EDITORIAL

Can Thailand match Malaysia’s poll result?

By The Nation

 

Talk of justice for the bad guys aside, Thais need to sharpen their knives against political corruption

 

Watana Muangsook, a key figure in the Pheu Thai Party when it held power, has made some interesting remarks about the stunning upset result in Malaysia’s general election last week. Impressed by 92-year-old former premier Mahathir Mohamad’s restoration to power and musing on the consequences, he took to Facebook on Monday.

 

Watana noted that there is a possibility that ousted premier Najib Razak will be prosecuted for alleged corruption in office and drew a comparison to Thailand. He said Thailand’s “dictators” must be brought to court after the next election for their actions in power. He said the 2014 military coup had caused “severe damage to the country and wasted a lot of state funds, while causing the most suffering to the people”.

 

Watana said an “important mission” after the next election would be to restore democracy and reform the armed forces. “The goal is to prevent anyone from using the armed forces to destroy democracy again. More importantly, coup-makers must be punished for causing damage to the country,” he asserted. The election results in Malaysia should be a lesson to Thais. “Malaysia and developed countries prove that democracy can solve every problem.”

 

That last statement might be open for debate, but Watana was right to call for law-breaking government leaders to be prosecuted after they’re ousted via the ballot box. They must be brought to court and punished for any and every wrongdoing.

 

Watana, though, conveniently overlooks the fact that it’s not just the coup-staging generals who must face punishment for damage done, but also elected politicians who savage the law while in power. Dictators are not always military men. Elected civilians can just as readily abuse their parliamentary authority and voter mandate to impose authoritarian rule for personal gain. There is a term for this kind of government – kleptocracy. That is what Najib’s critics called his administration.

 

Watana also failed to mention a crucial reason why Najib lost the election. Najib was embroiled (though not charged) in the multibillion-dollar embezzlement scandal involving the state fund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad. Observers believe the majority of Malaysian voters wanted to send a clear message to politicians – stay clean or get out. And, at the ballot box, they managed to evict the ones perceived as guilty from government seats.

 

We hope Thai voters will follow the good example set in Malaysia and other democratically developed countries. Voters should punish corrupt politicians by rejecting them and should keep candidates with even a whiff of criminality out of power. To match the successful result seen in Malaysia, we need voters who are well informed. They should be able to tell right from wrong. They should base their decisions on real needs and the common good of the population, not on benefits they might personally accrue, such as handfuls of cash offered them in exchange for their votes. And they should guard against falling victim to blind faith.

 

Thai voters need to be acutely aware that corruption is a serious ill in our society. They have to decide if corrupt politicians and their cohorts should be blocked from re-election. These are the ways to effect change as happened in Malaysian.

Thai voters are capable of fostering political change through their votes, but it depends on them whether they recognise the time has come for change.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30345589

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-05-17

"...That last statement might be open for debate, but Watana was right to call for law-breaking government leaders to be prosecuted after they’re ousted via the ballot box. They must be brought to court and punished for any and every wrongdoing..."

 

Wow! I am a bit taken back that the Nation would make such a bold statement; the question that I have is if they actually mean it and are they willing to keep saying it.

 

The Nation further condemns corrupt leaders and corruption; who could disagree with that? However, in order for Thailand to achieve anything even remotely similar to what occurred in Malaysia, there needs to be a large-scale reform of the Thai justice system, beginning with the NACC.

 

Simply put, the NACC is a tainted organization which has lost all credibility. It needs to be dismantled (it is beyond repair) and replaced with something else which (hopefully!) might keep some credibility.

 

Until this occurs, one truly can not say there is a justice system in Thailand. What there is now is simply a punishment system that is at the disposal of the powerful without any moral or ethical backing to it.

 

It is third-world crap.

 

52 minutes ago, webfact said:

Watana said an “important mission” after the next election would be to restore democracy and reform the armed forces.

more Talk of Reform, lost the plot on what 'reform' even means anymore; in civilized countries the military reports to the civilians, not here, that reform cannot happen here

The problem is that any "election" here is already heavily biased in favor of the ruling junta and only the name may change.

It is going to take an awful lot more to oust this lot.

Malaysia has a superior justice system given that they where once colonized by the British.    Thailand really needs to put the law before political expediency before any real change will happen.   Endless loopholes for the wealthy and entitled create a multi tier system and place enormous doubt on the system as a whole.   Until fundamental changes occur, Thailand will never change for the better.

To match an election result, you first need an election. Najib losing and very probably ending up in court makes an election in Thailand even more unlikely that was already the case.

If Thai people have fair election, army gone.

Will Thai people have fair election?

The Malaysian election described as a model for SE Asia and a gold standard but the biggest lesson for Thailand is the military neutrality and they didn't involved to achieve a political end. The election was fiercely contested and there were disturbances and fights between opposing sides and the military and police performed their law and order duties diligently and without any biases. Democracy was allowed to take its own course and a corrupt party that held the government for almost 40 years were voted out by the people. That's the lesson for Thailand. People empowerment to mandate their leaders is more better than disguised military intervention time and time again. Stop future coups if Thailand is to progress and develop to her full potential.  

The only similarity will be the amount of Plundering from the PM and his Minions.

The Major difference is here they will NEVER be properly investigated for it. If so, everything was 'Gifted' to me from my Rich, now Dead Friends 

Can Thailand match Malaysia’s poll result?

Voter turnout for Malaysia was 82% compared to Thailand's turnout for the 2011 election that was 75%. Thailand's turnout for 2007 was 85%.

So Thailand should and MUST match if not exceed Malaysia's poll result if there's a hope of a democratic victory.