Moments of nationalist stupidity

* All images copyright *
Red shirts at Government House February 24th 2009.

From the Bangkok Post titled Govt launches Thai Unity project:

"The government has organised activities to promote unity and patriotism among Thai people, and one of them is to sing the national anthem together," Mr Abhisit said.

I was going to write a post questioning what depths of nationalist stupidity that would envision that the promotion of an increasingly Orwellian nationalism would actually solve Thailand's political turmoil.

Thankfully, Political Prisoners in Thailand has already blogged on this:

"PPT doesn’t think that Abhisit is as naive and as stupid as this all sounds. Rather, we feel that the emphasis on right-wing, conservative and nationalist strategies of the dark past is a reflection of the views of his strongest backers. His position as prime minister, and within the Democrat Party, is insecure. Hence, Abhisit has fallen back on the support of important and highly conservative and royalist backers within the party and at higher levels and they urge these measures that they believe have been successful in the past."

It is hard to fathom how the use of nationalism or even ISOC's bizarrely dumb "moso" campaign or the comically futile peace activist campaign to 'Stop Hurting the Country' are all raised as solutions to the country's political impasse.

When something is broken, it is better to address the problem rather than to preach about 'loving the nation', practicing moderation, or the waste-of-a-white-shirt campaign to 'stop hurting the country".

While 'moso' and the peace activists are simply wasting their own time and performing something akin to victimless crime, howling for increased nationalism is certainly more worrying.

PAD's violent antics at Preah Vihear are a prime example of the danger of nationalism.

Nationalism simply sharpens distinctions between opposing groups into a justification for violence.

As the government and its right-wing conservative backers sharpen their version of nationalism to exclude those who oppose them, the justification for violence moves ever closer.

So, at 8am and 6pm, the following blood thirsty lyrics in the national anthem will by passionately sung:

Thailand is the unity of Thai blood and body,
The whole country belongs to the Thai people,
Maintaining thus far for the Thai,
All Thais intend to unite together,
Thais love peace, but do not fear to fight,
They will never let anyone threaten their independence,
They will sacrifice every drop of their blood to contribute to the nation,
Will serve their country with pride and prestige-full of victory.
Chai Yo (Cheers)

Nice Mr. Abhisit

Abhisit Vejjajiva during and interview I had with him (edited myself out of course) at Parliament in August 27th 2008.

I personally have more hope in Abhisit's ability to navigate the rats-nest of Thai politics but there are some serious questions over the Democrat's cozy relationship with PAD and General Anupong.

When I ask Abhisit about PAD and the Democrats I got a standard, well rehearsed, and essentially useless answer. (In my defense, my focus had been about the southern conflict and I just added the question on a whim.)

C: That is all the questions I had regarding the south (southern border provinces) but I would like to ask a couple questions about the current situation with the People’s Alliance for Democracy. What is the Democrat Party’s stance on the current conflict?

Abhisit: At the moment we are very concerned with the confrontation that is taking place and we urge restraint on all sides. Particularly, we do not want to see an outbreak of violence and eventually this issue has to be resolved through legal and democratic means.

But more critical and deserving questions could have been formed such as these over at Thai Politico:

"Take the violent and fascist fanatics of the PAD - while they were illegally occupying Government House and Bangkok's airports; while they were shooting at people on the streets of the Thai capital; while they were attacking the police; while they were kidnapping and beating people; while they were dumping bodies in back alleys; while they were running roughshod over every single law they could get away with, Abhisit said nothing. Such is Abhisit's highly educated 'belief' in 'democracy' and 'clean' politics he failed to open his mouth once and condemn the acts of the PAD. In fact, he allowed Democrat MPs to openly attend, speak at and support the PAD's completely illegal acts, something which he still hasn't censured. The upshot is, like a Mafia Don, Abhisit was happy for a gang of heavies to do his dirty work while he hid in his mansion drinking tea in the effete manner he learnt in the hallowed halls of the Britain's most elite private school.
....

"Anupong has gone on record as stating he 'advised' Abhisit's coalition partners what to do. In any functioning democracy such intervention by the head of the army would demolish, in one single moment, the claims of the existing government's legitimacy."

The effete swipe is funny, but as a character trait, effete certainly is preferable to blustering and pugnacious.

Yet PAD's and Anupong's relationship with the Democrats is much more serious and casts very real doubt over this current government and Abhisit's fluff answer of resolving the political crisis through 'legal and democratic means'.

PAD's Foreign Minister Update

Bangkok Post Cartoon, July 31, 2008.

More non-sense from the PAD Foreign Minister.

From the Bangkok Post:

"Prime Minister Abhsit Vejjajiva said he will not remove Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya from post, after foreign media quoted him saying the closure of Bangkok's two airports by anti-government protesters was fun.
...
Mr Kasit, meanwhile, insisted it was impossible for him to give out comments that may damage the country.
...
He said he believed the foreign press could misinterpret his statements, adding that they may have ill intentions against him."

