by MARWAAN MACAN-MARKER
Ms. Yingluck, right, arriving at a news conference in Bangkok on Monday. PHOTO/Zuma Press/WSJ
BAAN FANG, Thailand, Jul 4, 2011 (IPS) – Across villages, towns, and cities in northeast Thailand, a mood of political empowerment is bursting to the surface, with people gathering in groups since Sunday evening to celebrate political history. After all, they helped put Yingluck Shinawatra on the road to becoming the country’s first female prime minister.
Under a starlit sky on Jul. 3, election night, a group of villagers sat on mats outside a house in this village on the outskirts of this plateau’s main city, Khon Kaen, basking in the victory of a candidate who “has given a lot of attention to the grassroots people,” as one of them, Paitoon Pohnang, described it.
As they listened to news reports that Yingluck’s opposition Phue Thai (For Thais) party was gaining seats, the group broke into whoops and applause, drowning out the chorus of crickets chirping from the darkened trees on the edge of the garden.
“I believe that a woman can be a prime minister in Thailand,” said an excited Sukunthai Buthawong, a 61-year-old rice farmer. “We have to try something new, not only voting for men to lead the country. I voted feeling this way. I want change. I want to make history.”
It was a sentiment echoed by the nearly 30 people gathered around her, men and women who were also part of the same community of rice farmers. “Women are good with details and work carefully,” added another farmer who was wearing a red shirt, the colour worn by Phue Thai supporters.
Celebrations were more vivid on Monday in the downtown market selling fresh produce in Khon Kaen, 24 km from Baan Fang. Women wearing red shirts, some wearing red bows on their heads, were dancing to the blare of local music in their stalls of vegetables and meats. “I am happy and crazy. It feels better than winning a lottery,” yelled a vegetable vendor who only gave her first name, Ratree.
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