A royalist speaks in Thailand
By Haseenah Koyakutty
BANGKOK - Former prime minister and palace insider Anand Panyarachun epitomizes
the ammataya, or aristocratic elite, that Thailand's red shirt-wearing
United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) protest group claims to
be up against in a "class war" for democracy.
Currently encamped in Bangkok's old town, the UDD has called on Prime Minister
Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and hold new polls - a demand the
premier has thus far refused. The UDD has mobilized former and now exiled
premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was overthrown in a 2006 military coup.
Throughout their protests, UDD leaders have claimed Abhisit is propped up by
conservative interests and criticized top royalists, including Privy Council
members selected by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, as impediments to democracy. It
wasn't long ago that
top royalists such as Anand were considered above and beyond Thailand's
political fray.
The Cambridge-educated Anand served as interim prime minister after the 1991
military coup and implemented various reforms that put him at loggerheads with
the military coup-makers. He was re-appointed with royal backing as caretaker
prime minister after the military cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrators
in 1992.
Anand was also instrumental in the creation of the democratizing 1997 charter,
known locally as the "people's constitution", presiding over its drafting. His
was an often critical voice during Thaksin's six-year tenure, once telling the
local media that anti-democratic tendencies, including attempts to undermine
the 1997 charter, were leading the country towards "failed state" status.
As a board director at the royally affiliated Siam Commercial Bank, Anand
oversaw the freezing of Thaksin's assets at the bank while legal processes that
eventually ruled to seize US$1.4 billion on abuse of power charges ran their
course.
Anand says in an interview with Asia Times Online that holding new elections
would help to resolve the country's escalating political crisis, but not be a
cure-all.
"Elections cannot resolve everything, but they may be helpful in accelerating
the resolution of the problem. Just like the constitution does not resolve any
problems in an automatic way."
Anand predicts that new polls will be held next year if the UDD fails to topple
the government in the coming weeks. Abhisit could yet survive his full his term
through to the end of 2011 if he focuses on improving the lives of farmers and
the Thai economy continues to recover from the global economic crisis, he says.
Despite the UDD's and Thaksin's criticisms and calls for "true democracy",
Anand believes that Thailand will continue to muddle through with its
particular brand of democracy, which he describes loosely as an "ad-hocracy"
where politicians improvise and "roll with the punches".
"We have become overly obsessed, this fixation with personal politics," said
Anand. "In Asian culture, particularly in Thailand, everything is personal. And
that's not good for democracy."
Excerpts from the interview follow.
Asia Times Online: On the UDD's current protests:
Anand Panyarachun: They must be bankrupt of ideas. And there's no
leadership. These three or four guys (UDD leaders Jatuporn Promphan, Nattawut
Saikua, Veera Musikhapong) use rhetoric all the time. They have no credibility.
Some of the more credible figures in Thaksin's camp never came out.
[Former prime minister and Thaksin ally] Chavalit [Yongchaiyudh] disappeared.
[Former Internal Security Operations Command deputy director] General Panlop
[Pinmanee] is where? Nobody came out. I think in Chavalit's mind he knew it was
a lost cause, these demonstrations. And they must have spent a fortune.
The trouble with Thaksin, I think, in a way in the past year or so, [is that]
he was surrounded by his own people. He talks to the converts. These converts
are of many kinds. Real converts. Some people genuinely fawn and worship
Thaksin, but there are so many converts who do it for their own personal
agenda, their own interests, their own financial interests. So he's been
hearing only one side of the story and I'm sure he was misled by these leaders
who say they can embark on a very, very important, a very, very decisive sort
of battle.
For all these antics and stunts, they have at least, I give them due credit ...
I think they have not converted their rhetoric into violent actions. I think
there's some restraint on their part. Behind-the-scenes there have been
constant communications between the leaders of the movement and the authorities
as to how to diffuse the situation or how to alleviate some of the problems
that may affect people's daily lives.
ATol: On the UDD's real agenda:
AP: Some of the issues raised by the red shirts are, in my view,
valid, but they have existed for a long time in our history of democratic rule
and these issues have existed in all other societies, in other countries.
Issues like the widening gap between the rich and poor, unequal opportunities.
These issues are not newly invented and they did not happen in Thailand only in
the last few years. Every government has tried to address these issues but
nobody has a quick fix.
