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Hermanolobo
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EDITORIAL: Nobody stays invincible forever
The Nation
Published on Mar 22, 2004
Growing public disillusionment is a result of Thaksin's illusion of
invincibility
A lot of things have gone wrong recently for Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra. To explain why, one could try to blame uncontrollable
external factors such as migratory birds or conjure up conspiracy
theories, as one business newspaper tried to do yesterday. The leader of
the Thai Rak Thai party himself is talking about bad luck and blaming
people in the media who he says are suffering from a sort of irrational
penchant for distorting facts. Obviously numerous reasons could be
called up to explain the recent avalanche of crises. However, one thing
stands out: for all of his shrewdness, sophisticated advisory resources
and chronic paranoia, Thaksin was mistaken to assume there was such a
thing as political invincibility.
Behind this illusion of invincibility (which admittedly looked pretty
convincing only months ago) cronyism, nepotism and graft on a scale
never seen before in this country have flourished. These things
reinforced the prime minister's arrogance, roused his instinct to
dominate and blinded him to the fact that what he imagined to be his
cleverly hidden agendas were actually quite obvious. The illusion of
invincibility gave him a false sense of security bordering on
complacency even as people were beginning to question his motives. He
ignored how isolated he had become while expanding his empire.
When one of HM the King's most trusted aides, Sumeth Tantivejkul,
warned last week that corruption in Thailand had reached "wholesale"
proportions and conveyed the monarch's deep concern about the situation,
the nation was already looking at the Thaksin government with growing
suspicion. The message from the Royal Palace was not so much an
eye-opener as a voice of conscience and a call for immediate action, one
that said out loud what many people could only suspect. And so a large
chunk of this government's supposed indestructibility evaporated.
Even a pro-government, mass-circulation daily is using the word
"decline" to describe the administration's current standing in the
public eye. The actions of Thaksin's government, its self-serving
designs, are the reasons why many people have become disillusioned.
A suspicious ruling by an arbitration committee awarding the prime
minister's iTV a Bt17-billion reduction of state concession fees; the
Board of Investment granting massive tax privileges to the new satellite
project of iPSTAR, which is under his business empire; the rush to sell
off lucrative state enterprises when it is obvious that previous
privatisation schemes only enriched politicians in power and their
cronies; the telecom excise tax that benefited Shin Corp: the list goes
on.
The ballooning of Thaksin's wealth - his business empire's market
capitalisation soared to a staggering Bt425.25 billion last year - may
have been overlooked by the public, who tend to give him the benefit of
the doubt. His retort to critics, "My relatives have to earn their
livings too", is cynical. His defence of the "natural" ascendancy of
family members to top posts in the military and police force has raised
eyebrows.
The prevalence of self-serving policies and cronyism became crystal
clear when Sumeth, echoing His Majesty, said that Thailand was not well.
We are staring at the road to ruin unless we mount a concerted effort to
eliminate corruption, says the Royal Palace. The precipitous slope down
which Thaksin has been slipping is a clear example of how the conflict
between his self-interest and the national interest has become a matter
of public concern.
Thaksin's paranoia has led him to do everything in his power to
restrict or render unworkable democracy and its guiding principles,
including the rule of law, sound governance, checks and balances and
freedom of the press. When he declared "democracy is not my goal" at the
height of his popularity last year, it sounded like triumphalism from a
vain leader.
Hindsight helps establish a portrait of a man whose business and
political fortunes are largely the result of his efforts to wrest
freedom from the hands of the people for his own benefit and that of his
cronies.
Thaksin may yet halt the slide, but he had better be sure to choose the
right approach. Because his financial war chest is full and his
political power strong, it would be easy for new illusions to replace
the old. Politics is a very tricky business, and while rule number one
is, undeniably, empower yourself first, rule number two is equally if
not more important: don't let the power fool you.
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Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 6:27 am on Mar. 23, 2004
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Manuel bkk
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As much as we might agree with this article, it is so obvious that when you throw the money to the people (1Million Baht Village fund, 30 Baht health scheme etc.) they will vote for you. This especially when most of the local language media fail to report as we just read. There might be a bit of a decline in popularity but why not throw some more money. Before the election we will see in which form. How big was the additional budget for this year again.....? Authorization of spending of this budget solely by the PM himself......
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 6:55 am on Mar. 23, 2004
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Frank La Rue
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GENTLEMEN, ALL,
I AM COMMUNICATING THIS TO YOU AS THE NEWLY APPOINTED PUBLIC RELATIONS REPRESENTATIVE OF KTW - WW (Kill The Whales - World Wide) :
Please see Organisational Announcement For KTW - WW on Z Forum.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 4:06 pm on May 1, 2004
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