The Turtle House

Friday, 17 January 2014

letter to Khun Voranai at Bangkok Post

Having had the happiness and the honour of living in Thailand, I remain a grateful person for that time and experience. I have an interest in politics in my own country, Australia, although as I have grown older my passion for a particular ideological position has changed and I am far more interested in Governments and especially politicians simply doing a basically okay job without praising themselves everyday, without being the centre of attention, without being celebrities and without the pretence of greatness or wisdom. We, as a people, are far better off if our representatives are relatively honest and relatively boring and relatively sane.

I live in a society that doesn't really value what Voranai calls 'the Great Man' experience of leadership. Our leaders are more often than not deeply flawed egocentric characters with quite a short 'use by date' and are usually ridiculed when in office and then afterwards; and I believe this is the norm in most democratic societies that function satisfactorily. A good political team in government will be useful to the majority of people for a term or two and then are removed. This is a healthy thing. It is not so healthy to keep removing the clowns before their due-date as this presents a society with too many dilemmas and also makes ambitious people far too ambitious and far too fearful of losing their positions too quickly to actually be useful to the people.

Political infighting, factional power groups, back-room deals, special treatment etc are all part of the boring, normal experience of normal boring flawed democracy, as is corruption in its myriad forms. Thailand is no more corrupt than any other nation. Corruption is a human universal property and will remain so. It has been the cause of many middle-class developments over human history. Still, the best way forward is to acknowledge it, limit it, and downgrade its impact on the economy, and society in general, in every way. This takes many, many decades and is a task that never finishes simply because the human intellect is quite a clever thing, indeed.

Politicians are, indeed, public servants and their work is not visionary nor is it particularly innovative simply because this is not what people need. People do not need leaders who blame another group whether in their own country or in neighbour countries for everything that goes wrong. People do not need governments that stir up patriotism at the drop of a hat to deal with their own social issues and failings.

What is necessary is slow, planned movement towards agreed social goals over a long period of time where the only casualties are the politicians who do not deliver stable progress over the term in Government.

Social goals within a democracy will always focus on general wellbeing of the Majority whilst acknowledging Minority Rights. The problem I see with Khun Suthep's vision is that he wishes to alter the general and reasoned paradigm to install Minority Rule with some Dispensation of Grace to the Majority...and this can't work in a democratic framework. It doesn't even work in a totalitarian system, unless you count North Korea, Saudi Arabia, or the rule of the Myanmar Generals as outstanding social successes.

I do know that Thai history and society are remarkably subtle and complex. The peaceful achievements of Thailand, and its independence for 900 years, are in fact a great lesson for every other nation. At the same time, it is still best practice to provide a simple template for social equality at the centre of the political spectrum, no matter how complex the system, simply because this profoundly important human value can't be put aside for the sake of a leader or a minority.

Votes can only be bought in a society of great inequality in terms of poverty, disadvantage and ignorance. It is the task of all governments to end poverty, disadvantage, and ignorance through good policies and quiet, tedious and boring actions over time...a long time. It takes a long time and a lot of people to do good in this world.

re Feb 2 election Thailand

I like charismatic leaders, but they aren't necessarily good human beings at all, which is the issue with any reform. Reform without revolution is always slow, somewhat like '2 steps forward, one step back' all the time, but as long as movement is forward, then all is well for the future. A reasonable step forward is to have the election. Votes can usually only be bought if people are poor, uneducated and disadvantaged. The job of government, whether red or yellow, is to ensure people aren't poor, uneducated or disadvantaged.