A landslide, yet inconclusive
How will Yingluck Shinawatra rule Thailand after she led her Pheu Thai party to a landslide election victory on Sunday? How much of the decisions she makes as the new prime minister will be dictated by her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, the real power behind the party, who is currently living in exile? How long will the Bangkok political elite tolerate this government-by-proxy, and how long will it be before the Thai military, with the nod of the king, decides to step in again and seize power?
In any other democracy, a landslide victory means a decisive mandate from the people for the winners to govern. But this is not the case in Thailand, unfortunately. Instead, the election outcome has created greater uncertainty about the nation’s future.
Thaksin is a controversial if not divisive figure. A successful businessman, he exploited loopholes in the constitution and used his wealth to ride into power until he was deposed by the military in 2006. Living in exile, he continues to pull strings. In 2010, he mobilized supporters to occupy and paralyze much of Bangkok. More than 91 people died when the military moved in to break them up. Ahead of Sunday’s election, Thaksin promoted his youngest sister to lead his party with the slogan “Thaksin thinks, Pheu Thai acts”, but Thailand’s new prime minister has no experience in government or politics.
The only decisive outcome from the election is the message sent to the political elite in Bangkok about the growing wealth gap that has split the nation between the urban rich and rural poor. This has translated in recent years to the “yellow shirts” and “red shirts” in street protests and counter-protests. Unless the political elite (meaning political parties), the monarchy and the military address this disparity, Thailand will be effectively made up of two nations largely defined by their income levels. This will make its democracy vulnerable to exploitation by politicians with lots of money.
To their credit, Yingluck and outgoing prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of the Democrat Party have both promised to work to bury the division. It is certainly a tall order, given the bloodbath that has developed between pro-Thaksin forces and the political elite in Bangkok, but reconciliation is the only way for the nation to move forward. The military should also give democracy another chance. And Thailand will, sooner or later, have to do something about Thaksin.
In any other democracy, a landslide victory means a decisive mandate from the people for the winners to govern. But this is not the case in Thailand, unfortunately. Instead, the election outcome has created greater uncertainty about the nation’s future.
Thaksin is a controversial if not divisive figure. A successful businessman, he exploited loopholes in the constitution and used his wealth to ride into power until he was deposed by the military in 2006. Living in exile, he continues to pull strings. In 2010, he mobilized supporters to occupy and paralyze much of Bangkok. More than 91 people died when the military moved in to break them up. Ahead of Sunday’s election, Thaksin promoted his youngest sister to lead his party with the slogan “Thaksin thinks, Pheu Thai acts”, but Thailand’s new prime minister has no experience in government or politics.
The only decisive outcome from the election is the message sent to the political elite in Bangkok about the growing wealth gap that has split the nation between the urban rich and rural poor. This has translated in recent years to the “yellow shirts” and “red shirts” in street protests and counter-protests. Unless the political elite (meaning political parties), the monarchy and the military address this disparity, Thailand will be effectively made up of two nations largely defined by their income levels. This will make its democracy vulnerable to exploitation by politicians with lots of money.
To their credit, Yingluck and outgoing prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of the Democrat Party have both promised to work to bury the division. It is certainly a tall order, given the bloodbath that has developed between pro-Thaksin forces and the political elite in Bangkok, but reconciliation is the only way for the nation to move forward. The military should also give democracy another chance. And Thailand will, sooner or later, have to do something about Thaksin.
The hard-won battle
The country’s law-enforcement authorities have taken necessary legal measures to bring home ousted Democratic Party treasurer and graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin after he and his wife Neneng Sri Wahyuni fled Jakarta to Singapore over a month ago.
Still the businessman-turned-politician remains untouchable and is reportedly still in the neighboring country.
High expectation is now mounting on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to do all he can – within his constitutional authority – to bring Nazaruddin home and subsequently hold him accountable before the law.
The Directorate General of Immigration revoked Nazaruddin’s passport on the same day the overseas travel ban was issued against him on May 24, 2011, or one day after he left the country. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named him last week suspect in a bribery case related to a tender worth nearly Rp 200 billion (US$2.3 million) to construct an athletes’ dormitory for the upcoming SEA Games in Palembang, South Sumatra.
