More questions when the answer’s already known

[webfact]

EDITORIAL 

More questions when the answer’s already known

By The Nation

 

Insecure for good reason, Prime Minister Prayut is playing games with his latest ‘opinion survey’

 

With the military junta under pressure to hold elections sooner rather than later, the six silly questions that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has posed to gauge public opinion can only be interpreted as a desperate bid to justify his tenacious clinging to power.

 

Politicians, critics and activists have slammed General Prayut for using such a shameless trick to score popularity points. The six “questions” aren’t really questions at all. They are roundabout statements of Prayut’s personal perceptions regarding the current political situation. They cast professional politicians in an unfair light, hardly an astute move given that Prayut is now a politician himself – and one who has never stood for election.

 

A broad swathe of people agrees that Prayut has posed his questions with his own answers in mind, seeking to shape public opinion rather than test it, in an effort to bolster support for himself or any proxies he might field in the coming election. The best example of this was asking whether the junta has the right to support a political party in the polls, a curious notion given the laws the junta imposed to strangle support for parties and individual politicians. So the answer was clear enough: The law prevents Prayut as premier and the junta from doing so. Is the general asking for the public’s permission to violate the law he instated?  

 

Evidently aware that his survey might draw derision, Prayut avoided posing the questions on the mainstream or social media. The answers have to come back through channels tightly controlled by the Interior Ministry. It’s being touted as something of a national event, with citizens encouraged to file their responses at the ministry’s Damrongdhamma complaint centres throughout the country. 

 

Prayut seems to favour the approach. At the end of May, amid coup-anniversary calls for an election, he posed four similar questions about elections, politics and politicians’ behaviour. To date there have been 1.1 million responses, but the government has yet to share the gist of them with the public. We don’t know what the junta is doing with the information gleaned. The replies given couldn’t have been all that bad, of course. It’s hard to imagine anyone sharing a candidly negative opinion of junta rule with the military. Thus, Prayut was able to put more than a million supporters in his pocket, even if they’re not particularly fond of him. The Army owns their opinions now.

 

General Prayut has in place everything he needs to perpetuate his rule. The military, law, state organs such as the non-elected Senate, and political allies among the elite have all been aligned since the 2014 coup to support him. So why does he go through the motions of scenting out public opinion? Even with a formidable support mechanism in place, Prayut cannot feel overly secure, given the junta’s poor economic performance and his own lagging popularity in opinion polls. 

 

The endless questions won’t help him, though. If it’s popular support he craves, Prayut must demonstrate that he is prepared to march the troops back to the barracks and say goodbye to politics. Thailand has become far too educated, too sophisticated and too globally oriented for men in uniform to run the show. Let’s move on.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30331540

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-14

[theguyfromanotherforum]

First!

[Bluespunk]

3 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand has become far too educated, too sophisticated and too globally oriented for men in uniform to run the show.

And yet they do. 

[Dexlowe]

Prayut is not only desperate to keep his hand on the tiller, I fear he is starting to feel that the love is deserting him -- and that's devastating for a Thai male. 

[Samui Bodoh]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

General Prayut has in place everything he needs to perpetuate his rule.

I take issue with this statement a bit; I think it is incomplete. A more accurate statement would be "General Prayut has in place everything he needs to perpetuate his rule, except the support of the people."

 

It may sound funny in light of the military's control over most of the state, but there are still limits as to what they can do without the support of the people; three times (arguably) in this century alone there have been large demonstrations that have toppled governments. The military might have to use extreme violence to stop another, and if they did they would lose all credibility, even if they were successful. Further, unless there is support for the leadership, there is unlikely to be good economic growth. Yes, there will be growth, but limited and more importantly, everyone will know that it is limited and why. Finally, as long as the military rules without widespread support, there is going to be civil strife. It may or may not spill over to the streets as before, but it will have a negative effect on the country, and it will be very noticeable. To borrow and paraphrase an adage from the US, "a house divided against itself cannot stand".

 

Unless the military/Prayut can generate popular support (and if they haven't yet they never will be able to), they are doomed to failure. The only remaining question will be how much damage they do before they go.

 

PS again, kudos to the Nation for a good editorial. I am very slowly gaining respect for them.

 

[Bob12345]

What else could you expect from someone who was cooperating with the crook Suthep to topple the elected government from the day they won the election.

 

Everywhere in the world they call that treason, and someone who is willing to go that far to get in power wont give it up easily.

 

I only hope that the dear general will see the writings on the wall before the population needs to tear down his corrupt government and he makes a run before it reaches that stage.

[Bob12345]

28 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

PS again, kudos to the Nation for a good editorial. I am very slowly gaining respect for them.

Completely agree with your post, except this little piece.

 

It takes courage to stand up against the regime before it loses popular support. Now on the other hand everybody, except Steven100, is showing the cracks in the juntas actions.

 

The writing is on the wall general; only your own government is still showing support for your actions. That should tell you something.

[stephen tracy]

7 minutes ago, Bob12345 said:

Completely agree with your post, except this little piece.

 

It takes courage to stand up against the regime before it loses popular support. Now on the other hand everybody, except Steven100, is showing the cracks in the juntas actions.

 

The writing is on the wall general; only your own government is still showing support for your actions. That should tell you something.

Where is Steven00?  I suppose his response will include the "We Love Thailand" bouncing heads. 

[yellowboat]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand has become far too educated, too sophisticated and too globally oriented for men in uniform to run the show. Let’s move on.

 

3 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

And yet they do. 

Educated ?  We know that is not true.  They would not allow military rule in the first place if they were educated.  My Yellow friends can not frame an argument for military rule.  They just say they hate the Shinawartes.  Hate is not a plan but it installed the junta.

 

Sophisticated ?  Please

 

Globally oriented ?  Yes, Thailand needs the outside world very very BADLY but the outside world can live without Thailand.  The outside world belittle the junta every chance they get, or Vietnam will lead Thailand if it does not already. 

[nausea]

Gutsy article.

[faraday]

3 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

And yet they do. 

Because they have guns.

[Lupatria]

Looks like another journalists career comes to a sudden end soon. 

[klauskunkel]

"the six silly questions" 

that made my morning! 

[Jonmarleesco]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

More questions when the answer’s already known

Other than to the poser, and his disciples.

[YetAnother]

1 hour ago, faraday said:

5 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

And yet they do. 

Because they have guns.

and the opposing forces are not yet organized and, as a result , not strong enough

[TKDfella]

2 hours ago, YetAnother said:

and the opposing forces are not yet organized and, as a result , not strong enough

And according to the papers this morning the two D PM's said that during election campaigns other parties mustn't attack the junta to gain points. So there's goes freedom of speech again, before they start!. Can you imagine an American, British etc. election campaign doing it that way? 

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

So the answer was clear enough: The law prevents Prayut as premier and the junta from doing so.

Sorry but untrue. Sad for such a good analysis otherwise.

As Chief of the NCPO Prayut can override laws and has overridden existing laws. He has used Article 44 to override laws even promulgated unanimously by his own rubber-stamp National Legislative Assembly.

As Prayut has recently stated, "I can do whatever." (translated of course)

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2017/08/30/absolute-power-means-can-whatever-prayuth-says/