FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Silly talk of silenced voices

Silly talk of silenced voices

In response to Eric Bahrt’s letter about silenced voices, I’d like to respond with a comment I had sent to the Financial Times that was published three days ago.

No one stopped criticism of the new constitution as long as it was not misinformation. It has been criticised every day in the local papers for many months. The TV debates in the two weeks before the referendum were very much in line with the IQ2 Intelligence debates that are much more informative than what political rallies disseminate. Politicians from both major parties were pitted on one side against the charter writers on the other.
The fact that political rallies were not allowed could certainly be interpreted as curtailment of free speech, but I think that an intelligent debate makes more sense than a free-for-all fest that political parties tend to have, and as we are now seeing in the shining example of democracy, the US, or the misinformation we heard before the Brexit referendum.
After the unofficial results were posted, even the most political of opponents could not claim the results had been rigged. All they could say is that the results do not necessarily convey support for the military, that they really show that the people wanted a fast track to democracy, that they were tired of politics, that they just wanted to get it over with, that they didn’t understand the constitution or that the turnout was poor – all lame excuses for an obvious loss. People knew very well what they were voting for, even though they probably had not read the constitution.
This is not a country under any repressive dictatorship despite some cases of people being jailed for a week or two. No one was forced to vote for the charter or prevented from voting against it. This vote shows that the public prefers the military to corrupt
politicians and their fake majoritarian democracy.
The people are not as stupid as the foreign press are making them out to be. Over the last two years, whenever the
foreign press quoted Thai
academics, they interviewed the same old suspects who would excuse any amount of corruption as long as the government could claim legitimacy from an election.
It’s time to get new sources of information on Thailand to really understand what the people think. Infrastructure companies will attest to the fact that ever since the military has taken over, they no longer have to pay 30 per cent under the table to win contracts.
The referendum was a vote against corruption. It was a vote for a military government that delivers. It was also a protest against freedom-to-do-anything in the name of democracy.
Full disclosure: I voted for the constitution but against the appointed Senate joining the house to select the prime minister. I accept the people’s voice though it was different from mine.
Suthep Kittikulsingh

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