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Thailand: Democratic audit 2014

Red Thai Socialist - April 11, 2014

Giles Ji UngpakornThailand used to be a beacon of democracy in South-East Asia. Its democratic system was never perfect, but decades of struggle by social movements had limited the powers of the military and un-democratic elites.

However, today, Thailand has slipped backwards, nestling comfortably with the various despotic regimes of ASEAN, with only the Philippines and Indonesia having some degree of freedom and democracy.

The state of democracy in Thailand has reached a critical low. The reasons for this sorry state of affairs are both historical and current.

Historically the democratic space in Thailand has expanded and contracted according to the balance of forces between pro-democracy social movements and the military dominated establishment. Powerful social movements which were often lead by students and leftists, together with ordinary working people, challenged the military and the ruling elites throughout the 1970s and 1980s. By the early 1990s, a compromise was reached whereby parliamentary democracy was established on condition that it did not change the status quo and the economic inequalities in society. This result was facilitated by mass pro-democracy movements, the rise and eventual collapse of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT), and the fast pace of economic growth. But this state of affairs was short-lived.

The 1996 economic crisis hit the poor hard, but it also spurred a positive development in Thai electoral politics, with the creation of Taksin Shinawat's Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT). The most positive aspect of the founding of TRT was the introduction of real policy issues into elections, thus reducing the influence of vote-buying and patron-client politics. Another positive development was the engagement in electoral politics by the mass of citizens who stood to benefit from TRT's health care and job creation programmes.

However, the further development of a thriving parliamentary democracy was hampered by the lack of a political party built by the trade union movement. TRT was a party of big business and its pro-poor policies were limited to the needs of business to modernise infrastructure, health and the rural economy. Moves towards progressive taxation of the rich and the establishment of a welfare state were never considered. In addition to this the TRT government regarded its large parliamentary democracy as legitimising government repression against sections of the population in the War on Drugs and in pacifying the Muslim Malay South.

Even the limited progress towards modernisation and the introduction of real policy issues into elections, which resulted in the increased engagement in electoral politics by the mass of citizens, was too much for the conservative elites and the military. These conservative elements were afraid of losing their non-democratic influence and privileges. They were joined by former activists who were now in Non-Government Organisations (NGOs). Thai NGOs have always had a neo-liberal dislike for state funded and organised social programmes and they resented TRT's programme of modernisation. They have a patronising attitude to elections, democracy, and the ability of ordinary villagers or workers to think for themselves. NGOs have traditionally seen themselves as "enlightened advisors" to the poor. Joining the NGOs in the conservative alliance against TRT were the middle classes and the middle class academics. They were uneasy about the TRT-poor citizen alliance and were worried that they would lose their privileges to the "undeserving poor".

The NGOs and the middle classes lacked political organisation and felt weak. The NGOs always opposed the building of alternative political parties. This meant that all these conservative groups turned to the elites, especially the military, to achieve their aims. Without the support of these various groups, the military would not have been able to stage the 2006 coup.

The Thai crisis is a struggle over the democratic space. It has little to do with the issue of royal succession since power does not reside with the palace. The monarchy is merely a tool of the military and conservative elites.

It is shocking that in contemporary Thai society, those who shout most about "political reform" are those who wish to destroy democracy and have no intention of addressing the real issues that result in the democratic deficit as outlined below in the Democratic Audit. For them "reform" is merely a word to obscure their attempts to hang on to power by non-democratic means.

This Democratic Audit looks at a number of factors which are fundamental to a thriving democracy.

1. The right of citizens to choose the government of their own preference in free and fair elections.
2. Freedom of expression.
3. Basic standards of justice for all citizens and measures to prevent state crimes.
4. The integrity of public institutions.
5. The strength of pro-democratic social movements and citizen participation.
6. Respect for the dignity of all citizens, gender rights, racism and self-determination for minorities.
7. Trade union and labour rights.
8. Economic equality.
9. Corruption.
Read full document here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/217687477/Thailand-Democratic-Audit-2014.

Source: http://redthaisocialist.com/english-article/54-thai-political-crisis/564-thailand-democratic-audit-2014.html.

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