Friendless Prayut is skating on thin ice

It happens that, even when someone is trying to do the right thing, he or she can lose friends. However, it’s worse news for Thailand that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is losing political allies left and right. For one thing, it’s a high-risk situation, not only for him but also for the country as a whole, especially when a general election is around the corner.
The Pheu Thai Party has never been a friend of Prayut for obvious reasons, but the prime minister is also drifting away from potential allies, both obvious and perceived, be it the Democrats, the news media or the many critics of the Thaksin Shinawatra regime. For example, reports of legal action being taken against Suthep Thaugsuban, who led mass protests against Thaksin proxies before the 2014 coup, will alienate many who cheered when former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was toppled by then-Army leader Prayut.
Thailand is readying for a return to democracy, in some form at least, yet Prayut’s arduous defence of his deputy, Prawit Wongsuwan, over the luxury-watches affair flies in the face of the premier’s pledge to rid politics of corruption. If Prayut overseeing legal action on the Yingluck rice-pledging scandal was a positive sign, his dismissive attitude towards the multimillion-baht wristwatch collection is deplorable. Whether Prayut realises it or not, that kind of attitude is a key reason his popularity rating is declining.
Then there is the issue of a possible delay in the election timeframe. Modifications made to electoral rules have upset politicians, but the potential delay will significantly increase voter resentment and possibly lead to vociferous dissent. The media will be unhappy about a further delay in the polling, and foreign observers will have another reason to criticise Thailand.
A general perception is that Prayut wants to remain politically powerful beyond the election, either through a puppet-master constitutional set-up or by the formation of a new party he will lead. On one hand, this perception is understandable given that he led the coup and has repeatedly made it clear he doesn’t want to have wasted his time doing so. On the other hand, the perception has inflamed doubt about the motives for everything he has done. That doubt has apparently eaten into the Democrat Party’s patience and challenges the notion that the party could be his strongest ally both before and after the election.
Prayut’s remaining advantage is that he is still calling the shots as far as the election timetable is concerned, and that any uprising against him would probably push the election even further back. The problem is that his advantage is of no benefit to the country. The election is anticipated as a new dawn. Citizens do not want more gloom and unpredictability, and certainly not a prolonging of the often-violent political divide.
Prayut came to power promising change and reconciliation, but the current situation is feeding concern that the bad old days of nepotism, horse-trading and graft will return. That can only mean the divisions and turbulence will persist. Prayut can be credited for ending the bloodshed that was threatening to spiral out of control before the coup, so imagine the irony should his next task be to prevent violence stemming directly from his lingering presence.