Prepare for a parade of political donkeys

By The Nation

 

 

Horse trading for Cabinet seats will soon be over, and once again the outcome is unlikely to serve the public well 
 

Thailand’s post-election horse trading – the making of the next government – is coming to an end as the medium-sized Democrat and Bhumjaithai parties are pressed hard to choose which coalition they will support.

 

The two parties have been beating about the bush because they believe their total seats – slightly over 100 in the 500-strong Parliament – can be leveraged to muster as many key Cabinet positions as possible.

 

On the Democrat side, then-party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva’s resolution to oppose junta chief Prayut Chan-o-cha’s bid to return as the country’s leader did not go down as expected.

 

The public saw his statement, made just before the March 24 election, as a cheap ploy to return to Government House as prime minister; he was riding a wave of anti-military sentiment and expected Prayut to understand that. Fat chance.

 

In the end, the voters showed their weariness with the country’s oldest party by diverting their support to newcomer Future Forward, whose leadership is now being bullied by the authorities because of its strong anti-military stance.

 

Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul, meanwhile, continues to prevaricate on his party’s direction. He has vowed, though, that the party will only support a PM candidate who has the backing of a simple majority of MPs in Parliament – in other words one who is not reliant on the votes of an unelected Senate. That latest stance was a little clearer but still too hypothetical.

 

The horse trading is especially frenzied after this election because neither the pro- nor the anti-junta bloc has been able to muster enough MPs for a simple majority in the 500-member House of Representatives.

 

The pro-military coalition got a boost this week when 11 minor parties, each with one parliamentary seat received through a controversial counting method, announced they would join the junta-backed Phalang Pracharat to form a government and back Prayut’s bid to return as PM.

 

Prayut admitted that the party was already considering how to allocate ministerial positions.

 

Negotiations over Cabinet seats are a longstanding reality of Thai politics, but they invariably serve the private interests of politicians rather than the public interest of those who vote for them.

 

Obsessed with who’s getting what, politicians overlook the need to place qualified people in vital ministerial posts to best serve the people. 

 

The modern world and the challenges that come with it are complex and cannot be tackled effectively by egotistical politicians who treat the political arena as a personal competition. Only when leaders prioritise putting the right man in the right job, rather than their man in any job, will Thailand escape this cycle of misrule. Accountability and competency must be at the top of their agenda.

 

The Democrats are expected to elect a new leader today and, with that, their stance should be known.

 

Bhumjaithai is scheduled to meet next Monday, when it is very likely to announce which coalition it will join.

 

The anti-military coalition is not making it easy for Anutin; already it is dangling top positions in his face – possibly the prime minister’s post.

 

Seripisut Temiyave, an outspoken figure in the anti-military coalition, told Anutin in public that he should join the Pheu Thai Party-led block, saying the party is willing to give him even the post of PM.

 

Both Seripisut Anutin apparently fail to understand that governance is not about them, but about the well-being of the country’s people. Although Thai politicians’ attitude and behaviour don’t always reinforce this noble notion, the least they could do is disguise their failing. Especially when speaking in public.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30369484

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-05-16

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

The rich and the Shameless..

Quote

Prepare for a parade of political donkeys

Yes loads of political asses in Thailand. 

I don't usually praise the The Nation but good on them for publishing this editorial.

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Prepare for a parade of political donkeys

The parade never stopped since May 2014.

Hide their failings? Jeez even the village idiot can see that the core base of democracy in Thailand has never existed. 

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Prepare for a parade of political donkeys

Rather to have a parade of elected political donkeys than a bunch of power seizing non elected chimpanzees. 

This convoluted shit shower even makes Brexit look easy ????

7 hours ago, mok199 said:

The rich and the Shameless..

More like the shameless about to become rich

45 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Rather to have a parade of elected political donkeys than a bunch of power seizing non elected chimpanzees. 

Is there any significant difference? 

6 hours ago, stanleycoin said:

Yes loads of political asses in Thailand. 

....and not an intelligent one among them.

9 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

Is there any significant difference? 

Plenty actually. Donkeys are intelligent and smart enough to avoid unsafe acts. Chimps are rather stupid and tend to repeat an act even if unsafe. 

 

Phew. Finally the US is coming to push the Chinese away. There's the cavalry when you need it!

8 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Plenty actually. Donkeys are intelligent and smart enough to avoid unsafe acts. Chimps are rather stupid and tend to repeat an act even if unsafe. 

This surely goes to prove that we are related to chimps better than Darwin ever could.

9 hours ago, sandrabbit said:

I don't usually praise the The Nation but good on them for publishing this editorial.

 

  Expected to be shut down  soon.   In the peoples interest. ?

 

 

Edited May 16, 20197 yr by elliss

11 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Plenty actually. Donkeys are intelligent and smart enough to avoid unsafe acts. Chimps are rather stupid and tend to repeat an act even if unsafe. 

Hmmmh, but you know for sure that the Chimps are your relatives????? ????????????????????????????

20 hours ago, webfact said:

Both Seripisut Anutin apparently fail to understand that governance is not about them, but about the well-being of the country’s people. Although Thai politicians’ attitude and behaviour don’t always reinforce this noble notion, the least they could do is disguise their failing. Especially when speaking in public.

 

They seem to understand this quite well, the first order of business is to get rid of the current dictator, who even after cheating the elections right left and center, couldn't get enough votes to even win the elections. After he is gone, the next thing to do is to change some election laws, sack the EC, and have new free and fair elections as soon as possible. 

 

THAT is the only thing that will be good for the well0being of the country's people, in such a way that their voices actually matters and they can vote for the party they want to vote for, without silly dissolvements that have no legal basis whatsoever.

 

Without orange cards when no evidence is presented, no dodgy counting methods that give 11 micro parties a seat each in parliament, when the winning party with 8 million votes, didn't even get one party list seat, and I can go on and on.

 

Oh, and an elected senate, not some senate appointed by Prawit and Prayuth. 

 

I believe this editorial completely misses the point.

 

 

Edited May 16, 20197 yr by sjaak327

On 5/16/2019 at 2:52 PM, Roadman said:

Hide their failings? Jeez even the village idiot can see that the core base of democracy in Thailand has never existed. 

There are a few on TVF that can't. What is less intelligent than your local V I ?