Numnual Yapparat
I was bitterly angry when I heard the appalling verdict from the constitutional court (see previous article on this blog: “Judicial Coup”).Judges successfully drove out the elected Prime Minister. A few hours later, they announced that their office will be closed and will open again on 14th of May. They are sly old devils. They can always get away with their unforgiveable wrong doings.
Next, the national auditor’s office asked the ex-Prime Minister Yingluk to take responsibility for the failed February election by refunding the cost of the election. “Insane” seems to be the only word that can be used here.
Now, the latest insult is that Yingluk is facing a “criminal charge” over the rice price guarantee scheme. The counter-corruption agency has passed the case to the half appointed senate. If found guilty, she would be banned from politics for five years. The rice price guarantee scheme was undoubtedly beneficial to rice farmers. It was always opposed by the neo-liberal conservatives. Any corruption by rice merchants was not corruption which benefitted Yingluk or government ministers. The counter-corruption agency even admits this.
So we see Sutep’s thugs and the anti-democrat party wrecking the February elections while the military sits on its hands. Then the constitutional court overthrows the government, much to the glee of Sutep and his gang. The national audit office slaps on more pressure and the counter-corruption agency kicks the ball into the goal with a 5 year ban on political activity.
Now the anti-democrat team will be seeking to get rid of the remaining care-taker ministers and pave the way for an appointed Prime Minister to oversee the gerrymandering of the next election.
Pua Thai has no corner to turn to. The old order also cannot find any fig leaf to hide their evil intentions.
What is next? The old establishment is a minority group in this country. Not all middle class people support the yellow shirts. Why do we need to obey the military constitution? Rules can be changed because it happened in the past and therefore it can happen again. The political crisis will not be solved easily. Today every part of the old establishment does not have any politically legitimacy left. But they can survive if a nasty compromise restores their power and whitewashes them of their criminal records. These people will not accept democratic rule unless they are forced to do so. Seriously, it means we need a radical change from below, from the mass movement. The movement needs to be independent from Pua Thai. Otherwise we are unlikely to get out from this vicious circle.
I am angry with Pua Thai because they have refused to put things right. They stayed in power for nearly 3 years but did nothing to improve or increase the democratic space. They have always sought ways to restore the old order’s stability. I am fed up with some red shirts who refuse to use their brains and are being dragged by Pua Thai towards a way that wrecks the basic democratic principles.
The United front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) has called for a demonstration on 10th of May. This call will bring huge crowds undoubtedly; though lots of red shirts hesitate to take part because they do not trust that Pua Thai will protect them. If the rally turns violent then how will they end up? Lots of political prisoners are still in jails. We need to learn the lesson from the past. We have to refuse to be only a piece of tissue to be used and to be thrown away. We need to join the demonstrations but have our own demands. We should not pin our hope on Pua Thai and the UDD, but we need to communicate with ordinary red shirts who really want to make a change, by inviting them to consider better options. We have to ask them to lead themselves, not to be led by Pua Thai.
Sutep calls his supporters to be on streets again this Friday. He wants to confront the red shirt rally. The red shirts need to be very careful about security issues but we cannot compromise any more. Enough is enough, if we do nothing it will encourage the old order to abuse us further.
Uglytruth-Thailand 