PM Yingluck Shinawatra Survives Floods Censure; 15 Million Thai Voters Still Support Her

BANGKOK -- Thailand's opposition party, the Democrats, as a result of sour grapes from being kicked out of office in July, has spent the last four months going after the people who were voted in -- current Thai prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, and her Pheu Thai party. On Sunday, Democrats organized a censure debate of Justice Minister Pracha Promnok, head of the Flood Relief Operations Command (FROC), saying his agency had mismanaged Thailand's devastating flood situation. Whether they went after Pracha or not, Thais know the attack was meant for Yingluck.

But happily for many Thais, the Democrat's attack failed. Pracha survived a no-confidence vote yesterday, and Yingluck Shinawatra remains as popular a prime minister as she ever was. In fact, 15 million Thai voters, a majority of the people who voted in July's general election, still support Yingluck.

Of course, most don't believe Yingluck did a perfect job managing Thailand's massive floods, particularly when the water started to reach Bangkok. But, most are also smart enough to realize, even if the PM had been Abhisit Vejjajiva, the leader of the Democrats, the outcome of the floods would have been the same. Bangkok would have flooded, as it did, and the water would have hung around as long.

After all, when hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water are heading into a city, Buddha himself would probably have had a problem managing it.

Many of the Thais I know are working-class people (motorcycle taxi drivers, street vendors, store clerks, maids), and almost to a man and woman, they support Yingluck Shinawatra and her brother, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was kicked out of office during an illegal military coup in 2006. They also, to a man or woman, despise the Democrats and Abhisit Vejjajiva, and everything they stand for.

A motorcycle taxi driver, Khun Champ, said to me recently, "Everyone is so bored of hearing Abhisit, Suthep (one of Abhisit's cronies) and the Democrats, blame, blame, blame about the floods. Why do they think anyone is listening? Boring. We still like Yingluck. Please. Just stop talking."

A woman who works at my local 7-11 adores Yingluck. She was appalled the other week when an anti-Thaksin businessman, wrote this on his Facebook account:

"I don't want to say things like this, because it will seem like I look down on women. But the fact is, the northern girls who are uneducated, lazy or lacking in intelligence, they will seek to do an easy job that normal women will not do. Mainly it is sexual services.

"Therefore, for the northern woman who is short in intelligence, extremely stupid, yet still thick-faced enough to take up the position, you should know what profession suits you best."

The comment was aimed, not at "northern girls" but at Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand's prime minister, who is herself from Chiang Mai -- a northern girl.

A Bangkok Post columnist, known for normally being polite, retaliated saying the businessman had "a mind dirtier than a pigsty".

So, as Democrats continue to blame Yingluck and her Pheu Thai party for floods in Thailand's north and now in Bangkok, it's nice to know the average working-class Thai isn't buying any of it.

They may be poorly educated (not their fault, Thailand's education system is abysmal), they may be poorly paid, but, let me tell you, they're not stupid.