Politicking in the garb of reform

A political machine is in the making and to call it anything else would be tantamount to misleading the Thai public. 

Yes, we are talking about the recently launched People’s Democratic Reform Foundation (PDRF) by former protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, who is also a former deputy leader of the Democrat Party.

Alongkorn Polabutr, a former member of the Democrat Party and a current member of the National Reform Council (NRC), called the PDRF a “positive sign” for the national reform process.

“They have approaches that are in accordance with the blueprint of the NRC, especially on political reform,” said Alongkorn, who suggested that the pro-Thaksin Shinawatra red shirts, United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), should come up with a similar approach that is in the interests of democracy. 

Weng Tojirakarn, a red-shirt figure and a former UDD leader, was right to say that one cannot overlook the political underpinning of Suthep’s latest move. 

“He can say it is a foundation or whatever he wants. But it’s a political organisation in camouflage,” Weng said.

Ekkachai Srivilas, an NRC member from the King Prachadhipok Institute (KPI), made similar remarks about the need to level the playing field. He said if the National Council for Peace and Order permits Suthep to do this, then they should allow others to do the same.

But regardless of what one calls it, the foundation is the making of a political machine that even has a foreign affairs component to it. 

Former foreign minister Kasit Piromya, the designated foreign affairs chief of this foundation, has already got off the starting blocks and called on the government to fire all its economic ministers. He said their work has been a “complete failure”.

“It’s just empty talk and no concrete achievements,” Kasit said.

Kasit has suggested that the junta consult with former prime ministers about running the country. Well, that pretty much boils down to the Democrat camp or the Thaksin camp and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who Kasit could be leaning towards. 

The merits of Suthep’s new political machine need to be seriously questioned. If he is stressing reform and is not prepared to be at loggerheads with the National Reform Council and the constitution drafters, then what is he really up to?

Perhaps it’s just another ploy by the junta to get somebody else to clean up its own mess – like the government’s non-performing economic team that Kasit wasted no time in attacking. 

If Suthep has ideas on how this country should be run, then he should come out and spell it out to the people and let them be the judge. 

But hiding behind some facade and assuming a moral high ground won’t get him very far on anything. 

The problem with political action groups in this country is that no one is willing to call a spade a spade. They hide behind words like democracy, accountability, and rule of law and yearn for the return of these ideas as if Thailand had them to begin with.

Moreover, Suthep is using words like “reform”, as if it is something that can come about overnight. He doesn’t seem to understand that the process could take decades and probably even a generation to achieve. 

We talk about returning to democracy as if we ever had one – that’s if our understanding of democracy is as something more than just the holding of a general election. 

Our independent institutions, our checks and balances, our rule of law, our accountability never took roots and have never been permitted to flourish without political interference. 

We had moments in history, like the time when the university students stood up the military dictatorship in 1973 and the People’s Constitution in 1997 as examples. But those were just moments.

So, excuse us when we are sceptical about the likes of Suthep who come out of the blue and talk about the need for democracy and accountability.