Exiled Thaksin takes center stage at Puea Thai Party campaign launch
Originally published at Siam Voices on April 27, 2011 Last weekend the opposition Puea Thai Party launched its campaign for the anticipated election later this summer (despite the chances that there might be none after all) and unveiled its promises policies at the Rangsit Campus of Thammasat University north of Bangkok (which might be surprising in itself). If you were looking for a bold, fresh new start for Thailand's opposition and paradigm change in Thai politics, you'll be disappointed! Because last Saturday one man stood above all despite the lack of his physical presence.
The exiled Thaksin Shinawatra took center stage and phoned-in during the event, as he did regularly at recent red shirt protests and executive party meetings, to list all the things he'll do if the Puea Thai Party wins the election.
Thaksin later promised to increase the village fund by Bt1 million per village if the opposition Pheu Thai, of which he is the de-facto leader, wins. ... Thaksin then vowed that the party, if elected, would solve the flood problem in Bangkok for good by building a mega-dyke some 30 kilometres in length as in the Netherlands.
Thaksin also vowed to reclaim some 300 square kilometres of land from the sea around Samut Prakan and Samut Songkram provinces and build a new city with an excellent environment and rail link to Bangkok and acting as an IT and financial hub.
The former premier also promised:
- Ten new electric rail lines would be introduced in Bangkok with a fixed fee of Bt20 per ride
- New flats and houses would be built to allow students and poor people to rent at Bt1,000 per month.
- Construct a land bridge linking the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.
- Eliminate the drugs problem within 12 months and eradicate poverty within four years.
- Debt moratorium to those owing between Bt500,000 to Bt1 million for three to five years.
- Minimum corporate income tax would be reduced from 30 percent to 23 percent within the next year.
- Fresh university graduates would be guaranteed a minimum monthly salary of Bt15,000 and the minimum wage will be set at Bt300 per day.
"Thaksin woos voters with promises, ready to return and 'serve the people'", The Nation, April 24, 2011
These were just some of the dozens of overambitious campaign promises (anybody recalls his infamous promise in 1995 to solve Bangkok's traffic problems "within six months"?). Many of his new policies are more or less a continuation of his policies during his tenure as prime minister from 2001 until 2006, aimed at the poor and rural population. As mentioned before, those who expected a big progressive change, are left to look elsewhere than the Puea Thai Party. Thus unsurprisingly, it didn't took long until the first critical voices weighed in (apart from the usually shrill "Thaksin is the devil"-trolling):
As good as those might seem in theory at least to some people, coming from Mr. Thaksin the ideas are gimmicky, dilettantish and often cynical. His late conversion to the cause of political freedom fools no one, and his thoughts about fiscal policy are rooted in a superficial understanding of Thailand's competitiveness problem.
As is typical of Mr. Thaksin, then, these proposals fail to amount to a coherent program of government or a formula for addressing Thailand's most fundamental problems of social division, inadequate human capital, and diminishing confidence in leading institutions.
"Thailand Caught on the Thaksin Rebound", by Michael Montesao, Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2011
Exiled Thai academic Giles Ji Ungpakorn also did not have many nice words to say about Thaksin:
The recent speech by Taksin [sic!] was designed to outline policies for Peua Thai Party for the upcoming election. However, there were great weaknesses in this speech. (...)
What Taksin did not talk about was HOW to dismantle the web of dictatorship which has throttled Democracy. He also ignored the Red Shirts who are the only real force which can challenge this dictatorship outside parliament. This is not surprising, since Taksin had no role in creating the Red Shirt movement.
Taksin talked too much about himself, but worse still, he kept insisting that he was a loyal subject of the Monarchy. (...) Taksin refused to campaign for the scrapping of Lèse Majesté.
On issues that really lie in the hearts of most Red Shirts: (...) the need to release all political prisoners and drop charges, Taksin was silent. This was a huge mistake on his part. (...)
On the drugs war, Taksin showed that he has learnt nothing, repeating the need for the failed and violent tactics of the past. On the South he did make some concessions that he had made mistakes (...).
