The Military Junta As A Political Party

[webfact]

OPINION

The Military Junta As A Political Party

By Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

 

Then-army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha casts a ballot in the 2011 general election.

 

Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha denied his visit to Buriram province this week was a political move to woo voters and lure local politicians for the promised general elections where he is expected to make a bid to return as prime minister.

 

The thing is, Prayuth, who is also the junta leader, will keep up the denials as he tours Thailand trading pork for local political support.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/opinion/2018/05/13/the-military-junta-as-a-political-party/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2018-05-14

[Thailand]

Trading and telling porkies at the same time!

[Odysseus123]

Splendid chap...the "Go kiss a Frog" Party should do very well in the upcoming elections of 2021.

[Samui Bodoh]

"...As a party, the ideology of the junta is that of stability, national security and anti-corruption. Never mind if stability is ersatz and sustained through repression and restriction of rights to free assembly – or if anti-corruption doesn’t necessarily mean equal scrutiny on part of the junta and the armed forces..."

 

There is a great deal of truth in the quote above regarding ideology; it is worth having a closer look at what the military stands for.

 

Anti-corruption. This is a remarkable idea that the Thai military is anti-corruption when every major and/or minor incident that I can recall in the last few years has been investigated by the military itself. And, you are not going to believe this; every time they were not guilty! Every time! Thailand is sooooooo lucky that it has such an upright, corrupt-free military.

 

National security. If ever there was a political response to the old saw "if all you have is a hammer, then every problem is a nail". In the last four years, it could easily be argued that the military's response to almost everything has been more control, more oppression, more taking of rights, more surveillance, more repression, more etc etc etc.

 

Stability. This is, in my view, the key element but perhaps a better word might be "wet-blanketism". This policy of smothering Thailand and Thai society with the ever-present TV appearances from Prayut, the ever-present stacking of all institutions with military personnel (serving or retired), the ever-present forces out on the street, the ever-present presence in all aspects of life (Children's day, anyone?) is like a wet blanket smothering the life out of the country. The Thai people have a beautiful gift of lively-ness, humor, spontaneity and desire for fun. The military is smothering that out slowly.

 

Thailand needs to regain its element of "joie-de-vivre", its element of joy, its element of creativity. It cannot do that while being smothered.

 

The 'ideology' of the military, while perhaps appropriate for its base function, is not appropriate to a nation, but it is the only thing military people know. Thailand as a nation does not and cannot function as a military organization, yet the military is trying to force just that. And it does not work.

 

This ideology has terrible consequences for the country and needs to be removed asap.

 

Edited May 13, 2018 by Samui Bodoh

[YetAnother]

the last time the thais could effectively govern themselves for any length of time was pre 1932, when the monarchy still had absolute sway.

as much as i do not like it and wish there were other legit, more western alternatives, the today's-thailand fact is that this sham democracy that we are headed for is the best that today's thailand can do

[Wilsonandson]

As long as the elections are fair and people are allowed to choose who they vote for freely. Then, it's up to the people. They want a junta party, they can vote one in democratically.

International election monitors could be assigned to check that the election is not being rigged.

Sent from my SM-A700FD using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[greenchair]

I still have my bets on that there will not be an election in February 2019. 

Mark my words. 

[klauskunkel]

You vote for me, or I will coup you!

[Anak Nakal]

Army for soldier

Politics for politician

Soldier not politician!

Go away!

[Eligius]

2 hours ago, greenchair said:

I still have my bets on that there will not be an election in February 2019. 

Mark my words. 

I am very sure that there will not be an 'election' in February of next year. The junta strategy is to delay, delay, delay for as long as possible (through all manner of silly excuses). We don't need to be an Einstein to work out what their game is!

[Oziex1]

I think there will be an election he has promised the cronies he has recently bought. They expect their payday their place at the trough.

[baboon]

2 hours ago, Wilsonandson said:

As long as the elections are fair and people are allowed to choose who they vote for freely. Then, it's up to the people. They want a junta party, they can vote one in democratically.

International election monitors could be assigned to check that the election is not being rigged.

Sent from my SM-A700FD using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

The election already has been rigged at source. The polling is merely a sideshow.

[peperobi]

A soldier can never be a good politician! Even after 4 years on power!

Edited May 14, 2018 by peperobi

[Eligius]

1 minute ago, peperobi said:

A soldier can never be a good politician!

Prayuth is neither a soldier nor a politician. He is a ........ (forbidden word!).

