Irony at the reins as the bandwagon starts rolling

Thailand has come full circle, with one of its richest clans back in power via a claim to be speaking for the poor

Prime minister-to-be Yingluck Shinawatra started her first couple of days at work by meeting with coalition partners, small parties whose main purpose is to provide political protection and comfort to her Pheu Thai Party which, in spite of winning more than 50 per cent of Parliamentary seats, does not feel as secure as one might think.

It would have been a strange way to reconcile the past, but the Matubhum Party of the 2006 coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin was not in the line up. However, the fact that Sonthi said he would be part of the Pheu Thai-led government proves he has the kind of audacity often possessed by Thai politicians.

Speaking of gullibility, Chart Pattana Puea Pandin Party's chief strategist Sanan Kajornprasart said the Bhum Jai Thai Party of Newin Chidchob would understand why they had to be ditched. The two parties made a pact just weeks before the election, but it wasn't exactly holy matrimony. The so-called desire to serve the people was just too great, Sanan seems to be suggesting.

But that's life in Thailand's smaller parties. You go where the circus goes. And thanks to the billboards of animals all over the country - monkeys, lizards, buffaloes - this recent election came very close to looking like a circus.

It's tempting to romanticise the outcome of the poll as a victory for the poor, the downtrodden struggling for social justice. But look just a little deeper, and the romantic viewpoint is shattered.

Sadly, the outcome reflected a nation deeply divided along geographical lines. The North and Northeast went to Pheu Thai while the South went to the Democrats. We arrived at the polling booths with a lot of anger, and it will take some time to subside.

Some have tried to paint the event as a class conflict, but there are poor people on all sides. One can also argue that there is no real ideological basis among the pro- and anti-Thaksin movements. Leftists and rightists from the political stage of yesteryear were in both camps.

Thailand is entering a phase of reconciliation, so they said. The chief manager for this daunting task is - get this - Chalerm Yoobamrung. Wouldn't it be great if he could bring his boys along?

Chalerm's appointment was not the only irony in this election. Thailand's biggest sugar daddy Chuwit Kamolvisit - who admitted to paying millions of baht each month in police bribes but decided to enter politics after he fell out with the then police chief - got elected on an anticorruption ticket.

Meanwhile, hailing from one of the richest clans in the country, winner Yingluck claimed to be speaking for Thailand's poor.

Interestingly, no one seems to see the glaring contradiction - that the leadership of the red-shirt movement, the main backer of the Pheu Thai Party, is made up of millionaires and elites, the very people the movement supposedly despised.

But with Yingluck in power, one can say that Thailand has more or less come full circle. It started with Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai Party in 2001. At the time, the country gave him a red-carpet welcome, overlooking the fact that the man had transferred billions into his maid's bank account to avoid paying taxes.

One could say that we lost our chance of being a country of law and order back then, and whatever came after - the 2006 coup, the street battles, the arson attacks - was a consequence of that missed opportunity.

In spite of the fact that his populist policies were unsustainable, and that his administration favoured the business sector just as much as any administration, Thaksin succeeded in projecting himself as a champion of the poor.

His greed got him into trouble and his quest for absolute power put him on a collision course with the establishment and the military. A coup was launched in 2006, but those who ousted him were not able to uproot the seeds he had planted.

Ten years later, it's his sister's turn. Some say this is all about getting Thaksin's money back, as well as an amnesty for him and the red-shirt leaders who burned down one of Bangkok's fanciest shopping malls.

But let's hope this next administration is about much more than just one man and one wealthy family.