Don't expect any of the main players in the current political arena to admit that they are practising it. They may call it "survival politics" or even "public service".
Suthichai Yoon
The Nation
But there is no doubt about it - the name of the game is hypocrisy, pure and simple.
The Nation has been playing the hypocrisy game for the last 6 years.
Those who probably think they have nothing to lose have gone whole hog for the fine art of hypocrisy. That's why you noticed no sense of embarrassment whatsoever when leading members of the Thai Rak Thai Party, who used to pride themselves as being on the "left" during the October uprisings, welcomed the arrival of the country's best-known "right-wing chieftain" into their ranks under the People Power Party. The former arch-rivals have joined together to come to the rescue of the country's most popular capitalist.
Suthichai Yoon condemns the '73 student leader - Samak (Halloween Coalition) while he continuously benefits from and defends the present military junta.
In case your memory has been blurred somewhat, remember that the same guy who became a powerful Cabinet member after the bloody, ultra-right military coup on October 6, 1976 is now poised to head a political party that comprises mainly Thai Rak Thai members who have vowed to go against the September 19, 2006 coup!
I agree that this is ridiculous. Samak has always been a right-wing asshole. But he is a popular one. He won the most votes in Bangkok's last Senate election, which just demonstrates that Bangkokians are not smarter than the rural masses.
The same question must be raised over the campaign by academics who have come out to call on us to reject the constitution in the August 19 referendum, saying that it's "the only way to express our disapproval of the junta and the aristocracy".
I think it is a valid argument. But what I think is ironic is that Suthichai Yoon and his brain dead minions over at The Nation think that overthrowing the legal government and ramming an extra-judicial junta-sponsored constitution through without any public participation is a valid process.
No doubt, coups are bad and they set the country back into the political Dark Ages, but what about corrupt politicians who tried to buy the generals and at the same time gave the military an excuse to intervene?
Suthichai doesn't think coups are bad, because he supported this last one, and has been a propaganda mouthpiece for the junta ever since.
If you go through the interim constitution with a fine-tooth comb, you would discover that if a simple majority throws out the charter draft, that would result in it being thrown back to the coup-leaders, who would then have the right to choose any of the previous constitutions and simply declare it into force immediately.
The right thing to do would be for the junta to announce a return to the previous constitution, have elections as quickly as humanly possible, then slink back to their barracks.
In fact, the "junta", in collusion with the military-appointed Cabinet, could make whatever additions or subtractions they like.
There is the other possibility I just mentioned. Anyway, General Sonthi recently said that he would pick the 97 Constitution.
In other words, if you vote against the new charter on the grounds that you can't possibly agree with the September 19 coup, then some people may say that you are simply handing the power back to the same group of people you are supposed to detest.
No, Suthichai is wrong, as usual. There is nothing wrong with rejecting the junta, the new constitution, and the entire illegal process because it has no legitimacy whatsoever. And there is nothing wrong with protesting this process, a right enshrined under the 1997 Constitution, which said that every Thai has the right to fight against a coup.
You may be accused of self-righteousness, but that's because such critics don't appreciate the hypocrites' argument that their double standards can somehow heal society's wounds, and enable people to put up a facade of taking a position on the country's crucial issues.
Only an idiot like Suthichai would call fighting for your constitutional right an act of self-righteousness. But it is not surprising that he would prefer bending over for the military(and calling it healing society's wounds) more than actually fighting against an illegal coup and all the crimes that have proceeded from it.
Isn't it because we pay respect to hypocrites that we took it seriously when some of Thaksin Shinawatra's followers set up an "independent" group by the name of the "Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship" and proceeded to storm police barricades and shout obscenities at Privy Council President General Prem Tinsulanonda?
This paragraph doesn't make any sense, especially in conjunction with the rest of the column. But, then, it shouldn't be surprising that Suthichai can't resist spinning lies and propaganda for the military.
Hypocrisy was abundant when a leading member of the anti-Thaksin alliance turned into an anti-coup militant and described the ex-premier as "mud" when he was detained by police last week and declared that "mud" can't be cleaned up by "mud" but must be cleared out by "clean water".
In Suthichai's feeble mind, one can't be anti-Thaksin and anti-junta. He expects that if you didn't roll over the for the military junta like he did, then you must be an agent of Thaksin.
Hypocrisy was also in full swing when the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission ruled, in black and white, that there was nothing wrong with a member of his commission - which used to pride itself on being politically impartial - leading the "mob" last Sunday evening to shout angry slogans in front of General Prem's house.
"It's his right as an individual," the chairman said.
Suthichai's motto for The Nation should be: "Free speech for me and not for thee." Of course, Suthichai thinks free speech is about kow towing to the powers-at-be, especially when his career is at stake. Suthichai cowered to Thaksin, and now he is cowering to the junta.
Suthichai talks about hypocrisy, yet when the PAD and the yellow shirts were attacking Thaksin, he was their cheerleader and biggest fan. However, Buddha forbid any Thai attack the junta or General Prem, then he gets his feathers all ruffled.
Hypocrisy, it has been said, is the act of condemning another person when the critic is guilty of the same thing he is condemning.
By his own definition, Suthichai is a hypocrite
But, the same sage would also tell you that to preach against an act that you yourself have committed does not constitute hypocrisy, even if one makes an effort to conceal one's behaviour. It becomes hypocrisy, one might argue, only when it involves verbal attacks or when one demands that those guilty of committing the same act that one practices oneself be punished.
Hypocrisy can therefore, simply put, be likened to the pot calling the kettle black.
More convoluted prose that makes no sense, except in Suthichai's mind. Typically, he can't resist throwing in another one of his overused cliches to top off his horrible writing.
If anyone wants to read counter-arguments to Suthichai's idiotic column, I suggest they read the interview in Prachatai with some of the anti-coup activists.
I am proud of these young people. They are obviously not Thaksin's stooges.
Here is what they said about the Thai media:
I think he quality of the Thai media are now the worst. There are some columns that are still alright but on an overall assessment they are having problems, as well as their culture of accepting censorship or self- censorship. The media are for-profit enterprises. They have political attitudes/standpoints but that is not a problem, the only thing is they must simply report all the facts, not reporting when there is a demonstration that villagers came in their hundreds when in fact they came in their thousands.
I hope that Suthichai and all the other assholes at The Nation are paying attention.
Right now when I hear the media talking about the press freedom, I want to be sick and throw up.
Sometimes the root cause is that Thai society does not believe in equal rights. No matter how different our political views are, we all need equal rights and everybody's rights need to be protected. If the activists or academics can't explain why people love Thaksin and just simply claim that they were paid, I think these people should quit their jobs.
3 comments:
Those kids interviewed in Prachatai seem a little naive, especially when they say things like this :
"If the proposed election could have been held in October or November, the coup would not have happened, Thai politics would have been changed as the majority voices in the parliament would care more about the minority, while under Thaksin, the majority completely overlooked the minority".
and this:
"The democratic system could fix itself as time progresses. If Thaksin wins another general election, he could not behave in the same way."
On the contrary, they should have been worried that if Thaksin won the election he would have seen that as a green light that he can do what he likes as long as he throws a few crumbs to the rural masses.
Superman Thaksin would then carry on with his policy corruption, and no one would be able to stop him continue his plan to rig the system so that he would be untouchable.
Why do you think he chose the electoral route - he knew was sure to win as he had already bought the masses.
Instead of spending their time fighting the junta, those idealistic youngsters would be better served trying to educate the masses that neither the junta or Thaksin will be their saviour, and things cannot get better until the people are more discerning in who the vote for.
Democracy lovers can bang away all they like about coups being wrong, but the problem goes deeper than that. The times have changed, and coups against decent politicians would no longer be acceptable, even in Thailand.
I had no problem with the masses voting for Thaksin initially, but once his policy corruption and personal greed became apparent, he should have been rejected.
Keep rejecting the corrupt politicians until one day an unproven cleanskin will prove acceptable, or the old style politicians eventually see that they need to change their ways to be successful.
...but once his policy corruption and personal greed became apparent, he should have been rejected.
Take that sentence, replace the name with Banharn and Chuan's Dem government, and that is the exactly what happen in year 2001 election.
The problem with Sep 19, 2006 coup is the Bangkokian reject, but rural accept(the corruption level).
To argue reason that the rural does not know enough what they should vote for goes against the very concept of democracy, where every one and every vote are treat equal.
Keep rejecting the corrupt politicians until one day an unproven cleanskin will prove acceptable, or the old style politicians eventually see that they need to change their ways to be successful.
Want to tell that to Banharn, Chuan, and Sanoh now? Dont see much change. Politic and power play, I am loving it!
Want to tell that to Banharn, Chuan, and Sanoh now? Dont see much change. Politic and power play, I am loving it!
Why would they change when the people have not!
The people were still rewarding corruption (Thaksin/TRT) last time I looked!
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