Elite stategy 2
In an addendum to PPT’s earlier post, we just saw Jon Ungpakorn’s most recent op-ed in the Bangkok Post, and we think some of his points deserve emphasis:
It is very clear that both the constitution and ”the system” are stacked against Puea Thai’s chances of winning the election and Thaksin Shinawatra’s opportunity to make a comeback. Even in the unlikely event of Puea Thai winning the election and being able to form a government, I’m pretty sure that either judicial or extra-judicial means would soon be exerted to remove that government.
Even before the elections have begun, the army has made it clear to the public how they would like them to vote, by publicly denouncing key red shirt leaders linked to Puea Thai and filing lese majeste complaints against them. This is a blatant interference in the election process and has already doomed any chances of the elections being judged as ”free and fair”.
At the same time, the choice of the new batch of appointed senators by the selection panel representing the judiciary and independent state organisations (including the Election Commission) has made sure that Puea Thai will by default have many opponents in Parliament.
The message is clear. The establishment (please make your own list of its principal components) is not going to allow Puea Thai to govern the country!
Jon points to the need for a political compromise, f=seemingly fully aware that the elite and especially the military’s bosses are totally opposed. He says the constitution must be reworked, the judiciary depoliticized, an end to appointed senate seats, the need for the supposedly independent institutions to be truly independent and not the lackeys of the regime, as they are now. Significantly, echoing calls made in 1932, he argues for a truly constitutional monarchy.
A few years ago this list would have seemed like liberal reformism; now it seems downright revolutionary.
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