If Shinawatras had been left to rule
After two years of rule, the junta has made little if any headway in its stated aim of achieving reconciliation between warring political sides. And that goal is unlikely to be met by next year, when the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has ple
When the junta overthrew an elected government in May 2014, its justification was the pressing need to return peace and order to a nation fractured by political violence.
After deploying force to dissolve the bricks-and-mortar of rival camps, the generals vowed to seek genuine reconciliation.
Two reform councils launched panels dedicated to that cause. Members were tasked with studying the causes of the persistent conflict and finding ways the feuding rivals could live together in peace.
However, over the past two years the pro-democracy campaign has shifted from its focus on the Shinawatra family to the NCPO and become anti-junta in the process.
Pro-democracy has become synonymous with anti-junta, signalling that the NCPO has become part of the conflict rather than a mediator by which the political sides might reconcile.
Democracy campaigners face open bullying by the junta, being visited in their homes by soldiers, summoned for “attitude adjustment”, charged with grave offences, and more.
The question being asked is how will suppression of one side bring reconciliation.
If democracy advocates continue to be dealt with in this way, three years of military-led rule will have been for nothing when the regime is dissolved next year and the conflict persists.
Worse still is the needless disruption of democracy, whose self-healing powers offer a proven antidote to political conflict.
Had democracy been preserved rather than interrupted twice in the past 10 years, the true colours of Thaksin Shinawatra might well have been revealed.
Time would likely have proved whether the allegations of corruption, authoritarianism et al had merit. If so, the voters could have acted in harmony and consigned Shinawatra-led parties to opposition or worse, giving others a chance to represent their interests.
But that precious opportunity was expunged along with the democratic process, as military intervention in the civilian sphere cast a shadow over everything. Notably the people lost the opportunity see the Shinawatra camp reveal its core after the fiasco of the blanket amnesty bill. Worse still, people then turned on each other because such innocence and tensions were heightened by the military takeover.
Many will argue that allowing democracy to stumble along with the Shinawatras would have done even more serious harm to the country. But, don’t we learn best how to heal by suffering the pain?
RELATED