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New monarchy now less important to Thai junta than before
Ugly Truth Thailand - October 22, 2017
King Pumipon was never a powerful figure who could order the military, the capitalists or the politicians to do his bidding. The reality was that Pumipon was merely a willing tool of those in power, especially the military. His role was always to provide a strong ideological legitimacy for the elites and their actions, especially the actions of the army. Pumipon was never brave or resolute enough to be a political leader. His ideological role was not just about defending the military and the undemocratic elites. His reactionary "Sufficiency Economy" ideology was designed to oppose any redistribution of wealth and to support neo-liberalism by opposing state intervention to alleviate poverty. [See http://bit.ly/2oppTvb]
King Wachiralongkorn is even more weak and pathetic than his father. This is because he lacks all credibility because of his terrible behaviour, which robs him of any respect, even among royalists, and the fact that he has absolutely no interest in affairs of state. In terms of providing any legitimacy for the actions of the military or the elites, Wachiralongkorn is not fit for purpose.
So what is the junta going to use to replace the role of Pumipon? One option which they are engaged in right now, is the crafting of the "National Strategy". This is a set of political and economic rules which will have a higher status than any laws. It will restrict all future governments and government institutions to the narrow path laid down by the junta. It will be policed by the National Strategy Committee, headed by Generalissimo Prayut, various sub-committees filled with junta appointees, and by the military backed Constitutional Court and the Election Commission.
It is claimed that this National Strategy Committee, which is part of the grand design for a system of "Guided Democracy" will ensure good governance and good stewardship of the nation. The junta and its friends have been banging on about "good" people for years. Not surprisingly, good people are those who think and act like the authoritarian generals. So Thailand has had a number of "good" military coups and other "good" acts have included shooting down "bad" unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators.
It is also falsely claimed that the National Strategy can create unity, reconciliation and political reform.
The ruling class, and especially the military, will still cling to, quote and enforce the reactionary ideology of "Nation, Religion and Monarchy" and the use of the draconian lese majeste law will continue when the military and the status quo is criticised by dissenters.
But those in power will now depend much more on quoting the "sacred" National Strategy, as though it had genuine legal status, in order to legitimise suppression of the opposition.
We should not be surprised at the changing role of the monarchy. It has never been set in stone. In the period up to the overthrow of the generals in 1973, King Pumipon was just one factor among many providing legitimacy for the military. Anti-communism and the ideology of "Nation Religion and Monarchy" were the mainstays of the dictatorship. Of course Pumipon was promoted as a symbol of anti-communism. But the manic propaganda promoting him to a god-like status only took off after the communist threat had subsided.
The lese majeste law is also flexible in its purpose. After the recent military coups it was used more to protect the military than Pumipon and the recent lese majeste charge against Sulak Sivaraksa because of a public speech about King Naresuan, who ruled the Ayutthaya Kingdom 400 years ago, shows that it can be used against those who question Thailand's manufactured nationalist history. Questioning this history is a threat to the status quo.
In addition to this, the junta has drawn up a law to prevent anyone from criticising the Constitutional Court. Anyone who does this will risk a prison sentence. As already mentioned, the Constitutional Court is to be used to police the National Strategy and in the past it has been used to overthrow elected governments.
In some ways the Thai National Strategy can be seen as similar to Indonesia's "Pancasila", which was a set of five guiding principles initiated by President Sukarno and later used to suppress left-wing or religious opposition, especially under the dictator Suharto. Pancasila was also used to repress the rights of populations to break away from Indonesia and to justify a lack of democracy. Pancasila's so-called legitimacy was based on the need for national unity and order and General Suharto often pointed to the chaos of the early years after independence to justify it. The Thai junta will use the same justification.
Whether or not the Thai National Strategy can become the "New Monarchy" remains to be seen and depends on whether the junta can convince the majority of citizens to willingly accept it. In the meantime, Wachralongkorn will enjoy spending his millions in his palace in Germany and the Thai ruling class will try to keep him out of the limelight.
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