At best, Taksin’s speech was a utopian wish list. It showed the weakness of his party that he had to make the policy speech. The Red Shirt movement must continue to develop its political understanding and campaigning which goes beyond Taksin and Peua Thai. We may have to grit our teeth and vote for Peua Thai, but the struggle will have to continue, whether or not the conservatives and the Military manage to fix the elections.
"Ji on Thaksin’s election promises", via Thai Political Prisoners, April 25, 2011
It is indeed the weakness of the party, but one that is intended - if one proposed slogan "Thaksin thinks, Puea Thai acts" is anything to go by, then it is apparent that Thaksin was never gone and is calling the shots. With still no party leader and PM candidate picked (although most likely Thaksin will choose his politically inexperienced sister Yingluck to run), it rarely made any attempts to move beyond their former prime minister.
Also, the red shirts' continued repression (as seen lately with the crackdown on community radio stations) was blatantly left unacknowledged, his hint to continue the brutal 'war on drugs' (which the current government has resurrected), the lack of support for unions' rights and other social gifts to the people indicate that Thaksin is not interested in a long-lasting, political change that ironically he set off (somewhat unintentionally) by actually doing something for the rural electorate and empower them with at least a political consciousness.
Having said that, it is evident that the Puea Thai Party, despite it's figurehead and his tainted record, is still the lesser evil at the ballot box with no other viable political alternative present at the moment. A vote for the Democrat Party is a vote for the military-dominated status quo, a vote for the opposition is the potential return of social gifts but also a polarizing figurehead - but then again, you could also give up on democracy and not vote at all, as the yellow shirts have decided recently.
Thailand's armed forces: Overemphasizing the loyalty
Originally published at Siam Voices on April 21, 2011 When General Prayuth Chan-ocha took over as commander-in-chief of Thailand's armed forces last year, he made in no uncertain terms right off the bat what his top priorities are: protecting the royal institution and going after everything and everyone that is deemed a threat to it. Since then, he apparently still is not tired to emphasize this.
On Tuesday, the army staged a mock exercise with about 1,100 soldiers, various types of weapons, vehicles and helicopters amid heavy rain in Bangkok, under the theme of protecting the monarchy and apparently also to show that the armed forces are unified, despite reports of possible dissent in the ranks.
“All from the 1st Infantry Regiment are the King’s soldiers. Hence, you must be ready to act on commands of your superiors,” Maj Gen Kampanat told the gathering of infantrymen.
He told them to have faith in their commanders and to strictly obey their orders, and insisted that all soldiers should share the army chief’s stance.
"Show of strength to protect monarchy", Bangkok Post, April 20, 2011
This show of force comes after Prayuth himself has lodged a lese majeste-complaint against Jatuporn Prompan, United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) co-leader and Puea Thai Party MP, and several other red shirt supporters for allegedly making inappropriate comments against the monarchy during a rally on April 10, 2011 marking the anniversary of the bloody clashes. (Sidenote: the accused are suing back)
This was just the last one in a series of actions Prayuth has taken in recent weeks all with the emphasis to protect the monarchy and telling others not to misuse the royal institution for their own gain. Pravit Rojanaphruk has listed some of these in a recent story in The Nation:
Here are just some of the hats that Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha has put on over the past few weeks: (...)
- That of a not-so-convincing denier of coup rumours: Prayuth can never be convincing on this subject because of the role he played in the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin Shinawatra. How can he, who was involved in a coup then be denying the threat now?
- That of an adviser to all Thai voters: "Vote to protect monarchy" was the instruction from Prayuth that this newspaper carried on its front page last week. He was also quoted as saying that a high turnout was the key to safeguarding the monarchy and democracy. But what if the majority of Thai voters vote for the "wrong" party? Will there be another military coup? He also believes that all Thais know who to blame for the ongoing political crisis. "Everyone knows the culprits behind the lost lives and the injuries incurred [last April and May]," he was quoted as saying. Surely, he can't be serious.
