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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Mike,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I realize that I never responded
to this comment of yours. There is a need for a study of all programs that were
supposed to benefit the rural poor going back to at least the 1960s with the
promotion of the government savings bank and the so-called Tambon Development
Program. These were almost totally ineffective in offering villagers
opportunities to make decisions about how government monies should be used to
improve their lives. I agree that the Kukrit government's <EM>ngoen phan</EM>
program was a significant change and I take your point about the role Boonchu
played. However, I also know from my own study of the successor programs in the
late 1970s and early 1980s that villagers (whom I interviewed in several parts
of the NE and North and in Songkhla in the south) still found these to be overly
managed by the government, and especially by the district office. In other
words, most programs for the rural poor up to the Thaksin government were
manifestations of <EM>haut en bas</EM> rather than ones which villagers felt
they had any input into. </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>While it may be
possible to find linkages at the policy level between Kukrit/Boonchu and
Thaksin, from the perspective of villagers -- based on my restudy in 2005-06 of
a village in Mahasarakham where I had carried out fieldwork first in 1963-64 --
it was only under the Thaksin regime that villagers really felt that they had
ownership of programs under the Tambon Administrative Authority. I observed
villagers deciding how loans should be made and pushing strongly on
representatives of the BAAC for debt relief. This sense of ownership was the
primary basis for rural support of TRT, not payments by
<EM>huakhanaen</EM>.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Biff (Charles Keyes)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><B>From:</B> <A title=seamm@nus.edu.sg
href="mailto:seamm@nus.edu.sg">Michael Montesano</A> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ralbritt@olemiss.edu
href="mailto:ralbritt@olemiss.edu">ralbritt@olemiss.edu</A> ; <A
title=keyes@u.washington.edu href="mailto:keyes@u.washington.edu">Charles
Keyes</A> ; <A title=justinm@ucr.edu
href="mailto:justinm@ucr.edu">justinm@ucr.edu</A> ; <A title=tlc@lists.ucr.edu
href="mailto:tlc@lists.ucr.edu">tlc@lists.ucr.edu</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=jpatrick@wu.ac.th
href="mailto:jpatrick@wu.ac.th">jpatrick@wu.ac.th</A> ; <A
title=sjirawat@wu.ac.th href="mailto:sjirawat@wu.ac.th">Jirawat Saengthong</A>
; <A title=mike.malley@yahoo.com
href="mailto:mike.malley@yahoo.com">mike.malley@yahoo.com</A> ; <A
title=BenWilkinson@fetp.vnn.vn href="mailto:BenWilkinson@fetp.vnn.vn">Ben
Wilkinson</A> ; <A title=sawan11@gmail.com
href="mailto:sawan11@gmail.com">Samson Lim</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, November 20, 2006 12:57
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Tlc] Sondhi Limthongkul in
Seattle</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" color=navy size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'">Whatever
one’s views of Thaksin or the <I><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: italic">putsch</SPAN></I> that has, at least for the
present, ended his premiership, it is high time to put an end to these very
curious “</SPAN></FONT></B><B><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'">Thaksin
was the only politician in my memory who did anything for the
poor.</SPAN></FONT></B><B><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" color=navy
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'">”
lines. In the mid-1970s, Prime Minister Khuekrit Pramot and his
finance minister Bunchu Rotchanasathian introduced a raft of policies aimed at
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Thailand</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s rural poor. In
comparative perspective, the thoughtful design and frankly progressive
rationale (little surprise, in view of Bunchu’s very long association with the
Thai left) of these policies set a standard not equaled till today. In
the event, Khuekrit and Bunchu had only a brief period in office to implement
their policies. Nevertheless, many have endured, both as specific
measures (consider, for example, the Thai rural credit system) and as examples
to leaders like Thaksin and his advisors. As luck would have it,
too, last year saw the publication of Nawi Rangsiwararak’s excellent <I><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Bon thanon sai kanmueang khong Bunchu
Rotchanasathian</SPAN></I>. From this book one can learn much about that
way that a sophisticated, committed man engaged with the problem of social
inequality in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region> in an era neglected by all
too many commentators on recent events.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" color=navy size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" color=navy size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'">Mike
Montesano<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><B><FONT
face="Bookman Old Style" color=navy size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'">Bangkok</SPAN></FONT></B></st1:place></st1:City><B><FONT
face="Bookman Old Style" color=navy size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" color=navy size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bookman Old Style'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<HR tabIndex=-1 align=center width="100%" SIZE=2>
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">From:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">
tlc-bounces@lists.ucr.edu [mailto:tlc-bounces@lists.ucr.edu] <B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">On Behalf Of
</SPAN></B>ralbritt@olemiss.edu<BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Friday, November 17, 2006 8:47
PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> Charles Keyes;
justinm@ucr.edu; tlc@lists.ucr.edu<BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Re: [Tlc] Sondhi Limthongkul in
<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Seattle</st1:place></st1:City></SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-TOP: 5pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5pt">
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Thanks
very much for thi, Biff. There must be some voices that give lie to the
oft-repeated charge that rural people are not sufficiently competent to
exercise the vote. For all his faults, Thaksin was the only politician in my
memory who did anything for the poor. More seriously, what I find is that
much of what is taking place is largely a reaction to the sense of loss of
power and prestige among the traditional elites (this includes intellectual
elites). For example:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">A few
years ago, I heard Prawasi Wasi give a talk (in English) in which he said
that the problem for Thailand was that people aspired too much, that they
should go back to planting their rice fields and be happy. I have held him
in contempt ever since, but he is honored by the
intellectuals;<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Thirayuth's comment in March is another blow to