[peperobi]

7 minutes ago, Eligius said:

Prayuth is neither a soldier nor a politician. He is a ........ (forbidden word!).

No comment!

[Eric Loh]

50 minutes ago, Eligius said:

I am very sure that there will not be an 'election' in February of next year. The junta strategy is to delay, delay, delay for as long as possible (through all manner of silly excuses). We don't need to be an Einstein to work out what their game is!

It is true that the elusive election is a never ending story but I feel that the junta has to hold election next Feb. The 4 organic laws are the cause of delay. The bills now with the constitutional court has a 90 days period before enactment. That alongside the legally required 150 days waiting period it takes the electoral laws to come into effect, will mean election early next year. There are some positive signs that there will be election soon with party registrations and loosening of meetings. The junta is buying time to cement their stranglehold over the political landscape and consolidate its power but is also reeling from deepening economic problems and corruption scandals. The junta is bound legally to hold election and also feel the people backlash if they continue to delay election. Of course there will be caveat. Guns are more powerful than laws. 

[Samui Bodoh]

1 hour ago, Eligius said:

I am very sure that there will not be an 'election' in February of next year. The junta strategy is to delay, delay, delay for as long as possible (through all manner of silly excuses). We don't need to be an Einstein to work out what their game is!

I have to disagree a bit...

 

Honestly, I am starting to think that if an election were to occur next February, it would be a bad sign.

 

I think we all agree that the Junta/Prayut is doing everything he can to...er... ahem... 'ensure' (read: cheat) that he returns to the PM's chair. If an election were to occur in February by choice, it would be an indicator that he has his ducks lined up in a row; the corrupt, buyable local 'warlords' will have been corrupted and bought, the policy of Thai Niyom (can't remember official name) or throwing money at villages in return for votes is working, and the other pieces of the puzzle will be in place. Looked at another way, the process of preparing for an election requires several months of planning and preparation; if it happens by choice in February, then that means he is ready and he will meet his objectives as all of his preparations will be peaking at the appropriate time..

 

If the election were not held in February despite his statements that it will, it could be a good thing. It would mean that once again his 'word' is meaningless. It would mean that he was not confident in the outcome. It would allow for extra time for the general populace to get angrier. It would allow time for the political parties to get properly organized. It would actually be a demonstration of weakness. And it would mean that a likely price would be paid for getting people riled up then not delivering; as many of the posters here are British, let me remind you of an event in the UK a few years back. In the dying throes of Gordon Brown, he was all set to have an election in the fall of 2??? (I don't remember the exact year, but the fall before Cameron and Clegg won their spring election), but he 'chickened out' on having the polls; that decision did serious political damage to him and was one of the many reasons he subsequently lost the next year. The scenario from a few years back in the UK is not exactly the same as here in Thailand, but the principal is the same; when you hint an election is coming then shy away, voters react negatively.

 

Will elections occur next February? I don't know. But, I am beginning to think that a small delay might be better than actually going to the polls then. There will realistically be one shot to get rid of Prayut in the polls; I am in favour of having that shot when I think the chances of success are highest. If that means a few more months of him and his cronies, so be it.

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2018 by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

[heybruce]

4 hours ago, Wilsonandson said:

As long as the elections are fair and people are allowed to choose who they vote for freely. Then, it's up to the people. They want a junta party, they can vote one in democratically.

International election monitors could be assigned to check that the election is not being rigged.

Sent from my SM-A700FD using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

The junta did not allow international election monitoring during the sham referendum on the constitution (the constitution that the junta started modifying immediately after it was "approved"), the constitution ensures the military can control any elected officials and institutions, and:

 

"If anything, it’s the election commissioners that could be fired by the junta, as recently experienced by commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, who criticized the junta and its role in politics and paid the prize by being removed."

 

What do you think are the chances of a fair election?

[sawadee1947]

The Military Junta As A Political Party

That is a contradiction. A military junta cannot change into a political part because soldiers are used to obey  captured in drill and commands. And they are not made for discussions or democracy.

[Eligius]

2 hours ago, heybruce said:

The junta did not allow international election monitoring during the sham referendum on the constitution (the constitution that the junta started modifying immediately after it was "approved"), the constitution ensures the military can control any elected officials and institutions, and:

 

"If anything, it’s the election commissioners that could be fired by the junta, as recently experienced by commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, who criticized the junta and its role in politics and paid the prize by being removed."

