A royalist speaks in Thailand

[Mentors]

A royalist speaks in Thailand

By Haseenah Koyakutty

 

BANGKOK - Former prime minister and palace insider Anand Panyarachun epitomizes the ammataya, or aristocratic elite, that Thailand's red shirt-wearing United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) protest group claims to be up against in a "class war" for democracy.

 

Currently encamped in Bangkok's old town, the UDD has called on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and hold new polls - a demand the premier has thus far refused. The UDD has mobilized former and now exiled premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was overthrown in a 2006 military coup.

Throughout their protests, UDD leaders have claimed Abhisit is propped up by conservative interests and criticized top royalists, including Privy Council members selected by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, as impediments to democracy. It wasn't long ago that top royalists such as Anand were considered above and beyond Thailand's political fray.

 

The Cambridge-educated Anand served as interim prime minister after the 1991 military coup and implemented various reforms that put him at loggerheads with the military coup-makers. He was re-appointed with royal backing as caretaker prime minister after the military cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrators in 1992.

[color:red]Anand was also instrumental in the creation of the democratizing 1997 charter, known locally as the "people's constitution", presiding over its drafting. His was an often critical voice during Thaksin's six-year tenure, once telling the local media that anti-democratic tendencies, including attempts to undermine the 1997 charter, were leading the country towards "failed state" status. [/color]

 

As a board director at the royally affiliated Siam Commercial Bank, Anand oversaw the freezing of Thaksin's assets at the bank while legal processes that eventually ruled to seize US$1.4 billion on abuse of power charges ran their course.

Anand says in an interview with Asia Times Online that holding new elections would help to resolve the country's escalating political crisis, but not be a cure-all.

"Elections cannot resolve everything, but they may be helpful in accelerating the resolution of the problem. Just like the constitution does not resolve any problems in an automatic way."

 

Anand predicts that new polls will be held next year if the UDD fails to topple the government in the coming weeks. Abhisit could yet survive his full his term through to the end of 2011 if he focuses on improving the lives of farmers and the Thai economy continues to recover from the global economic crisis, he says.

Despite the UDD's and Thaksin's criticisms and calls for "true democracy", Anand believes that Thailand will continue to muddle through with its particular brand of democracy, which he describes loosely as an "ad-hocracy" where politicians improvise and "roll with the punches".

"We have become overly obsessed, this fixation with personal politics," said Anand. "In Asian culture, particularly in Thailand, everything is personal. And that's not good for democracy."

 

Excerpts from the interview follow.

 

Asia Times Online: On the UDD's current protests:

 

Anand Panyarachun: They must be bankrupt of ideas. And there's no leadership. These three or four guys (UDD leaders Jatuporn Promphan, Nattawut Saikua, Veera Musikhapong) use rhetoric all the time. They have no credibility. Some of the more credible figures in Thaksin's camp never came out.

[Former prime minister and Thaksin ally] Chavalit [Yongchaiyudh] disappeared. [Former Internal Security Operations Command deputy director] General Panlop [Pinmanee] is where? Nobody came out. I think in Chavalit's mind he knew it was a lost cause, these demonstrations. And they must have spent a fortune.

The trouble with Thaksin, I think, in a way in the past year or so, [is that] he was surrounded by his own people. He talks to the converts. These converts are of many kinds. Real converts. Some people genuinely fawn and worship Thaksin, but there are so many converts who do it for their own personal agenda, their own interests, their own financial interests. So he's been hearing only one side of the story and I'm sure he was misled by these leaders who say they can embark on a very, very important, a very, very decisive sort of battle.

For all these antics and stunts, they have at least, I give them due credit ... I think they have not converted their rhetoric into violent actions. I think there's some restraint on their part. Behind-the-scenes there have been constant communications between the leaders of the movement and the authorities as to how to diffuse the situation or how to alleviate some of the problems that may affect people's daily lives.

 

ATol: On the UDD's real agenda:

 

AP: Some of the issues raised by the red shirts are, in my view, valid, but they have existed for a long time in our history of democratic rule and these issues have existed in all other societies, in other countries.

Issues like the widening gap between the rich and poor, unequal opportunities. These issues are not newly invented and they did not happen in Thailand only in the last few years. Every government has tried to address these issues but nobody has a quick fix.

I think there's deep suspicion, rightly or wrongly, that the reds have some other issues under a hidden agenda. I think there is this confusion about the legitimate issues and, shall we say, illegitimate questions.

When they try to incite demonstrations into a movement of class warfare, that will not work in Thailand. The communists tried 25 years ago. It will not work because there's no such thing. These are the main issues: water, roads, public health, education.

 

ATol: On the recent Supreme Court verdict that seized $1.4 billion worth of Thaksin's assets on abuse of power charges:

 

AP: Why did the Attorney General take so long to file the charge and why did the court take so long to pass the judgment? Because they were very thorough. 700 pages and why did they decide to go into this 700 pages and read for seven-and-a-half hours? Because they wanted to make their reasoning very clear.

If you study the judgment carefully, on the points of facts, they were all there. On the points of law, they were also correct. I think they did take the trouble and I have admiration for their patience because they were very much criticized about the slowness of the court decision.

 

ATol: On the circumstances under which Thaksin could one day return to Thailand:

 

AP: I don't see much prospect of his return. I'm not quite sure his strategy is a correct one. He's a personable guy. I have no problems in dealing with him, but in the past two years he has been perceived, rightly or wrongly, to have gone beyond the point of return in terms of his rhetoric, in terms of his actions.

