The State of Conflict and Violence in Asia 2021

Thailand

Timeline

1932 Absolute monarchy is abolished. Over the next 85 years, Thailand sees 20 charters and constitutions, 12 coups, and 34 years of military control.

1948 Militant separatists in the country’s southernmost provinces start resisting perceived forced assimilation of the Malay Muslim population.

October 14, 1973 Army opens fire on students protesting 26 years of military rule. Seventy-seven are killed and 800 injured.

1974 Communist Party of Thailand begins armed insurgency, costing 3,415 lives by 1982.

October 6, 1976 Protests at Thammasat University against former military dictator Thanom Kittichorn end in violence when security forces and ultra-right-wing groups kill 45 students.

1982 Communist insurgency draws to a close.

1992 “Black May” protests against Suchinda Kraprayoon’s premiership. He resigns when King Rama IX intervenes.

1997–8 Asian Financial Crisis brings an abrupt end to an era of rapid economic growth.

January 6, 2001 Billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai party wins election; the same party in different guises has performed strongly in every subsequent election.

January 2004 Conflict in the southernmost provinces ramps up in a series of violent attacks.

April 28, 2004 One hundred six poorly armed insurgents killed by police following a series of attacks on police outposts. Thirty-two of the insurgents rally in Pattani’s historic Krue Se mosque, where they are killed.

October 25, 2004 Tak Bai massacre in Narathiwat as 78 protesters suffocate in army trucks.

2006 “Yellow-shirt” protests lead to military coup against Thaksin’s government.

2010 Mass “red-shirt” protests, and counter protests by “yellow-shirts,” escalate over several months, culminating in a military crackdown. At least 90 die.

2011 Pheu Thai party (a renamed version of Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai) wins election again. Yingluck, Thaksin Shinawatra’s sister, becomes prime minister.

March 2012 The separatist Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) detonates car bombs in Yala province, killing 14 and injuring more than 140.

February 2013 The Yingluck government launches peace talks with the rebels, but the initiative peters out as national political crisis unfolds. By 2013, The conflict has claimed more than 5,000 lives.

2014 “Yellow-shirt” protests grow and disrupt Bangkok, leading to a military coup led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha, who will lead a military government until 2019.

October 13, 2016 King Rama IX dies. He had reigned since 1946.

2019 Conflict continues in the southernmost provinces, although casualty rates are declining. One hundred eighty people die in the violence during 2019.

May 3–6, 2019 Royal coronation of King Rama X.

May 24, 2019 While Pheu Thai wins most seats in the first election since the 2014 coup, the military-affiliated Palang Pracharath party forms a coalition government, and Prayut Chan-o-cha remains prime minister.

January 2020 Thai officials hold a first official meeting with representatives of the BRN armed movement, a potentially significant step in protracted discussions.

February 21, 2020 Disbanding of Future Forward party.

April 4, 2020 The most powerful insurgent group in Thailand’s troubled far south declares a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds as Covid-19 cases rise.

August 2020 Mass street protests return as large, student-led rallies are held against the government, the constitution, and perceived restrictions on democratic rights.

April 2021 After two earlier waves of the Covid-19 pandemic are successfully controlled, cases rise to over 2,000 per day for the first time. Efforts to procure vaccines are stepped up.

Overview

Thailand’s political instability at the national level has continued despite a return to partial democracy. After multiple postponements, Thailand finally held its general election in May 2019. General Prayut Chan-o-cha, who led the 2014 military coup and the post-coup military government up to the election, emerged as prime minister following a lengthy process and delayed results, which were disputed by some actors. In February 2020, an emerging new political party that opposed traditional elites, Future Forward, was disbanded by the constitutional Court for funding irregularities.

In August 2020, a mass movement against the government formed large street protests that grew in size and ambition. Police arrested and pressed charges against a number of prominent student activists involved in organizing the protests. In October, the government imposed more severe restrictions on public gatherings under a state of emergency.

Thailand continues to be plagued by an ethnonationalist insurgency in its southernmost provinces. The conflict is rooted in the historical grievances of the area’s Malay Muslim majority toward the Thai state. While the ongoing peace dialogue remains stagnant, violent attacks continue, although they have gradually decreased in number. The protracted conflict has resulted in over 7,000 deaths since 2004. Across Thailand, gender-based violence remains widespread, affecting a large part of the population.

Thailand confirmed its first case of Covid-19 as early as January 13, 2020, and responded quickly. After a strict national lockdown in April and May, the number of new local infections dropped to zero until December 2020, when cases began to rise once again. The tourism industry has been particularly affected, and Thailand saw its economy contract for the first time since 2014. Anti-immigrant sentiment flared up at various points during the pandemic, particularly in December 2020 as new local infections spread from Myanmar migrant workers. Positive cases rose to new highs starting in April 2021 as the pandemic began to establish itself across the country for the first time.