|
|
|
ANALYSIS: Discussion on South was a study in contrasts
Published on July 30, 2005
Both tried their best to be calm and accommodate each other’s differences, but TV cameras simply don’t lie. Anand Panyarachun’s long face and Thaksin Shinawatra’s perpetual frustrated look when the two met on national TV on Thursday night demonstrated that two of the Kingdom’s most important figures, where the turbulent deep South is concerned, remain polarised over key principles.
If the TV discussion was aimed at pacifying a public that has grown increasingly alarmed by Thaksin’s resurgent hawkish mentality, former prime minister Anand apparently wasn’t aware of that. The chairman of the National Reconciliation Commission was steadfast in his belief that the newly issued executive decree giving Thaksin sweeping powers to authorise detention without charge, outlaw public gatherings or ban newspaper sales could amplify Thai Muslims’ mistrust of the state, and thus make everybody’s peace-restoring job much more difficult.
Anand warned that Thai Muslims could perceive the decree as a “licence to kill” that has been given to authorities already notorious for mistreating the minority Thais in the southernmost provinces for decades. To him, distrust is the root cause of this gigantic national crisis, and the decree has the potential to spread this detrimental sentiment.
Of the two men, Anand was the much more sensitive. Thaksin started the “discussion” by invoking “distorted history”, bad education and the effects of his controversial war on drugs. The prime minister did not seem to sincerely believe that the state was part of the problem, and tended to blame only past governments whenever the issue of abuse was raised.
Anand’s first statements were peppered with words like “oppression”, “injustice” and “persecution”. He didn’t mention any distortion of history or religious belief. When he did mention “history”, it was about human rights aspects. In a subtle message, he noted that Thaksin, as government leader, had been looking at the crisis as an immediate one, while the NRC had more time to analyse historically why southern Thailand has come to this potential breaking point.
Thaksin interrupted Anand repeatedly, basically at every slightest suggestion that his government’s alleged disrespect for human rights was part of the problem. Anand took it out on the young moderator, Adisak Srisom, or could have just been giving Thaksin a polite reminder about discussion manners. “You never let me finish,” he told the host on a couple of occasions.
The prime minister’s obvious swipe at Anand was the same old “Read the decree carefully before you criticise it”. He defended the decree on the grounds that law and order must be upheld, and that checks and balances were prescribed in the decree, including Cabinet approval of key action, the courts’ continued role in legal action, as well as other restrictions on authorities’ power.
Thaksin insisted that there were only enough militants and sympathisers to “create problems”, but not prise away the Muslim-dominated southernmost provinces from the Kingdom. But in his hardest punch - delivered so smartly that Thaksin himself might not have felt it - Anand pointed out that 73 per cent of people in the troubled region went to the ballot booths in February. He stopped short of reminding the prime minister that the unusually high voter turnout overwhelmingly rejected candidates from the ruling Thai Rak Thai party.
Anand would deny that he was implying the government was losing the trust of the local people and thus failing to get much-needed cooperation to bring back peace. What is obvious, though, is that Anand never once said during the hour-long discussion that he trusted the Thaksin administration to succeed in this delicate, highly sensitive job - with or without the controversial executive decree.
Tulsathit Taptim
The Nation |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
