ANALYSIS: Red-faced junta can’t woo people with borrowed slogans

By KAS CHANWANPEN 
THE NATION

 

Thaksin’s son, Panthongtae Shinawatra on his social media compares the now defunct Thak Rak Thai poster and the army's Facebook page

 

WHILE THE two military coups that occurred in the past 12 years have tried to eliminate the so-called Thaksin regime from the Thai political landscape, the junta’s latest campaign to promote General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s administration has only brought the influential tycoon back into the political discourse.

 

“Four years of repairs, four years of construction” was the catchy tagline of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party in 2005 when Thaksin Shinawatra was running for his second term as prime minister. The phrase became the centre of attention last week when it featured in a political campaign run by an Army Facebook page.

 

“Four years of repairs, four years of construction,” the post published on Tuesday read, with two hashtags in Thai and English #ReformTogether. 

 

It went viral on the Internet quickly after Thaksin’s son, Panthongtae Shinawatra, re-posted it on Twitter, asking sarcastically if his father had bought the Army’s Facebook page, a jibe at critics who accuse his father of using money to buy political support.

 

Other online satirical pages were quick to catch up and poke fun at the junta.

 

A Pheu Thai member, Anudith Nakornthap, said the incident only reflected Thai Rak Thai’s success and the confidence it was able to create among the public. The anti-Thaksin camp was now emulating the tagline, he said. 

 

This is not the first time the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has been called copycats. Staff deployment as well as government policies of the Prayut administration have also been seen to be similar to what Thaksin’s camp did during its time in power.

Comparison with Thaksin’s actions.

 

Like Thaksin, Prayut also named Somkid Jatusripitak as deputy premier to oversee economic affairs. The Pracharat scheme covering housing for low-income earners and village funds are seen as rehashes of similar endeavours by Thaksin.

 

Despite efforts by the regime to erase the legacy of Thaksin and his parties, it has only succeeded in drawing more comparisons with its arch-rivals. Even worse, junta chief Prayut has been accused of plagiarism in the way he seems to mimic Thaksin – an ousted and yet still popular leader among large swaths of the population.

 

A poll conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration and released yesterday showed that the Thaksin-linked Pheu Thai Party remained the clear favourite to win the next general election, with 28.8 per cent of respondents backing it. The pro-junta Palang Pracharat Party was left behind with 20.3-per-cent backing.

 

Although Prayut was named the most popular candidate for post-election premier in the poll, with 20.7 per cent of the people surveyed, his popularity has been in continuous decline, from 38.6 per cent in March to 32.2 in May and 31.3 in July.

 

Political critic Sirote Klampaiboon reasoned that the junta’s much-criticised campaign slogan might have been created due to the impression that the junta had similar accomplishments to those of Thai Rak Thai and Pheu Thai, and hence it could ride the same bandwagon to success.

 

Sirote said it was hard to explain how the junta campaign could have adopted the same phrase as Thai Rak Thai used. He said the mistake shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

 

What’s more important than the tagline is the government “achievements” cited, the critic stressed.

 

“It’s not so straightforward,” he said. “They are trying to show that Prayut has solved many problems. But, in fact, those problems arose because of the rights violations under this regime. And yes, Prayut had to fix them, but it’s nothing they should be proud about.”

 

He added that the campaign offered only scant details about the measures and actions that solved immediate problems. However, people were looking for vision and policies to solve deeper issues such as poverty, he said.

 

“The key point is it wasn’t the campaign that gave Thaksin’s party a big edge. It’s about vision and confidence. People were confident that Thaksin had the vision and would be able to deliver what he promised,” Sirote said. “Prayut just doesn’t have that. No vision is seen in this campaign.”

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30355067

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-24
 

"...He added that the campaign offered only scant details about the measures and actions that solved immediate problems. However, people were looking for vision and policies to solve deeper issues such as poverty, he said.

 

“The key point is it wasn’t the campaign that gave Thaksin’s party a big edge. It’s about vision and confidence. People were confident that Thaksin had the vision and would be able to deliver what he promised,” Sirote said. “Prayut just doesn’t have that. No vision is seen in this campaign.,,”

 

I think this part of the article is the key, although I do always like to see the Junta humiliated by its own foolishness.

 

The current Junta consists mainly of military people, and as a general rule (with a few exceptions; 'Ike' in the USA for one), military people aren't very good at governing. Why? They tend to have spent their adult formative years in a system that was designed to take care of their needs, and then when they attain power in government, tend to tinker around the edges like a Bureaucrat rather than think outside the proverbial box like a leader. Or, even worse, tend to hand over governing to the bureaucrats themselves as they don't have the necessary background/vision to do it.

 

Look at the current Junta; can anyone name a bold reform idea? I can't. Yes, they have changed this and that, and perhaps even for the better, but it is bureaucratic tinkering as they handed over governance to the Bureaucrats, excepting security.

 

Can you see the current Junta considering or implementing a plan like the 30 Baht health Care? I can't; it is too 'outside the box', too 'radical' for them. Any other bold initiatives? Nope. Tinker, tinker, tinker.

