US continues to meddle in Thailand’s affairs

Rather than congratulating Thailand on its referendum in favour of the draft constitution, the US government questioned the drafting process for being “not inclusive”, when in fact it was the same as for every other Thai constitution using a committee of legal experts. In fact, in Thailand it is often the same people who do the drafting because we have few constitutional-law experts, as is the case in the US, since it is not exactly a common area of law practice. The drafting committee received a lot of input from the public and various groups and publicised its proceedings.

Your newspaper reported that the US government monitored the election in 13 provinces and “found that the voting process went peacefully, with polling staff appearing to be helpful and eager to assist voters”.  Foreign watchdogs such the Asian Network for Free Elections and the Asia Foundation also posted observers. This would never have happened under the old power clique, which always complained about “outside interference” in Thailand’s internal affairs. Washington knows little about Thailand and needs to reverse its unfair policies toward the country, which appear to be based on lobbying.  The Hillary Clinton State Department emails showed that US policy is tied to lobbyists such as Mark Penn.

US policy in Southeast Asia has been based on supporting family control of the countries, such as the Marcoses in the Philippines. It is high time the US allowed the Thai people, not political clans, to run the show.

Pattaya Mike