Thai politics: Short-term gains not worth the long-term losses

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE
Short-term gains not worth the long-term losses
Pravit Rojanaphruk

It is understandable that many people are literally obsessed about what will be the next political twist and turn.

BANGKOK: -- They are concerned about whether caretaker prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the Cabinet will today be removed by the Constitutional Court, whether there will an election, and what will happen to Thailand if there is yet another military coup following any further bloody confrontation between political supporters from both sides.

It is not good enough, however, to be lost and obsessed about such myopic short-term political developments to the exclusion of long-term issues. It might be cruel for this writer to say he cares little about whether or not Yingluck and her Cabinet are removed, but I am concerned about the following issues:

l The breakdown of political tolerance. From calling those who think differently about the monarchy "trash" to physically attacking those from the opposite camps and the consumption of one-sided news and information, these attitudes and practices are essentially undemocratic and cannot bode well for Thailand in the long term.

l The normalisation of hate speech. Thanks to the growth of social media, anyone can now verbally threaten or dehumanise others by calling them "red-water buffaloes" or "cockroaches".

Many have failed to learn to use platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to engage in genuine debate that is essential to a healthy democratic public sphere, and they end up using these virtual venues as a platform to spread hate and the belief that Thailand will become a desirable society only if we can just hate and get rid of people who think differently.

However, my warning to those who think about censoring hate speech is that it's not only futile, but also not the democratic way to go. People ought to confront hate speech with reason and empathy, and learn to rise above it. In hate speech, we see the worst of freedom of speech.

l The growing sense of insecurity and paranoia. From Opposition Leader Abhisit Vejjajiva fearing for his life, the killing of a red-shirt poet who campaigned against the lese majeste law and the abduction of a staunch critic of ousted fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, it's fair to say that many politically active people are now living in fear.

They are haunted by the fear that they might be followed and eventually hunted down by someone. Such fear leads us to the next issue: the breakdown of trust.

l The breakdown of trust. Virtually all supporters of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) do not trust Yingluck and her elder brother, Thaksin. They believe Thaksin does not just want his confiscated money back, but wants to become Thailand's first president.

They also can't see red shirts as well-intended people wanting equal rights in an electoral democracy.

On the other hand, pro-government red shirts do not believe that PDRC supporters wish well for Thailand and want to see the country corruption-free, even if the reds may disagree as to how the PDRC might want to go about achieving its goals.

No matter which side wins, if we allow these conditions to determine how Thailand will be characterised in the years and decades ahead, the nation will suffer a huge democratic deficit.

Any short-term gain that any side can boast is not worth these long-term losses we're now suffering from.


-- The Nation 2014-05-07

[NongKhaiKid]

Tell it to the idiots on all sides who are in politics here.

Those who profess love of country should be choking on their " what's in it for me ? " attitude, the one and only reason for doing anything !

[millwall_fan]

This was a fair editorial (for once), until this bit:

The breakdown of trust. Virtually all supporters of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) do not trust Yingluck and her elder brother, Thaksin. They believe Thaksin does not just want his confiscated money back, but wants to become Thailand's first president.

how many of these people are there? Without an election, we will never know if they constitute a majority of Thais or not.

[chainarong]

As I mentioned before , the seed has already been sown, the first day Thaskin Shinawatra stepped foot in the door and now the problem wont go away , if Thaskin had kept he's nose clean none of this would be happening , the Thaskin factor is here for decades and their is nothing you can do about it, throwing out the Shinawatra clan will not cure the problem, it will only mean their faces are not up in lights. .

[h90]

This was a fair editorial (for once), until this bit:

The breakdown of trust. Virtually all supporters of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) do not trust Yingluck and her elder brother, Thaksin. They believe Thaksin does not just want his confiscated money back, but wants to become Thailand's first president.

how many of these people are there? Without an election, we will never know if they constitute a majority of Thais or not.

Where is the problem? Everyone wants elections....

[noitom]

Another airhead empty Thai editorial that makes no reference to law and order reform and corruption reform in government, police and business. Heaven help the Thai people.

[choff56]

Thailand, reaping the benefits of a dumbed down society.

[kerrysum]

As I mentioned before , the seed has already been sown, the first day Thaskin Shinawatra stepped foot in the door and now the problem wont go away , if Thaskin had kept he's nose clean none of this would be happening , the Thaskin factor is here for decades and their is nothing you can do about it, throwing out the Shinawatra clan will not cure the problem, it will only mean their faces are not up in lights. .

I could not have said it better......... Been this way for years....... Never cry, try to be smart.......

[gabruce]

This was a fair editorial (for once), until this bit:

The breakdown of trust. Virtually all supporters of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) do not trust Yingluck and her elder brother, Thaksin. They believe Thaksin does not just want his confiscated money back, but wants to become Thailand's first president.

how many of these people are there? Without an election, we will never know if they constitute a majority of Thais or not.

It was a very good, thoughtful, and balanced editorial. I would say that it's totally non-partisan.

Picking one paragraph out to make it look unbalanced is not honest.

I would say that it's not relevant what the percentage of people in either camp is. Both groups are sizable, so both are relevant. It doesn't matter if one group can elect a majority in Parliament or not, the other group cannot be ignored.

My opinion is that like the last election, the next election won't see an absolute popular majority, only a largest of the different popular minorities. No prediction as to which party that will be.

[fab4]

As I mentioned before , the seed has already been sown, the first day Thaskin Shinawatra stepped foot in the door and now the problem wont go away , if Thaskin had kept he's nose clean none of this would be happening , the Thaskin factor is here for decades and their is nothing you can do about it, throwing out the Shinawatra clan will not cure the problem, it will only mean their faces are not up in lights. .

I could not have said it better......... Been this way for years....... Never cry, try to be smart.......

Indeed it has "been this way for years", way, way before Thaksin arrived on the scene. He just happens to be a convenient figure for centralised hate. Takes peoples minds of the real problem. Duncan McCargo in the NYT.

The current antigovernment protests in Bangkok are the last gasp of Thai dynastic paternalism. They reflect the determination of the old elite and its middle-class allies to check the rising power of the formerly rural electorate by bringing down the Yingluck administration. They are calling for the creation of a “people’s assembly,” an unelected temporary governing body representing different occupational groups that would oversee a process of political reform — in effect, a dictatorship of the capital over the rest of the country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/20/opinion/the-last-gasp-of-thai-paternalism.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1