Thai editorial: 2015 won't give Prayut breathing space

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EDITORIAL
2015 won't give Prayut breathing space
The Nation

Reform deadline will increase pressure on national leader

BANGKOK: -- What is the biggest message of 2014 to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha? It's not the scale of national divide, which everyone knows well. It's not the fickleness of Thai people, or how they are next to impossible to please. It's not how delicate his "reform" agenda is either, because, again, everybody knows what is good for one camp can easily be rejected by the other. The year's biggest warning to the self-installed interim leader is that 2015 can also end in the blink of an eye.

To most people's understanding, a general election should occur in early 2016, as there's virtual agreement that Thailand can't be ready to go back to the ballot box at the end of 2015. But even the extended timeframe will give Prayut little breathing space. One year is short, especially if we are to draft a new charter to overhaul the political system and get a badly divided nation to agree on it.

This year's parting message is that 2015 will be as fast, if not faster. And the reform agenda will have to go in parallel with what one half of the country considers a biased crackdown on their leaders. The anti-corruption campaign promised by the interim leaders has the rice pledging scheme of the Yingluck administration as a top priority. That Prayut will have to walk a tightrope can be an understatement. How can he achieve these reforms, bring about reconciliation and "return happiness" to the people in a year when many things that spur divisiveness in the first place will rear their ugly heads again?

It will be a tumultuous year most certainly. Thailand's political landscape before Prayut stepped in featured two big parties commanding strong popular support. Pheu Thai Party's supporters barely trust his government, whereas Democrat Party supporters could also get restless soon. They could converge and combine with the gloomy economy to unleash a perfect political storm. Social media, which has proved impossible for states to control, can fan dissent faster than anyone can think.

Time will be a luxury that Prayut simply won't have in 2015. A longer delay will raise explosive questions, especially if the economy keeps going slowly and when the beginning of the Asean Economic Community highlights the need for a good democratic system - not a military government caught up with political issues that are going nowhere.

A longer delay will simply lose Prayut his allies and increase his enemies. He will have to consider this fact of political life when pondering further postponement. His popularity rating has remained satisfactory although it is not as good as in the immediate aftermath of his coup. But admirers are getting quieter now and the reform process has not even really begun yet.

Since the coup, Prayut's defiant message has been that nobody else was sticking his neck out when the political turmoil was in danger of becoming something much worse. The return of artificial peace on the streets is the key reason why many Thais still give Prayut the benefit of the doubt. However, that easy part of his coup has been long gone and the rumbling of anti-coup dissent he has heard will be nothing when compared to what 2015 has in store.

Prayut certainly knows the difficulties of his task better than anybody. Judged already by critics and fans, the real jury is still out. How he cope with all the difficulties and dilemmas and handle 2015 will define the man who has become a rather divisive figure himself.

SourceL http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/2015-wont-give-Prayut-breathing-space-30250854.html


-- The Nation 2014-12-29

[noitom]

The newspaper rambles on with Thai tripe. Instead of pushing the general toward free elections, they patronize the idea that they can't be held until 2016. What a disgraceful show of influence. Pandering to a reptilian idea that the Thai people need to be manipulated for two years before "they are ready. to think for themselves as to whom they want to lead the nation.

[jacky54]

'Prayut certainly knows the difficulties of his task better than anybody'

Even the task of controlling lottery ticket price was a failure, if he cannot do that what can he achieve?

[yellowboat]

The coup just made matters worse. Foriegn businesses are going to limit their exposure to Thailand and the Thai people will see virtually little progress. We can only hope this will be the last military intervention into politics.