Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand’s First Female Prime Minister
On August 5, 2011, over half of Thai parliament (296/500 lawmakers) supported the candidacy of Yingluck Shinawatra for 28th Prime Minister. Yingluck, a woman, must only await King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s proclamation and she will become the first female prime minister of Thailand.
Her primary agenda is economic reform, improvement of people’s livelihoods and to succeed in a national reconciliation. She promotes truth, justice and legal process for all citizens, asking the people for support in achieving these aims by the year 2020.
The reconciliation refers to the deep divisions in Thai society between the Pheu Thai Party and the Democratic Party. Last year, a military eruption occurred, killing over 90 people and injuring hundreds of others.
The Pheu Thai party was established in 2008 when its predecessor, the People’s Power Party, was consistutionally dissolved. At that time she was requested to be its leader, but she declined.
Yingluck’s family has a long history of political involvement. Her brother and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted from office in 2006 after being accused of conflict of interest charges, which he denies. Some worry that she will do her brother’s bidding, but she states otherwise. Yingluck’s sister Yaowapa Wongsawat is also the wife of former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat.
Her great-grandfather was Chinese and settled in the Chiang Mai region at the turn of the 20th century. Her grandfather’s oldest brother assumed the name Shinawatra, meaning “routinely appropriate action“. Yingluck’s father Lert married Yindi, a daughter of Princess Jantip. He entered politics in 1968, becoming deputy leader of the now-defunct Liberal Party. He later retired from politics to pursue a career in business.
Yingluck, who is nicknamed “Pu“ (meaning “crab“) is the youngest of 9 children born to Lert and Yindi. After earning a bachelor’s degree Chiang Mai University, she received a masters’ degree in Public Administration at the University of Kentucky in 1991. A sales and marketing intern for the Shinewatra Directories Co., she was later promoted to Director of Procurement and then Director of Operations. In 1994, she became General Manager at Rainbow Media, a subsidiary of International Broadcasting Corp (IBC), eventually rising to the position of Deputy CEO of IBC. In 2002, she became CEO of Advanced Info Service (AIS), Thailand’s largest mobile phone provider. She resigned when AIS’s parent company was sold, but maintained a Managing Director position at SC Asset Co., Ltd., a property development company.
She and her common law husband, Anusorn Amornchat, share a son, Supasek. Yingluck Shinewatra was born on June 21, 1967 and she is 45 years old.
