Thailand is now fully under the junta administration. The military top brass seems to know well what they have to do: drafting a roadmap to democracy, pursuing Yingluck’s policies that can revive the economy from the verge of collapse, appointing popular technocrats as advisors, and rounding up dissenters. Some academics have suggested that the junta has learned the best practice from the past coup d’états of 1931 and 2006.
Running a highly divided nation is not easy, but if Prayuth Chan-Ocha keeps the economy going, and better, growing, as well as adheres to the election date, he will find an exit from all the blame.
But an exit for one might not be an exit for another. Those generals may be able to rush out through that said exit, but Thailand will surely be stuck at the gate. Unless we rightly address the heart of the current conflict, the country will fall into the same vicious cycle of political instability after the military returns to the barracks.
While coup d’état supporters are convinced that electoral corruption is the root of all evil, they completely disregarded the lack of accountability in the judiciary and independent agencies. Hence, for them, a new electoral system is the cure.
For others, the arbitrariness of the legal application by the judiciary and independent agencies is another major factor contributing to this political crisis. Thailand in 2014 is different from Thailand in 1931 and 2006. Public trust in the judiciary and independent agencies is at its lowest. The once-revered institutions are suffering crises of legitimacy and for good reason.
Since 2006, the Constitutional Court has performed its job with questionable integrity. Several times, it dissolved Thaksin’s political parties but spared the Democrat from the same accusation of electoral fraud. In the case of the Thai-Rak-Thai party (TRT), the five-year ban was applied retroactively to TRT executives, a move that prompted condemnation from academics. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was dismissed from the premiership because he performed in a cooking show.
In 2014, the Constitutional Court insisted that the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) protests were peaceful and thus protected by the constitution despite evidence of assault rifles, the ensuing shut-down of the city, and sporadic violence. But the very same court invalidated the February 2 2014 election because the government failed to complete the general election within one day, although the failure occurred because PDRC supporters had blocked several venues and even assaulted voters. Were the protests peaceful and constitutional or not? How could a peaceful protest disrupt the exercise of the fundamental right of other citizens? The two cases contradict each other.
In addition to these controversial decisions, the Constitutional Court is tainted in several incidents. A judge hired his son as a secretary, who later received the court’s scholarship to study abroad. Several judges were involved in a fraud concerning a staff recruitment process. The President of the Constitutional Court insisted that the true meaning of the Constitution shall be found in the English version, and not the original Thai version.
Although the Court of Justice is less politicized, it has still helped to deepen the rift between the red and the yellow. The court continues to postpone a trial for the airport closure case by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and denying bail in lèse-majesté cases. In one instance of the latter, the old man died because of poor conditions in prison.
The Election Commission also fueled the conflict by procrastinating on holding the general election. It claimed that it had no confidence an election would be free and fair. Then its behavior became more erratic when it demanded that the government show up on the exact date, time, and manner requested or it would not discuss the possibility of a new election. One member of the Election Commission was notoriously active on Facebook, posting a poem mocking and scolding those who asked for another election.
The National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC) selectively pursued the cases concerning Yingluck administration, having mysteriously lost all documents regarding the Democrat party during the 2011 flood. It also ignored the accusation that the President of the Supreme Administrative Court unlawfully changed the panel of judges in the Thai-Cambodian Joint Communique case. That case led to the resignation of Mr. Noppadol Pattama, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the close aide of Thaksin.
No other agency has shown more bias than the National Human Right Commission (NHRC). It has been dead quiet on the widespread hate crimes surrounding critics of the Yellow-shirts movement. People were beaten up by PDRC guards, who deliberately blocked several roads and carried around assault rifles. In one case, the guard accidentally paralyzed an innocent elderly person. Instead of acting on behalf of the innocent bystander, the NHRC quickly announced that it would provide protection for the shooter from police torture.
In the above cases, justice was sometimes done. Some bad guys were punished. But only if those bad guys were on Thaksin’s side. Will it be better if all bad guys are punished? Citizens might better endure a draconian law together than when they see one group receiving favorable treatment. Democracy supporters have been ridiculed as labeled as “red buffalo” by the yellow-shirts. The abuse of power by the judiciary and independent agencies just added insults to the injury. Public resentment now runs deep. They feel repeatedly betrayed by these “good guys.” In Thailand, it is safer to be anti-Thaksin. The law is on your side.
