Sondhi and Thaksin battle for credibility
 The Nation
December 4, 2005 - How many people will show up at Lumpini Park on Friday? This question must be churning in the minds of the two players in this high-stakes battle for credibility, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Sondhi Limthongkul, founder of Media Manager Group. They have locked horns for several weeks, but while Sondhi had been doing the real bashing, Thaksin has been merely turning loose his foot-soldiers and underlings like attack dogs, getting them to fend off Sondhi’s wide range of allegations of misdeeds and mount counter-offensives.
The turnout at Sondhi’s talk show on Friday evening will decide who commands more credibility and the ears of the public.
It’s hard to say if the crowd will be significantly bigger or smaller than the one that turned up last time, but the more Sondhi is harassed, the more people he seems to be able to attract to his rallies.
If tens of thousands of people come on Friday to hear more exposes of malfeasance in the government and abuse of power by ruling politicians, it could spell serious trouble for Thaksin, whose ego and confidence have been considerably bruised; if the turnout is much smaller than the previous gathering, then Thaksin can heave a big sigh of relief and hope that Sondhi’s appeal may have peaked.
Indeed it’s possible that this is the best real opportunity for the senior journalist-cum-businessman to land a knockout punch.
Sondhi has asked for half a million people to join the rally. That’s ambitious.
Still, if Thaksin’s loose tongue and underlings provoke more public ire, more people may emerge with unpleasant messages for the government.
A group of thuggish figures last Friday threw bags of manure at Sondhi’s office. Nobody was caught. It is not known who was responsible. The incident will surely serve as more cannon fodder in Sondhi’s tirade this Friday.
Who is going to emerge from the confrontation smelling the sweeter?
Sondhi’s biggest difficulty is that he hasn’t been able to persuade respected public figures to join his cause, for which he has been able to attract broad public sympathy and support, even though he hasn’t fully spelt it out yet.
He hasn’t explained where all this is going because those who were once chummy with Thaksin are still wary of Sondhi.
They are not sure if the two can reconcile for their mutual benefit and become buddies again.
This is the first test for Sondhi in terms of credibility. It would be for his own good if he asked respectable public figures to co-lead his rally against the government’s mismanagement of state affairs, widespread corruption and what not. He must convince them that what he has been doing is in good faith and for the public good.
Another difficulty is that Thaksin has been silent about Sondhi’s moves, acting as if no large public rallies had taken place. By not directly responding to his adversary, Thaksin denies Sondhi fresh opportunities to attack him. Thaksin simply ignores Sondhi’s demands for responses to allegations of corruption and cronyism. He refuses to acknowledge Sondhi’s challenge to engage in a Q&A session with him.
This is understandable. Thaksin is no match for Sondhi’s eloquence, and the questions put to him could never be answered or explained to the full satisfaction of the public.
Both have shortcomings in credibility, but Sondhi has a slight advantage because he has attracted support from the urban, well-educated middle class, who now deeply distrust the national leader.
What exit has Sondhi if he cannot maintain the good ratings for lack of resourcefulness in finding skeletons in Thaksin’s closet? Well, he earlier declared that he would enter the monkhood sometime in January, though without saying what would be the result of his showdown with Thaksin.
That would certainly disappoint the people who wish to see a regime change through large-scale street demonstrations leading to a mass uprising, now that a military coup has been ruled out by armed-forces commanders.
If he quits the role of crusader, there will be no alternative leader capable of coming up with such exposes of abuse of power and corruption. If Sondhi gives up this cause, Thaksin can rest assured that his leadership will remain unchallenged, that is unless economic mayhem does him in.
Yet Sondhi may be able to go a bit further with his agenda in Lumpini Park if he ploughs on to force a change. In that case, he should heed the advice of the ancient Taoist sage Lao Zi: “If you want to lead the people, walk behind them.”
Sopon Onkgara |