Nice touch, the Foreign Minister caught with his foot in his mouth and he blames the foreigners.

Maybe next he will blame the 11th century Khmer's for having ill intentions to Thailand for building Preah Vihear in 'Thai territory'.

PAD's Foreign Minister

Bangkok Post Cartoon, July 31, 2008.

Isn't one of PAD's ultranationalist goals to reclaim the Preah Vihear temple?!

From the Bangkok Post titled: "Kasit defends his support for PAD protests"

Kasit Piromya, former Thai ambassador to Washington DC who is poised to be foreign minister in the Democrat-led government, yesterday defended his participation in People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) street protests, saying his actions were based on his democratic convictions.
...

Mr Kasit said joining the PAD protests was a democratic expression of opinion as provided in the constitution and that the PAD was not a criminal organisation.

"Joining PAD was not a sin because millions of people had also joined it to help uproot corruption," Mr Kasit said. "When I retired, I still fought in order to help society to have good governance. That's just it."

...

He said his first job as foreign minister, after being endorsed by His Majesty the King, would be to restore Thailand's image. He said he was confident that other countries had faith in the new government's capability to run the country.

...

He said he would visit Cambodia soon to build more trust in order to resolve major problems including the borderline conflict, drugs, illegal goods and human trafficking."

This is utter non-sense. Its not just that PAD committed countless crimes - including acts of terrorism and murder - while running amok in Bangkok but its simply non-sense that a PAD member could be foreign minister.

PAD is an ultra nationalist organization that has been saber rattling over Preah Vihear and has pushed Thailand and Cambodia to the brink of war.

Mr Kasit might claim to be working to improve Thailand's reputation and ease relations with its neighbors but this is hard to believe.

Thailand's international reputation was dragged through the mud because of PAD's violent and anit-democratic antics and now the new foreign minister is a PAD member? How could any foreign government trust someone who's organization seized international airports and promotes military action against Cambodia?

Even more worrying are the rumors that Pasit's primary goal is actually to pursue PAD's goal of reclaiming Preah Vihear rather that ease strained relationships and Thailand's international image.

From PAD's recent demands and 13 point warning to the new government:

7. Announce the cancellation of the Joint Communique between Thai and Cambodia which give away the Prea Vihear temple and the surrounding lands to Cambodia.

Although the above statement is much more moderate than PAD's acerbic propaganda on ASTV, the Manager newspaper, and on the their protest stages it should be a serious concern that PAD, through Kasit, will be in a position to further push Thailand towards conflict with Cambodia.

I am still a little optimistic PM Abhisit but, with PAD influencing foreign affairs, such optimism will not last long.

The Cockroaches take over

Over at New Mandala the ever controversial Giles Ji Ungpakorn comments on the Democrat Party:

"The Democrat Party is known among the cyber community as the “Cockroach Party”. This is because cockroaches live in filthy places and can survive even nuclear holocausts. The party has survived for many years, forming governments after various crises. These so-called Democrats have systematically backed anti-democratic measures. They supported the 2006 coup, the military constitution and the PAD. One Democrat Party MP was the leader of the mob that took over the international airport. Over the last 30 years, the Democrat party has never won an overall majority in parliament. It does not represent the people. During the Thaksin years it spent the whole time criticising the universal health care scheme and other pro-poor policies. After the 1997 economic crisis it used state money to prop up the banks and guarantee the savings of the rich, while telling the poor to fend for themselves and depend on their families."

And the role of the monarchy:

"The Thai King has always been weak. His status has been systematically promoted by military juntas and the elite in general. We are all socialised to think that the King is an “ancient Absolute Monarchy”, while at the same time being within the Constitution. This picture of power creates a shell to protect the entire ruling class and the status quo under a climate of fear. The army especially needs such a legitimising shell because it is no longer OK for the military to hold political power, unless it can claim to protect the Monarchy.

In previous political crises, such as in 1973 and 1992, the King only intervened late in the day after it was clear who had won. In the present crisis the King has remained silent and has not made any attempts to resolve the crisis. He missed his annual birthday speech on 4th December this year, claiming a sore throat.

The Royal dimension to this crisis is that it is a struggle between two elite groups. One side have been much more successful in claiming Royal legitimacy. But ironically this claim by the anti-Thaksin lot is causing a crisis for the Monarchy because it associates PAD violence and law-breaking with the Monarchy and the actions by the military have created an image that the Monarchy is against the majority of the population. The support shown by the Queen for the PAD has also angered or disappointed many Thais."

Professor Giles' political leanings are, of course, well known and somewhat predictable yet the bold citicisms of those in power, in the military, and the usually unmentionable monarchy are certainly welcome in Thailand's curtailed political space.

The complete article can be found here: Thailand: The Cockroaches take over