EDITORIAL
Coup leader in a new role
- Published: 20/11/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
Former army chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin's decision to enter politics is no surprise. Speculation about his plans to pursue a political career after retiring from the military three years ago, has been around for a long time. His announcement on Wednesday only confirms this ambition.
If there are any doubts, they pertain to whether his newly chosen path will do the country any good.
From the line-up of people who helped build his newly-formed Matubhum Party, his decision could be just an effort to propel himself back into the power game in order to erase his image as the leader of a coup which many see as the cause of the country's present political crisis.
As the army chief and military coup leader who toppled the Thaksin Shinawatra regime in 2006, Gen Sonthi and the people who helped plot the power seizure failed miserably to fix the country's problems at the time.
In overthrowing the Thaksin government on the pretext that they wished to stop widespread corruption, the military leaders effectively created a new set of problems even harder to solve.
While some people may thank him for helping remove a corrupt regime, the damage from the coup has been more than disastrous. The country is now deeply divided. The cost in removing the Thaksin government through military intervention, as it appears now, is much higher for the country and the Thai people than allowing the democratic process to take its course.
Like it or not, Gen Sonthi will have to admit that he is fully to blame for the agony Thai society is suffering at present.
The continuing power struggle by the people he overthrew three years ago is now undermining not only Thai society and its institutions, but also its diplomatic relations with a neighbouring country.
In announcing his plan to make a foray into politics, Gen Sonthi has made a lot of promises to use his political career to help fix the problems in the country. He says it is his intention to reunite society and restore peace in the deep South.
Although it is still too early to pass judgement on the general's ideas for solving these two problems, the lack of clarity in his promises makes one wonder how his party will be able to deliver on them.
Social disunity and the ongoing violence in the South are two obvious issues which political parties picked up as their campaign platforms in the last general election. Gen Sonthi appears to be jumping on the bandwagon, yet with less convincing probability that his party will be capable of resolving the situation.
Besides a few Muslim former MPs from the deep South, the rest of the party leadership line-up comprises largely of politicians loyal to Vatana Asavahame, who is running away from a 10-year jail term for corruption. The line-up is unlikely to impress anyone that they can put Gen Sonthi's ideas into practice.
While many may be reluctant to say if Gen Sonthi deserves the chance to prove he can be a good politician, it is now left to the general to convince them through his actions. Gen Sonthi must realise that not many people appreciated his role as coup leader.
The old saying, "Old soldiers never die. They merely fade away," has always applied to great military leaders. Through his new role as a politician, Gen Sonthi now can choose to be counted among these great military leaders, or be forever remembered as the person who once brought Thai democracy down.