It doesn't go down well with the Thai people when here we have a man who, in the view of many, is a fugitive and who, in the view of many, is a corrupt person, and who, in the view of many, has flaws in his character. To situate himself outside the country and start inciting insurrection in the country, I don't think it goes down well.

And I think, in a way, it is a pity because when he first became prime minister, I had high hopes that he could be a very, very important politician who could lead the country in a new direction and who could also further democracy in Thailand. But, unfortunately, he seemed to be obsessed with certain interests.

 

ATol: On whether a royal pardon for Thaksin would bring about national reconciliation:

 

AP: Whatever the King does, whatever he says is within his constitutional rights. His Majesty observes the constitutional provisions very strictly. And, of course, being king or queen would have three prerogatives: One, to be consulted; secondly, to encourage; and thirdly, to warn.

 

ATol: On the future of the Chakri dynasty:

 

AP: In more peaceful times, the monarchy has been adapting quite consistently. The monarchical system in Thailand is deeply rooted in pomp and circumstance, in rites and rituals, in grandiose ceremonies, just like in Japan, just like in England 100 or 200 years ago. England had better opportunities in evolutionizing itself [with] the monarchy in the past 20 years.

But when you shorten the time period, you have to be fair to us, sometimes we cannot go faster than what the people want. And there is a deep affection and deep loyalty towards our King and our constitution by an overwhelming majority of the people. That overwhelming majority, up to 95% of the people as a whole, can that level be maintained? I think realistically, it cannot be maintained.

I think if you took a poll in England and asked the people whether they wanted a monarchy or not, perhaps the [yes] percentage would be about 42%. I'm sure in this country it is still 80% to 90%. And in this 80% or 90% there are some very, very loyal real monarchists or real royalists, perhaps 40-50-60%. The rest don't see any disadvantages in living under the monarchy.

 

ATol: On Prime Minister Abhisit's performance:

 

AP: In the first six months, he was not seen to provide effective leadership and he was seen to be too accommodating to some, shall we say, unsavory characters within his own government. And, of course, it was too soon to expect the economy to be running again. But after over a year now, the economy seems to be sputtering out of the recession.

 

ATol: On the business environment amid the current political turbulence:

 

AP: Look at the stock exchange, it is still rising. Now admittedly perhaps our stock exchange is still very much like a casino or horse racing, but foreign funds have been coming into the stock exchange. So I think that people in general, both Thai and foreign, do not believe that the present impasse is going to lead into anything that is violent or drastic.

But that doesn't mean the problem will go away. With the dispersal of the red-shirt demonstrators, the problems still remain. But I think if they are better handled and if there are real attempts to address the issues, things can go well. We have been an independent country for nearly 800 years not for nothing you know. There must be something good inherent in the Thai people and in the Thai nation.

 

ATol: On the prospects for more coups:

 

AP: The army is not that stupid. They know they bungled the last one and the coups in the past have never been able to resolve the nation's problems.

 

 

Haseenah Koyakutty is a freelance Southeast Asia correspondent based in Bangkok.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LC24Ae02.html

[Flashermac]

Anand is brilliant, totally uncorrupt and a rare individual in Thailand, one who actually THINKS. It is a shame Thailand doesn't have more like him.

 

<< "We have become overly obsessed, this fixation with personal politics," said Anand. "In Asian culture, particularly in Thailand, everything is personal. And that's not good for democracy." >>

 

Amen!

 

 

 

 

[Mentors]

Anand is brilliant, totally uncorrupt and a rare individual in Thailand, one who actually THINKS. It is a shame Thailand doesn't have more like him.

 

<< "We have become overly obsessed, this fixation with personal politics," said Anand. "In Asian culture, particularly in Thailand, everything is personal. And that's not good for democracy." >>

 

Amen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

i full agree.

 

Amen!

[whitelotuslane]

He's a staunch royalist. Nuff said I think. He'll be scratching his head in a couple years, knowing that he could have done so much more to advance true democracy in Thailand.

[Wallenda]

It seems to me that Thai consitutions have done a lousy job at creating solid checks and balances -- that a guy like Thaksin can get his party in and then gut any safeguards against his going too far, like making changes so there's no corruption oversight other than his man handling it, or things like that. Due to the rife corruption on all sides, they need to work extra hard at making checks against corruption and abuse of power repeal-proof.

 

So to me, it seems like a guy like this one and then others with a similar mindset across the aisle are needed to come forward and take control from the "my-way-or-die" types, who seem to always dominate in Thailand.

 

One thing can't be denied: when it comes to hyperbole, the reds dominate. What comes across to me when I hear those kidns of things is that their minds are warping due to a sense of desperation at their own position. They have to keep shifting the rhetoric more and more until it starts to sound pretty nutty and out of touch with reality. Main reason: every single person in the country knows Thaksin is guilty of exactly what the court said he was, and that it IS important. Have to make a heck of a lot of noise to try to distract from that fact. And that's what they're doing now. I mean, their main positino is that they want to do away with corruption... by... reinstating the most corrupt PM they've ever had. A guy who everyone knows is gonna go balls out to create the most super-corrupt govt ever. IT's an absurd position to try to advocate, and they know it.

 

But I think as time goes on, the reality is gonna sink in to most of the reds -- even now they'd probably admit to you one-on-one that of course they do realize Thaksin is guilty of corruption. It's hard to stay loyal to someone you know does bad things and is probably just using you for his own ends.

 

Bottom line: their turnout was not what Thaksin would have hoped for. Unless something dramatically different happens, this demonstration will go down as a big disappointment, as far too little far too late.

 

That's not to say the movement is dead. But this phase of it seems to be. In an unmentionable future, its a whole new ballgame.