In Thailand We Must Not Fall Into The Trap Of A Violent Few

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We must not fall into the trap of a violent few

By The Nation

The Pheu Thai Party has re-elected a leader that nobody really cared about. The Bhum Jai Thai Party has mooted an amnesty bill that the red shirts all but laughed at. Thaksin Shinawatra has been preaching "reconciliation" that his rivals don't take seriously, while Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is allegedly being "shadowed" by men in black who could be assassins.

There's just a few days to go before yet another anniversary of the September 19, 2006 coup is marked, and political developments are becoming increasingly odd. Are they all related or are they just things taking place independently? What's going on? Should we feel better that Thaksin is talking about peace, or should we stay home this weekend and prohibit our kids from going anywhere close to Rajprasong?

We don't want to tempt fate by getting too complacent, but we should not let hearsay or rumours spoil our new-found semblance of normalcy either. There are, of course, people with ill intentions out there, as a few bombing incidents over the past few weeks have proved, but much of the fear is what's inside our minds. Our job is to renew our faith in the nation a bit.

Everyone has become a pessimist and nobody trusts anybody. The Pheu Thai Party's reconciliation proposal is going nowhere, while the red shirts' statement that the anti-coup demonstration would not be prolonged has been overwhelmed by security fears and "men in black" claims. We can only hope the prevalent mistrust is a normal post-war symptom, not a sign that this reluctant truce is about to break up.

Thailand can't afford another coup. That much we have to be firm upon. People are getting paranoid because of rumours that something bad "has to happen" in the next few days to create another pretext for political upheaval. These rumours, on the surface, appear to be serving all sides. The government can maintain the state of emergency, while its rivals can benefit from a "climate of fear". Any third party wanting to maintain the murky politics or worsen it for personal gains can also take advantage of such rumours.

Underground politics has proven beyond doubt that it helps nobody. It destroys, never creates and vengeance is its only realistic aim. Collaborators may do it because they want power, but whatever is obtained through dark politics in this age will never last.

Therefore, if we mix optimism and pessimism, we may come up with a "compromising" theory that warring parties have become too exhausted to fight a dirty war. Peace takes place not because enemies become more ideological, but because they realise that violence can destroy them all.

So, can it be that Thaksin and Pheu Thai meant it when they talked about peace? And if Newin Chidchob's Bhum Jai Thai Party wanted to attract votes and Pheu Thai defectors through its amnesty bill, what is so wrong with it? To be fair to Thaksin, Pheu Thai and Bhum Jai Thai, the "men in black" rumours are spreading not because of their unexpected gestures, but because people are trying to interpret these gestures out of mistrust and pessimism.

This may sound strange, but for a country to be able to move on, we must take each bomb as it comes and deal with it with a cool head. Generalisation and dark speculation are threatening to distort Thailand's image, making all of us a violent people in the eyes of the international community.

There aren't that many violent elements out there, but these people can loom larger than they really are if the nation falls into the trap that they set.

-- The Nation 2010-09-17

[mausplan]

The sudden re-emergence of Takkie coincides rather too neatly with the flurry of activity, the world court case, press releases , phone interviews and now street demonstrations again. One the one side , he talks peace and love, on the other he is phoning the faithful and telling them to keep the struggle going.

About one month ago there was a Red demonstration up country which only drew a handful of people. now , there things are happening all of a sudden which all take money that a month ago was not visible.

As a long term resident I remember my surprise when the first street protests aimed at Takkie took place. I remember the anger spreading as people absorbed his arrogance about the Temsek sale. Then the was anger about blatant cheating. Roll forward to today when many people recall his two very public attempts at overthrowing the Government through force. I think there is real deep anger at his clumsy attempts to take over the country. It is hard to imagine he would ever be able to walk around freely in this country, he is too polarising and too much deep harm has been done to do many people.

[yellow1red1]

too late; already

[SamritT]

If there is no Thaksin, there will be no political problem in Thailand. Only if I have a time machine, I would like to prevent all this problem, and remove the source spark that ignite the inferno.

[junglist]

If there is no Thaksin, there will be no political problem in Thailand. Only if I have a time machine, I would like to prevent all this problem, and remove the source spark that ignite the inferno.

time machine? more like a high power boom stick.

[RKASA]

If there is no Thaksin, there will be no political problem in Thailand. Only if I have a time machine, I would like to prevent all this problem, and remove the source spark that ignite the inferno.

Please go back enough to remove the elite controlled military complex, I believe that would be a short time before Thaksins birth?

[asiawatcher]

"The Pheu Thai Party has re-elected a leader that nobody really cared about."

Puppets are usually of no consequence.

"The Pheu Thai Party's reconciliation proposal is going nowhere"

So when will the Reds lay down and allow the country to move ahead?

"Underground politics has proven beyond doubt that it helps nobody."

Agree with Khun Samrit - pop a cap in the a** of Thaksin and the probem goes away.

When convicted criminals (on the minor convictions at this point) still think they can get into parliament and run this country, then we may as well all close up shop, switch off the lights and go home! There is no point in having a criminal factor making decision that by and large are self serving and that is all Thaksin and his mob of thugs ever did.

[doggie888888]

"In Thailand We Must Not Fall Into The Trap Of A Violent Few"

Just reading the headlines above, I thought they might be referring to the army!

[Robby nz]

Don’t usually come up with conspiracy theories but was wondering if there is some correlation between all the stuff we are seeing now.

Is it possible that Thaksin has come to the belated realisation the reds aren’t going to get him back in power and that PTP are on a downhill slide and aren’t going to get an outright majority at the next election so won’t be able, on their own, to change the law to give him amnesty.

Is it possible that the (banned) owners of two political parties have come to some sort of agreement, with a big down payment, to get together after the next election and split the spoils?

Should no party gain a clear majority at the next election a coalition would need to be put together and as we see now it would not necessarily be the party with the most seats that heads said coalition.

If a deal has been done then the reviving of the amnesty bill could be a way to get parliament dissolved early by forcing the Dems to lose a vote.

The revival of the reds rallies and the PTP leaders musical chairs, organlsed to the ‘S’ family, may be a smokescreen to hide real behind the scenes movements.