Sonthi Finds It Easier Not To Face The Past: Thailand

webfact · April 3, 2012

BURNING ISSUE

Sonthi finds it easier not to face the past

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- So how many of you, dear readers, are seriously attempting to honour the recent request by 2006 coup-leader turned national-reconciliation-maker General Sonthi Boonyaratglin to forget half a decade of political conflict and move on?

This writer for one finds it rather disturbing, because Thai society does not yet know if there was any mastermind behind the September 19, 2006 military coup that ousted Thaksin Shinawatra. Sonthi is essentially asking all of us to forget the past, which is still shrouded in mystery. He vowed to reveal all after he's dead through a book he is writing. But if for some reason he fails to do so, will we need to contact a "medium" to remind him of his promise in the afterworld?

The truth may be bitter and complicated, but how can society learn from its mistakes and become mature if it cannot confront its past?

Some aspects of the past - such as the October 6, 1976 massacre of left-wing students at Thammasat University and Sanam Luang by an ultra-royalist mob - are still shrouded in mystery, as Thai society has developed partial amnesia over them. Not surprisingly, no one was held responsible for the massacre and most Thais aren't sure what lesson to draw from it.

Many may also wonder if we will ever know the whole truth about the May 1992 uprising, as many passages of the fact-finding report on the incident have been kept from the public. The April-May 2010 clashes and suppression of red-shirts is another example. Will we ever really know the truth and bring those responsible for the deaths - possibly from both sides of the political divide - to justice?

Society needs a collective memory of the past. There may be varying versions of public memories, that is fine, but we can't keep on forgetting the past and repeating similar mistakes, over and over again.

To know and remember the past does not mean we have to dwell in the past and not be able to forgive. I am ready to forgive Sonthi if he apologises to the public for the coup he staged and expresses sincere contrition to those affected, especially relatives of the late taxi driver Nuamthong Praiwan. Nuamthong rammed his cab into an Army tank in a gesture of defiance before hanging himself in protest after being belittled by a senior member of the then military junta, the Council for National Security, which Sonthi headed.

Just days after Sonthi asked the public to forget the past and move on, rumours about yet another military coup were reported by the media. The situation is the clearest proof that a society which doesn't learn from its past, in this sense from the damaging belief that military coups can be good for democracy, are bound to risk repeating its mistakes.

A society that doesn't really know or remember its past is simply a lost society that doesn't know itself.

And if you think Sonthi, now an elected member of Parliament, has put the past behind him and is ready to move on - think again.

On the very day Sonthi publicly urged Thais to forget the troubled past and move on, he complained that he could still not wear a necktie in his preferred colour - red - because the anti-coup and pro-Thaksin movement have adopted the colour as an anti-coup symbol.

Apparently, the coup-leader turned peace-maker has yet to forget and overcome the weight of the political meaning of the colour red, which he unknowingly helped to create. The general is still stuck with the notion that red is a taboo colour for non-red-shirts. And while he tells millions of others to forget and move on, he is having difficulty following his own advice.

-- The Nation 2012-04-04

CalgaryII · April 4, 2012

" I am ready to forgive Sonthi if he apologises to the public for the coup he staged and expresses sincere contrition to those affected, especially relatives of the late taxi driver Nuamthong Praiwan. Nuamthong rammed his cab into an Army tank in a gesture of defiance before hanging himself in protest after being belittled by a senior member of the then military junta, the Council for National Security, which Sonthi headed"

Can't argue with any of the above article and this quote. But what the article is promoting is easier said than done. In the above quote specifically, it is the view of many that Sonthi was far too 'small a potato' for staging a coup. He was only one small cog in the wheel 'turned by others' that enabled the coup to take place. And to isolate a single taxi driver for his own act of defiance is misleading. His example is not reflective of the vast majority who died and are struggling with injuries even today. People were killed by bullets. Bullets fired by pro-coup forces, at somebody's ultimate direction. Sonthi has excellent reasons which I can only spoeculate about, for not being forthcoming, and those who expect him to be, reflect a degree of naiivete, IMHO.

Edited April 4, 2012 by CalgaryII

Thai at Heart · April 4, 2012

Forget forgetting history, for the life of me, I can't work out what on earth Sonthi is up to at all.

AGareth2 · April 4, 2012

let sleeping dogs lie

animatic · April 4, 2012

History is written by the winners, and the social rules of how we remember things also.

We are in a transition point where no one is sure who the final winners are,

but many are hedging bets till it becomes obvious. Which becomes more

obscuring in Thai society, and when huge amounts of cash are involved.

Edited April 4, 2012 by animatic

craigt3365 · April 4, 2012

One post with a thinly veiled reference to the monarch has been removed from view.

Artisi · April 4, 2012

To any thinking person, it should be quite obvious why Sonthi will say nothing on this matter.

KRS1 · April 4, 2012

Funny how this article is in reference directly to Sonthi, I never liked the man but I think its obvious the Thaksin regime is back in power of the media like in the past to discredit their opponents.

dominique355 · April 4, 2012

One of the most hideous crimes, high treason by a top military, should be forgotten and forgiven? I don't think so.

Only the truth will set us free.

Sonthi has showed one more time, how little respect he has for Thai people. His arrogance is only topped by his shamelessness.

bigbamboo · April 4, 2012

Do you really think Sonthi could have carried off such a bloodless coup without the tacit support from Thais in all echelons of society?

Personally I would be happy to see Thailand return to the peaceful, shirtless place it once was. Yingluck can be PM as the chosen leader of the most popular party, the PTP, and Thaksin stays away for the good of the country he loves unless he is prepared to do the time for his crime.

Edited April 4, 2012 by bigbamboo

WackySomchai · April 4, 2012

Well, any arrogance of General Sonthi is easily topped by the fugitive.

IMA_FARANG · April 4, 2012

Or should that be let lieing dogs sleep?

DocN · April 4, 2012

I like to forget the past, too!

Better not talk about it...especially with people I owe money!

What a jerk: look at Cambodia and Vietnam and see what "forgetting the past" brings.

A country, diverted by mistrust and hatred, because the Khmer Rouge -past was never really overcome.

siampolee · April 4, 2012

I am of the opinion as I am sure many others are too that there is a person in self exile in an Arabian state to escape a Thai courts verdict who is far more deserving of the accolade above than Sonthi.

Edited April 4, 2012 by siampolee

BrianCR · April 4, 2012

Fully agreed but hasn't this been the modern history of Thailand? Think back, the same crap are still leading the pack

BrianCR · April 4, 2012

Obviously a contributor who forgets that the person in question has done more for ordinary Thai people than any other politician in the country's history.

BrianCR · April 4, 2012

Sums up Thailand's political scene 'A country, diverted by mistrust and hatred," All based on the principal of 'You got it - I want it!'

BrianCR · April 4, 2012

BrianCR · April 4, 2012

The crime being a political frame up? Wake up man, hev did more for Thai's than any politician in Thai history - his crime was that he didn't pay the others off!!!

BrianCR · April 4, 2012

Oh, and don't tell me the law is the law - that quote is non-existent in the west never mind here

oggie911 · April 4, 2012

thaskin will be back 100%, hail the mighty one,

Edited April 4, 2012 by oggie911

gamini · April 5, 2012

and of course you forgot to mention "more to enrich himself.

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