Quantum leap in social development?

But have I, “as usual”, left out the incendiary element in Thaksin’s own house? Have I failed to identify “where the basic blame for Thaksin himself lies?”

First of all, if you examine my letters you will see that most of them don’t even mention the guy’s name, because I know very well that the blame lies within the most intimate structures of Thai social and political culture, and not in one gifted man’s lack of moral development. I also know that every time anybody puts the guy’s name up in lights, as villain or star, they serve as his lobbyist, and I have no desire to do that sort of work unpaid.

John Arnone is also right that the guy was the first really big-time populist, raising the stakes with his control of the “underprivileged”, a concept totally un-Thai, of course, and to do that more skilfully than any Thai politician had ever even imagined before. And, of course, the guy also practically invented policy corruption, and did it with such panache, such slick, soft-shoe moves and makeovers, that many of the “privileged”, including intellectual ones like Chamlong Srimuang, Sondhi Limthongkul and Purachai Piumsombun, danced right into the centre of the storm along with him. Because the elite were right up there with him from the start, John Arnone – the elite adored him!

And what happened when he came to power changed the whole dynamic of Thai politics, the sheer, breathtaking scope of one single man’s control over policy, law, finance and power at the very highest level woke everybody up.

Which was when the penny dropped for me too. I looked at the faces of those judges who found themselves in the position where they had to deliver the “illegal” 2001 “hidden assets” verdict, and I realised something had happened in Thailand beyond anything that had ever happened before. Indeed, I suspect that will be seen as the game-changer in modern Thai history.

But there remains one other element that John Arnone misses – the guy’s not back, and day by day it looks less and less likely that he will be. And if he’s not, Thailand will not only have escaped a terrible setback in its political development but made a quantum leap forward in its social development too. And that would indeed be a triumph for justice, however long it takes.

And I do agree with John, even if he does come back it’ll happen. In a sense it’s already done!

Lung Kip

Chiang Mai