Reconciliation cannot come without fairness. Fairness is achieved only when wrongs are corrected. Those who abuse the trust of the people shall admit their wrongful acts. Some officials may have to be reprimanded, demoted, removed, or even prosecuted according to the Penal Code. In the long run, these agencies need a restructuring in order to curb their partiality. More checks and balances shall be imposed.
But can the junta carry out even half of the above tasks? Can Prayuth bring accountability to these agencies? Can absolute power correct the past and prevent future mishaps? My answer is negative.
Although the junta announced that there shall be reform of these agencies in the incoming interim charter, doubts remain regarding the junta’s willingness to commit to a major overhaul. Generally, the holders of the benches and the members of these independent agencies have almost a semi-divine status, the protector of a powerful minority and the slayer of corrupt politicians. Any attempt to infringe on their turf would face fierce opposition from the agencies and the public alike. Moreover, the junta is supported by the elite establishment, the very people sitting in the judiciary and the independent agencies who have paved the way for the coup. The coup only confirms their victory. They will only become bolder and more reckless.
Without fairness, Thailand will be watching the generals enjoy money and fame for having supposedly restored peace to the people. Economic growth and promises of elections are the talk of the future. But correcting past injustices is no less important. The key to Thailand’s exit from this vicious circle of instability is in the past. Without learning from the past, how could one reach the future?
Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang is a constitutional law scholar in Thailand.
Good article, well-balanced and pretty objective. The take-away from this is that the junta must correct the past abuses if it hopes to get the red shirts onside for the future.
To start with, Prem has to go, the man has done more damage to Thailand than can be imagined. Then abolish the Constitution Court and NCCC and remove the pensions of all on the bench. Make them unemployable for what little time they have left before retirement.
Suthep and Abhisit must see some serious prison time, and the prosecutuions of the PAD etc for the 2008 bunfights must be expedited and those responsible for delaying them must be sacked. 6 years is long enough and reflects badly on Thai jurisprudence. Prem guaranteed them impunity but this must be disavowed and they must see prison time.
Then repeal the outrageous retrospective immunity legislation, sack and remove the pensions of all treasonous army personnel. Prem, Paochinda. Prawit, Boonyaratgalin, and yes, Prayuth. I think that will be harder.
0
0
What described above may seem outrageous now, but they were probably quite accurate pictures that Prem and companies had, if the succesion were to go by the book. Thats why they had to act.
0
0
[…] Original Source […]
0
0
A good article, should be read by everyone.
0
0
Great article. Very informative of the institutional failures that have led to and perpetuated this current crisis. One wonders how the country can move forward if people in key positions (civil servants, judges, military etc etc.) are so overtly political, or at least unhelpful to the cause. In my opinion a lot of problems in Thailand are due to an almost insurmountable deference to authority figures (it is quite charming to see this when the people in question are a ‘nong’ young man and a ‘p’ old lady for example but when it is a government official, police man, landlord etc it is more worrying). The people in these positions become, as the writer suggested, to see themselves as like demi-gods. It seems it would be quite easy for things to go terribly wrong in this country with the attitude that the rich have for the poor.
0
0
Great article.
It is very much in line with my own laymans observations, mainly based on reading the local english language press.
My question then is: How can these serious issues be almost ignored when the ‘reforms’ are discussed? Is it because any criticism of court decisions is illegal?
0
0
As an educator, I have to say that without a complete overhaul of the Confucian-based formal education system which is intended (among other things) to dumb-down the poor and middle class and so keep them in their place, nothing will change much because the masses will always need to follow a leader and their money – and once they’ve been bought they know the social expectation is that they ‘stay bought’.
0
0
This article makes for very depressing reading, and I personally see no justice and fairness on the horizon for a sizeable portion of the Thai population. They simply have too powerful and entrenched forces against them. What Thailand needs would be a Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the kind in South-Africa but the elite and their sycophants would never agree to this.
An alternative would be international ostracization though Thailand is not important enough to get this off the ground.
Revolution and an overthrow of the whole corrupt system would be too difficult to achieve since only the army possesses the firing power. The same goes for a civil war. How galling the General┬┤s admonition sounds that “people should be happy” under these hopeless circumstances.
