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The year 2015 is the 234th year of the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Thailand. It was the 70th year in the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), and is reckoned as year 2558 in the Buddhist Era.
The politics of Thailand are conducted within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, whereby the prime minister is the head of government and a hereditary monarch is head of state. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative branches.
Prem Tinsulanonda was a Thai military officer, politician, and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Thailand from 1980 to 1988.
The 2006 sale of the Shinawatra family's share of Shin Corporation (ShinCorp) to Temasek Holdings caused great controversy in Thailand. The sale was in response to long-standing criticisms that the Shinawatra family's holdings created a conflict of interest for Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Criticisms of the sale focused on the insistence by Thaksin and a compliant government that the transaction was exempt from capital gains tax, the fact that the Thai company was sold to a Singaporean company, and the fact that the Thai law regarding foreign investments in the telecom sector had been amended just prior to the sale. Thaksin's sale also impacted holdings, among other parties, of the Crown Property Bureau that had an investment in Siam Commercial Bank that held ShinCorp stock.
In 2005 and 2006, a series of events occurred in Thailand as a result of public anger with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that was supported by Sondhi Limthongkul and his coalitions. It led a military coup that concluded in the overthrow of the Thai Rak Thai government in September 2006, the flight of Thaksin after the court verdict, and the establishment of the junta government led by Surayud Chulanont, a favourite of privy councillor and senior statesman Prem Tinsulanonda.
The 2006 Thai coup d'état took place on 19 September 2006, when the Royal Thai Army staged a coup d'état against the elected caretaker government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The coup d'état, which was Thailand's first non-constitutional change of government in fifteen years since the 1991 Thai coup d'état, followed a year-long political crisis involving Thaksin, his allies, and political opponents and occurred less than a month before nationwide House elections were scheduled to be held. It has been widely reported in Thailand and elsewhere that General Prem Tinsulanonda, a key person in the military-monarchy nexus, Chairman of the Privy Council, was the mastermind of the coup. The military cancelled the scheduled 15 October elections, abrogated the 1997 constitution, dissolved parliament and the constitutional court, banned protests and all political activities, suppressed and censored the media, declared martial law nationwide, and arrested cabinet members.
According to the United States Department of State, "Thailand is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking." Thailand's relative prosperity attracts migrants from neighboring countries who flee conditions of poverty and, in the case of Burma, military repression. Significant illegal migration to Thailand presents traffickers with opportunities to coerce or defraud undocumented migrants into involuntary servitude or sexual exploitation. Police who investigated reaching high-profile authorities also received death threats in 2015.
Anupong Paochinda is a Thai politician and retired army officer. He held the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army from 2007 until his retirement on 30 September 2010.
Yingluck Shinawatra is a Thai businesswoman, politician and a member of the Pheu Thai Party who became the 28th prime minister of Thailand following the 2011 election. Yingluck was Thailand's first female prime minister and its youngest in over 60 years. She was removed from office on 7 May 2014 by a Constitutional Court decision.
The Yingluck Cabinet describes the cabinet selections of Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who served as prime minister from 2011 to 2014. Shinawatra was appointed effective 5 August 2011, and she handed in her cabinet list for endorsement on 9 August 2011. Yingluck and her cabinet were sworn in at Siriraj Hospital where King Bhumibol Adulyadej resided, on 10 August 2011.
Prayut Chan-o-cha is a former Thai politician and army officer who became the 29th prime minister of Thailand after seizing power in the 2014 coup d'état and served until 2023. He was concurrently the minister of defence in his own government from 2019 to 2023. Prayut served as commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army from 2010 to 2014 and led the coup d'état which installed the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military junta which governed Thailand between 22 May 2014 and 10 July 2019.
The history of Thailand since 2001 has been dominated by the politics surrounding the rise and fall from power of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and subsequent conflicts, first between his supporters and opponents, then over the rising military influence in politics. Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai Party came to power in 2001 and became very popular among the electorate, especially rural voters. Opponents, however, criticized his authoritarian style and accused him of corruption. Thaksin was deposed in a coup d'état in 2006, and Thailand became embroiled in continuing rounds of political crisis involving elections won by Thaksin's supporters, massive anti-government protests by multiple factions, removals of prime ministers and disbanding of political parties by the judiciary, and two military coups.
On 22 May 2014, the Royal Thai Armed Forces, led by Prayut Chan-o-cha, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army, launched a coup d'état, the twelfth since the country's first coup in 1932, against the caretaker government following six months of political crisis. The military established a junta called the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to govern the nation. The coup ended the political conflict between the military-led regime and democratic power, which had been present since the 2006 Thai coup d'état known as the "unfinished coup". Seven years later, it developed into the 2020–2021 Thai protests to reform the monarchy of Thailand.
The National Council for Peace and Order was the military junta that ruled Thailand between its 2014 Thai coup d'état on 22 May 2014 and 16 July 2019. On 20 May 2014, the military declared martial law nationwide in an attempt to stop the country's escalating political crisis, and to force the democratically elected government out of office. On 22 May, the military removed the Yingluck Shinawatra government and formed the NCPO to take control of the country. The junta censored the broadcasting system in Thailand, suspended most of the constitution, and detained members of the Thai cabinet. The NCPO was formally dissolved following the swearing-in of the new cabinet on 16 July 2019. Critics like former Thai ambassador Pithaya Pookaman charge that the NCPO "...is practically still very much intact. Its arbitrary power[s] ... transferred to the existing Internal Security Operations Command chaired by the prime minister."
The year 2014 was the 233rd year of the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Thailand. It was the 69th year in the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and is reckoned as year 2557 in the Buddhist Era. Significant events include the continuing political crisis which led to a coup d'état on 22 May.
The year 2013 was the 232nd year of the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Thailand. It was the 68th year in the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and is reckoned as year 2556 in the Buddhist Era. The year saw the beginning of protests against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government which led to a state of political crisis and the dissolution of government.
The year 2011 was the 230th year of the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Thailand. It was the 66th year in the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and is reckoned as year 2554 in the Buddhist Era. The year saw the election of Yingluck Shinawatra as prime minister, as well as the worst flooding in the country's history.
The year 2008 was the 227th year of the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Thailand. It was the 63rd year in the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and is reckoned as year 2551 in the Buddhist Era. Much of the year was spent under the 2008 Thai political crisis, which saw political protests leading to the dissolution of the ruling People's Power Party by the Constitutional Court.
The year 2006 was the 225th year of the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Thailand. It was the 61st year of the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and is reckoned as the year 2549 in the Buddhist Era. Major events include the celebration of King Bhumibol's Diamond Jubilee, and the intensification of the 2005–06 Thai political crisis, which culminated in a coup d'état on 19 September.
In 2015, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people were forcibly displaced from their villages and IDP camps in Rakhine State, Myanmar, due to sectarian violence. Nearly one million fled to neighbouring Bangladesh and some travelled to Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand by rickety boats via the waters of the Strait of Malacca, Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.
The year 1967 was the 186th year of the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Thailand. It was the 22nd year in the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and is reckoned as year 2510 in the Buddhist Era.