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Dear
friends,
The
political
fallout
hasn’t
stopped
from
Thaksin’s
letter
to
President
Bush
complaining
that the
charismatic
person
in
Thailand
is
trying
to
topple
his
government
using
“extra-constitutional
tactics.”
Instead,
the
letter
from
Thailand’s
caretaker
Prime
Minister
to the
President
of the
United
States
has
become a
hot
political
issue.
The
letter
has
elicited
strong
opinions
on many
different
issues,
for
example,
the
appropriateness
and
necessity
of
sending
such a
letter
to
explain
Thailand’s
domestic
political
situation,
the
appropriateness
of
Thaksin’s
self-preserving
tone in
the
letter,
and the
attempt
to blame
others
for
being
democracy
destroyers
rather
than
truthfully
explaining
the
overall
circumstances
of
Thailand’s
current
political
landscape.
One
government
spokesman
stated
that
sending
a
diplomatic
dispatch
between
one
government
leader
and
another
was
normal.
But in
the
present
situation,
such a
letter
is not
normal:
Thailand’s
politics
are in
crisis
and
subject
to
change
at any
moment.
We see
society
splitting
into
divided
loyalties,
people
taking
sides,
and
leaders
drawing
the
allegiance
of the
masses
using
various
strategies
to gain
the
political
upper
hand.
Under
such
conditions,
people
must
therefore
keep an
eye on
every
step of
this
caretaker
Prime
Minister’s.
I wonder
whether
sending
the
letter
at this
time is
something
more
than
explaining
Thailand’s
political
situation.
It could
be a
call for
international
support
or a
defense
of his
leadership
or even
an
argument
to
convince
others
that
what he
has done
is
correct.
After
all, the
support
he used
to have
has
begun to
decrease
and
shift to
the
opposite
side.
Moreover,
the
letter
causes
me to
question
why the
caretaker
Prime
Minister
has to
drag
other
countries
into
this
situation.
It could
be
possible
he is
trying
to test
the
superior
power
nation
or to
provoke
the
unnamed
Thai
charismatic
figure
mentioned
in the
letter.
Thaksin
knows it
is
impossible
for him
to
challenge
the
rising
tide of
opposition
to him
alone.
So,
the
caretaker
government
might
see the
need to
draw the
support
of an
external
superpower
and
thereby
gain a
position
of right-standing.
With
American
support,
it could
then
claim
that
even a
super
power
such as
America,
a model
of
democracy,
agrees
with the
way the
caretaker
government
defends
democracy.
However,
the US.
President’s
attitude
towards
the
correspondence
was
carefully
attentive
to
diplomatic
protocol
but did
not fall
into the
trap of
becoming
a Thai
political
tool.
President
Bush
responded
neutrally,
neither
offering
opinions
nor
agreeing
with the
caretaker
government’s
modus
operandi.
Instead,
he
indicated
that the
United
States
did not
consider
the
situation
unusual
nor one
that
threatened
democracy.
The PM’s
letter,
therefore,
failed
to
provide
him with
a
political
advantage.
Nevertheless,
whether
or not
the
American
Government
will
agree
with
Thailand’s
caretaker
government
that
Thai
democracy
is being
ruined
depends
not so
much on
Thailand’s
democratic
condition
as on
the
political
and
economic
benefits
it would
gain
from
intervening
in Thai
domestic
politics.
For
example,
the
American
Government’s
decision
to
invade
Iraq was
more to
preserve
its
energy
interests
than to
defend
democracy.
Therefore,
I doubt
that the
US
Government
would
gain
much
benefit
from
siding
with the
current
Thai
government.
Other
economic
inducements
not
mentioned
in the
letter,
such as
privileges
in the
Suvarnabhumi
Metropolis
special
economic
area or
benefits
in the
Thailand-USA
FTA
negotiations,
would
also be
unlikely
able to
gain
America’s
political
involvement.
I find
it
fascinating
to study
the
continual
stream
of
intriguing
political
tactics
used by
our
caretaker
Prime
Minister
to
maneuver
his way
out of
hot
water
and to
buy as
much
time in
the PM’s
office
as
possible.
It is
obvious
he wants
to keep
his
political
advantage.
Everyone
is
watching
to see
what his
way out
of
office
really
will be.
But
certainly,
I think
it will
be
difficult
for him
to carry
on
administrating
the
country
because
as long
as
Thailand’s
Prime
Minister
is named
Thaksin
Shinawatara,
the
political
turmoil
will
never
end
easily.
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