- That of chief censor and promoter of the lese majeste law: Prayuth has ordered the Information and Communication Technology Ministry to block more websites and has told his soldiers to file lese majeste charges against red-shirt leaders for what they allegedly said during the April 10 rally. This was even before the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and police could make a move.
These are just some of the many hats that Prayuth has enjoyed wearing recently, though one can't help but wonder if they really fit an Army chief.
"An army chief who dons too many hats", by Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation, April 20, 2011 (hyperlinks inserted by me)
Prayuth repeatedly claims that the monarchy is above politics and thus should not be dragged into political activities. The problem is though, as Voranai Vanijaka lamented in a Bangkok Post op-ed, that the blatant overemphasizing of the loyalty to the royal institution and the act of accusing others the lack thereof is used solely for political gain and thus exactly affects the monarchy in a way that is explicitly (at least officially) not supposed to be, as Pavin Chachavalpongpun notes:
The military may be exploiting its role as protector of the monarchy to legitimize its own involvement in politics, but in the process it is also further politicizing the institution. (...)
The lese-majeste law is a devastatingly effective political weapon. But the more politicians abuse it, the more they damage the monarchy. In the worst-case scenario, it could become a self-fulfilling accusation. By backing the red shirts into a corner where their criticisms of the elites are accused of being anti-monarchy, the government could split society on the role of the monarchy.
"Thailand's Military on the Offensive", by Pavin Chachavalpongpun, Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2011
This whole trend has already backfired on the army, which also is re-politicized ever since the 2006 coup, and continues to do since Prayuth began as commander-in-chief, much to his disadvantage:
First things first. Gen Prayuth probably has come out to speak on the same issue once too often, so nobody seems to care about his message any longer. (...)
That is because the army chief has already dragged the army into politics by showing support for some political parties and thus turning himself into an enemy of the opposition. The move has made the army vulnerable to attacks from politicians annoyed with Gen Prayuth.
"Tussle of the two Tu's - one red and the other green", Bangkok Post, April 21, 2011
Now, with all political parties stopping to mention the monarchy in their activities, either voluntarily (like the UDD did, despite the fight against the indiscriminate use of the lese-majeste-law against them being one of their main points) or involuntarily (with the election commission essentially issuing a gag order to all political parties, much to the dismay of e.g. Bhum Jai Thai, who recently handed out millions of royal portraits to, again, emphasizing their loyalty), it leaves the army to follow suit and tone down, if it does not want to be at the receiving end of it's own heavy campaigning.
P.S.: This whole overemphasizing-thingy sometimes lead to unusual remarks such as by a regional commander, who referred to himself as a "slave to the King and the country" (original sentence: "ในฐานะที่เป็นผู้บังคับบัญชาทหารในพื้นที่ภาค 2 ที่เป็นกำลังสำคัญในการปกป้องประเทศชาติ เป็นข้าทาสของในหลวง และแผนดินไทย", source: Daily News) - I guess 'servant' wasn't enough for him.
h/t to Andrew Spooner for links and tips
"Only taboo when it’s inconvenient!" - Interview with Thai author Kaewmala on the outrage at topless Songkran dancers
Originally published at Siam Voices on April 19, 2011 Traditionalists and other self-proclaimed heralds of the 'true' Thai culture are having a tough time these days. Especially in the most recent Songkran (the Thai Lunar New Year) festivities they bemoan that it essentially has been reduced to almost a week full of excessive water fights and heavy drinking, that lead to countless deaths on the roads.
Now they have a new reason to cry wolf ever since a video emerged online, depicting three young girls dancing topless during a nightly water fight on a bustling Silom Road in downtown Bangkok. What followed was a flood of public condemnations, with authorities fearing yet further moral decline and the loss of cultural 'Thai' traditions - at least until the moral panic blows over quickly, which normally is within a few days.
Undoubtedly, the girls (who, according to the latest news updates, are actually underage) have done something terribly regrettable and in today's day and age it was a matter of time when somebody whips out his or her cell phone, films it and uploads it to YouTube. In many other countries they would get little to no further punishment to the public embarrassment - but since this is Thailand, all parties involved are being prosecuted, with the girls facing a 500 Baht ($17) fine and the uploader astonishingly threatened with a hefty 100,000 Baht ($3,320) fine and up to five years of prison thanks to the draconian Computer Crimes Act.
