Wouldn't it be nice if Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha used his powers under Section 44 to stop after-hours alcohol sales near the campus allegedly implicated in the drink-driving accident which killed three cyclists in Chiang Mai?
That way, people would not be scared of biking on open roads.
The PM earlier declared that he wanted to make biking the preferred mode of transportation for people in the country. Swift and decisive action against what are seen as obstacles to his grand plan would be reassuring to the public.
How about the fishery problem? Substandard aviation regulations? Rohingya death camps and other human trafficking woes? It would definitely be nice if Gen Prayut could just wave a wand, sign a document and make undesirable laws, practices or violations disappear.
The truth, however, is that even Gen Prayut — who as both prime minister and head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) wields power over the entire state — must realise that what Thailand faces can’t be solved by authoritarian power.
In three weeks the NCPO will mark the first anniversary of the May 22 coup. This should be a time for the mighty men to take stock of what the power seizure has done for the country. More importantly, it’s time to use the experience of the past year to gauge how to move forward with the so-called roadmap to peace. Considering the situation at present and what lies ahead, I am afraid my advice to Gen Prayut would be to let it go.
I have no doubt Gen Prayut had good intentions when he seized administration of the country by force. I believe him when he says, repeatedly via interviews and his weekly Friday briefing, that he stepped in to stem the increasing violence and to save lives from being lost. It has become clear, however, that good intentions are not enough.
Gen Prayut broke a recent tradition of coup-makers by taking the helm of the supposedly civilian government himself. He must have thought consolidating power would make it easier to tackle opponents of the military regime, stem violent reactions and solve whatever problems the country was facing.
It was a mistake. Gen Prayut was overly ambitious to think he could use his power in the government and over the legislative assembly and the reform council to lay the foundations for multi-faceted reforms.
The truth is that a coup's legitimacy is short-lived by nature. Some people accepted it based on the rationale that Gen Prayut gave: To ward off immediate violence and restore order.
Reforming the country, on the other hand, is a very long-term project. The truth, which many people still refuse to see, is that Thailand has been crumbling under age-old bureaucratic and social structures.
The country’s mostly centralised systems can’t cope with more diverse demands from people empowered by communications technology, whose lifestyles have drastically changed due to widespread urbanisation.
The decade-long political protests — be they of the yellow-shirt People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) or the red-shirt United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) — are signs the system's ongoing authoritarianism and inequalities were going under and structural changes needed to be made before the social order completely broke down. The centralised way of doing things is no answer to the task of fostering a new social order that by its nature must be inclusive and participatory.
Gen Prayut’s "five-rivers" organisations aim to reform the country in 11 areas. A year has passed and I haven’t seen much to inspire confidence any real changes will take place. Education? There have been reshuffles but no real changes as to what our children are learning. Even lottery tickets are selling at the same, pre-coup inflated prices.
According to the PM’s own timeline, a general election should be held some time next year. That means the NCPO has no time to do anything substantial. A sincere self-examination would reveal the NCPO has no assets in its hands either. The draft constitution, which it must have hoped would pave the way for continued reform through the establishment of nearly a dozen independent organisations which coup-associated people can run, has been largely panned by politicians, academics and activists.
Without wide acceptance of the charter, the NCPO and its associated bodies will have no legitimacy to carry on any missions. A graceful exit should be high on the agenda as the military weighs its options on its first anniversary.
Atiya Achakulwisut is Contributing Editor, Bangkok Post.