A case of double standards, both Thai and American

They argued that the way Daniel Russel – the US Deputy Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs - criticised martial law and questioned the legitimacy of the junta-installed National Legislative Assembly (NLA)’s impeachment of former PM Yinluck Shinawatra was disrespectful and tantamount to political interference in domestic affairs.

Terms like “ugly American”, “imperialists”, “hypocrite”, “insincere” have been deployed by some of these people to criticise Russel and the US. Columnists praised junta-appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai for his firm retaliation in summoning American charge d’affaires W Patrick Murphy to hear that Russel’s criticism had inflicted a deep wound to the hearts of many Thais.

Russel, who neglected to pay a courtesy call to Prayut, due to his position as an undemocratic leader, was blunt and the envoy could have been more tactful. 

Nevertheless, it also must be acknowledged that neither Don nor Prayut could legitimately speak on behalf of all Thais as their path to power was through a military coup.

So, neither Don nor Prayut can speak in my name, and I believe there are millions of Thais out there who think the same but who are not able or willing to protest due to fear because of the open-ended imposition of martial law, which the junta and Don sought to defend.

People can go on calling America imperialist and ugly, and in some ways they should and they are right. This is a wonderful opportunity for young Thais who were not old enough or not even around during the Cold War – when America was active in the Indochina war and particularly Vietnam and played a part in devastating much of the region while lording around and supporting Thai dictators like Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, another coup-maker – to recognise that America can be hypocritical when it suits their interests.

The US should recognise that by being selective in its harshness against dictatorship, such as in its attitude to Thailand at the moment, but soft on those in other countries due to huge vested interests, say in Egypt, Kuwait, China and Saudi Arabia (where women are not even permitted to drive), then America’s message of democracy will ring increasingly more hollow.

On the other hand, it must also be pointed out to Thais who support the military regime and martial law that no amount of US hypocrisy and imperialist arrogance could ever diminish the fact that Thailand’s military regime under Prayut has a legitimacy crisis, or no legitimacy at all, due to the fact that Prayut came to power through the use of force and rules through the threat of force under martial law.

In a way I pity people like Deputy Foreign Minister Don, who have to defend the indefensible. The NLA is junta-installed and thus anything done by the assembly is bound to be questionable.

While many Thais rightly question America’s uneven behaviour, they ought to apply the same scrutiny and doubt to the Thai junta as well.

A country which applies double standards is a nation of hypocrites – be it the United States or Thailand.