All this public fervor is accompanied by a barrage of self-proclaimed moral figures sternly wagging their fingers. Case in point, the Culture Minister Nipit Intarasombat, who openly scolded the girls and suggested them to do social work, like reading the holiday's true meaning to school children. The minister has also urged authorities to prioritize the hunt of the girls, since their actions are "destroying the country's reputation." Come again?
To discuss about the public outrage and what it says about Thai society, we talked to Thai author "Kaewmala". In her book "sextalk", she gives a unique, raw insight into what Thais think about love, romance, sex and everything that comes with it. She also reflects about Thai language, politics and other current affairs on her blog and also can be followed on Twitter @thai_talk.
Saksith Saiyasombut: Were you surprised about the public outcry following the videos of topless girls?
Kaewmala: Not a bit. The “outcry” was entirely predictable, though still ridiculous and tiresome.
Culture Minister Nipit Intarasombat was very vocal about this incident, saying it negatively affects the reputation of Thai Culture. Is there any place for nudity in (modern) Thai culture?
Are you kidding?! Ever heard of Thai body massage? Or been to Patpong (Ed. note: which is actually located just down the road from where this incident happened), Nana or Ratchada? People often shed their clothes in spas and broth-, sorry, message palors, you know.
Seriously, I think Mr. Nipit was just being a good Thai parrot reciting the inviolable state of Thai Culture (with a capital C). The fact that he is the minister of Culture means he has to be an even more zealous parrot with an official mission to “protect” the “reputation” of Thai Culture. Of course what Mr. Nipit and his ministry consider “Thai Culture” may not be the same for much of the Thai public, many of whom have moved along with time to see Thai culture in its existence in the present century— not the one frozen in time or fashion like that exists in the mind of Mr. Nipit and other Thais like him.
In my view it’s the official, fantasized notion of “culture” (shared among many conservative Thais) that is at the root of the “outcry” - and the source of hilarity as we have seen in the Ministry of Culture’s reaction to the Topless in Silom incident and its response to the public criticism of its hypocrisy, its website banner with several traditional beautiful pairs of bare Thai breasts in particular. (Ed. note: on the same day word of the banner made rounds around the banner, the ministry quickly replaced it with another one.)
Is the harsh reaction partly because of the country's sensitivity towards its international cliché of 'easy' girls the government is trying hard to clamp down?
I’m not sure if that’s what people, the source of the outcry, were thinking. I’m inclined to think that their reaction was almost automatic really. Every time a Thai girl’s bare skin is exposed to the public, you can count on people like Mr. Nipit to jump up and down, pointing to the vice, ranting on the deterioration and eventual apocalyptical destruction of Thai Culture like a bunch of Thai cultural Taliban squad. In fact, it would not be inappropriate to call them Thai Cultural Talibans as their idea of Thai Culture is based on faith, not facts.
The way these people go on and on about Thai female chastity you would think all Thai women remain a virgin till their breasts are wrinkled like a pair of old socks. Of course that isn’t the case. Many Thais and non-Thais do know that not a century ago, Thai women were still walking around bare breasted. So where did this make-believe puritan “model” of Thai Culture come from? It sure didn’t come from the old, ordinary Thai ways. Thai folks in the old days weren’t sexually uptight if you read old Thai literature. Just read "Khun Chang Khun Phaen", the classical Thai epic, the hero Khun Phaen made a move on the heroine Nang Pim when he was a still novice in yellow robes, in the temple. He broke into her bed chambers at night, slept with her servant, before making his way into her bed, in the same night
King Rama V’s and his successor’ mission to modernize Siam involved importing Western technologies and values, initially to apply to the royal and noble classes and those in the upper echelons of society. The modernization program was quite successful and the new modern ways would spread among the aspiring classes of officials, merchants and commoners. I gather Victorian values came with this wave of Western import, then another wave when Phibun Songkram made it mandatory for Thais to civilize up, or else! And that included not walking around bare-chested.
