[Tlc] Sondhi Limthongkul in Seattle

[ralbritt at olemiss.edu]

       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:
   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;
   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.
   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.
   RBA
    
   
>     On November 14, 2006, Khun Sondhi Limthongkul spoke on
> the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle
> about the Thai political situation. His visit was arranged
> by Thai students at the University. An audience of
>    approximately 350 people attended the event; most were
> Thai by origin who live in the Seattle area, although some
> came from as far away as Vancouver, British Columbia.
> There was also a scattering of non-Thai in the audience,
> including the former US Ambassador to Thailand, Darryl
> Johnson, who is currently a lecturer at the Jackson School
> of International Studies at the University of Washington.
>     Khun Sondhi first spoke in English for about 45
> minutes and then took questions from the audience for
> another 20 minutes. He then turned the microphone over to
> Khun Karun Saingam, a former MP and former senator from
> Buriram. Khun Karun spoke in Thai for about 45 minutes.
> After a break, Khun Sondhi then spoke and answered
>    questions in Thai for another hour.
>     A few Thai students, led by Khun Anusorn Unno, a PhD
>    candidate in anthropology at the University of
Washington,
> distributed a handout in both Thai and English, entitled
> "9 Myths about the September 19, 2006, Coup." Although a
> brief dispute arose because the organizers demanded that
> the protestors not have their signs in the foyer outside
> the lecture hall which had been booked for the event, this
> was resolved when the protestors moved outside the front
> door of the hall. A photo of Khun Sondhi, Khun Karun, and
> Khun Anusorn appeared with the story published the next
> day in the online edition of the Thai newspaper The
> Manager. (For this story, see
>   
http://www.manager.co.th/Politics/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9490000141271).
>     Khun Sondhi said that while he was not happy with the
> coup, he was very happy it had happened. He reiterated the
> reasons he has presented many times before about why
> former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had so abused
> power that only a coup could remove him. He said that if
> the coup had not happened on September 19th there would
>    have been bloodshed the following day in a
confrontation
> between those attending a rally to protest his continuing
> in office and Thaksin's supporters.
>     He argued that there cannot be electoral democracy in
> Thailand such as is found in the West because most people
> outside the middle class lack sufficient knowledge to
> understand how power can be abused. The rural people only
> vote, he claimed, for those who pay them either directly
>    through party organizers (hua khanaen) or indirectly
> through the populist programs. He compared the populist
> programs of Thaksin to those of Peron in Argentina. Khun
> Sondhi said that in the future he himself will work only
> with the middle class who have sufficient education to
> truly understand how populist politicians can abuse power.
> He added that while the middle class is found primarily in
>    Bangkok, it is also represented in the urban areas of
each
> province.
>     Khun Sondhi said that politicians of all parties in
> Thailand are characterized by kilet, a Buddhist term that
>    in Thai means greed for power, wealth and fulfillment
of
> sexual passion. He was quite dismissive of a written
> constitution as the basis for governance in Thailand. He
> said that only if the people have a spirit of democracy
> can democracy truly exist. Without a constitution, the
> only institution that can assure good governance is the
> monarchy. He said that 'royal prerogative'
> (phraratchamnat) is deeply respected and embodies the
> spirit of the nation.
>     The audience was generally very receptive to Khun
> Sondhi's interpretations.
>     My own assessment is not so positive. I am aware that
> I am not a Thai, but I have been involved in studying Thai
> society, particularly in rural areas, for many decades. I
> find very disturbing Khun Sondhi's assumption that rural
> people are ignorant and are not capable of making good
>    political choices unless they are 'bought'. I have
found
> just the opposite. Rural people today are not the peasants
> of yesteryear and it is a myth that they are ignorant
> (ngo). Villagers today are very much aware that unless
> political leaders are chosen who will respond to their
> needs for government services such as healthcare,
> education and government-sponsored loan funds they will
>    continue to be very disadvantaged in Thailand's
capitalist
> economy. Khun Sondhi's position seems to me to contribute
> to the growing class division of Thai society. I also
> found his dismissal of a written constitutional basis of
> governance and emphasis on 'royal prerogative' to, in
> effect, turn back the clock on the governing of Thailand
> to the sys tem that existed prior to the revolution of
> 1932. 
>     I am happy, nonetheless, that Seattle and the
> University of Washington should have been put on the map
> of Thai politics through Khun Sondhi's visit.
> 
> Charles (Biff) Keyes
> 
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