While this year's political polarisation has been a never-ending nightmare of animosities and personal vendettas, next year's forecast is grim too: a political landscape dominated by more of the same bad features.
All parties involved in the conflict are too preoccupied with self-serving interests to realise the side effects they are having on society.
On Saturday, Privy Councillor Surayud Chulanont gave a straight answer to a direct question on social divisions. He said: "There is no problem which cannot be resolved through talks. But there must be mutual understanding about the existing problem and a common agreement on how to go about tackling the problem. If we cooperate, then there is no problem beyond a solution."
Surayud wanted to highlight His Majesty's advice on the greater good.
He also reminded parties concerned to show gratitude to the King by ensuring social peace instead of bickering.
Many lifted his remarks out of context in order to float an idea of Surayud acting as a go-between to broker peace between fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra and the government.
The red shirts and the yellow shirts both gave a swift response opposing any attempts at mediation. For the sake of good form, the rival camps did not make an outright rejection. They just set the pre-conditions so high the negotiating table could not be reached.
The yellow shirts will not settle for anything less than a complete and irreversible downfall of Thaksin. They are demanding the impossible - turning the clock back to the pre-2006 coup before starting any negotiations.
TURMOIL WILL PERSIST UNLESS...
So long as the rival camps are determined to inflict total destruction on one another, the turmoil will persist until either side achieves a decisive victory or both play their cards until none are left standing, the victims of their own war of attrition.
Since 2005, the yellow shirts and the red shirts have been battling to defeat each other.
Thaksin lost the first round with the military intervention in 2006. The red shirts staged Thaksin's "comeback" via two puppet governments under Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat in 2008.
Riding the coattails of the yellow shirts, the Democrats engineered a coalition switch to grab power in 2009.
Thaksin now marks 2010 as the deadline to oust the Democrats in order to pave the way for his triumphant return from a life on the run.
The rival camps have apparently failed to heed the fact they do not have enough cards to wipe one or the other from the face of the earth. Unless the two sides realise the futility of polarisation, there is not a glimmer of hope for reconciliation.
Social divisions and political turmoil will never be overcome if the yellow shirts and the red shirts are unwilling to let go of the past.
The coup can never be justified. Neither can the autocratic leadership of Thaksin.
Compelling arguments to apportion the blame will only lead to the deepening of social divisions. The soldiers should not have seized power and Thaksin should not have relied on popularity to shield his abuse of power.
Yet the two fatal anomalies of democracy did happen. The crucial issue now is how to make the country move forward in light of these past mistakes
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment