Junya Yimprasert and Richard Thompson Coon
Action for People’s Democracy (ACT4DEM Thailand)
(December 2015)
Preface
This essay attempts to enable readers to better understand the causes of what is being described as a deadlock in the political life of the Kingdom of Thailand. Deadlock here means that, at present in practice, there appears to be no body or group with ability to architect or engineer a way-out of the cycle of protest – military crackdown and coup – new constitution – election and protest – that is causing so much suffering, humiliation and loss.
Some key factors contributing to the turmoil are presented and discussed, with emphasis on the role of the civil society, in particular on the contribution of the trade union movement and the NGO Coordinating Committee on Development NGO-COD.
In looking at how to move-on from the politics of having to choose between an elected government and love of King and country, the paper pays respect to the potential risk of further violence in a country where the Prime Minister was, before self-appointment, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army, whose main, active role to date has been to crack-down on Thai people struggling for their rights.
As the power-struggle at the top of Thai society intensifies around matters connected to the transition of the throne, the people of Thailand and the Thai economy are being pushed into a fragile predicament.
The paper proposes that all responsible people inside and outside Thailand, especially the International Community, can and need to focus more honestly on the origins of the political fog that is shrouding the answer to the question of how Thailand can move forward – to realise the democratic aspirations of the people of Thailand in harmony with those of the ASEAN Community – to build a sustainable regional economy.
This essay is developed from a conference paper prepared for: ‘Political participation in Asia: Defining and deploying political space’, Stockholm University, 22‐24 November 2015.
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