Thai Parliament gets spooky and ugly on Halloween

If you watched the “fast-track” deliberation of the bill, as I did, you could be forgiven for feeling haunted. You’d shake your head in disbelief in front of the TV at 4am as the House finally passed the third reading of the bill at an hour when many ghosts might already have return to the graveyard.

Those who stayed tuned to the live broadcast certainly went to bed with a nightmare at almost 4.30am, while many others woke up to a nightmare too. Our political news editor, Somruthai Sapsomboon, was one of them, as she wrote on Twitter: “Went to bed with bad news and woke up to more.” 

Be very afraid, people! Real ghosts wearing democracy masks have been unleashed on Parliament. From 3am onward, what on TV was a group of over 300 zombies on the government benches rushed to finish their “assignment” before sunrise. “Why is it so that important for us to work odd hours and speed things up? You make it sound like there is no tomorrow,” one Democrat MP protested to the chairman of the House. There were similar comments voiced by opponents of the bill who tried to seek an opportunity to debate each article. They failed, and after 3am, Halloween was still in full swing as House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont took the “throne”. No more voices from the opposition were permitted. But they lined up making noises of protest as Pheu Thai MPs went like a high-speed train, pushing the second reading of the bill ahead. Democrats boycotted a vote on key articles, and Somsak disgracefully did his best to rush the second and third readings without taking any notice of the noise from opposition. 

How can this not scare you? A trip to the bathroom meant you missed one or two articles. The crucial articles 3 to 5 were passed within an  –  from 3am to 4am – while you were sleeping! Filling the air was the presence of a dictatorial ghost who washed away the spirit of democracy. Somsak said: “Okay, no one wants to debate, so let’s vote” and the “zombies” in the House would vote – one by one. Somsak looked like he was possessed by an evil spirit who told him, “Finish the job, otherwise you’ll die.” Opposition MPs reminded him that he was the chairman of the House. “Who are you? You are not yourself today!”

It could have been a haunted House if you watched the whole thing. It was as if the government MPs were under a spell. Former co-leader of the red shirts, Korkaew Pikulthong, must be under a different spell from his fellow red shirts outside Parliament. While they oppose the blanket amnesty, Korkaew stood up at 3am to insist the bill must be passed immediately. Before the “rush hour” at 3am, all hell broke loose every time opposition MPs mentioned the man in Dubai. Democrats dropped a bombshell on the architect of the altered amnesty bill, Prayuth Siripanit, quoting him as saying he had talked to Thaksin Shinawatra. Sometimes they would mention him as the man who could not be named, and that was enough to lift the “zombie” spirit on the opposition bench to full force.

Media outlets dubbed it as one of the most acrimonious sessions of Parliament in history. The 19-hour bill deliberation was unreal. Remember the oft-said line, “This matter has gone beyond Thaksin?” We wanted to believe so, but as things stand, it looks like we are all still under Thaksin’s spell one way or another.

This is why many people call for an unorthordox exorcism even though they know it may start a new round of trouble in Thailand’s vicious political circle.