• 
• 

Published on March 11, 2008

If the person's deep character is not perturbed by this inconsistency, it is because that person's character has a high tolerance for it. An empirical study seems to demonstrate that such tolerance is made possible through the individual's own creation of a self-legitimising mental mechanism.

The concept of cognitive dissonance can best characterise the current public perceptions of a large majority of Thais, which is relevant to the present state of Thai politics. According to a recent poll, a large majority of the Thai public can forgive corruption by their politicians so long as they are successful.

Cognitive dissonance, as a public mental model among the Thai public, could and is now being exploited as a political ploy to further certain political "grand designs".

Following the general election on December 23 of last year a new Cabinet was formed led by the People Power Party in conjunction with other smaller parties, whose members, except for Chart Thai's, were largely drawn from old members or associates of the now dissolved Thai Rak Thai party.

Soon thereafter, a number of top state officials were transferred. The political axe fell upon the Department of Special Investigation (DSI)'s chief, the police chief, the Public Relation Department's chief and the secretary-general of the Food and Drug Administration. It is anticipated that more people are being targeted, mostly those involved with maintaining law and order. Some people believe that the purge was aimed at consolidating administration and judicial power.

Along with the purge, and almost at the same time, the government announced a raft of economic stimulus measures, ranging from fiscal relaxation, mega-projects, populist policies and mounting pressure on the Bank of Thailand, leading to the scrapping of the capital control measures.

Against the backdrop of a world economic slowdown and threatening inflationary pressure, the government aimed at bucking the trend, putting its stamp on the priority of economic growth over stability and saying that the target of 6-per cent growth rate could and must be achieved.

From a strategic point of view, this government is believed to have a double agenda - one political and the other economic. These two agendas are closely interwoven.

The first political agenda is aimed at tackling issues related to the fate and status of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is suffering from a plethora of allegations and legal hassles along with 111 former executives of his Thai Rak Thai party. Consolidating power among the key ministries supervising law and order is thus the first natural step, to be followed by constitutional amendments.

For the longer term, some people believe that the political agenda is to enhance the power of the People Power Party by numbers. Those with this perspective believe the government, once confident of its popularity, could dissolve Parliament and hold a snap election in the medium term. That could trigger the return of an overwhelming majority for the People Power Party, a replica of its sibling, the Thai Rak Thai party, of the past.

This political agenda could only be put into effect thanks to the economic agenda. Hence,  economic growth is not only deemed desirable, but is seen as a must for the government - even at the expense of economic stability.

This economic growth needs to be broad-based, real and perceptional. While the economic-stimulus package is real, the creation of a friendly media environment through media reforms and silencing vocal critics is perceptional.

The aforementioned potential scenario, if it is indeed implemented, could lead to

so-called " cognitive dissonance". In this context, the Thai public could be socialised to the point of condoning political and economic evils for the benefit of short-term economic gain.

In this perspective, political ills will be perceptionally eclipsed by a false sense of economic ecstasy. A large number of people will be indulging in the fallacy of short-term economic gains at the expense of long-term competitiveness.

In so doing, cognitive dissonance, once created, would lead to the blurring of the concept of good and bad among the general Thai public. Moral standards will thus be replaced by nothing more than short-term material benefits. In this context, short-term economic indulgences will inevitably lead into a long-term political abyss.

This cognitive dissonance, if and once it is realised, could be a really dangerous political end game. In that scenario, Thai society could be heading towards a "lose-lose" or "zero-sum game" situation.

Somjai Phagaphasvivat

The Nation