"His message was stark. The experience of Thaksin has shown that electoral democracy cannot work in Thailand.
The mass of rural people who constitute the largest element in the electorate do not have the knowledge to participate properly. They sell their votes, either retail to the local canvasser, or wholesale to the populist who promises them goodies.
This commercialism breeds a style of politician who is greedy and corrupt. The last few years have shown that a constitution, however well crafted, cannot impose any semblance of good governance."
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According to Chang Noi, writing in The Nation, that's the message that Sondhi Limthongkul, former PM Thaksin's chief nemesis, has been giving on a tour of the US, talking to audiences of Thais and interested observers.
It's not a very hopeful picture of Thailand or Thai democracy being painted by Sondhi, if the author of the article is reporting about his message accurately. It's also fascinating to read because it speaks of a great chasm in Thai society between rich and poor, Bangkok society and the rural masses, elitist aristocrats who guard their power and populist demagogues who see the road to power through elections.
It's a message that's not popular in many circles, but one which seems to be resonating more as the hopes raised by the coup start to be replaced by the fear that it's all "business as usual" among the power elite.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/11/27...on_30020039.php
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Democracy won't work in Thailand
Started by Expattaya, Nov 27 2006 11:43 AM
3 replies to this topic
#2 Guest_FanofThailand_*
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Posted 27 November 2006 - 11:49 AM
Well they hardly work anywhere else for that matter.
This could apply to the UK or USA :" elitist aristocrats who guard their power and populist demagogues who see the road to power through elections."
This could apply to the UK or USA :" elitist aristocrats who guard their power and populist demagogues who see the road to power through elections."
#3
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Posted 27 November 2006 - 01:03 PM
There's a great difference between saying that democracy won't work in a country and saying it works, albeit imperfectly and in need of reforms.
If you look at that article about Sondhi's message, he seems to be saying that Thai society has simply failed to raise the educational level of its rural masses to make them capable of doing anything but selling their votes "to send another gangster to parliament."
When enough gangsters form such a critical mass that they threaten to bring the system down from within, the army is the only institution that can be recruited by the establishment to step in to restore some semblance of a government that's acting in the public interest.
Given the globalization of politics too, the Army's intervention inevitably leads to demands for a new elected parliament with a "new constitution," as if the systemic rot of past governments was the product of some imperfect document, and not the society itself.
That situation is very different in mature democracies, which still have the capacity to reform from within, in spite of corruption, and which can in the most serious cases, get rid of a bad guy at the very top, someone like a Richard Nixon, through the constitutional process.
Thailand has not demonstrated that capacity, nor can it, if the Army always aborts the learning process with a coup. At one point in the Thaksin crisis, it appeared that the courts, not Army tanks, might have the capacity to deal with the situation. It appears, however, that old habits die hard among the old men who prefer to run this country "the old ways."
Yet, these military coups are nothing but rearranging deck chairs on the HMS Thaitanic, because that big iceberg of systemic corruption, lying 90% below the surface, is waiting to sink the next government and constitution, setting the stage for yet another cycle of coups and corruption.
If it's not Thaksin, it will be some other clever politician who sees the masses of uneducated rural farmers as the key to power in Thailand. Given the age of the men who arranged this coup, one wonders how long they can keep this gig going.
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If you look at that article about Sondhi's message, he seems to be saying that Thai society has simply failed to raise the educational level of its rural masses to make them capable of doing anything but selling their votes "to send another gangster to parliament."
When enough gangsters form such a critical mass that they threaten to bring the system down from within, the army is the only institution that can be recruited by the establishment to step in to restore some semblance of a government that's acting in the public interest.
Given the globalization of politics too, the Army's intervention inevitably leads to demands for a new elected parliament with a "new constitution," as if the systemic rot of past governments was the product of some imperfect document, and not the society itself.
That situation is very different in mature democracies, which still have the capacity to reform from within, in spite of corruption, and which can in the most serious cases, get rid of a bad guy at the very top, someone like a Richard Nixon, through the constitutional process.
Thailand has not demonstrated that capacity, nor can it, if the Army always aborts the learning process with a coup. At one point in the Thaksin crisis, it appeared that the courts, not Army tanks, might have the capacity to deal with the situation. It appears, however, that old habits die hard among the old men who prefer to run this country "the old ways."
Yet, these military coups are nothing but rearranging deck chairs on the HMS Thaitanic, because that big iceberg of systemic corruption, lying 90% below the surface, is waiting to sink the next government and constitution, setting the stage for yet another cycle of coups and corruption.
If it's not Thaksin, it will be some other clever politician who sees the masses of uneducated rural farmers as the key to power in Thailand. Given the age of the men who arranged this coup, one wonders how long they can keep this gig going.
.
#4
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Posted 27 November 2006 - 05:53 PM
In time, after many coups and governments, and pronouncements, and optimistic speeches, a rewritten constitution becomes a sticky piece of paper waiting for the broom and dust bin. Then, the people, with some education and information at the ready, will demand more. Or they will sit and, with the constitution, be swept into the clutches of a nefarious dictator, interested only in the power and wealth he can extract from the land and sweat of these people. Thailand has set the stage and now, in the wings, awaits such a man, anticipating his entrance cue.
