Page 1 of
2 ASIA HAND The Thai
military's democratic
nightmare By Shawn W Crispin
BANGKOK - When former Thai prime minister
Thaksin Shinawatra first approached Samak
Sundaravej to head the new People's Power Party
(PPP), the new incarnation of the recently
disbanded Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party, Samak says he
advised the exiled leader to pick somebody else
instead.
Only after Thaksin pleaded, says
the veteran politician in an exclusive interview
with Asia Times Online, did he agree to take
the
PPP's leadership. His surprise appointment has
since caused plenty of political ripples, both
inside and outside the party. The military
coup-makers who ousted Thaksin last year said
earlier this month that they would not rule out
another putsch if Samak and the PPP win the
December 23 elections and lead the next
government.
Meanwhile, Samak's personal
history as an ultra-rightist, dating back to his
alleged instrumental role in the violent crackdown
on student protestors in 1976, has given pause to
some in the party's more progressive faction,
including former communist guerrilla leaders who
held prominent positions in Thaksin's TRT-led
government. More then 30 years later, the
72-year-old Samak says that the history books and
local press have got him and his legacy all wrong.
He's also keen to rewrite the book on last
year's coup. If, as some political pundits
predict, Samak wins the premiership, he says he
will aim to reverse many of the junta's rulings
and policies, including the May 30 decision to
disband the TRT and ban 111 of the former party's
executive members from politics for five years.
That would entail an amnesty that would pave the
way for Thaksin's return to the country and
possible political instability.
More
delicately, Samak also aims to debunk the
coup-makers' allegation that Thaksin was disloyal
to the crown, one of the four main reasons the
military gave for staging their putsch. With
impeccable royal credentials, including several
former family members who served with distinction
in the royal court, Samak says he is one of the
few people who can reconcile Thaksin with the many
royalists who tacitly backed last year's coup.
Samak is also one of the few politicians
in the country with the stature to lock horns with
Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda, whom
certain PPP members have accused of masterminding
last year's military intervention beyond his role
as a chief royal advisor. Samak's paternal style
appeals to a deep-seated conservative streak in
Thai society, which he successfully leveraged to
win the Bangkok governorship in 2000 - then
notably over a TRT candidate who had campaigned on
a new generation ticket.
Yet should Samak
and the PPP win the upcoming polls and form the
next government, the transition from military to
democratic rule will likely prolong rather than
reconcile the country's political confrontation
pitting military hard-liners against pro-Thaksin
politicians. In a recent wide-ranging interview at
his home with ATol's Southeast Asia Editor Shawn W
Crispin, Samak outlined his vision for the future
of Thai politics. Excerpts follow:
ATol: You have raised
complaints about the junta's alleged secret plans
to subvert your People's Power Party at the
upcoming polls. And the military has maintained
martial law in constituencies where your party's
support is thought to be strongest. Do you think
at the outset that these elections can produce a
free and fair result?
Samak:
After the coup the [military] set up so many new
bodies, but it's lucky that the Election
Commission was created before the coup d'etat.
Four [commissioners] are judges and one is a
prosecutor. They are [independent] by themselves,
so I don't worry much about that. And they show no
signs of favoring anyone. If there's a warning it
goes to every party.
Still I have a
grievance and feel it's a bit of a shame that when
we have a general election where [the junta] keeps
martial law. There's not much reason - they say
it's to protect against the influx of narcotics
and people who come to work illegally in this
country. But the police can do that job.
ATol: But do you think the
military coup makers will allow you to form the
next government if you win the most votes at the
polls? They have recently threatened another coup.
Samak: We just wonder how it
would be possible that we get the most [votes] but
not be allowed to form the government. I said in a
recent television interview, I asked the public if
the PPP gets 300 [of a possible 480 parliamentary
seats] then why shouldn't we be allowed to form
the government? I don't think anybody can stage
another coup. Besides I'm not that lousy, I'm not
that bad, I'm not that dangerous.
ATol: What are your thoughts
on your main electoral competitor, the former
opposition Democrat Party?
