To fully embrace democracy is to first offload the baggage of feudalism or absolutism. They are paternalism, patronage, tribalism, cronyism, nepotism and others. The baggage is never entirely discarded, but can and should be minimised.
For western democracies, it took millions of deaths and untold destruction before they arrived at the democracy they have today. It is a gradual process, a historical evolution and a cultural change, with many setbacks in between.
The process can be speeded up through war and destruction. It’s easier to build from a clean slate. Every country has its own historical context and evolution that is weighed down by cultural baggage; centuries of accumulated beliefs and values caught in a tug-o-war with democratic progress.
Witness almost the entire continent of Africa. After gaining independence from western imperialism, the people were ushered immediately into democracy. There was joy and optimism as elections were held in the various new countries. Shortly after, those countries fell into chaos and anarchy, which gave rise to dictators, the so-called ‘’Big Men’’ of Africa. Today, democracy in Africa still struggles. What went wrong?
It is the cultural baggage that has not been allowed the time to change and evolve before committing those societies to a new concept. The baggage was weighed down even more by forcing a patchwork of rival tribes into cohesive sovereign states.
It's a stormy road to democracy, says Voranai, and first we have to offload a lot of historical baggage. (Bangkok Post file photo)
Standing between feudalism/absolutism and democracy is the ‘’Big Man’’. He’s part of the evolutionary chain. He’s the teenager between the child and the adult; pimpled face, angst-ridden and hormonally charged. To become an adult, we go through him. To become democratic, we first face the Big Man.
The Big Man rises to prominence when the old system (monarchic feudalism or absolutism) crumbles and chaos and anarchy threatens, where a strong hand is required to ensure safety and unity. The periods between the two world wars and the cold war that followed were primetime for the Big Man.
Countries of Southeast Asia are still ruled by Big Men, though of a kinder and more capable sort than in Africa. In this part of the world, they are more commonly referred to as ‘’Strong Men’’. These leaders, no matter how evil or capable, gained power through democratic elections. But their leadership affords minimal democratic values to the people.
In the Thai democratic evolution, the 1932 revolution brought down the absolute monarchy, but eventually gave rise to our own Big Men. For much of the 80 years since, we were a country governed by the partnership of the military and the elite. There’s always a Big Man, centre stage or behind the scene.
In the western democratic evolution, violent destruction speeded things up. World War I brought down kings and emperors, but gave rise to dictators, their own Big Men, be they Hitler or Mussolini. Then those were brought down by World War II, some were still around after, but died out on their own.
North Africa has recently gone through the process of bringing down their Big Men, and is now still embroiled in civil wars and threatened by new Big Men. The rest of the world started later and therefore is steps behind the West when it comes to democratic development.
For most countries, the pattern is generally similar, from monarchic feudalism or absolutism to Big Man rule (whether outright dictatorship or in the guise of pseudo-democracy) to (eventually, hopefully) democracy.
Thailand’s modern history has been fortunate in that we have not suffered the disruption of a violent destruction. But destruction has allowed other countries to rid themselves of cultural baggage and evolve faster historically. Thailand on the other hand is still overloaded at the check-in counter, paying the price for excess baggage. It’s an important reason why we are stuck and struggling.
The last of Thailand’s Big Men, Gen Prem Tinsulanonda, stepped down officially and voluntarily in 1988. For more than 20 years since, Thai democracy has seen one incompetent and corrupt government after another.
Historically, culturally and educationally we are still weighed down by so much baggage. As such, many protesters in the streets today are frustrated with the democratic process. Many have lost faith and want to start anew by first tearing down the present form of Thai democracy and then building up a new one.
So they fight against the power of another Big Man in the making, Thaksin Shinawatra. But being led by Suthep Thaugsuban they are merely playing ping pong, caught between the rival Big Men. No matter which side wins, given culture and history, the feudalistic baggage will continue to weigh us down. Nothing fundamentally changes, except for the faces at the top.
The goal of Thai reform should be our feudalistic structure and mindset, first and foremost, everything else will follow. But this is something no side is willing to recognise, yet.
This is simply a phase that Thailand, with its historical context and cultural baggage, must go through. After all, today is the consequence of yesterday. We can’t change the past, but we can set the course for the future, although not by desperately resuscitating the dying power of a group of old Big Men and the Democrat Party.
Rather, it can be done by building a democratic alternative to contest against the power of Big Man Thaksin. Again, we look for the third alternative. Again, it’s too early (but hopefully not too late) to see the shape and features of the third alternative.
This is because this phase of our history has to first play itself out. Unlike in Africa, this is all of our own making. And while each country has its own historical context and cultural baggage, it doesn’t mean we can’t learn from those who have been through it before.
If we don’t learn and if we don’t follow the right path by reforming our feudalistic baggage, we are doomed to repeat past mistakes. There are countries around the world with a healthy democracy and a constitutional monarchy, there’s something to be learned there.