Asia Buzz: Thaksin the Bully

Thursday, August 9, 2001

He thanked the eight judges who voted for him. He thanked those who waged pressure campaigns against the court. He thanked all those who supported his efforts to remain in office by any means necessary. If you weren't on his side, well, you can go to hell.

Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's Prime Minister, has been anything but gracious in victory since being acquitted by the Constitutional Court last Friday of intentionally concealing his assets. He came within one vote of having his five- months-old reign snuffed out, and being banished in disgrace from politics for five years. Considering he won by the slimmest of margins -- 8-7 -- you would think that Thaksin would put forth words and actions that endeavor to heal a divided public. Instead, he once again unleashed his anger and vindictiveness.

The day after his acquittal, Thaksin told reporters that "wrong aspects" of the 1997 constitution would have to be changed. The "wrong aspects" he's talking about is the power of the National Counter Corruption Commission to investigate Thaksin and his men, and the authority of the Constitutional Court to remove them if found guilty of corruption. I say Thaksin and his men because Thaksin didn't see any "wrong aspects" in the constitution when the commission and the court banned his political opponents. Thaksin said that something was amiss if "the leader who was voted by 11 million people had to bow to the ruling of the Counter Corruption Commission and the Constitutional Court," whose members were unelected.

When Thaksin was a student, his strongest subject was math. But as Prime Minister, his math is wrong. More Thais voted for the 1997 constitution than voted for Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai (Thai Love Thai) party in 2001. While Thaksin's party and coalition partners hold a two-thirds majority in parliament, more than 90% of voters supported the constitution. While the majority of Thais surveyed in the days before the verdict said they hoped Thaksin would get off, an even larger majority said the decision should be respected no matter what it is. In other words, Thais may love Thaksin, but they aren't willing to throw out the few checks they have on his and other politicians' power.

Thaksin's 'change the constitution' outburst was not well received by the public. So once again he got angry -- this time with the press for reporting what he said. Thaksin never said his comments were off the record. Nonetheless, members of the press should know better than to print anything the Prime Minister says or does that might make him look bad. If they don't know better, then the police will help you learn.

Last week two Thai newspapers, Krungthep Turakij and Thai Rath, received written warnings from the Special Branch police for printing a Reuters report analyzing how long Thaksin would be out of office in the eventuality he might lose his case. A radio talk show host who aired an interview with opposition leader and former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai the day after Thaksin's own radio address following the verdict, also received a threatening phone call from police. "Two Sides of the Coin,'' a weekly television talk show, which was planning a discussion on the verdict, was pulled off the air hours before its scheduled broadcast. These are just the latest in a long list of pressure tactics and bullying of the media by Thaksin and his allies.

Thailand's constitution has several clauses guaranteeing freedom of the press from government interference. Those clauses are probably more of those "wrong aspects'' Thaksin was talking about. The 1997 charter replaced one imposed upon the people by Thailand's last military dictatorship. While the country may now have a new constitution and an elected leader, repression, nonetheless, is on the rise once again.