As the night rolls on and more results from Thailand’s first post-coup election arrive, many New Mandala readers will have views about the future of the country. From where you sit, what is next for Thailand?
What next for Thailand?
December 23rd, 2007 by Andrew Walker and Nicholas Farrelly · 1 Comment
Tags: Election Watch · Thailand
1 response so far ↓
1 Grasshopper // Dec 23, 2007 at 11:06 pm
I think that there needs to be a new constitution that does not treat democracy as a game. Otherwise, from where I sit, all the ingrediants for what happened with Thaksin are still cooking and at an increased temperature. It seems that organic socio-economic development in Thailand will continue to be suffocated by elites and the gap which this fosters between citizens will further polarize ‘cultural differences’ for Thais who engage with people who have no regard for the monarchy or the freedom that Kymlicka might suggest they are privy too and republicans not. If these misundestandings are to be avoided, those in power must not believe too much in feudal observations about society and cede some power to the people in a new consitution.
Because of the tedious relationship that the PPP will have to navigate between the interests of the monarchy and the interests of the people I think ultimately there will be a failure to take a strong position on the evolution of Thailand in relation to globalisation and regionalism which will result in the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer ensuring a history of victimisation.
Hopefully I will see that the PPP has a political will strong enough to make an impact beyond actions based on superficial populism, and that the confines and restrictions that have been generated over the past 15 months are not really so confining or restrictive. However, I must remind myself that hope is always the foundation of dissapointment and to take each political day in Thailand as it comes.
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