On Thursday, the United Kingdom will go to the polls in what looks to be one of the most closely contested general elections in British history.
It will probably surprise many of my readers that if I were a British national, I would probably be labeled a staunch Conservative Party voter, which I am. I would have voted for Churchill, Thatcher, Major and, yes, given the chance, David Cameron would easily be my choice for prime minister over Ed Miliband.
So my apologies to those that were hoping to see me come out as some raving, frothing, loony socialist with a revolutionary axe to grind against all members of the privileged class. Only in a country that has veered so far off the path of liberal democratic principles that someone like myself and I believe many others, can be justifiably accused by a few to be a radical anti-establishment spokesperson.
So, let me set the record straight and about my philosophy and what kind of society I want Thailand to be, because I’m rather fed up with being misunderstood by the intellectually bankrupt within the privileged class. First of all, I am not the enemy of privilege. As someone who was lucky enough to have spent my formative years in the British preparatory and public schools system, it would be rather disingenuous of me if I was.
What I am the enemy of, is certain groups within the privileged class that wish to kick away the ladder of social mobility once they themselves have reached the top. However, I am also utterly opposed to those on the far Left that wish to blindly abolish any establishment or institution that represents the notion of elitism.
In my view, you don’t create a more equitable education system by abolishing elite schools. What the government should be doing is making sure these elite schools are emulated by all the others. You shouldn’t try and create a more equitable economy based solely on making the rich poorer. Instead we should strive to create a system where everyone who works hard and plays by the rules has a fair chance to achieve success and prosperity. Moreover, I am also opposed to a society based on ensuring the equality of outcomes, because what we should be promoting is the equality of opportunities.
This brings me to Thailand’s most “established” institution, our monarchy. If I was British, I would also be considered a staunch monarchist, which I am. Some of my lefty friends in Britain see no value in such an institution in the modern age. But to me this institution is priceless. The monarchy to me is like an old oak tree on an English lawn. It represents a connection with our past, it provides society with a sense of history, identity and beauty, which no other newly concocted abomination of an organisation can hope to emulate. It takes 15 minutes to fell an ancient oak tree but 150 years to regrow into its former glory. Therefore, as a society we must protect that which we cherish, but let me make myself abundantly clear. The enemy of the monarchy is not the people. The true enemy of the monarchy are those grubby hands that wish to bring this institution into the realm of politics.
Therefore, if the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) are defenders of the monarchy as they claim, they must put their money where their mouth is by ensuring our most sacred institution is never again used as a political weapon. So may I suggest we tag something to Section 8 of the draft constitution. At the moment it stipulates that “ No person shall expose the King to any accusation or action”, but we should also add “or involve His Majesty the King or invoke the King’s name in the nation’s political conflicts to further their own political interests”.
The British have long understood that keeping their monarchy as a “constitutional” monarchy is the key to its survival. After all Her Majesty’s Most Glorious Speech, informally known as The Queen’s Speech at the state opening of the British parliament, is not at all the Queen’s words, as it is prepared for the reigning monarch by the elected government of the day. As the eternally wise Walter Bagehot once said:
“The sovereign has under a constitutional monarchy such as ours three rights; the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn. And a king of great sense and sagacity would want no others.”
Our King has great sense and sagacity, and if our leaders had listened to his words, His Majesty has indeed always warned us of the impending peril of involving the sovereign in our political squabbles. I am absolutely certain that if constructive reform of Thailand is going to happen it must first come from the elite’s willingness to embrace a more free and fair society. But at the end of the day the only person that can lead the elites to reform, is a member of the elites themselves. So far, I see nobody among us who has the courage or moral fortitude to get this job done.
Songkran Grachangnetara is an entrepreneur. He graduated from The London School of Economics and Columbia University. He can be reached at Twitter: @SongkranTalk