Phibun’s time was just 70-80 years ago, but modern Thai history education is funny. Somehow it has managed to make many Thais believe that we’ve always been the way are told to be. Proper, grand, and “civilized.” Thai females are the embodiment of the post-Phibun ideal of Thai Culture: very prim and proper. Of course I’m not suggesting that our ancestors weren’t civilized or Thai women were historically slutty, but this notion of “civilized” and “proper” ("riaproy pen kulasatri Thai") is recently constructed and if it has any root in the old Thai culture it wasn’t from the ordinary folks. What we have here is the adoption of the old Siamese court culture combined with the newly imported and constructed idea of culture to be the official national culture known to Thais only in the last few generations.
The sad part is I don’t think many Thais like Mr. Nipit realize that their idea of Thai Culture is a recent construct, something of a delusion. The problem with what’s made up is that sooner or later it’ll come unstuck, exposed But the problem is it’s culturally delusional people are in the position of power dictating what is and isn’t Thai Culture.
What do you think of some early suggestions that the girls might be working girls or even katoeys?
That to me is quite an interesting aspect, though again, not unpredictable. Those who have a set way of seeing things, in this case an inflexible idea of what “real” Thai women should be can’t process or accept the fact that some actual Thai women would do things outside of their expectations. So some tried to rationalize the incident by supposing that the girls must either be hookers, katoey or drunk. The three Topless in Silom girls turned out to be 13, 15 and 16 years old. Not working girls. Not katoey. Not drunk. They’ll have to chew on that!
The really interesting part of this reaction to me is that the implication that if these girls were prostitutes and not real women (but transvestites) their exposing their breasts would somehow be acceptable. Apparently this may not be the case either, given the cops in Pichit province arrested two katoeys for dancing bare breasted. The subtext of these reactions is that women who sell their bodies and “Type 2 female” transgender have less value than natural born women who are the “good girls.” The same people (men) who would demand female chastity from the “good girls” would be visiting brothels or massage palors and have their ways with “Type 2 females” because they are thought to be game, available, easy.
What does it say about Thai society, when even the person who filmed and uploaded the video is being prosecuted?
Is he? Or she? I didn’t know. But for sure, the punishment for possessing and disseminating the offending clip (100,000 Baht or $3,320 fine and up to 5 years jail) compared to 500 baht fine for the girls exposing themselves, is beyond ridiculous. But this is the usual shooting the messenger syndrome. It’s just the pattern that we’ve known Thai authorities to do: tackle the tail-end of the problem first.
What does this whole brouhaha say about the maturity of society's openness towards sexuality? Is there a sexual hypocrisy?
We can spend hours discussing Thai maturity or lack thereof in sexual matters, but the word hypocrisy sums it up pretty well.
Obviously, sexuality is still a taboo in Thailand, with sex ed lacking on the school curriculum and censorship cracking down harder on nude scenes than on e.g. depiction of gruesome violence. Is this yet another case, as seen in many other cultures and countries, of the youth being more knowledgeable and thus being more comfortable with sexuality?
Sexuality both is and isn’t taboo in Thailand. It is taboo only when it’s inconvenient or causes embarrassment (real or perceived). Thais like to think that we are a conservative and proper society when we really aren’t - at least behind closed doors. People have a delusion that Thai kids are too innocent to be contaminated by sex education, another area of inability to deal with facts. There are people who actually buy into the ideal Thai Culture line (good, grand, long-lived, sexually innocent or sexless, religiously Buddhist). And these people will not tolerate any deviation from this ideal and would sing the chorus to the occasional outcries, whenever the media drum one up. Like most cultures, much of the Thai Culture is sexualized (mostly involving females) and people are drawn to sex.
On violence, my theory is that we Thais still have our originally Thai penchant for violence. Thai people love blood and gore. Stabbing, kick boxing, shooting, blowing things up - you name it. You might even say it’s in the culture. This Thai love for violence has never gone through any westernizing or civilizing process, so here we are. Sex is bad (new notion believed to be old). Violence is normal.
