Asia Sentinel

Home

Opinion: Democracy Suffers in Thailand

Written by Giles Ji Ungpakorn
Friday, 18 September 2009
Page 1 of 2 Three years after a royalist coup, nothing is solved On September 19, 2006, the Thai army toppled the elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra. Soldiers sported yellow royal ribbons and the military junta claimed that they were staging the coup to protect "Democracy with the King as the Head of State." They certainly were not protecting democracy. The coup came after massive street demonstrations against Thaksin by the royalist and conservative People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), where many PAD members and leaders of the Democrat Party had called for the King to sack the elected prime minister and appoint another one. Later, the yellow-shirted PAD took on a semi-fascist nature, using extreme nationalism and having its own armed guard. They used violence on the streets of Bangkok. It was always an exaggeration to claim that "all Thais revere the King" or that "the monarchy has held the country together for decades." Statements like that gloss over the level of coercion surrounding public attitudes to the monarchy, the deep tensions in society and the serious lack of power, courage and character shown by this king throughout his reign. Nevertheless, for 20 years after the mid 1980s the monarchy was very popular. This was more to do with the weakness of the opposition and the level of promotion that the institution received, rather than any "ancient or natural" love for the king among Thais. Yet, it was enough to convince most Thais that monarchism was deeply embedded in society. The present crisis has shattered these illusions. Since the coup, the royalists have been promoting the king's "Sufficiency Economy" ideology, which basically argues against redistribution of wealth. At the same time, Budget Bureau documents show that the public purse spent more than Bt6 billion (US$278.2 million) on the monarchy in 2008, mainly for the Royal Household Bureau (more than Bt2 billion), royal overseas visits (Bt500 million), Royal Thai Aid-De-Camp Department (over Bt400 million) and the rest for security by the police and army. This figure did not include the cost of the new royal plane fleet, which amounted to Bt 3.65 billion. Some commentators who ought to know better, however, go to great lengths in supporting illusions about the monarchy. Benjamin Zawacki, Southeast Asia researcher for Amnesty International, making a disgraceful comment on an 18 year jail sentence given to a Red Shirt activist for making a speech against the Monarchy, said that "you have an institution here ( the monarchy) that has played an important role in the protection of human rights in Thailand. We can see why the monarchy needs to be protected" (by lese majeste laws). There is absolutely no evidence that the king has ever protected human rights. In fact, the opposite is true. Just look at what happened on 6th October 1976., when police and the military cracked down on students protesting the return of Field Marshall Thanom Kittachakorn to Thailand. They killed at least 46 people and probably many more. The statement is not surprising, however, since the Amnesty International office in Thailand is closely associated with the PAD. Immediately after the coup in 2006, there was no mass response by the millions of citizens who had repeatedly voted for Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (TRT) government. But a small group of activists who called themselves "the 19th September Network Against the Coup" did stage a protest and continued to organize repeated protests. I was one of those people who protested against the coup. But we were not supporters of Thaksin and were critical of his gross human rights abuses in the South and in the War on Drugs, in which as many as 2,500 people were gunned down. Since then, the destruction of democracy by the conservative elites has continued relentlessly and has stimulated the growth of a grass-roots pro-democracy movement called the Red Shirts. It has long become necessary to take sides. That is why I joined the Red Shirts in November 2008. After writing a new pro-military Constitution and using the courts to dissolve The Thai Rak Thai party, the military junta held fresh elections in 2007. This was won by the Peoples' Power Party (PPP), a new pro-Thaksin party. Again the election results were ignored. The conservative courts, violent protests by the PAD, including the shutting down of the international airports, plus behind scenes activity by the army, eventually resulted in an undemocratic government with Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as the Prime Minister in December 2009. Thailand took further steps backward with the introduction of draconian censorship, the use of lese majeste laws against pro-democracy activists and the creation by the government of the armed paramilitary gang called the Blue Shirts, who are thought to be soldiers out of uniform. They are controlled by government politicians such as Newin Chidchob and Sutep Teuksuban. The reason for the creation of the Blue Shirts is that PAD is beyond the control of the government and hence there are attempts to limit its power. Nevertheless, the Foreign Minister is a PAD supporter and he took part in the illegal airport occupation. << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >> Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Hits: 18518 Comments (9) Subscribe to this comment's feed Amnesty International, Thailand specialist, Lowly rated comment [Show] Amnesty International, Thailand specialist, Lowly rated comment [Show] I hate the war written by UGGs boots sale, September 20, 2009 hope this country can have peace,never have a war again +1 The Thai King is an IDIOT, Lowly rated comment [Show] Zawacki and AI should be ashamed written by Political Prisoners in Thailand, September 20, 2009 PPT has been trying to get Zawacki and or Amnesty International to us on their apparent support for lese majeste. We haven't heard anything from them, even though we promised to publish any response. Readers might be interested in our current post on this exchange at Asia Sentinel. It is at: http://thaipoliticalprisoners....ungpakorn/ +4 Dear Khun Anat Ratnapol written by A Outsider, September 21, 2009 I would assume that you are a Thai and It is amazing to see a title like that written by a Thai! What good things the Thai King did for his people especially for the poor is there for all to see. This is not something created by some PR agency, it is actions and facts accumulated over the last 60 over years and need no defending by anyone. Anyone who fail to see these is probably a idiot himself to begin with. Claiming that Singapore stole Thai money by buying Shin Corp is another bizare accusation. Any want with half a brain would know that you give money to buy something, you do not take money in buying something. So how could the one giving be stealing??? And if have a full brain and follows what happened after Shin Corp was sold, you would know that Singapore suffers paper loses on that purchase. Got get your Brain fixed or get a new one Khun Anat Ratnapol! +1 "Amnesty International, Thailand specialist" written by Edward, September 21, 2009 I refer to Benjamin Zawacki's response to the article below. Bejamin, I can well understand that you were "quite surprised" to receive an invitation from the UDD to a luncheon, after all it defies logic and is incredulous that someone so vociferously in favour of such an ancane law designed to mute dissent could find favour with the Red Shirt brigade. As incredible as that is to me, it also seem that incredulity on your part is implicit from your response. Or, perhaps the UDD thought your support of the lese majeste law was a joke - and invited you to lunch so as to provide nice post-meal entertainment. I mean after all you work for Amnesty International and yet adopt this stance! Its like going to church on Sunday and hearing the priest sign the praises of a sojourn in Hell. Oh wait, I also see you are a lawyer, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and attribute some modicum of intelligence to you - your statement must have been a new form of tongue-in-cheek: but if you really did justify Thailand's lese majeste laws as a means to protect an "institution", you really have a lot to learn and I suggest you go back and start law school again. +5 Zawacki and the coup leader written by Reg, September 22, 2009 AI's Zawacki says he is surprised that he got invited to a red shirt function. Today, it is reported that coup leader Gen. Sonthi was invited to a Peua Thai Party meeting on the coup. So Zawacki might be in good company. +0 Red Propaganda written by Frank Lee, February 02, 2010 Rather better than the usual half truths, and vague generalizations that Giles usually cobbles together, but still cut from the same red cloth. Yes Giles, "Democracy Suffers in Thailand" - but you and to many others conveniently ignore the fact that democracy, human rights and freedom of speech ALL went backwards in a big way under the Emperor Thaksin and his "ugly crony capitalism". -3 Write comment Name Email Website Title Comment smaller \| bigger Subscribe via email (Registered users only) Write the displayed characters