Samak: It's strange. I
always ask why that for the last 65 years they
fought like mad with the military, with their
dictatorships. But this time when they stage a
coup d'etat they agreed with the action. Why did
it happen like this? So I tell voters if you agree
with the coup, then vote for the Democrats. If you
disagree with it, then vote for the PPP. That's
all.
ATol: Why in your
opinion were you chosen to carry forth Thaksin's
political legacy? I know you've said that you are
not his proxy, but why did he choose you to lead
the PPP?
Samak: Thaksin
called me and said, "Samak please help me. We have
270 eligible [candidates] to run and if you don't
accept they will want to go to smaller parties."
Those people would like to run, either as PPP or
with smaller parties, so I foresaw the reason. So
I told [Thaksin] it's not for you alone that I'm
doing this.
I have given him a real helping
hand. I have not taken a single baht from him. And
I warned him, "Thaksin, I am not your worker, I'm
just giving a helping hand." Believe me, I don't
really want to be the leader. I'm not power
hungry.
ATol: You're a
seasoned political veteran that has served in many
different governments. Why do you respect Thaksin?
Samak: What respect? I
didn't say respect. I just think he did some good
things for the country. For instance when you
compare him to former prime minister Chuan
[Leekpai]. When we had the financial crisis in
1997, Chuan had an opportunity. But after three or
four years, he was not successful. He tried to
solve the problems through a bureaucratic way.
But Thaksin used a commercialized way.
Within just two years he earned enough to repay
the International Monetary Fund loans. In four
years he brought up new policies which he proved
could work. The Democrats have only tried to
destroy what Thaksin has done.
ATol:
But you are also a well-known royalist.
What about the military's charges that Thaksin was
disloyal to the crown?
Samak: I decided I must help
[Thaksin] because he was given a bad name for not
being loyal to the monarch. This is very delicate
for Thai people. He and I received the same
[royal] decoration on the same day of the same
year. So when [the junta] put a bad name on him
like this, I know it's not true ... Its unfair and
I can help him.
My father served in the
royal court in the old tradition. My family served
the court from Rama V to Rama VII, all the way
through. My uncle was the doctor to King Rama VI.
My grandfather served under Rama V, Rama VI and
Rama VII. He was the one that helped design royal
decorations and that sort of thing.
In the
royal court it is set up like a military, you have
a general, a major general and like that. My
grandfather was a major general, a director of a
department. My uncle was head of the doctors to
the King. So all the way through my family served
the monarch ... I can talk the royal family's
language, I can ask and answer questions many
[others] cannot.
When I accepted the
position [of PPP party leader], I made the
grievance to the public that Thaksin's disloyalty
to the crown was not possible. I said that the
four points the junta stated as the reason for
making the coup d'etat are not true ... Let us
have elections, let us have a new government, and
then after that he must come back to fight the
corruption charges in court.
ATol:
What then was the root cause of last
year's coup in your opinion?
Samak: The reason the coup
was carried out was because eight years ago
[Thaksin] called a group of political lecturers to
come talk. After that they finished he gave
200,000 baht to each lecturer to have a good time
in a Nordic country, Finland .
But when
they were talking and drinking, they talked and
said that in Thailand the monarch is concerned
with politics too much. [They said] it should be
more like the Queen of England or the Emperor of
Japan where they're just figureheads.
But
actually the law is the same here. Thaksin
happened to agree with that and supposedly there
is a tape on this. Then he was a telecom and
satellite tycoon. But one day he became prime
minister and some people used this to blackmail
him, a group that is very close to [Privy Council
President] General Prem [Tinsulanonda].
When Thaksin was in power, people were
always talking, "Thaksin is very clever, if he was
president and the country was changed [from a
monarchy] to a republic we would be more
developed." Something like that. [Thaksin] doesn't
know anything about it.
ATol:
Obviously the nation is very concerned
about King Bhumibol Adulyadej's health approaching
his 80th birthday celebrations. I know it's a
delicate subject, but do you think you
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road,
Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
