Election Day.

I have no classes on Monday because someone decided that it is a holiday (it seems like every other week there is a random holiday, decided by who knows who!) I have no classes because on Sunday the Thai people will be voting on a new draft of the constitution. That is right, as of now Thailand is under military rule and there is no formal constitution.

In 2006, when I was an exchange student here, the Prime Minister, Thaksin, lost power during a coup d'etat. Thaksin was extremely corrupt in his business dealings (in many ways, actually) and is now being prosecuted. However, the coup was extremely peaceful; it seems like every two to five years Thailand has a change of government, but they are quite dignified and polite. Only Thailand could have coups like that!

On Thursday and Friday I gave each of my classes a little lecture about how voting is a privilege and they needed to be responsible citizens and vote. Not many of them showed interest; a few didn't even know that there was going to be an election. Most of them seemed apathetic.

I can understand how if the government was changing every few years that it would be hard to keep track of the political situation. I wouldn't be as interested in politics if I thought that in a few months that someone new would be in power.

I have no idea whether this draft of the constitution will be approved, but I told my students that maybe I would give them extra credit if they could prove to me that they voted. We'll see!