The Clans

[sandman67]

I know that Thailand is only a democracy in name, and that apparently a small handful of "clans" or families run the shop, but todays Post and Nation have unwittingly made this very apparent.

One leader story is about the lass who wrote the open letter to the international press criticising their pathetic coverage of the riots...her name is ZeZe Na Pombejra.

Her aunt is Thailands answer to Emelda Marcos - Thaksins on off wife Pojaman na Pombejra

Another of her aunts is Pimpen (na Pombejra) aka Mr Abhisit's wife

Then you read aother article and find a director of the EC is....Waraporn na Pombejra

Then another article and another na Pombejra is a senior General in the army talking to another na Pombejra who is a senior bloke in the DSI

Seems the na Pombejra clan have their claws deep into the running of things.

Just out of curiosity can a Thai HHADerexplain for us farangs how many of these family's or clans there are? Im just curious....

[PeteC]

The 'na' means of or from. You'll see many with 'Na Ayudahya' following their name. I also understand this is not Royally initiated or given, but is a tag for families that go back a long way into Thai history, specifically from the location after the 'na'. I guess Pombejra must be a place although I've never had of it.

Of course, the above is not to be confused with people like famous footballer Franco de Napoli where in that culture his last name is the place he was born, because I guess they don't have a clue who his father was. Pete

[MorSage]

The 'na ........' tends to stem from prior royal connections to the many local provincial royal families in Thailand's history that due to their elevated class tended to marry within this class, especially those in the crown royal linage. I do not know how many provincial royal families existed / exist but due to past kings often enjoying numerous wives the extended royal family within Thailand is very large.

[johnnyk]

One thing though is that both Thaksin and Abhisit are.... Chinese.

[sandman67]

Thanks for teh info Mor.... thats interesting. Sort of like Von and Mac / Mc then.....

cheers

[Name Taken]

Yeah, that's some interesting info.

[Korkenzieher]

JohnnyK - in their quieter moments a couple of Thais have confided to me that they thought that it was Thaksin's biggest sin and the root cause of his downfall at the hands of the Thai 'ruling classes' - not actually being Thai, but Chinese. Idle chat, probably. Hopefully...