The danger of obsessing over numbers: Thai opinion

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The danger of obsessing over numbers
Tulsathit Taptim

Some people have started comparing the numbers. That, it's sad to say, is how it all began. Part of Thailand's problem is the fact that we always give "numbers" too much importance.

BANGKOK: -- Pheu Thai claimed it won an election by a landslide, and thus tried to pass the controversial amnesty bill. Its opponents managed a historic anti-government rally on Sunday and, again, numbers are coming into play.

We will keep going in circles if the nation's direction is dictated by who has the bigger number. After all, democracy is not supposed to be about arrogance in the superiority of the majority. It's strictly about implementing the will of the majority with great responsibility. Most importantly, democracy needs a guiding and unwavering value, otherwise it will prop someone up on a pedestal one day, only to demean that individual the next.

Numbers can change. Values rarely do. But in Thailand, only numbers matter. This is extremely dangerous because, while nobody's popularity lasts forever, rules are written or leniency given according to who is the most popular man of the hour. We can't make a man an angel one day and demon the next, but we are getting trapped in that situation because of our obsession with numbers.

Suthep Thaugsuban was buoyed by the big numbers he received on Sunday. But the terms "massive", "historic" or "landslide" can only be meaningful when they are backed up with meaningful acts. The Rajdamnoen gathering was phenomenal, but it's not a licence to do anything he wants to.

But then again, if he is to be condemned for assuming that hundreds of thousands of people gathering on Rajdamnoen Avenue empowers him to seize control of the Budget Bureau or occupy the Foreign Ministry, we must not condone other cases of numerical abuse. There are limits to what "numbers" allow you to do, whether the numbers come from the ballot box or from the public response to your rallying cry.

Wrong use of numbers breeds discrimination and hypocrisy. Placing too much emphasis on numbers turns us into a society that does not cherish real values but one that settles for "whatever it takes" to get "bigger" numbers on our side.

Numbers can't always tell you what is right and what is wrong - or else no country in the world would need judges. Maybe one day in the future we can put an accused rapist-murderer before a national referendum and have the whole country decide whether he is guilty or not. Until then, democracy as we know it must include a universal moral principle, or the system will collapse on itself.

Thailand is nowhere near mature enough to let "numbers" alone decide what is right or wrong. Time and again, we have heard this simplified scenario: If nine out of 10 members of a group want to beat a rival to death and go ahead to do it, is that democracy? The answer is, it is not; it's just a majority flexing its unchecked power.

It doesn't matter how many people gathered on Sunday at Rajdamnoen. If what Suthep did afterwards is wrong, it's wrong. It doesn't matter how many votes Thaksin Shinawatra got from elections. If what he did afterwards was wrong, nothing can change that. Unfortunately for Thailand, everyone hides behind the "It's the will of the people" argument.

Numbers are an essential part of democracy, but they are not the only vital parts of the system. Debate or attention has focused too firmly on a mercurial element - the numbers - and all but ignored the solid one - values. Numbers have been used to justify or decry actions, which can only mean everyone is ready to be a hypocrite, because numbers change all the time.

People get carried away by numbers. That's why every democracy needs checks and balances. If numbers are allowed to reign supreme, one day they can come back to bite the advocates of "powers to the numbers"." If the Chinese vote in a referendum to assert absolute control over Tibet, is that democracy?

People say that in a democracy, numbers are things handed down by heaven. That old democratic cliche requires a lot of fresh pondering. Would the United States call for a world referendum to decide whether it should invade Iraq or prosecute Edward Snowden? It wouldn't, although both cases affect things far beyond US borders. That simply shows Washington thinks it has some "values" that numbers should not interfere with. In other words, numbers are not necessarily infallible, handed down from above.

Democracy trusts collective judgement, but even that concept provides for the possibility of poor or wrong decisions. Checks and balances are as crucial as results at the ballot box, but it's the right conscience that keeps a democracy healthy. Thailand has to embrace that one individual who tries to tell the other nine guys that killing their rival is wrong. If we are to escape the scenario of 100 relatives of the slain man voting to wipe out the whole group of 10, that is.


-- The Nation 2013-11-27

[BillyBobThai]

The only number that counts to most expats is the baht to the dollar/euro/pound. For me, I look forward to the number 42/$.

[bigbamboo]

Hardly surprising in a country that is obsessed with the lottery.

[JRSoul]

Tulsathit sounds just like my bank manager.

[upena]

Never believe a Thai Government Official when he/she is using numbers. If it is good news, he/she will double/triple it. If bad news, cut in half or more. And, they can get away with this since no "journalist" ever questions anything that Thai Government officials say. So, if foreign tourist arrivals are 28 million, figure it is really 14 mil. If there are 100 daily road deaths during Songkran, claim it was 35.