0
0
Everyone talks about the institutional failures, but nobody ever mentions what I see as being obvious: Thailand has a cultural issue with independence and rule of law and equal and fair application of law, and this cultural issue permeates through every single section of Thai institutions of any type.
This is the root cause that must be changed through education and other means. Otherwise, we will be in for the same problems as “new and improved” institutions are formed.
Root cause, guys. It’s the people not the institutions.
0
0
The key assumption is they actually want to get out of the vicious cycle. Doubt that PDRC supporter see it as vicious, more as a circuit breaker. So the key was not forgotten, it was just not being look for nor meant to be found in the first place.
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face — forever.”
0
0
The idea that Chan-ogre is going to “grow the economy” is laughable. Last time 2008-2010, when there was the barest facade of democracy on the mil side, the money boys printed up 4 trillion baht out of thin air. They increased the outstanding currency in circulation by 33% in a little over 2 years. That was free money for military subsidies, a new full military base in Khoen Kaen, blimb funds, “detector” funds etc.
The classic Austrian economic formulation for real economic growth subtracts % of currency growth from % of nominal GDP growth to get the real measure of economic “growth”.
With forecast of 2% or less growth in Thai economy, coupled with what, you can bet your house on, will be money printing to subsidize the illusion of “growth”, you can expect for the foreseeable future that the Thai economy will contract perhaps rather viciously, especially for those living close to the ground. But not of course for the military/oligarch money boys who get first crack at the newly minted currecy.
Mind you that both Laos and Cambodia are now showing growth at over 7% each. And Myanmar at nearly that rate.
And as long as the foreign direct investments in Thailand are protected by the military coup, and profit flows ~out~ of the country, gleaned off the backs of Thai laborers, you can bet that the coup’s black hole is going to suck in everyting on the old Thailand plantation to great applause from most foreign observers.
0
0
Education is a keyword in the discussions here and I am all for it. A better educated population will always be a benefit in general.
But when it comes to the real issues concerning the court system and other institutions, how will more education help? We are not talking about re-educating the current group of administrators and decision makers are we? Most of them already have impressive diplomas from Thailand and international universities.
And how do you get educated to be a person with integrity anyway?
Looking at a typical PDRC member, which is educated far beyond an average Thai citizen, I am not sure that education will contribute in the short (5 years) time.
0
0
‘The longest journey begins with a single step.’ It’s going to take a generation or two if/when they ever stop scratching around and start in earnest. But you’ll know it’s begun to kick in when kids get quizzed coming in from school and their ‘guardians’ squark,’What on earth are they teaching you at that school of yours ??!!’
0
0
You are of course right, but I get a chicken and egg feeling here.
0
0
[…] Read original article here: http://www.newmandala.org/2014/06/10/thailands-forgotten-key/ […]
0
0
Again all very worthy analysis but what next?
I sometimes feel there is just a huge river of this kind of analysis yet very little exploration of coherent political solutions.
What does the opposition to the junta need to do next?
What should be its strategy?
This piece speaks of “fairness” but for me that is too wooly – what does that actually mean in a concrete way?
And once the meaning of fairness has been established how to achieve it?
The real issue does seem persistent; that there are a well-organised, well-motivated, well-financed group – who could be roughly defined as the Thai establishment – who are prepared to use extreme forms of violence and force to get their own way and maintaining their hegemony, even if that means destroying the political, civil and democratic rights of every ordinary Thai.
So how to curtail the power of that group?
If that group are not brought to heel they will continue to dominate and continue to destroy Thai democracy.
Any long term solution includes the defeat of that group.
0
0
All I wanted to say I agree with “Burnt Oak” comments
and my other point is people go on about Democracy and somehow the mention of a Thai way of Democracy is wrong for them to contemplate.
I think people commenting here should remember Democracy takes time
look how long it took Australia, New Zealand, USA, took over a 100yrs for institutions to fully develop and populations to adhere to the principals.
And even today Democracy systems are different all around the world,
take New Zealand & Pacific Islands who have tribal
Indigenous representations councils that form part of there Democracy
system. A democratic system must be formed with the culture.
0
0