Democrats, reconciliation and hypocrisy

Chaturon Chaisaeng, the leader of the Thai Rak Thai Party when it was dissolved by the courts two years ago, thinks that the old political elite is about to crumble under the weight of the push for democratization (The Nation,31 May 2009: “Democracy trend has elite on the run : Chaturon”). The Democrat Party has other ideas.

Democrat Party spokesman Thepthai Senpong has argued that the red shirts are not allowing the government to get its work done in resolving the economic problems that face Thailand (The Nation, 31 May 2009: “Red shirts to petition over double standard”).

Thepthai fears that there will be more protests like those during Songkhran which will further damage the economy. He rather optimistically claimed that the “economic situation is getting back on track, and you [the red shirts] are derailing it again.” Then, invoking the hallowed term “reconciliation,” Thepthai charged: “I don’t believe Thais who love their country will allow the red shirts to destroy it. If the red shirts insist on rallies, the Pheu Thai Party MPs on the parliamentary committee for reconciliation should step down as hypocrites…”.

PPT wonders if the charge of hypocrisy is adequately targeted. The Democrats hardly seemed concerned when the yellow-shirted PAD brought government and then the economy down. It might be recalled that several senior Democrats cheered PAD’s actions. Not least, now Democrat Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij repeatedly claimed that he was a PAD sympathizer. Indeed, he supported PAD’s aggressive and illegal actions.

In his Bangkok Post columns in early December 2008, Korn stated: “I was saddened by the PAD decision to cross the legal line. Yet I understood it from the perspective of strategy.” Korn later criticized PAD’s airport occupation, but considered the “disruption and economic damage” to be rather limited because PAD was “just sitting peacefully outside the airport.” He also believed that the damage PAD caused to the economy could be relatively easily repaired. Where does the hypocrisy charge belong?

While on the topic of unmitigated hypocrisy, the same article in The Nation includes a note on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva claiming that he had received reports that “certain business groups were behind the red shirt movement” and that he had “instructed police to investigate them and take legal action if the law had been broken.” What about the business groups (not to mention the palace and the army) behind PAD?