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Nachrichtenarchiv Thailand
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE: Thaksin fights for eroding legitimacy
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has proved beyond doubt he does not possess the quality Plato cherished. In the past week he has repeatedly said he did not break any laws in the Bt73.2 billion Shin Corp-Temasek takeover deal. So it was lawful for him, he said, not to pay tax. This was regardless of the fact that the loopholes that allowed him and his family to avoid paying tax were something he helped to construct in the past five years. This practice is indeed far more dangerous than the socalled policy corruption. Within Thailand the issue of unethical behaviour by an elected leader has never entered our consciousness as long as we have enjoyed some incentives. Thaksin's recent cash giveaways were an effective way of creating a feel-good factor among the electorate. As a former CEO he not only runs the country with a business instinct but also with an unprecedented executive power. He has been careless when mixing this with his personal business dealings on official foreign trips paid for by the taxpayer. He is also officious too. Last weekend in a lecture to police cadets he boasted that he is a former police officer and is not afraid of any protest or any person that wants to force him out of office. "There is no way a policeman will be scared of a mafia boss," he declared. As an elected leader with a parliamentary majority he has won the right to govern Thailand. That, though, does not give him the right to ridicule those who criticise him. "I was elected by 19 million people. It would be crazy to kick me out," he has often said. He is right, but only in part. Currently, Thailand has 66.3 million people. As a victor in the election, he has the supreme right to govern, but that mandate is not carved in granite. The leader in power must follow an ethical code of conduct. It is interesting to note that one of the most important elements in international relations today is the notion of "responsibility to protect". It means that members of the United Nations have a responsibility to protect the lives, liberty and human rights of their citizens. If they fail, the international community has a responsibility to step in. Likewise, any democratically elected leader must carry out his or her responsibilities with honesty and without violating the spirit and letter of the Constitution. Failure to do so would lead to the deterioration of the ruler's legitimacy. Stakeholders from all sectors within the society will not tolerate and have to step in. Winning the election is a prerequisite for assuming executive power, but the authority to use that power also depends on the sovereign right of the people. Since he was acquitted of concealing assets in 2001, Thaksin has successfully forced Thai society to accept his marginally moral thinking and actions. His unethical behaviour and lack of political morality have gradually been adopted as Thailand's moral standard with the help of our lawmakers. It is sad but true that our hard-won democratic progress in the past three decades has yielded to Thaksin's lust for power and wealth. His disingenuous comments relating to the Shin deal and the state of his wealth are a barometer of his morality. Whenever society decides to move forward to show its disapproval of the state of the nation and Thaksin's leadership, it is exercising its sovereign right. That should be done peacefully but forcefully. Until now, Thaksin has not yet proved he is a transformational leader as he has often claimed to be to rural audiences and on his weekly radio addresses. So far he has shown only the transactional leadership quality that enables him to make deals and enrich himself, his family and his cronies in and outside the Thai Rak Thai party.
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