The Day The Nation Lost Its Soul Again

After the close-call on September 2, we have spiralled down the slippery slope. And the way things are going, it could be far worse than October 14, 1973, or October 6, 1976, or May 1992. Those tearful lessons may have held us back up until yesterday morning, but now that we are loose, those dates have become utterly meaningless.

This is a sad evolution of our political bloodshed. We blamed tanks and dictatorship in 1973, ultra-rightism in 1976 and the military again in 1992. As Thais start killing Thais again, with violence escalating at this very moment, it is a lot harder to pinpoint culprits. This new bloodbath will simply mean we have failed as a nation to settle our differences as a good nation. And the three previous infamies will only magnify our shame.

Politics can be meaningful up to a level, beyond which absurdity takes over. October "heroes" are now fighting on opposite sides. Chamlong, who once had to deny he was part of a conspiracy that crushed the student movement in 1976, is now behind bars, having fought "dictatorship" alongside some of the former October leaders. Samak Sundaravej, also an October villain, has at least redeemed himself in the world's eyes as a persecuted democratic leader. And a few years of turmoil may have blurred the fact that the top anti-government leader is someone who once went on television categorically to defend the telecom excise tax policy of the Thaksin administration.

Politics gives us ideologies that we do not mind crushing with our feet later. Thailand lost so much more than two lives and a man's leg yesterday. The casualties confirm the complete disappearance of the principles that brought the warring camps onto a collision course in the first place. Gone is the respect for equality, civil society and all other good values of democracy.

With the "elephants" clashing head-on, there is no time for the "grass" to think. The latter can do nothing but follow the guidance that serves anyone but themselves. Yesterday, police had to follow orders, while protesters had to march and seize Parliament. It does not matter that the protesters were provocative or the police were violent. This is a war, so "we" must be right, and "they" must be wrong.

Look at the names. We have Thaksin, Chamlong, Samak, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and Sondhi Limthongkul. When they were pals, life seemed so easy. Now that they have split up, with a lot of people willing to die for their causes, the country is on the verge of a civil war. The "grass" on both sides is being told it is sacrificing itself for the greater good. The police are "protecting law and order". The protesters are "guarding the country from political crooks".

In every war, everyone is forced to be bad, purportedly for the sake of good. Do we have the right to say, "Yes, I want to be good, but I don't want to be bad in order to get there"? Yes, we have that right, but it could be just the last echo of our conscience, the swan song of real values before they fade away.

Will Thaksin stage a political comeback after five years? Will Chamlong still be here 10 years from now to lead another popular rebellion? Will Sondhi really enter the monkhood after this war is over? No one knows the answers to these questions for sure, but the possibility of them coming back to the political scene and spearheading a new quest may be greater than Thais managing to rediscover their lost souls.

This latest wound will not heal. The turmoil and bloodbath will stop, sooner or later, and we may have a new constitution, a proclaimed "reform", in a matter of months. Truth is, we have been there before and stood a very good chance of avoiding a new "Black October" or "Black May". We have learned nothing from the past, nothing except a simple lesson that it is easy to be mistaken during peacetime that a war is always far away.

The half-hearted learning stops right there. There is no need for us to get a deeper education. Especially not now, when everyone thinks he is right.