There's a long interview with Democrat and former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, in which he claims that this coup will be the last one. I read the interview and I'm not convinced that he's right. Lots of words but little substance, IMHO.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/tops...s.php?id=121489
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This will be the last coup
Started by Birch, Sep 10 2007 10:20 AM
2 replies to this topic
#2
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Posted 10 September 2007 - 10:46 AM
I read that interview over coffee this morning and I share your conclusions.
I was struck by the fact that the former PM tried to blame various elements of Thai society for the Thaksin abuses, except his own party, which failed miserably as the "opposition" in parliament.
He had plenty of blame to heap on the media:
"The events which led to the Sept 19 coup resulted from the weakness of various stakeholders. The checks-and-balances mechanisms had been crippled, and the media did not help expose the injustice and became allies of those in power, intentionally or not. Finally, the country came to a dead end, with no way out."
What he didn't say is that he, his fellow democrats and their Chart Thai allies in parliament, basically went into hiding or played dead when Thaksin was first elected, and that silence aided and abetted all the things he now says were wrong. It also led inevitably to the massive electoral win registered by TRT in 2004, when all but Southern voters rejected the democrats as voiceless and gutless.
He criticizes the media for not opposing Thaksin, when he and his own party, who were the official "opposition" in Parliament, did virtually nothing to encourage resistance to what he now claims to have been abuses of power. I wonder if he has ever heard the maxim: "Evil needs nothing more to prosper than that good men stay silent."
If this turns out to be the last coup, it will not be for any of the nebulous factors or "feel good" sentiments cited in that interview. Rather, coups will end when the Thai business class starts acting like a disappointed parent who reaches the conclusion that handing the Thai economy over to the generals is like giving the car keys to a spoiled kid who always brings the car back wrecked.
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I was struck by the fact that the former PM tried to blame various elements of Thai society for the Thaksin abuses, except his own party, which failed miserably as the "opposition" in parliament.
He had plenty of blame to heap on the media:
"The events which led to the Sept 19 coup resulted from the weakness of various stakeholders. The checks-and-balances mechanisms had been crippled, and the media did not help expose the injustice and became allies of those in power, intentionally or not. Finally, the country came to a dead end, with no way out."
What he didn't say is that he, his fellow democrats and their Chart Thai allies in parliament, basically went into hiding or played dead when Thaksin was first elected, and that silence aided and abetted all the things he now says were wrong. It also led inevitably to the massive electoral win registered by TRT in 2004, when all but Southern voters rejected the democrats as voiceless and gutless.
He criticizes the media for not opposing Thaksin, when he and his own party, who were the official "opposition" in Parliament, did virtually nothing to encourage resistance to what he now claims to have been abuses of power. I wonder if he has ever heard the maxim: "Evil needs nothing more to prosper than that good men stay silent."
If this turns out to be the last coup, it will not be for any of the nebulous factors or "feel good" sentiments cited in that interview. Rather, coups will end when the Thai business class starts acting like a disappointed parent who reaches the conclusion that handing the Thai economy over to the generals is like giving the car keys to a spoiled kid who always brings the car back wrecked.
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#3
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Posted 11 September 2007 - 05:46 AM
The last coup?!? I don't know if that comment is funny or sad or both. It certainly recognizes, as I think Hedda is saying, that the speaker of the comment really doesn't have a clue about what drives Thai society's elite and powerful to continue to exercise incredibly bad judgment.
One would have thought that Thai society and thinking would have advanced enough by 2006 to not only prohibit the possibility of a coup or, heaven forbid, that the Thai citizenry might have even opposed it rather than ignore it and say "mai bpen rai." That, of course, would have been an incorrect thought.
In my view (although I don't hope it will happen), there is a higher likelihood of a coup in the future. What did the generals learn by this one? Hell, they can get away with it with hardly a scuffle or a backlash, they can get a lot of money from the government, and they can get even because somebody shuffled them into a post they didn't like. Maybe a better way to ask this is just what the hell did military learn by their 2006 actions that would encourage them not to do it again??? I'd say nothing.
One would have thought that Thai society and thinking would have advanced enough by 2006 to not only prohibit the possibility of a coup or, heaven forbid, that the Thai citizenry might have even opposed it rather than ignore it and say "mai bpen rai." That, of course, would have been an incorrect thought.
In my view (although I don't hope it will happen), there is a higher likelihood of a coup in the future. What did the generals learn by this one? Hell, they can get away with it with hardly a scuffle or a backlash, they can get a lot of money from the government, and they can get even because somebody shuffled them into a post they didn't like. Maybe a better way to ask this is just what the hell did military learn by their 2006 actions that would encourage them not to do it again??? I'd say nothing.