Previously, the anticorruption commission named suspects Wafid Muharram, the secretary to theYouth and Sports Minister; Muhammad El Idris, director of PT Duta Graha Indah (DGI), which had won the tender for the athletes’ dormitory construction; and Mindo Rosa Manullang, the marketing director of broker company PT Anak Negeri that was founded by Nazaruddin, in the case.
Now that the case has become high-profile, with Nazaruddin implicating a number of Democratic Party officials including Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng and a number of high-ranking police officers such as National Police chief of Detectives Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi in the case, it will reasonably be more difficult to bring Nazaruddin home. All, including Mallarangeng and Ito, have denied their involvement.
It is thus equally reasonable if the general public expects Yudhoyono, as the country’s top executive and paramount chief patron of the embattling Democratic Party, to take more concrete steps in the effort to have Nazaruddin bear the responsibility of the crimes implicating him and at the same time have a decisive, but impartial, role in helping uncover the truth of the case.
It is true that Indonesia has yet to ratify the highly important extradition treaty with Singapore – the commonly available legal and diplomatic channel to bring a fleeing alleged criminal back home – that we cannot go through the universally practiced bilateral country-to-country mechanism to bring Nazaruddin back, and testify before KPK investigators.
But, we still have another legal channel through the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) agreement that we have had with Singapore, as part of efforts. Also, more importantly, we have yet to see Yudhoyono exercise his authority and influence within the ASEAN brotherhood, particularly his personal and good relations with Singapore’s leaders that would be strategically fruitful in our attempt to bring Nazaruddin home.
Legal and diplomatic problems between nations are always difficult to deal with. But often, they became easy with good personal relations between leaders.
Still the businessman-turned-politician remains untouchable and is reportedly still in the neighboring country.
High expectation is now mounting on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to do all he can – within his constitutional authority – to bring Nazaruddin home and subsequently hold him accountable before the law.
The Directorate General of Immigration revoked Nazaruddin’s passport on the same day the overseas travel ban was issued against him on May 24, 2011, or one day after he left the country. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named him last week suspect in a bribery case related to a tender worth nearly Rp 200 billion (US$2.3 million) to construct an athletes’ dormitory for the upcoming SEA Games in Palembang, South Sumatra.
Previously, the anticorruption commission named suspects Wafid Muharram, the secretary to theYouth and Sports Minister; Muhammad El Idris, director of PT Duta Graha Indah (DGI), which had won the tender for the athletes’ dormitory construction; and Mindo Rosa Manullang, the marketing director of broker company PT Anak Negeri that was founded by Nazaruddin, in the case.
Now that the case has become high-profile, with Nazaruddin implicating a number of Democratic Party officials including Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng and a number of high-ranking police officers such as National Police chief of Detectives Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi in the case, it will reasonably be more difficult to bring Nazaruddin home. All, including Mallarangeng and Ito, have denied their involvement.
It is thus equally reasonable if the general public expects Yudhoyono, as the country’s top executive and paramount chief patron of the embattling Democratic Party, to take more concrete steps in the effort to have Nazaruddin bear the responsibility of the crimes implicating him and at the same time have a decisive, but impartial, role in helping uncover the truth of the case.
It is true that Indonesia has yet to ratify the highly important extradition treaty with Singapore – the commonly available legal and diplomatic channel to bring a fleeing alleged criminal back home – that we cannot go through the universally practiced bilateral country-to-country mechanism to bring Nazaruddin back, and testify before KPK investigators.
But, we still have another legal channel through the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) agreement that we have had with Singapore, as part of efforts. Also, more importantly, we have yet to see Yudhoyono exercise his authority and influence within the ASEAN brotherhood, particularly his personal and good relations with Singapore’s leaders that would be strategically fruitful in our attempt to bring Nazaruddin home.
Legal and diplomatic problems between nations are always difficult to deal with. But often, they became easy with good personal relations between leaders.
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