The blanket amnesty bill and the rice-pledging scheme, the lies and the secrecy -- given its poor performance and shady practices, the Pheu Thai government should be brought down.
But it should be done so democratically, not through shortcuts, not by breaking the rules.
From tuk-tuk taxis and motorbikes to sports cars and luxury sedans, observe the traffic and notice that everyone looks for the shortcut. Jump the light. Sneak the U-turn. Up on the road shoulder.
There’s a queue? No worries; let me call somebody. There’s a wait? No sweat, a gift basket to the right person will get you in. Shortcuts, bless the Lord Buddha, in Thailand we love them.
Look at the past eight years. From the 2006 military coup to the yellow-shirts, then the red-shirts and now the flag-shirts. What do they all have in common? They are all shortcuts.
Rice farmers demanding overdue payments rally outside the Commerce Ministry in Nonthaburi on Feb 6, 2014
Where does that leave us? Right here, where we are at, in a big mess. In traffic, politics and society, the reality of the present speaks for itself.
We take shortcuts because we wholeheartedly believe we are doing the right and moral thing. For King and country. For democracy and the people. For morals and ethics. For the good and righteous.
Yes, yes, yes, we all burst with righteous fervour. Now look where it has got us, a country divided and ungovernable.
We are what we do, and Thailand today is the consequence of what we have done, one shortcut after another, history repeating itself over and over.
‘’Reform before election’’ is the slogan, but the PDRC doesn’t even have a reform plan. Although this is a typical response, ‘’Pheu Thai doesn’t have one either!’’
Well, Pheu Thai isn’t the one screaming for reform before an election, are they? Don’t misdirect. Take responsibility for those three words you champion.
Another typical response is, ‘’Suthep Thaugsuban said a people’s council will come up with it, didn’t you listen?’’ and then a rant about the so many things that need reform in Thailand.
Yes, all those things need reform. How? By shutting down the entire country and sabotaging the election, chanting ‘’reform before election’’ without having a reform plan.
Then putting complete trust in Suthep’s word, a vintage old-school Thai politician, like sheep, that some council yet to exist and people yet to be named will come up with a reform plan in a future yet to happen.
The logic boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
Getting rid of the Shinawatra family. What are we going to do? Ban them for life? Exile? Execution? What about the 15 million plus supporters? Ban, imprison, exile or execute anyone who dares stand in the way?
Then we would call this a complete democracy under the His Majesty the King? Has anyone actually thought any of this through? Shortcuts and shortsightedness go together like a lame horse and a broken carriage, don't they?
Wishful thinking is for children. Take a look at what is actually happening, rather than what your imagination would like to have happen. Santa Clause doesn’t exist. Drunken fat men dressing up in red once a year for a minimum wage do.
A country needs a well-prepared road map to move forward, not a blindfold and the hope that people we don’t know, a council we don’t have and a plan we haven’t formulated will somehow secure a future yet to happen.
The rule of law and democratic process are what we can rely on from generation to generation, no matter who’s in charge and no matter the change of time. It’s the balance; the equilibrium; the sense and sensibility.
It is the politicians and the people who have corrupted the law and made democracy dysfunctional by tearing up those values in taking one shortcut after another.
Grow up, deal with reality and learn to do differently -- Pheu Thai or Democrat, red-shirts, yellow-shirts or flag-shirts, and all 65 million of us.
Disagree with a policy? Bring a million people onto the streets to protest peacefully and force Pheu Thai to back down, as with the blanket amnesty bill.
Corruption? Let the opposition grill, the National Anti Corruption Commission (NACC) investigate and the media report, as with the rice-pledging scheme.
Have a strong enough case? Bring it to the court to take action according the due process of law. Do the same for vote buying. Bring the evidence to the Election Commission.
Election? Contest it, if you lose, take the next four years to educate, persuade and build. Then run again in the next election. Reform? Do it through the democratic process.
We are what we do. Grow up, then Thailand will grow. Behave democratically, then there will be democracy.