The root cause of the latest bloody political turmoil stems from the very weakness of the Thai society.
Thailand is so prone to the coup d'etat as a mean to overthrow a popularly mandated government.
This is added with a near-naïve reverence by large section of the society to a monarch for reconciliation when he himself is so frail and according to some commentator is most probably complicit in legitimizing the coup and the latest government.
What makes it worse is the utter lack of respect to democracy by the established interest, the aristocrats and the army.
Whenever a government is backed up by army with strong will to impose brute force against the civilian, it is inevitable to have the bloody carnage. It happened many times in Thai's history.
On Abhist, I feel sorry for him. He has a smiling baby face and it’s difficult to see him as the head of the government that crack down the red shirted protesters. He maybe outmaneuvered, but he has a choice to resign.
Had he chosen this path, his integrity and that of his party can be preserved. By holding on to it, he gains nothing for his nation and his peoples.
If he considers himself being able to solve the conflict without shedding blood, the recent events have proved him wrong. Whatever his credential, I am sure he has lost all of them.
Even if the red shirt is overcome, what is left in him is just a puppet of the real power-to-be.
On the Bangkok streets, confronted with an iron-willed military, the blood is the means and we got to respect the courage of those who defended against the professionally trained soldier who are equipped with the modern weaponry. It is ultimately a test of wills - the will to kill and the will not fearing dead.
Whoever outlast the other wins.
I am sympathetic to the red shirted for sheer reason that the party they supported won the last election.
Hopefully, the Thai soldiers (many are Buddhist) are sensible enough to reflect on Buddha birthday (this Friday) to give up the bullet for ballot.
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2 comments:
as of now the winner is the government as the red shirts leaders call off the portest after 5are killed in the crack down today which is described by eye witnesses as a mini civil war.
in modern days, as long as the military is strong-willed int eh crack down, any civilian protest will come to naught.
The question is - now what? The genie can no longer be put back in the bottle.
You are right that Abhisit had the choice to resign. That would be the democratic mechanism.
But now, whatever legitimacy the government had before has certainly evaporated. The government is now martial rule in poor disguise. It cannot justify the crackdown in the name of law and order when its done selectively and outside the democratic spirit.
The monarchy has been shown to be at best impotent - at worse a self-interested creature of politics, that is no longer above politics and representing the interest of the Thai people and nation. I happen to believe that the King truly earned the respect and love of his people through dedicating his life to public service. But all could come to naught sooner than we know.
The military brass cannot possible count on the unquestioning loyalty of the soldiers when fighting against the people.
The Red Shirts are definitely a force that will not disappear anytime soon. If there is an election they are sure to win even more than before.
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