• 
• 

Published on August 20, 2007

The outcome of the referendum did not put an end to the polarisation of Thai politics, which is split between the urban middle class and the rural poor. Although the majority of people in this country voted for the promulgation of the constitution drawn up by the military-appointed Constitution Drafting Assembly and passed by the National Legislative Assembly, it will take time to achieve normalisation of the political process. The yes vote represents relatively more politically aware, economically better off people who want to see a smooth transition from the current military rule to democracy.

They have no problem with the fact that the drafting process was initiated by the Council for National Security, which came to power after a military coup that toppled the democratically elected but corruption-prone Thaksin government. Many see the overthrow of the previous government as a necessary evil.

In other words, people who voted yes to the constitution believe that a seriously flawed democracy must be destroyed so that the country can rebuild democracy from scratch. They have given the military the benefit of the doubt and count on it to help restore democracy, then go back to the barracks and submit themselves to the civilian rule that will emerge after a free and fair election scheduled for December this year. The only worry is that the urban middle class could become excessively dependent on military intervention to solve political crises instead of strictly adhering to a democratic process and the rule of law to work their way out of political problems.

The no vote comprises people with a diverse range of opinions, from poverty-stricken rural masses still enamoured by the populist policies of Thaksin's now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party to people who object to the military coup as a matter of principle.

To the rural folk, voting against the constitution in the referendum was a way to show their loyalty to their political master. This show of loyalty can only be understood in the context of the traditional patronage system under which politicians are seen as patrons dispensing favours (in the form of populist policies) to the people who regard themselves as clients who have a duty to return the favour by putting politicians in power. The problem is that this patronage system tends to engender political corruption, including vote-buying, and thereby distorts democracy.

To people who are against the coup, saying no to the constitution was a way to express their total rejection of what they see as the illegitimacy of the military in politics. Their rationale is: if the military coup is wrong, all the things that followed, including the draft constitution, can never be justified. These people are highly suspicious that the military has a hidden agenda to try to hold on to political power by pulling strings from behind the scenes.

Despite their differences, both the urban middle class and rural masses and anti-military groups have a shared interest to ensure a smooth transition to democracy. Now that the people have spoken, all sides must join hands to see to it that the military junta honours its promise to hold a free and fair election without further delay.

The normalisation of Thai politics will come gradually over many years and hinges on all Thais, regardless of their ideology and socio-economic status, to learn the right lesson from our painful political experience of the last several years.

As a democracy-loving people, despite our numerous character flaws, we must avoid falling back into the same vicious circle of putting the wrong people into political power only to see them become absolutely corrupt, which, in turn, provides the military with the justification to seize power, and the country goes back to square one to try to rebuild democracy all over again. We have been going in and out of this vicious circle for the past 75 years since the introduction of parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. It's time to make a clean break.

To do that, citizens of this country must learn that there is no such thing as a perfect constitution to solve all the existing problems or those that may arise in the future. All Thais must learn to rely on themselves and to determine our destiny as a democratic society through the vigorous exercise of effective citizenship to the fullest extent of rights and freedoms provided by the constitution.