A little more conversation, a lot less vitriol

A little more conversation, a lot less vitriol

'No animosity lasts eternally, no friendship lasts eternally either ..."

A man tries to take the police out when they show up to inspect the scene after Banthatthong's bomb. (Bangkok Post file photo)

Today's offering is not a "naive" / "beautiful world"/ "white-washing"/ "ignorant mush" column. Spare us that please, blood-curdling patriots. Today is just as depressing as the previous day or week or month as we creep towards the mouth of a volcano, spewing lava of hatred and spits of disgust along the way.

Today I'm just remembering what was recently said in Davos, Switzerland. As our national "Who Hates Thaksin More" contest continues - as we're trapped inside the ring of a celebrity death match between Suthep Thaugsuban and Chalerm Yubamrung, refereed by the tank-ready Prayuth Chan-ocha and regulated by the state of emergency - today a call for dialogue, for sanity, for sober-minded caution and perhaps a civil way out shouldn't be naively rejected as naive.

Let's quote him in full. In Davos this week for the World Economic Forum, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, referring to a possible diplomatic reconciliation with the US: "No animosity lasts eternally, no friendship lasts eternally either. So we have to transform animosities into friendship."

Call that "beautiful world" mush; say that to the head of the country whose slogan has long been "Death to America", whose ill-feeling against the other is historical, official, deep-seated, almost indoctrinated. How many times in the past years have we seen Iran in the crosshairs of the US military? How many times have Iran and its nuke programme evoked from Western analysts such extreme vocabulary as "World War III"? We don't even have to go back to the 1979 hostage crisis, the 444-day-long debacle that gave birth to that animosity Mr Rouhani talked about. All of that, and now a sign of compromise, even friendship.

I wouldn't say World Peace (that would be unforgivably naive) and, of course, the Iran-US-Israel-Syria-Saudi tensions have more complex layers than one simple phrase can untangle, not to mention the fact that the "Death to America" motto remains alive - but still, it's a small consolation to hear the leader of a historically defiant nation extend such a gesture to its ideological arch enemy.

We're not fantasising about a friendship between the donation-loving whistle mob and the luxury-loving Shinawatras, which is equivalent to World Peace. But do we really want to be like North and South Korea? Or, more frighteningly, like Syria, which, after so many deaths, is now holding a peace conference in Geneva to resolve its conflicts?

The nightmare is that we will have to go Switzerland one day to talk it out, in English or maybe French, instead of settling it here in our comfortable Thai while we still can, while we're still capable of cutting back the sounds of the whistles and the bombs and the long-distance phone calls from Dubai, because eventually - with the election postponed or not, with reform or not, with the much dreaded coup or not - like the Syrians mired in tragedy, we will still have to talk.

The question is when. That depends on when all parties in this row realise that a win-all-lose-all scenario is impossible, as is often the norm in politics. From Mr Suthep's side, their insistence on snubbing all moderate voices - from academics, the private sector and those who want the election on Feb 2 - as ignorant or complacent is destructive.

To measure our love for the country by our hatred of someone is outrageous, if not unhinged. Your passion is real and your grievances are legitimate, sure, but it can only take you this far, which is admirably far enough, or in fact too far. The most depressing development is Mr Suthep's fresh call on Thursday to physically disrupt the Feb 2 election, which is much worse than the idea of opposing the election he's been crusading against.

That's why there's the celebrity death match; that's why there's the new Thai Fight tournament with Mr Chalerm coming into the picture. The government's declaration of a state of emergency is another sign of wanting to win it all, not to mention Pheu Thai's party-list candidates, who reek of the same old arrogance and scorn, devoid of remorse in their humiliating push for the blanket amnesty bill. They deserve no tick in the box come Feb 2 - pray, if Feb 2 is the day we'll have any box to consider ticking.

Caught in fatalistic horn-locking, we all know talking is hard, but we know it's not impossible. No animosity lasts forever; if what Mr Rouhani said sounds wishy-washy to the protesters and the red shirts, remember that it's always true among politicians and power-grabbers of all stripes.

Talk is tedious, sure, and talk turns to shouting. Talk doesn't always mean peace, but talk saves lives, even for a while. Just ask the Syrians in Switzerland.


Kong Rithdee is Deputy Life Editor, Bangkok Post.

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