THAMMASAT FORUM
SE Asia's military rulers under the spotlight
The growth of military rule in Southeast Asia will be the subject of a forum on politics in the region involving foreign and Thai scholars.
"The Military and Politics in Southeast Asia" will be discuss-ed on Sunday at Thammasat University by specialists led by Surachat Bamrungsuk on Thailand, Pornphimon Trichote on Burma, Witthaya Sucharitthanarak on Indonesia and Sida Sonsri on the Philippines. Neighbours Thailand and Burma will be highlighted because of their current military rule. "The stability of the military in Burma is rather high but it has weakened people and the stability of the country," said Pornphimon. She said Thailand's political crisis had stirred up a debate on whether people want authority or democracy. Surachat, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, will share his expertise on the role of the Thai military. Meanwhile, Sida believes military intervention was not welcomed in the Philippines. "Unlike Thailand and other countries in the region, the military's role has been restricted in Philippines' constitutions since 1935 and the constitution is highly respected by the people," said Sida, a political scientist at Thammasat University. People power in the Philippines was very strong and the military was a part of it, she added. Witthaya will discuss how the Indonesian military has taken an active role in the business sector. Unlike Thailand, the Indonesian military is not interested in income from the television industry but has interests in other sectors such as banking, transport and fishing. "The military-run businesses have gained a huge income to feed the army as well as creating widespread corruption in the country," Witthaya said. For example, he said, Indonesian military leaders demanded 30 per cent in commission from their order to buy a helicopter. The money from corruption went into the pockets of a few military leaders, he added. Professor Robert Taylor, former vice chancellor of the University of Buckingham in England, will fly in to share his views on the military-run state of Burma. A Thai translation of his book "The State in Burma" will be launched at the event. Political scientists and scholars of Southeast Asian studies, including Charnvit Kasetsiri, Thanet Aphorn-suwan and Thamrongsak Phetlertanan, will be part of the Thai-English panel. The event will be held from 12.30pm to 5pm at Room 201 at the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Thammasat University's Tha Phrachan campus.
Subhatra Bhumiprabhas The Nation
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