democracy: "What is worrisome is that Thaksin has mobilized the poor and
gotten them involved in politics....And what is worrisome about that is that
the poor vote differently from the middle class." So, he loses all
credibility in my book.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">I must
say that Thongchai and Giles Ungpakhorn seem to be among the few Thai
intellectuals who can think clearly about the issue. They both suffer from
taking rather courageous positions. I hope that we can provide them with
sufficient support to continue.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">RBA<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><BR>> On November 14, 2006, Khun Sondhi
Limthongkul spoke on<BR>> the campus of the <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName> in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Seattle</st1:place></st1:City><BR>> about the Thai political
situation. His visit was arranged<BR>> by Thai students at the
University. An audience of<BR>> approximately 350 people attended the
event; most were<BR>> Thai by origin who live in the <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Seattle</st1:place></st1:City> area, although
some<BR>> came from as far away as <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Vancouver</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">British
Columbia</st1:State></st1:place>.<BR>> There was also a scattering of
non-Thai in the audience,<BR>> including the former <st1:country-region
w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> Ambassador to <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
Darryl<BR>> Johnson, who is currently a lecturer at the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Jackson</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceName></st1:place><BR>> of International
Studies at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>.<BR>> Khun Sondhi first
spoke in English for about 45<BR>> minutes and then took questions from
the audience for<BR>> another 20 minutes. He then turned the microphone
over to<BR>> Khun Karun Saingam, a former MP and former senator
from<BR>> Buriram. Khun Karun spoke in Thai for about 45 minutes.<BR>>
After a break, Khun Sondhi then spoke and answered<BR>> questions in Thai
for another hour.<BR>> A few Thai students, led by Khun Anusorn Unno, a
PhD<BR>> candidate in anthropology at the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>,<BR>>
distributed a handout in both Thai and English, entitled<BR>> "9 Myths
about the September 19, 2006, Coup." Although a<BR>> brief dispute arose
because the organizers demanded that<BR>> the protestors not have their
signs in the foyer outside<BR>> the lecture hall which had been booked
for the event, this<BR>> was resolved when the protestors moved outside
the front<BR>> door of the hall. A photo of Khun Sondhi, Khun Karun,
and<BR>> Khun Anusorn appeared with the story published the next<BR>>
day in the online edition of the Thai newspaper The<BR>> Manager. (For
this story, see<BR>>
http://www.manager.co.th/Politics/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9490000141271).<BR>>
Khun Sondhi said that while he was not happy with the<BR>> coup, he was
very happy it had happened. He reiterated the<BR>> reasons he has
presented many times before about why<BR>> former Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra had so abused<BR>> power that only a coup could remove him. He
said that if<BR>> the coup had not happened on September 19th there
would<BR>> have been bloodshed the following day in a
confrontation<BR>> between those attending a rally to protest his
continuing<BR>> in office and Thaksin's supporters.<BR>> He argued
that there cannot be electoral democracy in<BR>> <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>
such as is found in the West because most people<BR>> outside the middle
class lack sufficient knowledge to<BR>> understand how power can be
abused. The rural people only<BR>> vote, he claimed, for those who pay
them either directly<BR>> through party organizers (hua khanaen) or
indirectly<BR>> through the populist programs. He compared the
populist<BR>> programs of Thaksin to those of Peron in
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Argentina</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Khun<BR>> Sondhi
said that in the future he himself will work only<BR>> with the middle
class who have sufficient education to<BR>> truly understand how populist
politicians can abuse power.<BR>> He added that while the middle class is
found primarily in<BR>> <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Bangkok</st1:place></st1:City>, it is also represented in the
urban areas of each<BR>> province.<BR>> Khun Sondhi said that
politicians of all parties in<BR>> <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region> are
characterized by kilet, a Buddhist term that<BR>> in Thai means greed for
power, wealth and fulfillment of<BR>> sexual passion. He was quite
dismissive of a written<BR>> constitution as the basis for governance in
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>. He<BR>> said that
only if the people have a spirit of democracy<BR>> can democracy truly
exist. Without a constitution, the<BR>> only institution that can assure
good governance is the<BR>> monarchy. He said that 'royal
prerogative'<BR>> (phraratchamnat) is deeply respected and embodies
the<BR>> spirit of the nation.<BR>> The audience was generally very
receptive to Khun<BR>> Sondhi's interpretations.<BR>> My own
assessment is not so positive. I am aware that<BR>> I am not a Thai, but
I have been involved in studying Thai<BR>> society, particularly in rural
areas, for many decades. I<BR>> find very disturbing Khun Sondhi's
assumption that rural<BR>> people are ignorant and are not capable of
making good<BR>> political choices unless they are 'bought'. I have
found<BR>> just the opposite. Rural people today are not the
peasants<BR>> of yesteryear and it is a myth that they are
ignorant<BR>> (ngo). Villagers today are very much aware that
unless<BR>> political leaders are chosen who will respond to
their<BR>> needs for government services such as healthcare,<BR>>
education and government-sponsored loan funds they will<BR>> continue to
be very disadvantaged in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s capitalist<BR>>
economy. Khun Sondhi's position seems to me to contribute<BR>> to the
growing class division of Thai society. I also<BR>> found his dismissal
of a written constitutional basis of<BR>> governance and emphasis on
'royal prerogative' to, in<BR>> effect, turn back the clock on the
governing of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region><BR>> to the sys tem
that existed prior to the revolution of<BR>> 1932. <BR>> I am happy,
nonetheless, that <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Seattle</st1:place></st1:City> and the<BR>> <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Washington</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> should have
been put on the map<BR>> of Thai politics through Khun Sondhi's
visit.<BR>> <BR>> Charles (Biff) Keyes<BR>> <BR>>
_______________________________________________<BR>> Tlc mailing
list<BR>> Tlc@lists.ucr.edu<BR>>
http://lists.ucr.edu/mailman/listinfo/tlc<BR>>
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>