Parry on Abhisit
- From: pluto <pluto@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:04:23 +0800
Parry on Abhisit
Posted by Bangkok Pundit | 3/13/2009 03:00:00 PM
Have been a fan of The Times (UK) Asia correspondent ever since he
<http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2006/08/iht-thaiday-just-more-anti-thaksin.html>
wrote in early 2006:
The Bangkok Post and The Nation used to be two of the spunkiest and most
professional English language newspapers in Asia, and it's a big disappointment
that in the present crisis they should have abandoned any pretence of balance to
become little more than propaganda sheets for the anti-Thaksin movement.
BP: He has not the only person who has uttered those thoughts at that time he
was one of the first.
With Abhisit in London, he
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5897588.ece>
writes:
The Democrats have never employed such tactics themselves, but they have
benefited from them. After the latest pro-Thaksin Government was forced from
power by a court ruling last year, they formed a Government by jumping into bed
not only with PAD supporters, but even former Thaksin cronies, under the
watchful supervision of the army. Mr Abhisit might argue that these were
political compromises necessary so that a decent man could finally get his hands
on the levers of government. But in the three months since he became Prime
Minister, he has come to look more like the puppet than the master of those who
hoisted him to power.
A series of disgraceful incidents have made it harder than ever to understand
what has happened to the liberalism for which he used to stand. In January, the
Thai military beat up and set adrift some 1,000 boat people from Burma, scores
of whom died at sea. Journalists and academics continue to be arrested and
imprisoned under Thailand's Kafakaesque lèse-majesté law, under which a prison
sentence of 12 years can be imposed for dispraise of the Thai King and his
family.
At times, it has looked as if someone in power is consciously making a fool of
Mr Abhisit - such as the speech he gave last week about the importance of media
freedom, which was followed a few hours later by the arrest of the webmaster of
an independent website.
Thailand is no Zimbabwe or China, and by comparison with most of their Asian
neighbours, Thais are blessedly free and prosperous. But it has the alarming air
of a democracy lurching into reverse and out of control, in which familiar
freedoms are flying out of the window with unpredictable speed. It is all the
more painful that this should be happening under a leader of such obvious
talent, a man with all the qualifications except the essential one - democratic
legitimacy.
BP: For those non-Thaksin fans, rest assured there is some pointed criticism of
Thaksin as well in the piece - also see
<http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2007/08/thaksin-in-nutshell.html> his Thaksin
in a nutshell post for both praise and criticism of Thaksin.
BP doesn't think it is fair to blame Abhisit for what the military did to the
Rohingya (he can be criticised for his response after the fact) and with the
raid on Prachtai one realises, just as for Thaksin, political leaders are at the
whim of the bureaucrats and military who are unaccountable. They stuff up and
you as the political leader have to deal with the consequences.
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5 comments
Occasional // March 14, 2009 9:33 AM
Not sure the Post was ever really spunky. Always concerned about advertisers and
government and rapid to self censor. The airport cracks dismissal was a more
recent example of their total lack of spunk. The Nation got kudos in the
Suchinda days for actually reporting. They until recently always had a
reputation for going further. They never had the advertising of the Post
though.Then again anyone who has followed Thai politcs for decades is aware of
the bias and use of newspapers for politcal ends. The Thai language ones are not
to be excluded here. There used to be a nice cabal (probably still is) who
decided what went into Thai Rath. Lets not mention Matichon groups recent little
errors concerning Thaksins places of residence or visa status at times when
stories critical of him may otherwise have hit front pages.Better not get into
Thai TV. Not long ago those bastions of democracy the red shirts were using a
state run TV station to air direct propoganda - more Stalinist than democractic
eh? - and of course the army and Thaksin.....It goes on,. Better not to be
selective in reporting how bias media is when an overview of the whole thing in
context helps. Then again journalists just love to fit the facts to the meme. It
beats work.Then again News International publications should probably be taken
with the pinch of salt needed when assessing anything that comes from an organ
of Murdochs empire of meglomania.I do agree that Abhisit has been a
disppointment on human rights front although nowhere near Thaksin if we want to
put it into perspective. Thailand has had democracy in reverse ever since
Thaksin decided to become a meglomaniac. He himself abandoned such things as
right to trial, checks and balances, human rights, primacy of parliament.
