The outward signs of a deeper struggle - Pitsuwan

The New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur
24 February 2006


COMMENT: The outward signs of a deeper struggle
SURIN PITSUWAN

The turbulence in Thailand threatens to turn into a popular rebellion
against the rule of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The underlying
cause is a clash between two models of leadership, says SURIN PITSUWAN.

MUCH like anything else in Thai society, the political drama playing
itself out on the streets of Bangkok is a phenomenon with deeper
roots and a complex structure.

While the Thais participating in the demonstrations themselves do not
quite understand how a personal conflict between two erstwhile
business partners, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and media tycoon
Sondhi Limthong- kul, could turn into a growing popular rebellion
threatening to bring down the once-invincible Thaksin regime, foreign
observers are even more bewildered at the speed with which things are
deteriorating, making major political change almost imminent once again.

For one thing, the drama is much more than parliamentary manoeuvring
between the overwhelming majority of the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party
and the feeble Opposition.

Any analysis based on that kind of assumption is totally off the mark
at this critical moment. It is not even a classic power play between
major factions within Parliament or among the various camps of the
ruling party. Neither is it a clash of contending interests among
traditional Thai power wielders, the military, the bureaucracy, the
political parties and the business community.

What lies at the foundation of the current drama is a clash of two
models of leadership whose stage is not in Parliament or at the Royal
Plaza, nor at Sanam Luang nor Rajdamneorn Avenue as in the past. The
drama is a psychological one and the stage is in the Thai psyche itself.

For the past 60 years, which means most of our democratic history,
the Thai people have been graced by a compassionate, wise, rational,
accommodating, gentle, spiritual and heavenly leadership.

Every time there was a national crisis — the student uprisings of Oct
14, 1973, the massacre of Oct 6, 1976, the Black May of 1992 and the
financial crisis of 1997 — the people could expect morally sound
guidance from their beloved sovereign.

The "traditional Thai leadership" has always served as an ethical
compass for Thai society with no distinction of economic class or
ethnic and religious background.

The admonition has always been based on traditional Thai values drawn
from Buddhist dharma and our cultural heritage. The advice has always
been welcome and received as "drops of gentle rain from heaven".

That leadership displays the best form of "soft power", which is now
a cliché in text books on the art of governance. It is dispensed with
a soft voice, gentle gesture, sometimes with humour, often from
behind the scenes, at other times with dry sarcasm. It was always
given with a sense of compassion and goodwill intended for the
benefit of the people, never selfish, never in jest.

For the past five years, the Thai people have been given a totally
different kind of leadership.

Selfish, bombastic, crude, rude, vulgar, aggressive, materialistic,
confrontational and devoid of any philosophical and ethical
dimensions. It was packaged as "intellectual, modern, informative and
rational". Some even went so far as to call it "digital leadership".

It is quick, precise, timely, reassuring and refreshing to impatient
people. But upon closer examination, it is only a "how-to" kind of
leadership.

How to get richer, how to gain more power, how to sell better, how to
get ahead of others, how to control people, how to deceive without
getting caught, how to rob and get away with it.

The counter counsel from the traditional leadership has been
"sufficient economy". "Live within your means. Do not spread yourself
too thin. Being in debt is a worse form of suffering." That is very
wise and very Buddhist indeed.So the Thai psyche now is suffering
from a form of schizophrenia, torn between two models of leadership.

While the "heavenly voice" is being eclipsed by the "divisive shout",
scolding Thais into the direction of self-destruction, the entire
Thai society is now in disarray. The traditional form of leadership
they were used to and lived by during the past six decades is more
certain, more sustainable and soothing.

They have now, for the past five years, been herded like cattle to a
distant mirage that appears to be receding further and further into
the horizon.

The Thais are now behaving like a patient being analysed on the couch
in a psychiatric ward. The unfortunate thing is, neither the doctor
nor the patient knows that the root cause of their disillusion lies
in their own karma. You reap what you sow. All sufferings have their
cause. And always it is our own doing.

The current wave of demonstrations could be seen as a symptom of a
suffering psyche, dislocated by over-consumption and unbalanced by
over-ambition, a psyche that is yearning for an even keel that can
only be provided by wise leadership.

The confrontation will not cease, the pressure will not be let up and
legitimacy will not be restored until that "crude, rude,
materialistic and confrontational" leadership gives way and is replaced.

For what is raging on the streets is not what we see at first sight.
It reflects a deeper malaise that is eroding the Thai sense of well-
being.

The psyche has to rid itself of this alien intrusion into its domain.
We can describe it as the traditional leadership reclaiming the power
and space being taken over by the digital one.

The traditional "prerogatives" are striking back. And the
psychological health of the Thai nation will have to return to the
idealised Buddhist sense of harmony and balance. All the forces are
now being unleashed to win this decisive battle. Until then, we will
see only instability and insecurity.

Thaksin and Sondhi only represent two sides of the Thai personality
that has found itself being torn to pieces because of the two styles
of leadership. The sickness will not be cured until the comforting
hand is back in control.

* The writer is an MP and a deputy leader of the Democrat Party. A
southern Thai Muslim, he served as Thailand’s Foreign Minister from
1997 to 2001.