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His question arises from counter-moves against Thaksin backers, who claim to have signed up 6 million Thai citizens petitioning His Majesty the king to pardon Thaksin so the former prime minister can return to Thailand without facing a prison sentence.
Was Thaksin’s crime the extrajudicial killing of over 2,500 people during the anti-drug war he initiated as prime minister? Was it arranging the kidnapping and murder of Muslim lawyer activist Somchai Neelaphaijit? No. It was because on Oct. 20, 2008, Thailand’s Supreme Court Division for Holders of Political Positions found Thaksin guilty of violating Thailand’s Counter- corruption Act for assisting his wife in an unlucky 13-acre land purchase.
As a former high flier in government circles, Thaksin did not need to ask where democracy is in Thailand. He knows it exists only in spots and corners, hiding from the general public because it does not suit the aspirations of those who run things.
Thaksin knows that at any time any of several powerful elites in the government or other agencies can uproot the Constitution and take over the government based on “emergency situations” – like street demonstrations.
He must have also watched recent government-orchestrated efforts to get his pardon shelved, as they were broadcast on domestic TV. Viewers were shown hundreds of uniformed troops lined up at various locations throughout the country, blatantly signing a petition to deny Thaksin any chance of a royal pardon.
Just why the Thai military – certainly not neutral in the matter – is allowed to help orchestrate public opinion in itself offers an answer to Thaksin’s question. Where is democracy in Thailand? Answer: In the hands of those who mean to retain control.
Even when Thaksin was still prime minister, Nakhonratchasima’s Army Region 2 had ordered its on-camp families not to watch the People’s Alliance for Democracy channel ASTV; a little bird reported this, by the way.
On Aug. 28 another “criminal,” a woman named Daranee Chancherngsilpakul, but better known as Da Torpedo, faces a lèse majesté judgment in criminal court. After speaking her heart on a public stage in 2008 she was accused of “attacking the highest institution,” for which she was arrested. When one listens to what she actually said, it is impossible not to suspect that kernels of truth lurked in part of her message, despite its emotional distortion fed by decades of social imprisonment.
It might be deemed that Torpedo did not commit much of a crime. She did, however, cross the line inscribed by those who will silence, imprison and even kill those who dare to cross it. And there will be few questions asked afterward.
There is a historical nonchalance about using violence against “the other” in Thailand. The traditional Thai ethic can be paraphrased as, “We are right and you just don’t understand, or you are evil.” This can be recalled in former Thai Prime Minister Kukrit Pramote’s little speech back in 1988 after Thailand and Laos had had another round of fighting between these two “friendly neighboring countries.”
Said the former prime minister, “Two hundred years have passed, and we should cross over and burn Vientiane once more. There is no need to declare war – just go across and burn it; when it’s done come back … the older brother (Thailand) must be strong and make the younger Lao brother fear him.”
Official Thai mentality has not shifted much in the two decades since this former diplomat’s speech. But Thailand and Laos do have friendship bridges crossing the Mekong River connecting them commercially, and trade is usually brisk by land and river.
Yet old prejudices in Thailand are very difficult to diminish, in part because they are advantageous to elites. Keeping Thaksin out of the country is advantageous to them as well.
Thaksin knows that there was no democracy in Thailand in 1932, in 1973, 1976, 1992 or 2007 – all bloody dates in the kingdom’s history. In a sense, he has no right to ask where democracy is, having played a part in making sure that it did not gain much of a foothold.
Thaksin used to make a grand show of insulting the media by holding up x-marked cards when the press asked something he did not appreciate. He “helped” police intimidate store managers who sold copies of anti-government media. He told the United States to mind its own business when it reminded the Thai government that human rights in the country were under threat.
In short, Thaksin carried on a Thai tradition of muzzling speech and molding behavior to suit his preferences, his cronies and his family. In this sense he was no different from those now in power, swimming around him like sharks. Surely those on all sides recognize that their differences are only defined by the possession and retention of power.
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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.)
