From The Nation:
Privy councillor Surayud Chulanont yesterday conceded that the 2006 coup had not been able to put politics back on course as anticipated and that two years had lapsed with continuing turmoil.”The political divide persists, and parties concerned should take part in forging reconciliation,” he said, marking the second anniversary of the September 19 seizure of power in which he became interim prime minister.
He said that under his interim government the political crisis had dissipated somewhat but several issues remained unsolved. He urged the people to raise their own awareness of politics at the national and local levels in order to safeguard their interests.
Voters hold the key to screening and electing competent and honest leaders, he said, for if voters could make informed judgements when casting votes, then national and local governments would be run by good and just politicians. Because of the flawed electoral system, many local governments are presently plagued by corruption, he said. He called on the opposing camps to heed the royal advice on unity. It is the collective responsibility of everyone to forge national unity, without which the country cannot advance, he said.
If there is a problem with Thailand’s democratic development, it’s not hard to see where it lies!
6 responses so far ↓
1 nganadeeleg // Sep 20, 2008 at 10:59 am
I’ll try my luck, and see if this comment makes it through.
I agree with Surayud – just take a look at many of the politicians in power locally & nationally – Local mafia connections dont appear to be a hinderance to a political career!
I’ve kept it short & sweet – it’s up to you whether I’ve met the other criteria!
2 rookie // Sep 20, 2008 at 12:03 pm
It is the case of the pot calling the kettle black. Surayud accused politicians of being corrupt but he conveniently forgets his encroachment of the Khao Yai Tieng’s forest reserves for his own house.
On the occasion of the second anniv. of the coup yesterday (19 Sept), Gen. Sonthi B was strangely quiet and offered no comments. The reason is quite obvious — his Four-Step Campaign to get rid of Thaksin and his influence has utterly failed. Lessons for any ambitious and greedy military officers: if you hate politicians and accuse them of being corrupt, you yourself should not grab the cookies in the jar while you are in power, ok ? I wonder where Saprang, Bannawit, and others are these days ?
3 fall // Sep 20, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Name one country where democracy bring “good and just” leader.
And whose standard is “good and just”, does forest encroaching meet the bar?
Theoretically, since judges are suppose to be “good and just”.
Do we see anyone hail Somchai (former judge)?
If you want “good and just” goes Judiocracy, Democracy bring “popular” leader. It is not the best, but it allow those elected to be replace through ballot box. But Judiocracy, or any appointed MP, will have to be replace by blood on the street…
4 Kaimook // Sep 20, 2008 at 4:47 pm
PC Surayud: “if voters could make informed judgements when casting votes, then national and local governments would be run by good and just politicians”
Did a google search on “informed voters” , clicked around a bit, and found surprising information about the Americans. It appears that even American voters are “abysmally uninformed”!
“5 Myths About Those Civic-Minded, Deeply Informed Voters”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR2008090502666.html
Academic type material:
“When Ignorance Isn’t Bliss. How Political Ignorance Threatens Democracy”
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa525.pdf
Perhaps, the way towards the solution is for the assumption to be that voters are very likely to make uninformed choices at elections, and how to limit the negative consequences/impacts of such uninformed choices.
About success of coup. After the coup we have faces like Chalerm and Chaiya on cabinet seats! There’s even rumor as reported in the papers about Chalerm getting the justice minister portfolio in the upcoming cabinet!! The cabinet during TRT was certainly not as “ugly” as under PPP and was more competent. So no more coups please!!!
5 jonfernquest // Sep 21, 2008 at 3:20 pm
“I agree with Surayud”
Me too. You have to start somewhere. Conundrum: Need a strong leader (like Thaksin) who is not using the economy (telecom concession and authority as Prime Minister) to make himself invulnerably rich. Anand fit the bill. Surayud tried to get the chao baan motorcycle taxis off the sidewalks which they zoom along at expressway speeds and occasionally hit pedestrians who are using them the way they are supposed to be used but ao jai chao baan is the watchword.
Chao baan Klong Toey chicken market and vector for avian influenza (covered in chicken poop, occasionally flooding chicken poop) occupying the only sidewalk to Sirikit subway station in central business district. Ao jai, ao jai, ao jai….. (I’m just reflecting demographically vote-wise inferior middle class opinion here) Thailand has always accommodated poor people in every way possible. The myth is that Thaksin started this.
“…forgets his encroachment of the Khao Yai Tieng’s forest reserves for his own house. ”
Unfortunately, everyone does this because there is literally no land near forest areas with deeds. All of it is forestry department land. There are vaste swathes of land being farmed around Chiang Rai on this sort of land. Go ask any tuk tuk driver to show you some land for sale and then start inquiring into the deed status. For a smilar area try Khun Kawn waterfall on the old Chiang Mai highway out of Chiang Rai. Once you get to the beautiful point all the houses are luxury villas for the elite. Chao Ban also benefit from these “flexible” rules. Take the new road in back of Mae Sai which was dirt a couple of years ago with a formal government sign saying no squatting. Locals bought plots there for pennies and sold for millions. Welcome to Wild West Thailand.
6 Ed Norton // Sep 25, 2008 at 1:38 pm
To the “I agree with Surayud” brigade: you also agree with much of the elite debate in the 1990s over what became the 1997 Constitution. There the idea was to get “good” and perhaps “great” people into parliament via the party list. Look what happened. The simple point is probably that elite attempts to manipulate electoral outcomes is doomed to failure because elections can be unpredictable – those folks out there, the so-called chao ban, don’t think like the elite and tend to want an outcome that suits them.
Of course, this idea of getting the “best people” also assumes that the good and the great don’t manipulate things to suit themselves when in power (no evidence of that in Thailand, right?).
jonfernquest might want to look at who is organising and benefiting from nasty motorcycle taxi riders (and even the motorcycle police) riding up the sidewalks. I think Crutch regularly comments on such things in his Sunday column in the Bkk Post. That might be a source for more comment on this item.
On “Unfortunately, everyone does this because there is literally no land near forest areas with deeds. All of it is forestry department land”: not quite accurate as it depends very much where you are and what you mean by title. For example, in many areas near national parks, land users have tax certificates which allow use of the land. Not a “deed” or a “title”, but a right to continuous use for something like subsistence. I believe you’ll find that this is what Surayud had/has. His wife commented on this in the press.
The question is whether his house fits the meaning and intent of the use rights granted. I’d have thought that this was unlikely. That plenty of others do this seems true, but what has happened to all those arguments about rule of law and getting someone for even small infractions (such as Samak).
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