WHEN Yingluck Shinawatra, a former prime minister of Thailand, fled the country a few days ago, she left more than an empty chair in the Supreme Court behind. On August 25th she had been due to hear the verdict in a case against her for negligence in a rice-subsidy scheme she ran while in office that cost the government around $16bn. Though she was ousted in a coup in 2014, Ms Yingluck had remained a symbolic figure for opponents of the junta. The generals will not be sorry she has gone.
The scene at the courthouse—and Ms Yingluck’s absence from it—epitomised the shambles that Thai politics has descended into. When she failed to turn up, the judge said he did not believe her lawyer’s claim that she was ill and demanded her arrest. Despite Ms Yingluck’s poor record in office, and a very heavy police presence, many thousands of her fans turned up at the courthouse hoping to catch a glimpse of her (one of them is pictured, after...Continue reading
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