What a waste

The article Theerayuth Boonmee wrote analysing Thai politics, which appeared in several media outlets on March 22 appeared not to be based on any academic literature, and I am sure he has no direct experience with red shirts.

Theerayuth is a natural scientist but his only major citation of an academic work in his article was a work on a dual Thai society by political scientist Anaek Laothammatat. Political analysis without foundation of thought and date surely affects the work. Perhaps the Office of Tertiary Education, when it has time, might review the quality of professors’ work to learn if someone truly deserves the title of professor.

Theerayuth’s work was definitely not scholarly. And I hope he will not use the article as a basis for requesting the title of professorship. The article was whimsical and the following points are worth questioning.

First, his latest article was not scholarly but more conversational.

Second, he did not touch upon the existence of a military dictatorship, the coup, and the existence of bureaucratic-aristocratic elites and the real task of democratisation. It’s unfortunate that someone like Theerayuth who, during the October 1973 era, helped oust the Thanom-Prapas dictatorship, now does not mention the role of the people in fostering democracy at all. He used the term “grassroots-populism” but doesn’t mention democratic systems, and claims that under dictatorship “some people enjoyed dignity but no freedom” and stated that “grassroots people enjoyed freedom of expression after the [coup] on September 19, 2006”. Perhaps this is the answer as to whether Theerayuth tacitly supported the coup without saying it directly.

Third, Theerayuth doesn’t speak of military dictatorship or the coup in a negative light, and doesn’t mention the killing of civilians and the people’s uprising.

Fourth, Theerayuth doesn’t mention the bureaucratic-aristocratic system, which is deep-rooted in Thai society an obstacle to development. When mentioning the people, he always tied “grassroots” and “populism” together, which is demeaning to the majority of people. That means he sees red shirts as having no political ideology, just like conservatives who say red shirts do not exist and have been fooled due to lack of education.

Theerayuth essentially sees red shirts as people who do things for Thaksin Shinawatra, for money, and who have been propagandised through populism. Theerayuth does see the people, but doesn’t recognise their struggle and development.

Over the past five years, red shirts have opened political schools and are now seeking to abolish the 2007 junta-sponsored charter and draft a new one by the people and for the people.

Imagine how much money Thaksin will have to use to hire these people to fight and be maimed and killed. The reds are strong at village level and Theerayuth says they have no political ideology?

It is the people whom Theerayuth brands as “grassroots-populists” who are rewriting history. They persevere and make sacrifices. They grow in numbers even though they were suppressed. This is a grassroots’ struggle and not the struggle of the middle class or the educated, as in the past.

  Theerayuth said society is too centralised, but the centre can no longer maintain power. He blamed King Rama V for centralising the kingdom. So the bureaucratic-aristocratic elites since 1932 should not be responsible at all? Theerayuth doesn’t mention class exploitation. 

If a poor country doesn’t have art galleries, people do not know how to listen to Western music, and have no access to university education, does that mean they don’t deserve to have a democratic system where the power belongs to the grassroots?

It’s hilarious that think that those who staged the coup must be good people who managed to solve Thailand’s crisis. These “good people” made things even worse.

In conclusion, he thinks reds and Thaksin are bad and the bureaucratic-aristocratic elites good. Theerayuth thinks the root cause of the conflict is that Thaksin and his supporters are bad. One youth who used to discus physics and maths with Theerayuth told me, “I think he ought to be teaching physics than teaching about society.”

I agree with this youth.