EDITORIAL

What kind of leaders should Thais have?

 

FILE photo

 

Election has been wrongly and unfortunately focused

 

Ideology, if not properly promoted, can make a supposedly noble political exercise go astray. Such a danger is looming for the upcoming Thai election, where a divided nation is more preoccupied with partisanship and not the quality of leadership.

 

In the country’s current circumstances, candidates are, and will be seen, through prejudiced eyes, thereby risking a return to Square One.

 

The Thai public have been acting for years like maniac sports fans. This has led to an unhealthy situation where the only thing that matters is “which side” the leader has come from. People are happy as long as “the goal” was scored by the team they cheer, in complete disregard to how the goal came about or where it leads. That is understandable and even acceptable for a sports fan, but in politics, it can have dire consequences.

 

As things stand, the next Thai election is about which side of the perceived ideological divide wins the election, not whether Thailand will get a leader with quality, who is willing to sacrifice for the country’s best interests and will be doing everything within his or her power to pull the nation out of a vicious circle and create a real democracy.

 

The political optimism of one side has to do with whether a “military dictatorship” can be defeated, while the other camp will measure “success” on whether “proxies” of a certain political clan can be stopped.

 

Thailand, however, needs a leader who is somewhere in between. The country needs an elected leader who has a strong belief in democracy, including elections and other needed foundations like a strong checks and balances system. He or she must believe in the power of the ballot box, but “responsibility”,  not “entitlement”, must come first.

 

He or she must appoint an administrative team based on the country’s best interests, not his or her own vested interests. The education portfolio must be given the utmost importance, not dangled to pacify disappointed factions that view it as a “better than nothing” reward.

 

The same goes for other ministries, which must be overseen by really qualified individuals, who don’t need to be “close” to the leader or have “strong political connections”.

 

He or she must not resort to proclaiming a “conspiracy” every time a scandal emerges to rock his or her administration. He or she must react to the slightest hint of a scandal in a way that maintains the government’s functionality and public trust.

 

The next leader must punish, not side with corrupt teammates. Even when accusations are a long way from being ultimately proven, the leader must realise that trust comes not only from penalising wrongdoers, but also from dealing decisively with questions of nepotism.

 

He or she must create a government that would never compromise on these key principles in the future. Generous promises make it easy to put together a coalition, but those promises could come back to haunt the leader sooner or later.

 

Such a coalition is easy to form, but it’s also easy to collapse. A coalition government with solid integrity is harder to build, but it can make the leader strong. Any leader trusted by the public will also reign over a unified and healthy government, which in turn will make democracy truly valuable and unassailable.

 

The current political circumstances suggest such a leader is impossible, but no matter how ironic it may sound, we need him or her now – more than ever before.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30343222

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-04-16

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

What kind of leaders should Thais have?

 

Thais should have leaders that they themselves choose in a free and fair manner.

 

Anything less is unacceptable.

 

Duh!

 

The whistle blowers  should all be appointed immediately, anyone witht he balls  to abolish les majeste and defamation laws.

EDITORIAL
What kind of leaders should Thais have?
 

FILE photo
 
Election has been wrongly and unfortunately focused
 
Ideology, if not properly promoted, can make a supposedly noble political exercise go astray. Such a danger is looming for the upcoming Thai election, where a divided nation is more preoccupied with partisanship and not the quality of leadership.
 
In the country’s current circumstances, candidates are, and will be seen, through prejudiced eyes, thereby risking a return to Square One.
 
The Thai public have been acting for years like maniac sports fans. This has led to an unhealthy situation where the only thing that matters is “which side” the leader has come from. People are happy as long as “the goal” was scored by the team they cheer, in complete disregard to how the goal came about or where it leads. That is understandable and even acceptable for a sports fan, but in politics, it can have dire consequences.
 
As things stand, the next Thai election is about which side of the perceived ideological divide wins the election, not whether Thailand will get a leader with quality, who is willing to sacrifice for the country’s best interests and will be doing everything within his or her power to pull the nation out of a vicious circle and create a real democracy.
 
The political optimism of one side has to do with whether a “military dictatorship” can be defeated, while the other camp will measure “success” on whether “proxies” of a certain political clan can be stopped.
 
Thailand, however, needs a leader who is somewhere in between. The country needs an elected leader who has a strong belief in democracy, including elections and other needed foundations like a strong checks and balances system. He or she must believe in the power of the ballot box, but “responsibility”,  not “entitlement”, must come first.
 
He or she must appoint an administrative team based on the country’s best interests, not his or her own vested interests. The education portfolio must be given the utmost importance, not dangled to pacify disappointed factions that view it as a “better than nothing” reward.
 
The same goes for other ministries, which must be overseen by really qualified individuals, who don’t need to be “close” to the leader or have “strong political connections”.
 
He or she must not resort to proclaiming a “conspiracy” every time a scandal emerges to rock his or her administration. He or she must react to the slightest hint of a scandal in a way that maintains the government’s functionality and public trust.
 
The next leader must punish, not side with corrupt teammates. Even when accusations are a long way from being ultimately proven, the leader must realise that trust comes not only from penalising wrongdoers, but also from dealing decisively with questions of nepotism.
 