 

What do you think are the chances of a fair election?

You ask a good question, Heybruce: 'What do you think are the chances of a fair election?'

 

Given the junta's less than honourable record, I would say - less than zero!

 

The junta will still be in control of ALL bodies, agencies, commissions, committees, judges, etc, etc, at the time of the 'election'. I wonder if they might lie about the result, knowing that none of those bodies are seriously going to challenge them?

 

What about the Thai people? Well - if they get uppity (in their few thousands, as could happen), Prayut can always have another coup in the interests of 'national security' and because the 'good people' know that this is best for Thailand.

 

Fair election under Prayut? If anyone believes that, they certainly live in an alternate Thai universe - not the Thailand where I (and most of us posters) are living!

 

Edited May 14, 2018 by Eligius

[Spike1938]

7 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

"...As a party, the ideology of the junta is that of stability, national security and anti-corruption. Never mind if stability is ersatz and sustained through repression and restriction of rights to free assembly – or if anti-corruption doesn’t necessarily mean equal scrutiny on part of the junta and the armed forces..."

 

There is a great deal of truth in the quote above regarding ideology; it is worth having a closer look at what the military stands for.

 

Anti-corruption. This is a remarkable idea that the Thai military is anti-corruption when every major and/or minor incident that I can recall in the last few years has been investigated by the military itself. And, you are not going to believe this; every time they were not guilty! Every time! Thailand is sooooooo lucky that it has such an upright, corrupt-free military.

 

National security. If ever there was a political response to the old saw "if all you have is a hammer, then every problem is a nail". In the last four years, it could easily be argued that the military's response to almost everything has been more control, more oppression, more taking of rights, more surveillance, more repression, more etc etc etc.

 

Stability. This is, in my view, the key element but perhaps a better word might be "wet-blanketism". This policy of smothering Thailand and Thai society with the ever-present TV appearances from Prayut, the ever-present stacking of all institutions with military personnel (serving or retired), the ever-present forces out on the street, the ever-present presence in all aspects of life (Children's day, anyone?) is like a wet blanket smothering the life out of the country. The Thai people have a beautiful gift of lively-ness, humor, spontaneity and desire for fun. The military is smothering that out slowly.

 

Thailand needs to regain its element of "joie-de-vivre", its element of joy, its element of creativity. It cannot do that while being smothered.

 

The 'ideology' of the military, while perhaps appropriate for its base function, is not appropriate to a nation, but it is the only thing military people know. Thailand as a nation does not and cannot function as a military organization, yet the military is trying to force just that. And it does not work.

 

This ideology has terrible consequences for the country and needs to be removed asap.

 

You are exactly right. As Ben Franklin famously said: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

That covers the argument I hear most often from the Thais who defend the junta that it has provided stability. Usually they are persons of some means who don't want any changes that might help the general population. But in these situations there is always an undercurrent of unrest that eventually manifests itself.

[Wilsonandson]

The junta did not allow international election monitoring during the sham referendum on the constitution (the constitution that the junta started modifying immediately after it was "approved"), the constitution ensures the military can control any elected officials and institutions, and:
 
"If anything, it’s the election commissioners that could be fired by the junta, as recently experienced by commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, who criticized the junta and its role in politics and paid the prize by being removed."
 
What do you think are the chances of a fair election?

Yes it did.
One international observer group, the Asian Network for Free Elections, or ANFREL, observed the referendum.

https://www.helpsetthemfree.org/thailands-constitutional-referendum-passes-amidst-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression/

On August 7, 2016, the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) monitored Thailand’s local polling stations for the 2016 Thailand constitutional referendum, despite being refused accreditation by the country’s government. The referendum passed with 61% voting in favor of the new constitutional provisions. ANFREL issued a statement after the vote voicing their concerns about the restrictions imposed on Thai citizens leading up to the election.

[heybruce]

20 minutes ago, Wilsonandson said:

Yes it did.
One international observer group, the Asian Network for Free Elections, or ANFREL, observed the referendum.

https://www.helpsetthemfree.org/thailands-constitutional-referendum-passes-amidst-crackdown-on-freedom-of-expression/
 

Observed without accreditation from the government (meaning their observations were ignored), without being allowed to monitor campaigning for the referendum, without being allowed to monitor the vote count, in other words, without being allowed to do what was necessary. 

 

I think "their concerns about the restrictions" is a diplomatic understatement.