Thailand: Displeasure is growing with the corona numbers

The corona crisis is fueling the social division in Thailand: while the rich can quickly get tested for money, the poor have to queue for free tests. Anger against the government is growing.

Water cannons and tear gas on one side, body bags sprinkled with red paint and burning tires on the other: Last weekend, despite the ban on gatherings, the anger of the Thais unleashed against their government. More than a thousand people marched towards the government office of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in Bangkok.

The 34-year-old office worker Kanyaporn Veeratat was also there: “What the government is doing is killing me. It has handled the whole situation very badly, and if we do nothing, nothing changes,” she says. “We need better action. You should open your eyes and see how people live and suffer, and not stay away from the people like dictators. I am very disappointed.”

“Thailand did not get enough vaccine”

It looks dark for Thailand, especially in Bangkok and the surrounding provinces, where there is now a lockdown again, says Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute for Science and International Security at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “It’s a threefold blow: the virus is back with full force, reinforced by the delta variant. The numbers rise to five-digit numbers, and it will go on forever,” he says.

“Secondly, the vaccination situation is very unclear. Thailand has not procured enough vaccine, too few types of vaccines, so nothing can be done to prevent the spread of the virus,” said Pongsudhirak. “That carries over to people’s lives. They are upset and protest against politics; the economy is down, especially because of the new lockdown.”

All of Thailand is suffering. Tourism, which otherwise accounts for twenty percent of the gross domestic product, has been idle for the second year in a row. Many can barely make a living. Bangkok’s famous nightlife is dead, many clubs that were hesitant to reopen have closed due to new Covid outbreaks. The vaccination rate in the country is just five percent, yesterday alone there were 13,500 new corona cases.

Up to 150 euros for a private corona test

Corruption and enrichment from the suffering of others are spreading, say the Thais. For example, there are Covid tests that allow people to move around more freely, for free – but the queues for this are huge. Private tests cost between 50 and 150 euros, unbelievable sums for normal Thai earners. It looks similar with the vaccinations. Here, too, the government has not done enough to provide for the population.

“The two main vaccines here are Sinovac and AstraZeneca. One strengthens China’s influence, and AstraZeneca is made by SiamBioscience – this company is wholly owned by King Vajiralongkorn,” says Panusaya Sithijiwarattanakul. She is one of the leaders of the protest movement that has been demanding the resignation of the prime minister for a year and a half, wants a new constitution and even – until then unthinkable – criticized the king. So also in the vaccination conflict about the vaccine from the royal factory.

“On the one hand, there is a conflict of interest. And the effectiveness of both vaccines is not high. There are other vaccines, but the government did not order them,” says Sithijiwarattanakul. There is now another Chinese vaccine, Sinopharm, which is sold in private clinics.

The king’s SiamBioscience factory is now halving its production targets. Two Panusaya supporters demonstrated in front of the company and were arrested on charges of lese majesty. Panusaya himself must answer for this as well and for numerous other offenses; she has been released on bail from prison. There she was infected with Corona.

“Everyone in prison has to fight for survival”

Because in the overcrowded prisons, the virus has a free run, she says. The conditions there taught her a lot about human nature: “To be in a Thai prison reveals the dark side of human existence. There everyone has to fight for survival, fight for their daily chores, always be faster than the others. Otherwise you get you don’t eat any more, you can’t wash yourself or you can’t find a place to sleep. People who were friendly and helpful outside of the prison become selfish beings here. ”

Despite the real prospect that they and others will end up in prison again – in this ominous place – the protest movement in Thailand is not giving up. Even if, in the opinion of many, the government is using the strict corona measures to slow down the demonstrators. But resentment is growing at the same time as the Covid crisis. As the demonstration clearly showed.

“The government should plan better and think about the well-being of the people,” says Panusaya. “But the problem is, she can’t, because she emerged from a military coup. That is why her main interest is not with the people, but with herself, with their personal benefit and their retention of power.” And so there is probably no way out from the crisis in Thailand.