 

The Junta handed over governing (except for security; when all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail) to the Bureaucrats, and now Thailand sees bureaucrat tinkering, not a bold vision. And, should the Junta continue in power, I suspect that all we all see for its lifetime in power is tinkering and more tinkering.

 

In these days of global change, tinkering means stagnation.

 

And, stagnation means decline...

 

 

As bent and crooked as Thaksin was, he worked damn hard and actually did stuff off his own back to try and make the country better.

Some of his visions were clearly ill conceived, however what the current junta has been doing with no electoral mandate whatsoever is absolutely ghastly.

I try to see the good in most things, but i can see almost nothing positive that would come for voting for that gormless oaf Prayuth. He is clearly out of his depth, and in a normal democratic and free society wouldn't be able to work collaboratively with many people who may have different views and approaches.

Are the population at large too dumb to see this?

27 minutes ago, webfact said:

his popularity has been in continuous decline, from 38.6 per cent in March to 32.2 in May and 31.3 in July.

maybe there is hope yet, his arch conservative, ultra nationalist approaches mean nothing good for us expats

I think the Junta tries to eliminate every memory relevant memory of Thaiksin and make it seem it was the Junta to begin with. Copy cat everything and they will remember it as the plagiarist who was the last one to use it in the spotlight. Just like a few weeks ago by the making direct contact with Russia for establishing great relations for war material. Was just directly after Yinluck posts photos of her trip going there. So this is like trying to cancel everything they do. I would think if Thaskin or Yingluck stepped in dog poo and got a laugh as being human, then the junta would duplicate it and set it up and step in a bigger pile to get PR on it as their own.

10 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

I think the Junta tries to eliminate every memory relevant memory of Thaiksin and make it seem it was the Junta to begin with. Copy cat everything and they will remember it as the plagiarist who was the last one to use it in the spotlight. Just like a few weeks ago by the making direct contact with Russia for establishing great relations for war material. Was just directly after Yinluck posts photos of her trip going there. So this is like trying to cancel everything they do. I would think if Thaskin or Yingluck stepped in dog poo and got a laugh as being human, then the junta would duplicate it and set it up and step in a bigger pile to get PR on it as their own.

However the dog would be arrested for sedition and computer crimes...

1 hour ago, webfact said:

People were confident that Thaksin had the vision and would be able to deliver what he promised,” Sirote said. “Prayut just doesn’t have that.

fully agreed, back then thaksin was a successful businessman, he had a good track record;

these days , being an army general cannot really be called 'successful' in a country with such a bloated military, and thus he fails by comparison

Thaksin was corrupt, but only 1 man, the Junta consists of a hell of a lot of greedy, grabbing Generals.

All of them determined to get their hands on as much money as they can.

There in lies the difference.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

it featured in a political campaign run by an Army Facebook page.

Sounds like the Army has TOTAL control, now. Gen 'Now a politician/was a soldier' Prayuth will be down in the basement lab, working on something stronger than Art44 to teach those naughty FaceBook boys a lesson . . . the Gunfight at the OK Corral will be chicken feed, compared to this barrack room blitz. Come on, Uncle Tu . . . you show 'em!

3 hours ago, webfact said:

a jibe at critics who accuse his father of using money to buy political support.

The junta has made vote buying legal with unelected MP's

3 hours ago, webfact said:

junta chief Prayut has been accused of plagiarism

It is a far too complexed concept for the great wind bag to fathom.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

“The key point is it wasn’t the campaign that gave Thaksin’s party a big edge. It’s about vision and confidence. People were confident that Thaksin had the vision and would be able to deliver what he promised,” Sirote said. “Prayut just doesn’t have that. No vision is seen in this campaign.”

Beach chairs are a vision. 

 

Had Yellow friends who tried to explain Prayut's accomplishments, but it always came back to marginalizing Shinawartras and his voting block.  It is hardly a vision. 

3 hours ago, baboon said:

However the dog would be arrested for sedition and computer crimes...

And Human rights violations there some 4,500 plus families that would like to speak to him. 

3 hours ago, baboon said:

However the dog would be arrested for sedition and computer crimes...

Or they would bring the dog in for attitude adjustment. 

 In the same list of news items as.........   

 

6 hours ago, colinneil said:

Thaksin was corrupt, but only 1 man, the Junta consists of a hell of a lot of greedy, grabbing Generals.

All of them determined to get their hands on as much money as they can.

There in lies the difference.

Sorry.  Cant agree with you.  Thaksin was paying of hundreds if not thousands with money skimmed of contracts atsc. 20 to 30% added to every contract for him.  Get hold of a book called "The Jungle Book."  No not by Rudyard Kipling.  This was the Nation editors choice of what he thought were his 100 best editorials from 10 years of being editor.   I am expecting screams from the red camp about even mentioning that hated newspaper.   But wow.  It opened my eyes.  Cant all be B/S. The suitcases in the unlocked car boots is one of my favourites.  I got mine from Asia books about 12 -14 years ago.  At the moment it is back home so I do not have it here to lend.  I might try and bring it here again next trip.   I just might have other books about LOS  available to me there too, that I am NEVER bringing here!!!!!