I think there's deep suspicion, rightly or wrongly, that the reds have some
other issues under a hidden agenda. I think there is this confusion about the
legitimate issues and, shall we say, illegitimate questions.
When they try to incite demonstrations into a movement of class warfare, that
will not work in Thailand. The communists tried 25 years ago. It will not work
because there's no such thing. These are the main issues: water, roads, public
health, education.
ATol: On the recent Supreme Court verdict that seized $1.4
billion worth of Thaksin's assets on abuse of power charges:
AP: Why did the Attorney General take so long to file the charge
and why did the court take so long to pass the judgment? Because they were very
thorough. 700 pages and why did they decide to go into this 700 pages and read
for seven-and-a-half hours? Because they wanted to make their reasoning very
clear.
If you study the judgment carefully, on the points of facts, they were all
there. On the points of law, they were also correct. I think they did take the
trouble and I have admiration for their patience because they were very much
criticized about the slowness of the court decision.
ATol: On the circumstances under which Thaksin could one day
return to Thailand:
AP: I don't see much prospect of his return. I'm not quite sure
his strategy is a correct one. He's a personable guy. I have no problems in
dealing with him, but in the past two years he has been perceived, rightly or
wrongly, to have gone beyond the point of return in terms of his rhetoric, in
terms of his actions.
It doesn't go down well with the Thai people when here we have a man who, in
the view of many, is a fugitive and who, in the view of many, is a corrupt
person, and who, in the view of many, has flaws in his character. To situate
himself outside the country and start inciting insurrection in the country, I
don't think it goes down well.
And I think, in a way, it is a pity because when he first became prime
minister, I had high hopes that he could be a very, very important politician
who could lead the country in a new direction and who could also further
democracy in Thailand. But, unfortunately, he seemed to be obsessed with
certain interests.
ATol: On whether a royal pardon for Thaksin would bring about
national reconciliation:
AP: Whatever the King does, whatever he says is within his
constitutional rights. His Majesty observes the constitutional provisions very
strictly. And, of course, being king or queen would have three prerogatives:
One, to be consulted; secondly, to encourage; and thirdly, to warn.
ATol: On the future of the Chakri dynasty:
AP: In more peaceful times, the monarchy has been adapting quite
consistently. The monarchical system in Thailand is deeply rooted in pomp and
circumstance, in rites and rituals, in grandiose ceremonies, just like in
Japan, just like in England 100 or 200 years ago. England had better
opportunities in evolutionizing itself [with] the monarchy in the past 20
years.
But when you shorten the time period, you have to be fair to us, sometimes we
cannot go faster than what the people want. And there is a deep affection and
deep loyalty towards our King and our constitution by an overwhelming majority
of the people. That overwhelming majority, up to 95% of the people as a whole,
can that level be maintained? I think realistically, it cannot be maintained.
I think if you took a poll in England and asked the people whether they wanted
a monarchy or not, perhaps the [yes] percentage would be about 42%. I'm sure in
this country it is still 80% to 90%. And in this 80% or 90% there are some
very, very loyal real monarchists or real royalists, perhaps 40-50-60%. The
rest don't see any disadvantages in living under the monarchy.
ATol: On Prime Minister Abhisit's performance:
AP: In the first six months, he was not seen to provide effective
leadership and he was seen to be too accommodating to some, shall we say,
unsavory characters within his own government. And, of course, it was too soon
to expect the economy to be running again. But after over a year now, the
economy seems to be sputtering out of the recession.
ATol: On the business environment amid the current political
turbulence:
AP: Look at the stock exchange, it is still rising. Now
admittedly perhaps our stock exchange is still very much like a casino or horse
racing, but foreign funds have been coming into the stock exchange. So I think
that people in general, both Thai and foreign, do not believe that the present
impasse is going to lead into anything that is violent or drastic.
But that doesn't mean the problem will go away. With the dispersal of the
red-shirt demonstrators, the problems still remain. But I think if they are
better handled and if there are real attempts to address the issues, things can
go well. We have been an independent country for nearly 800 years not for
nothing you know. There must be something good inherent in the Thai people and
in the Thai nation.
ATol: On the prospects for more coups:
AP: The army is not that stupid. They know they bungled the last
one and the coups in the past have never been able to resolve the nation's
problems.
Haseenah Koyakutty is a freelance Southeast Asia correspondent based in
Bangkok.
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