Today’s Bangkok is, of course, both the cause and the result of the Thai economic story. From the mid-’80s Thailand was one of the world’s two fastest growing economies, growing at a nearly 10 per cent for 10 consecutive years. Then came 1997 and the speculative attack on the baht. And as the Thais say bitterly, the US, whom they’d supported so staunchly through the Cold War, just watched as global financial institutions pulled the plug on their economy. In contrast, they point out, when South Korea began to wobble shortly after, US strategic interests were threatened and the US Treasury discreetly ‘advised’ the same institutions to support them. That was when the Chinese quietly offered Thailand a $1 billion aid package, an example of the masterly diplomatic game they’re playing in the region. But, mainly, it took enormous sacrifices by the Thai people—exhorted to patriotic fervour by their revered King Bhumibol—to pull the country out of the crisis. Today the baht which, in 1997, was 25 to the dollar before tumbling to nearly 60, has slowly, painfully, clawed its way back to about 35 to the dollar. The memories of 1997 are still raw.
