Bangkok  - Thailand in 2008 went to the brink of a bloodbath in Bangkok over what amounts to a deep difference of opinion within Thai society on what people want from the democratic process.

The political showdown peaked with the seizure and closure of Bangkok's two international airports on November 26-December 3 by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) - representing the forces of Thailand's traditional guided democracy - in an exercise that cost the country an estimated 3 billion dollars in lost export and tourism revenues.

The PAD claimed victory when their airports manoeuvre speeded up a Constitution Court verdict on the ruling People Power Party, resulting in the party's dissolution for committing election fraud in the December 23, 2007, polls and the forced resignation of prime minister Somchai Wongsawat.

The protestors had been holding demonstrations since May 25 to bring down the government, deemed a proxy for fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The PAD, while best defined by its fanatical opposition to a return to power of Thaksin, has also shown itself a conservative force, calling for a return to appointed senators and non-elected representation, reminiscent of Thailand's past military regimes.

Although the anticipated coup and a feared bloodbath was averted when the PAD pulled out of the airports before their opponents could unleash their pro-Thaksin "red shirt" followers on them, Thailand remains a deeply divided nation.

The divide is most visible in the anti-Thaksin and pro-Thaksin camps, but the split goes deeper into the social fabric of the new Thailand.

Since the economy took off in the mid-1980's, jump-started by a huge influx of foreign investment from Japan, Thai society has gone from a largely feudalistic, agricultural-based society to an urbanized, highly-literate, well-informed and politicized population.

"I think what this has blown away, utterly and completely, is this old idea of society, with nice peasants in the countryside who are uneducated, and they were looked after by nice bureaucrats and didn't complain too much," said Chris Baker, a co-author with his wife, academic Pusak Phongpaichit, of several books on Thai politics.

Enter Thaksin, a former billionaire telecommunications tycoon, whose now defunct Thai Rak Thai party introduced populist policies to Thailand's traditional system of money politics, securing himself two premierships between 2001 to 2006 and an unprecedented following among Thailand's urban and rural poor.

Many Thais now think Thaksin proved an unfortunate harbinger for Thailand's new political era.

As prime minister, Thaksin ran the country the same way he ran his telecommunications conglomerate - Shin Corp.

Dubbing himself the "CEO prime minister," he largely ignored parliamentary procedure, dominated decision-making and undermined all forms of opposition to his growing political monopoly, including checks and balances written into the liberal, pro-political-parties 1997 constitution that had paved the way to his rise to power.

He also made sure his own business empire, family and cronies profited from his rule, while keeping the majority of the people happy with government handouts and free public services.

"Thaksin was about two things," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University. "On the one side was his corruption, cronyism and collusion and on the other side of him there is his policy platform that appealed to the masses and did a lot of good."

Although a military coup put an end to Thaksin's rule on September 19, 2006, it failed to end Thaksin's political connections and his popularity.

The People Power Party, a reincarnation of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party, won the most seats in the December 23, 2007, general election, on a pro-Thaksin platform.

The PAD, which led the anti-Thaksin demonstrations in 2006 that eventually led to the coup, returned to the streets in May this year when the PPP indicated that it would push through constitutional amendments that might pave the way for Thaksin's comeback.

The PAD, with the moral backing of Bangkok's middle class and the country's so-called political elite - the bureaucracy, military and monarchists - ended their protests six months later at Suvarnabhunmi airport with the PPP disbanded, the economy wrecked and the country still split over what they expect from their governments.

"The split is a reflection of society," said Chalongphob Sussangkarn, a senior economist at the Thailand Development Research Institute. "One segment wants the government to come up with policies that will help them and the other side says that it is the spirit of democracy that you need to abide by."

"The only way to solve it is for society itself to evolve; society will have to say that you need both," he said. (dpa)