Sondhi, don’t get too carried away with the fever
 The Nation
November 30 , 2005 - When Samak Sundaravej stepped into the limelight in the late 1970s, the Democrats were swept aside, albeit with the help of a rightist resurgence. Chamlong Srimuang, projecting an ultra-modest image that involved using rattan baskets attached with his pictures instead of expensive posters, sent conventional politicians reeling in the mid-1980s.
But the two-time Bangkok governor, apparently forgetting what propelled him to amazing heights, stopped being humble and bullied Bhichit Rattakul in the mid-1990s, after which he bitterly tasted his own medicine.
Perhaps what those politicians needed to go one step further was the financial resources of Thaksin Shinawatra. In presenting himself as a sophisticated political alternative, the tycoon managed to create old-style political fever in 2001.
But thanks to a formidable war chest, he succeeded where the others failed – sustaining his longevity beyond the normal four-year life-span of political popularity. Then Sondhi Limthongkul came along.
Although political fever naturally comes and goes, those who enjoy it mistakenly assume that once they are lifted by it, they always will be. Even those who proclaim that they are aware of this elementary truth have rarely proved they process the knowledge.
A major phenomenon Sondhi may have been, but we are all now feeling deja vu all over again ...
A charismatic veteran goes against the mainstream, getting hassled or persecuted in the process. Public sympathy grows and rises to mystic proportions. He becomes wildly popularity and all of a sudden it seems the man can do no wrong. Scepticism gives way and no one seems to care about his background. Remember Chuwit Kamolvisit, anyone?
Politics can be as charming as it can be boring. Charming because no lesson is ever learned (why this is so is a mystery). Boring because not only are their goals always the same, but so are their causes.
Chamlong is a good case study. His “I will die if you folks don’t help” slogan was an atomic bomb that blew away the Democrat’s Bangkok gubernatorial contender in his first city election contest. The “I will serve you” mentality began to change and it became a resounding “I will lead you” in 1992 when he spearheaded the uprising against the military-backed Suchinda regime.
Despite the eventual collapse of the government, Chamlong’s star waned quickly in the aftermath and he was a big loser in one of Thailand’s biggest political ironies in 1996.
Backed by Thaksin’s enormous budget, Chamlong waged a costly war against Bhichit, who went door to door and refused to attack anyone. The veteran questioned Bhichit’s support as not being genuine while insisting that he represented the true, clear voice of the people. When you witnessed Chamlong’s campaign, you couldn’t help but feel it would be just a matter of how big a scale Bhichit’s landslide victory would be.
Thaksin’s domination has helped amplify the popularity of Sondhi to the point where it now looks unreal. While the media tycoon must have been amazed himself, he is also in danger of being deluded into thinking that the tens of thousands of people who go to Lumpini Park week in and week out do so because of him, not because of their disenchantment with the prime minister.
Sondhi’s controversial statement, in which he warned the government against hurting “my people”, is an alarming sign.
Whose people? The best part of political support anywhere in the world is the thinnest slice. Samak never made it because, while people loved his brutal outspokenness, they suspected his ideology and at the end this mattered. Chamlong’s modesty sold well initially, only to be scrutinised alongside his high ambition, and he was subsequently spurned.
For Bhichit it just evaporated.
Maybe political fever is just like male-female courting. Samak successfully wooed us with straightforwardness but we got bored with his rigidity. We dumped Chamlong not because he bathed with just five bowls of water a day, but because we were afraid he would force us to do the same. Bhichit might just have become too unexciting.
Thaksin lured us with a promise of jewellery, while Sondhi is a handsome neighbour who comes and whispers, “Hey, he’s cheating you. Please believe me because I’m the one who really loves you.”
We could fall for anyone. But they should beware of making the mistake of calling us “My girl”. When the politicians assume that something is theirs, sooner or later they start taking it for granted. But the best part is that once our eyes start seeing clearly again, they’ll never know what hit them.
A special note to Abhisit Vejjajiva: you will be the next source of such fever, mark my words. I just hope you don’t rush to propose to the Thai people.
We like a prolonged courtship, you know.
Tulsathit Taptim
|