He or she must create a government that would never compromise on these key principles in the future. Generous promises make it easy to put together a coalition, but those promises could come back to haunt the leader sooner or later.
 
Such a coalition is easy to form, but it’s also easy to collapse. A coalition government with solid integrity is harder to build, but it can make the leader strong. Any leader trusted by the public will also reign over a unified and healthy government, which in turn will make democracy truly valuable and unassailable.
 
The current political circumstances suggest such a leader is impossible, but no matter how ironic it may sound, we need him or her now – more than ever before.
 
Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30343222
  -- [emoji767] Copyright The Nation 2018-04-16

Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Free and fairly elected and non military would be a good start.

34 minutes ago, webfact said:

What kind of leaders should Thais have?

The ones who offer the most for their vote. It's not about ideology, it's about extracting as much swill as possible from the trough. Pure greed. Classic example, compare the education budget with the quality of education delivered and you begin to get the idea.

"What kind of leaders should Thais have?"  Someone who's not certifiably insane would be a good start.

41 minutes ago, KC 71 said:

Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Please don't taint Carabao with the politicians scourge!

If you're a too timid PM in Thailand you will not last long, look at Anand Panyarachun, Chuan Leekpai and Abhisit Vejjajiva among others who wear 'nice prime ministers' but too nice,  everybody liked Thaksin Shinawatra, and the Thailand's economy was roaring in full speed in his time as a PM, but the man was too greedy by not paying even a token tax on billions earned, on top of it, the man had an illusion of grandeur and fancied himself as monarch or a royalty and this is what brought to his downfall...

Devout in Seen Ha (five precepts), otherwise their vision is clouded. 

I'm your man......Trust me!

 

3 minutes ago, drtreelove said:

Devout in Seen Ha (five precepts), otherwise their vision is clouded. 

The 5 precepts being:

Money

Money

Money

Money

Money!

6 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

The 5 precepts being:

Money

Money

Money

Money

Money!

Your forgot Power, Sex, Booze, Greed, etc

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The same goes for other ministries, which must be overseen by really qualified individuals,

all admirable points, so in what country do we find these people ?

I would concentrate on the parties before the leaders. Chaturon Chaisaeng said the other day the problem of Pheua Thai was how to make it into a political institution.Implicit in that remark is the acknowledgement Pheua Thai is just the plaything of the Shinawats. At least the Democrats have a system where the executive board and leader are selected. The problem is they are too conservative.I say to the young, join Future Forward, get involved in decision making, policy planning, discussions about reforms of the country.Voting for the clans of the past in Supanburi, Chonburi, Chachernsao, Sukhothai etc will do nothing for Thailand.

Many say Thais are apathetic about politics, well perhaps social media with its public participation can make discussion about politics more relevant

 

Thailand will continue to go back to square one until the democratic process is allowed to take it's course by permitting them to vote a party out. 

The coups have made puea thai stronger, as the people see them as the only party strong enough to balance against the military. 

If the eventual voting out of a party were allowed to happen, imagine how much power the people would have. 

 

A post containing an offensive reference has been removed. 

Easy!

No military. 

Embezzlement corruption proof but how to find one could take a life time.

What kind of leaders should Thais have.

 

Ones that,  care and work to change the lives of the poor in Thailand for the better.

And are also prepared to ignore the rich individuals and powerful companies,  that

do so well on the backs of others with there corrupt ways.

Ok, one to many Chang's last night !!!!!!

 

 

 

Someone once observed "People get the government they deserve"... probably spot on, be it Thailand, USA or Iceland

To find a "Leader" in this place is the real challenge 

Me.

Thais should have a leader whose party gets the most votes in a free and fair election. 

Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows this.

To begin with, how about offering the Deputy PM job to the messieurs Patek Philippe, Piaget, Audemars, and Lange? The original may be more promising than a Thai copy.

Real leaders would be a good start

how about a party that is there for the people and not themselves, ptp is there for thaksin and whatever they can get out of the trough, dems are not much better, all the current/past parties are there/have been there purely for their own benefits and screw the people. Thailand needs a party that will enact laws that will benefit all the people and not just the rich, they need to remove lesse majeste/defamation laws for a start, start to lock up any govt workers found to be corrupt instead of just transferring them, make the police actually get out on the roads enforcing the laws to lower road deaths, stop the  bribes so prevalent in all govt positions, clean up all the govt departments, stop the corruption in the temples, basically they need to change the way much of Thailand currently operates. Laws & corruption are the biggest ones though, they need to be enforced/cleaned up without question, letting people do as they please does not benefit anyone, its a great country but people need to realize they have to follow the law to make it what it should be, they just need a govt that has the balls to do it

What kind of leaders should Thailand have?

Honest ones, people who put Thailand first, not the size of their own bank accounts.

6 hours ago, ezzra said:

the man had an illusion of grandeur and fancied himself as monarch or a royalty

This part is just yellow propaganda.

In Thai, to participate in politics is called to "play politics," which rather says it all. Parties that have few moral scruples about joining with coup makers if it gives them powers are not the type of leaders Thais deserve.