Interwsting nation Editorial re Sonthi

[Nervous God]

Great - from the man who led the coup - we should have kept doing what Thaksin was doing . . . . .

 

 

Our politicians are still out of touch with reality

By The Nation

Published on September 9, 2010

 

Gutter politics will never be cleaned up if we allow MPs to behave as if they are responsible to nobody but themselves

You can't get any more pretentious than when former Army chief-turned-politician General Sonthi Boonyaratglin praised the man he ousted in the 2006 coup. The sheer audacity of the act puts him right at home in Thailand's gutter politics. In this respect, he will do just fine in his new career.

 

Sonthi, who led the September 19, 2006 coup that toppled the Thaksin Shinawatra government, recently claimed that the failure of the post-coup governments to continue the "Thaksin economic model" had polarised the country.

 

"Had we followed in the footsteps of Thaksin, especially in implementing populist policies, our society would have not been torn," Sonthi said.

 

In the same breath, Sonthi justified the ousting of Thaksin on the grounds that the telecom billionaire was "destroying the country" and that it was the military's duty to protect the country. He tried hard to come across as honest, but like other politicians, his logic is blurred. He basically justified a military intervention every time there is a political crisis.

 

Populist policies, meanwhile, are only as good as the votes they garner. The so-called "Thaksin economic model" did virtually nothing in terms of building the capacity for his target constituency, namely the rural poor, to uplift, much less sustain, themselves. And yet his supporters loved him because they got handouts for free. But it eventually became evident that all of this was going to blow up in his face.

 

The problem with Thailand is that there are too many people like Sonthi who don't realise how incompetent they are. They have achieved a certain status in the country's bureaucratic system, mainly in the military, and then get the notion that they are fit to run a government. And as they come to realise the concept of the people's mandate, they turn to corrupting the system or adopting populist policies that will get them votes. They don't seem to understand that being a good leader sometimes means that they will have to make unpopular decisions. This is where integrity and character comes into play.

 

These politicians, unfortunately, come from all parties. Many forget easily that their mandate comes from the people and that they are accountable to their constituency. But it's not unusual to see political party members do just about anything, stoop to any level, to salvage the supposed dignity and credibility of their position and leader. The ongoing fiasco surrounding alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is a case in point. Some politicians have been hounding him, hoping to discover something, anything, to discredit the government, which they believe is trying to manipulate Bout into saying that the arms shipment from North Korea that was seized in Bangkok last December was linked to Thaksin.

 

If there is any shred of evidence to suggest that the government has tried to twist Bout's arm to implicate Thaksin over illegal arms, perhaps an independent inquiry into the matter should be set up.

 

First of all, the charge is too serious to permit political opportunists from the opposition to tap dance all over it. The problem with the opposition camp has much to do with the kind of logic they have been employing recently, as well as the fact that their stated intention doesn't correspond with what appears to be happening. As the Pheu Thai MPs bark up Bout's tree, the party's deputy leader, Plodprasop Surasawadi, issued a heartfelt statement calling for all sides to hold peace talks. The party has drafted a five-point plan that calls for, among other things, forgiveness and a promise not to use violence.

 

"If the government does not respond to the proposal, we will not be able to help, and we will all be free to go our own way," he added.

 

Confusing? You bet. Was this a peace overture or a threat? The truth is probably somewhere between the two extremes. And the public doesn't know whether it is getting something genuine.

 

But if that's not bizarre enough, read Thaksin's recent interview with Thai Rath daily. Asked why he had stopped posting messages on his Twitter page, Thaksin said: "I want reconciliation to happen." Does that mean his previous Tweeting was meant to drive a bigger wedge between the country's people?

 

Sad but true, politicians continue to say what they want and get away with it. And it will continue to be like this because we allow them to be like this. Our society needs to hold politicians to a higher standard. If we fail to do this, we will continue to suffer the likes of what we have now.

 

[exileexpat]

Thaksin was "destroying the country"- Sonhi

 

Well he was destroying the country of the elite by robbing the rich and giving to the poor. Now that the rural poor have had a taste of power it should be interesting. But I dont think it will move to a democratic government with [color:red]participation[/color] from all within my lifetime.

[chuckwoww]

Thaksin probably realizes some kind of reconciliation may be his best chance of getting back into Thailand.