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The break-in at the media outlet by a group claiming to promote democracy and freedom of speech shook Thailand’s media world and society in general. The PAD has already experienced early defections from previously like-minded democracy activists because of what were viewed as wayward directions by PAD leaders under Sondhi Limthongkul. There may be a further shift of sympathies away from the group that has, in the past, garnered sympathy because of its firm anti-violence stance.
A shift of sympathies may be exactly what Thailand is in dire need of. But that, too, has its double-edged sword aspects. For example, a reader of the English-language daily Bangkok Post recently wrote a letter to the paper’s editor congratulating the Thai people for finally becoming as divisive and fractured as those in the United States, adding that as a result, they will now have to pay the social price.
While the letter was written as satire, Thailand’s traditional “Let’s all sing off the same sheet” social ethic has, in fact, led to the current crisis. One corrupt government after another has come to power, sinking the country and society into greater financial difficulties, let alone a far graver ethical and moral morass.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist prime minister ousted in the Sept. 19, 2007 coup, in fact has been deemed Thailand’s most corrupt leader ever. But things are relative, and Thaksin was a product not only of his times, but of his nation and his society. That he just went too far is not strictly a Thai fault, nor will he be the last leader in Thailand to do so.
Pushing for change requires real push, real change and real commitment. That’s the current message in the Barack Obama campaign in the United States in his quest to be the first American black president – change.
Thailand is in need of the same kind of change that the United States needs, a change away from established corruption and selfish interests and toward a more open, honest and moral leadership. But unlike the Western superpower it celebrates 175 years of mutual relations with this year, Thailand totally lacks the intricate yet diverse system of checks and balances that its historical partner possesses.
There are few environmental protection groups, and those that exist are largely ineffective. Labor unions exist and are often vital in guaranteeing the most elemental of worker’s rights, but even then Thai labor law and social ethics permit the greatest of abuses.
Recently the Labor Court gave permission for the employer of Thai labor leader Jitra Kotchadej to fire her. The company, which was then in the midst of detailed negotiations with her and the union she headed, dismissed her for wearing a shirt on a TV program that expressed support for a fellow Thai democracy activist who had refused to stand up in a Thai cinema during the royal anthem.
Both his action and hers were protected under Thailand’s Constitution and civil and criminal, as well as labor, laws, but that did not stop her firing under the pretense that she had damaged the company’s reputation by participating in a political activity. The firing went ahead despite the company’s main affiliate in Germany having a code of ethics that prohibited discrimination against employees who engage in political demonstrations.
In a country faced with international pressures from near and far for certain reforms to be made, its relatively antiquated court system – in which one to three judges hear cases and there are no juries of peers, where it is criminal to criticize court decisions, and where very few police or politicians are ever prosecuted for murder, corruption and kidnappings – Thailand leaves much to be desired in the way of democracy and protection of human and civil rights.
This environment, in a real sense, gave birth to the PAD. Whether that birth will itself lead the country to responsible divisiveness and real individual responsibility instead of the traditional “sakdina,” or feudal, system still in effect under a twisted form of constitutional monarchy, is a serious question.
In the meantime, the country’s first real challenge to overt government illegitimacy is still gathered by the tens of thousands at Government House and other locations in Bangkok and upcountry, trying to rid the kingdom of a shadow that has overseen the country’s meager development over the centuries.
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(Frank G. Anderson is the Thailand representative of American Citizens Abroad. He was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer to Thailand from 1965-67, working in community development. A freelance writer and founder of northeast Thailand's first local English language newspaper, the Korat Post – www.thekoratpost.com -- he has spent over eight years in Thailand "embedded" with the local media. He has an MBA in information management and an associate degree in construction technology. ©Copyright Frank G. Anderson.)
