coup.
Finance Ministry officials calculate the total loss so far at over $15 billion.
Ms. Yingluck’s legal team said the trial could take two years. Some analysts theorize that the procedure is meant to pressure Mr. Thaksin to rein in his millions of supporters at a time when Thailand’s economy is faltering. First-quarter gross domestic product was up a weaker-than-expected 3.0% from a year earlier, as exports sagged and consumer confidence remained low despite a series of interest-rate cuts.
Chaturon Chaisang, a former minister in Ms. Yingluck’s government who faces up to 14 years in prison for challenging the legitimacy of Thailand’s military regime, recently said in an interview that whether protests do erupt in the coming months or years “will partly depend on what condition the economy is in.”
Bail for Ms. Yingluck was set at 30 million baht, or about $900,000.
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