Thailand is now becoming increasingly isolated by the West. We have effectively been subjected to a "democracy downgrade", which has pushed us ever closer into the sinister embrace of Asia's only superpower, China. Thailand continues to do what we do best, play one side off against the other. But recent overtures to China by the junta and the unrestrained lauding of what is termed "the China model" as a suitable system of government for Thailand, have made me sick to my stomach.
It can be said that in recent years, Western democracies have not always behaved according to the high standards which they have set themselves or indeed demanded of others. After all, the United States of America still maintains close ties to Saudi Arabia, a country known for its undemocratic tendencies, its severe human rights violations, and the sanctioning of public beheadings.
The United States under the administration of President George W Bush was responsible for what many would deem the misrepresentation of evidence regarding weapons of mass destruction that led to a phony war against Iraq, which has destroyed reputations and put a huge dent in the international standing of this great nation. Let's also not forget, the torture that went on under the purview of the CIA in Guantanamo and other secret destinations, in direct contravention of the spirit and letter of the Geneva Convention. Moreover, Tony Blair, the former British prime minister has seen his legacy torn to shreds for misleading parliament into these "unjust" wars, that have left many brave British men and women in uniform dead or wounded.
It's easy to lose faith when we see liberal democracies betray the very ideals they claim to defend. So when US envoy Daniel Russel recently chastised the junta for straying from the democratic path, true to form, the "We Hate The United States Society" here in Thailand, immediately took this opportunity to character assassinate liberal democracies en masse, while hailing China's system as being a worthy substitute.
It's true that the Chinese model has lifted 300 million people out of poverty and into the middle class where they no longer have to live on a pittance. Sprawling metropolises have bloomed in former backwaters. But in my view, many of these economic accomplishments should not be attributed solely to the Chinese government, but rather to the resourcefulness and superior business acumen of the Chinese, together with the effects of foreign direct investment, technology transfer and globalisation.
At the end of the day, I believe human beings are not mere economic units of production. We want to live with dignity, in search of truth and meaning, in a country where we are free to pursue happiness in the manner that we choose, without having to be afraid of what our governments will do to us.
Given the choice, human beings will always choose freedom, rather than live under perpetual fear of an overbearing, human rights violating, truth concealing, freedom hating, malicious, capricious, paranoid government that considers its own citizens as the state's worst enemy.
The China model is not an example of a strong system. On the contrary, it's the perfect example of a weak government, because in order to survive, it has to constantly and deliberately shield itself from the scrutiny of its own people.
From the "great leap forward" famine of the 1960s to the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 and the internationally televised Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, the Chinese government has concealed from its own citizens and the international community the true extent these events had in terms of human casualties. This is also a place where dissent is treated with disdain. A country where peaceful protesters like 2010 Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo and world-renowned artist Ai Weiwei is sent to prison. Is this the Chinese model the junta would have us adopt? Is this the system that claims moral superiority over liberal democracies?
For all its faults, liberal democracies like the United States and Britain have the unique ability to face up to their mistakes, hold themselves accountable and come up with remedies. The US Senate Report on Iraq WMD Intelligence released on July 9, 2004 began an unrelenting and embarrassing assessment into what went wrong in Iraq. On Dec 9, 2014 the US Senate Intelligence Committee on CIA Torture, released a 525-page summary detailing the extent of human rights violations committed by US agencies. And lastly, on June 15, 2009 ex-prime minister Gordon Brown launched the Chilcot Inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq War, which saw the likes of Tony Blair being summoned to give testimony. Would any of these transparent, objective, self-reflecting inquiries occur in China or indeed Thailand? Not a chance.
Hundreds of young students and many ordinary Thai men and women have sacrificed their lives so that we could live in a free and democratic country. They didn't die so we could adopt the China model. They died so that we could have a system of government that is accountable to its people, not a government that oppresses them.
Songkran Grachangnetara is an entrepreneur. He graduated from The London School of Economics and Columbia University. He can be reached at Twitter: @SongkranTalk