A recent public opinion poll in the aftermath of the controversy, a whopping 91 per cent said that Thai society has long deteriorated. Do you agree?
Deteriorated from what? Some fantasized golden place and time? I don’t know where or when that society was. Plus, the chance of 91% of poll respondents giving the same answer can only result from a set of push questions from the pollsters. I would not lend too much credence to that type of polls.
What needs to be done? Does Thai society need to 'loosen up'?
Thai society needs to get real. Work with the facts, not fiction or fantasy of what Thai Culture is said to be. And understand that cultures are not static. A culture cannot be frozen in time or in some fantasy like a fairy tale. Cultures change as people change. Culture is supposed to evolve, for better and for worse.
As we see, increasingly Thai government is tightening its control over the Thai narratives and rules on culture, morality and behavior of citizens. The tension of late is that more and more Thais are unable and unwilling to accept the official(ly imposed) narratives. We'll see how this emerging struggle will turn out.
Finally it’s just a couple pairs of breasts! Get over it! There are plenty other consequential issues to deal with. People are killed, our systems are broken, the country’s future isn’t looking that great! Don’t get distracted by just a couple pairs of breasts!
Thai military quashes coup rumors yet again
Originally published at Siam Voices on April 6, 2011 Thailand's military has yet again denied any rumors of a coup and that the armed forces would not intervene in an upcoming election later this year. After a monthly meeting of senior military officers, in a joint statement on Tuesday supreme commander Songkitti Jaggabatara, in attendance of army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, navy commander Kamthorn Phumhiran and air force chief Itthaporn Subhawong, said:
Gen Songkitti said there would "definitely not be a coup". The armed forces operate under the constitution and support democratic rule, he said. [...]
"Any military unit which moves troops out of barracks without permission will be deemed to have committed insurrection. Feel free to file complaints against any soldier who conducts any political activity to pressure you. If there are grounds to the complaints, I will order an inquiry," he said before his announcement was broadcast yesterday. [...]
"Stop linking the armed forces [to the coup rumours]. Don't ever separate the military from the people," he said, adding that the military would work hand in hand with members of the public to ensure the country moves forward.
"Military leaders unified against a coup", Bangkok Post, April 6, 2011
Some noteworthy points here: This is yet another denial of a coup rumors, which have boiled up quite frequently in recent months, mostly fueled by the political opposition. The Thai Report has counted 11 denials so far in this year alone, which given the circumstances not too surprising with an election expected in the near future and the burning question what the military will do if the opposition Puea Thai Party wins and potentially swaps out high-ranking officers.
Some political observers [...] reckon that a Puea Thai-led administration may have more than a few scores to settle. One of them is to remove any standing legacy of the 2006 coup and, if that is true, Gen Prayuth could be shown the door if the party makes its way into Government House. [...]
The moment of truth for Gen Prayuth would come in September, which is reshuffle time and the most crucial career juncture for many ambitious soldiers.
This year, many major military posts will be left vacant. Supreme Commander Songkitti Jaggabatara and defence permanent secretary Kittipong Ketkowit will go into mandatory retirement, paving the way for a potential shake-up where other active top brass could ''move around''.
Gen Prayuth, who retires in three years, may be moved to succeed either Gen Songkitti or Gen Kittipong. But that depends on how strong a sentiment for reconciliation there is prevailing. If there comes a need for a ''colour-neutral'' chief, then Gen Prayuth may have to move aside.
"Whose finger on the trigger?", Bangkok Post, March 26, 2011
The article goes on to mention that the previous Puea Thai-incarnations during the Samak and Somchai governments have made sure to maintain a good relationship to the military (which in the end didn't help though) as does the current government with granting military toys (see previous coverage here and here) among other things. It'd be indeed interesting to see if a PT-led government would uproot all the officers loyal to Prayuth, a move to prevent dissent against him, and plant their people instead.
But for now, sadly the rule of thumb again is, with such a re-politicized military, a coup is never fully out of the question.