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Puppets on a string, dancing to the tune of the military
Red Thai Socialist - April 20, 2013
Preah Vihear Temple was built by the Khmer, in Khmer style, when the Khmers ruled a large empire covering the area which is now Thailand, Cambodia and Lao. It belongs to Cambodia. Almost everything that the Thai ruling class claim to be "Thai" was copied from the Khmer, including Royal Language and so-called Thai-style architecture. Sukotai was a Khmer city with a Khmer king. Ayuttaya also had some Khmer kings.
Therefore when the Yellow Shirt nationalist idiots and the military demand that "Thai territory" be returned they are merely playing out an imbecilic myth. It is a myth to divert attention away from the inequality, exploitation and repression within Thai society. Instead of moving forward to jointly develop Preah Vihear as an ancient monument and tourist venue, for the peaceful benefit of those living both sides of the border, as was the plan before the 2006 military coup, Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul is now dancing like a puppet on a string to the tune of the ultra-nationalist military.
The childish spat over a few square metres of land around the temple would be laughable if people had not already died over it. Who cares about who actually owns a scrap of land on the top of the mountain? Normal people should not care. But the ruling classes of Thailand and Cambodia care. They care because it is about showing off political and military power. But never forget that it is exactly this state power which is used to kill, repress and exploit ordinary Thai and Cambodian citizens within their own countries.
Therefore the ultra-nationalist who wave the Thai flag over Preah Vihear, who unfortunately include some Red Shirts and the Pua Thai government, are merely acting like servants to the Thai elite. It is the intellectual equivalent of crawling along the ground.
What we are seeing today is that Yingluk's Pua Thai government is promoting or supporting the role of the military in society. The same military has murdered pro-democracy demonstrators on the streets on 5 occasions in living memory. Murderers like general Prayut Junocha are allowed to have a public opinion on foreign affairs.
The army has been guaranteed digital TV channels for its own use, under the excuse of "internal security". Thai military control of the media increases its influence on politics and lines the pockets of the corrupt top brass. Their influence on the boards of state enterprises is the same. They both stem from periods of military dictatorship in the past.
The so-called "peace talks" in the South are dominated by the security forces. This is not about achieving a political solution to the Thai State's repression of Malay Muslims. It is about stressing internal security. Even the mis-named National Human Rights Commission is stacked with military and police officers.
The continued use of lese majeste by the Pua Thai government and the refusal to scrap this barbaric law and release the political prisoners, is another sop to the military. The military uses the king to legitimise all its wrong doings and needs lese majeste to protect itself. Of course business politicians in Pua Thai, like Taksin, also want to use the king.
Recently, Deputy Prime Minister and gangster politician Chalerm Yubamrung, announced his version of an amnesty law which would wipe the slate clean for the generals and politicians who killed pro-democracy Red Shirts. It would allow Taksin to return to Thailand too. In fact such a law would be meaningless, since in practice the murderers of the Red Shirts are enjoying total immunity right now.
Yingluk's hand shake with the bloody tyrant of Bahrain is symbolic. It says that it is OK to shoot down pro-democracy demonstrators in Bahrain and in Thailand.
In countries which had a history of military dictatorships, like Turkey or Argentina, democratically elected governments have cut the military down to size and punished the generals. It isn't that Pua Thai "do not dare" for fear of provoking a coup. It is that the government wants to deliberately promote the role of the army in politics. They have become puppets on a string, willingly dancing to the military's tune. Pua Thai is the new party of the military and it does a much better job than the Democrat Party because it is democratically elected and can control the Red Shirt movement.
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