Is dissent in Thailand amplified by foreign funding?
A loud minority get all the attention in these pages about PM Prayut and the assumed 90-day election delay.
Yet the most recent poll shows the majority of Thais are not concerned about the delay, while a new NIDA poll suggests that most prefer Prayut as the next prime minister. It seems The Nation is out of touch with the majority of Thai people, while its Letters column is now totally lacking realistic comment on Thai politics, hijacked by foreign opinion of many kinds, both local and distant.
The Nation has more or less stopped printing my letters, so I wonder if there is a new editor overseeing this page.
I have questioned whether there is foreign funding behind the different groups now so loudly opposing Prayut’s rule. We hear and read a lot about Russian meddling in American politics. Are the Russians interfering here, too, while the Americans stick to the dictum “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”?
The blog Land Destroyer claims that a lot of the opposition “noise” in Thai politics is funded by the US National Endowment for Democracy? Could The Nation verify this for its readers: what is the truth about foreign interference – is it Russian, American – or non-existent?
A Johnsen
Hua Hin
