Army's Comments on Election

[Gadfly]

This article from today's ediition of the The Bangkok Post explaining and de-coding the Chief's seemingly odd "vote for good people" comment raises some interesting points. Excerpts:

 

Vote for good people. Think carefully before you cast your vote. Avoid a repeat of previous situations. Cast the vote that will make the country and monarchy safe.

His words seem like generic advice to a populace heading for the polling booths in two weeks' time.

 

But if it's so ordinary, why did almost every newspaper and media outlet in town splash his comments across their pages and screens?

 

The timing of his "special interview" is one thing. Why was it put on air on that day, disrupting the normal programming and right in the middle of the election? Why did he choose to talk to only two TV channels, which happened to be owned by the army? What was the urgency?

 

That the person giving out these seemingly harmless words of caution is the head of the powerful army is another factor. If there is anybody out there who is capable of staging a coup, it's going to be him. If that "coup-able" person has something to say, the whole country has no choice but to listen.

 

The whole country does not have to like his comment or the timing of his giving it, though.

 

One has to read between the lines who he deems as "good people" and who he considers "impolite" or "wrongdoers".

To many analysts, it's not difficult to decode his speech. Reuters, for example, released an analysis that said Gen Prayuth's warning of a repeat of the old situation was "a not-so-subtle reference to a decade of elections won by Thaksin allies" and "a move to discredit Yingluck Shinawatra's Puea Thai Party and stem its momentum following opinion polls that show it is likely to win the most votes in the election".

 

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If the timing of his giving some warning about the election was suspicious, his talking about the institution in this context is even more puzzling.

 

The army commander spoke at some length about the fact that there are some anti-monarchy elements at work which are bent on harming the throne. He warned the public to guard against these people, two of whom he did actually name.

 

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Gen Prayuth may have his preference when he expressed his wish that voters pick "good people". However, if the people they finally choose are not deemed as "good" by the army chief, he'd have no choice but to respect their will.

 

What is interesting to me is, while the Election Commission went to such a great length as to bar all political parties from campaigning on the monarchy issue, it's the army chief who eventually brought the issue into the political context himself.

 

[Flashermac]

 

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