Abhisit needs to start to correct sonme of this and may well have done and also
address issues arising under his tenure, but now it is out that Sam Moon is
actually touting around for puff pieces on Thaksin (embarrassing little gaff at
the HK propoganda show), he must be aware that he wont be given even the initial
honeymoon that Thaksin was by some of the media who still seem to want to push
the meme of wonderful democracy of Thaksin and TRT and facist dictatorship of
Abhisit. The reality is somewhat different.
Regular Reader // March 14, 2009 7:45 PM
Well put about the media Occassional.I would also include the "international
intellegencia" in your comments.For examples of what I mean, the hoo ha going on
at New Mandela about Abhisit's maybe, or maybe not speech, at Oxford, is a
perfect example of ignorant, ill informed, academic outrage!If these people -
including that guy Lee Jones- are indicitive of "Scholars of all things
Thai"...all I can say, is "heaven help Thailand"!!
jonfernquest // March 16, 2009 5:52 PM
Definitely well put, Occassional."But in the three months since he became Prime
Minister, he has come to look more like the puppet than the master of those who
hoisted him to power....." and so on and so on....The implicit assumption here
is that the Thai Prime Minister has the same power over the reins of government
as in the UK or US, whereas in fact the position is much more highly
constrained. Why exactly should this particular, apparently misinformed or
certainly not well-informed, western writer's opinion be considered so
important? Because he writes for a prominent newspaper in the UK? I have a book
sitting on my desk, "The Press, Politics and the Public: An Essay on the role of
the national press in the British polical system," Colin Seymour-Ure, 1968, that
makes much the same political bias critism for the UK press circa 1968. Arguing
that the Post is a propaganda vehicle is really ridiculous though.
Reg // March 17, 2009 12:50 AM
Any chance that jonfernquest could provide evidence for his assertions of
misinformation? On the Thai press, both Thai and English language, there is no
doubt that it has been manipulated and used over the years. Certainly, the Post
has been conservative and self-censoring. Matichon has flip-flopped. The Nation
has become a mouthpiece for anti-Thaksin groups with the most bizarre of
articles appearing there authored by Thanong and Sopon, and so on. However, even
within these papers, there are gems. Pravit and Chang Noi continue to appear in
the Nation and Kavi continues to be worth following in the Post. So dismissing a
publication out of hand is going a bit far - as is the dismissal of every
Murdoch paper in entirety.
A Thai Progressive // March 17, 2009 9:56 AM
The implicit assumption here is that the Thai Prime Minister has the same power
over the reins of government as in the UK or US, whereas in fact the position is
much more highly constrained.I don't think its "much more" highly constrained.
Constitutionally not. Culturally not. Politically not. They all have constraints
and they all get criticized.The simple fact is that Abhisit doesn't have a
democratic mandate hence he is in bed with the devil--Newin, the military, and
his own party, who, in their decades old existence has been more of a nuisance
than a force for democracy.Why exactly should this particular, apparently
misinformed or certainly not well-informed, western writer's opinion be
considered so important? Because he writes for a prominent newspaper in the UK?
I have a book sitting on my desk, "The Press, Politics and the Public: An Essay
on the role of the national press in the British polical system," Colin
Seymour-Ure, 1968, that makes much the same political bias critism for the UK
press circa 1968.Conversely, why should we listen to you? Because you have a
book from the 1960s on your desk?Fernquest, you know better than to descend into
reactionary phuyaism and start pulling rank, in a way.Parry is interesting
because he provides an argument I agree with--Thaksin was evil ("profoundly
unsavoury") but what the hell is happening to Thailand when people whom I
thought were liberal democrats 1) endorsed the coup a while back and 2) now
endorses Abhisit and his Faustian coalition as the Second Coming.
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