Emerging democracy needs to work in a Thai context
Not long ago I had dinner with a top banker. We discussed politics, which has been keeping Thailand from moving forward.The banker said: "In China, politics is not a problem. The Chinese leaders are only discussing national development. If politics becomes a problem, they deal with it quickly and decisively."
In other words, the Chinese take you to jail and beat the holy crap out of you.
Now China has racked up more than US$1 trillion (Bt35.6 trillion) in foreign exchange reserves. Its leaders are embarking on a global campaign to buy up strategic assets critical to China's long-term growth. China's leaders are everywhere - in Africa and South America - doing their shopping and establishing new contacts.
"It is very difficult to stop them. You know, they come with money," an ambassador from a Latin American country told me the other day.
Shortly after Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's rise to power, a Government House official told me a similar story. "Thailand is not moving anywhere because our politics are horrible. Look at China, there is stability over there. Its leaders can focus on building the nation with new physical infrastructure and development projects. In a few years, China will become a superpower to be reckoned with."
China had to go through many horrible growing pains to get where it is, and will still go through more. Thais have an aversion to growing and to pain. The greatest feature and weakness of the Thai character is its commitment to mediocrity. If there is no commitment to greatness, then things will never change, but at least you can live a comfortable life if you play by simple rules.
We all know that China is a communist regime, but everybody takes its political system for granted. Insofar as there is stability and explosive growth potential, foreign funds and investors keep pouring their money into China.
The Chinese believe in working hard, they set goals, and they believe in producing measurable results. All these qualities are anathema to the Thai character, which isn't bad, but just creates a different type of social dynamic.
Foreign funds, investors, media outlets and even global democratic leaders nowadays do not question when China will embrace democracy. They know that if they were to poke their noses into China's internal affairs, they would be sharply rebuked with something like "You'd better mind your own business". Case closed.
China is an ancient mature society with a respected past. The Chinese have the wealth, power and prestige, so they can thumb their noses. What does Thailand have? There is nothing that Thailand produces that creates respect for Thais. Thailand hasn't produced any social, economic or cultural achievements to make it significant to anybody. Is sex capital of the world a notable achievement?
Back to Thailand, I am often disturbed by foreign analysts, media and outside watchers, who conveniently pick on Thailand. They rush to impose Western-style democracy on Thailand, yet they hardly dare to criticise China, whose political system is far more repressive.
Thanong is a liar. Nobody has imposed democracy on Thailand. Thais are the ones who overthrew the absolute monarchy in 1932. If it doesn't want democracy, then it should go back to an absolute monarchy. If you don't like the Crown Prince, elect a new king. Again, China is an ancient civilized country that deserves respect and admiration. What has Thailand ever done?
Over dinner at a Western ambassador's residence, I heard a Thai diplomat ask her counterpart whether Singapore was enjoying more democracy than Thailand. "Is Singapore a democratic country? I don't think so," she said.
First, Singapore adopted many good things from the British. Second, Singapore is run by the Chinese. Third, Singapore isn't xenophobic. Fourth, Singapore doesn't have an inferiority complex with the West. Fifth, Singapore is considered a Western developed country.
Again, what has Thailand produced except a world renowned sex industry?
Again, few outsiders would dare to pick on Singapore's political regime. On the contrary, they praise Singapore's high competitiveness in global rankings.
Singapore is an impressive country. Thailand is not.
Ever since Thailand experienced its latest military coup, it has a difficult story to tell the world. Outsiders are looking at us with suspicious eyes. Yes, we do love democracy and we hate military dictatorship, but the path towards democracy has not been smooth since 1932. To be frank, we are far from realising the democratic ideals that we have borrowed from the West.
Absolutely agree. But the Thais have nobody to blame but themselves for this. And when Thais get that that their failures are their own responsibility rather than blaming everybody else, maybe they can grow into a mature society.
Dr Anek Laothamatas, a well-known political scientist, is quite realistic when he discusses Thai democracy. At a recent seminar, he said democracy puts a demand on individuals to make informed choices and to bear responsibility for society as a whole. But Thais are more used to the patronage system. Their instinct is to look to a leader. From his observations, Anek does not think Western-style democracy is suitable for Thailand. We have to find ways to fine-tune our own democracy.
Maybe the first place to start is to stop perverting the word democracy. Before any Thai speaks of democracy, he should be forced to take a course on it, because I have yet to meet one Thai who knows what the word means. The word "democracy" is not a cute marketing slogan to impress the farang with. The word has value and meaning to western civilization. To Thais, it don't mean shit, which is why there has been 17 coups.
When Thaksin Shinawatra was in power, everybody - every agency, organisation and institution - rushed to him to get a piece of the action. In no time, Thaksin, under the guise of an elected leader, became the ultimate benefactor of this gigantic patronage system.
Whose fault was this? Thaksin would have been nothing without Thais willingly kow towing at his feet. You can't blame Thai sycophancy on the farang.
He was blessed with the 1997 constitution. He got a chance to become Thailand's greatest leader ever. As I have repeatedly said, if his regime was less greedy and less arrogant by 25 per cent, Thaksin would have survived.
More Thanong bullshit. If all the people in the agencies and institutions who were sworn to protect the constitution had done their duties, the Thaksin problem could have been contained. Perhaps if The Nation didn't cower in fear of Thaksin and his cronies, maybe that could have made a difference. Had the Thai Rak Thai Party policed its own, maybe the problems could have been nipped in the bud.
Thai democracy was given a chance to prosper under Thaksin's rule, but he screwed it up badly. Much worse, he tried to create a police state and invited the military out of the barracks by pitting them against each other. The military, which has been removed from politics since the tragedy in May 1992, said "thank you". In the meantime, his regime was so corrupt that when the September 19 coup took place, the Thais accepted it as a fait accompli.
What a bunch of horse shit! Blame Thaksin and never take responsibility. That is The Nation's only song and dance. The people who were supposed to enforce the law failed Thailand.
Thaksin didn't invite shit. The military broke the law. No, not everybody accepted the coup. Thanong is a liar.
We are back to a learning curve for democracy again. Dr Chai-anan Samudvanija, another well-known political scientist, drew a rather bleak picture of the future of Thai democracy. The military will have a strong influence on informal politics, he said, and bureaucrats will get their act together to reclaim their lost power from the Thaksin era.
And this won't change until long after the succession has been taken care of.
The new constitution might retract several democratic ideals that were present in the 1997 constitution. The current military rulers will still try to pull the strings from behind the scenes. Thaksin and his cronies will be defending their court cases over the next two to three years. The chain of unpleasant events ahead can be traced back to our patronage system that we have yet to overcome. Instead of pushing for more democracy, Thaksin tried to take advantage and push the patronage system to its farthest limit.
More blame Thaksin bullshit. Funny, Thaksin is gone. Guess what? The problems have only gotten worse with the coup. And now the monarchy and the military want to go back to 16th century economics and politics. Guess who is to blame? The Nation, the rest of the Thai media, and the worthless Thai academy.
In the meantime, who is to blame for the current political mess?
You Thanong are to blame, because you have no integrity and no shame, two things that are at the root of many of Thailand's problems.
Thanong Khanthong
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