6.15am-Thai political development stands frozen in time, by Danny, this blog’s neutral political analyst

Dr Veng spear heads Thailand efforts to modernize laws governing politics

• Crazy Thai Election Law

What if we tell you that there is a country in the world where if a doctor in a hospital kills a patient, the hospital must be shut down? Or if we tell you that if a train conductor fails to put up the stop signal, the train system of the country, by law, must be shut down? Well in Thailand, by law, if a politician belonging to the party ruling committee is found guilty of violating election law, the entire party is shut-down. So after the the law was passed by the coup people in Thailand, over a 111 Thai politicians belonging to the 2 shut-down party of Thaksin and a hand full of others belonging to other parties are now barred from politics.

• Law Fails to Clean Thai Politics, Use as Politcal Weapon

The humorous result is, instead of wiping Thailand clean of election violation, most political parties in Thailand now, from having lots and lots of members in the ruling committee-which is good for democracy-most parties now have difficulty even filling the committee. Take Nevin Party, of the Mark coalition, had to threat its party member to join the committee.

And un-lawful election conducts, well according to the Thai Election Commission, which was itself exposed by a local Thai newspaper Matichon as using favoritism in its handing out of violation citing, the numbers still doesn’t really indicate any improvements-in summary here, the crazy law is used to scoot political parties into the Amart fold-Amart is the upper crust of Thai  society suppressing the masses- and threaten other parties with dissolution, if they went against the Amart.

• Can’t Change the Crazy Law

So in any country around the world, logically, one would say it is time to amend that crazy law passed by the coup that didn’t come from the interest of the people through democratic means. But in Thailand, the land of the amazing unseen logic and reason, it is impossible to even change that law-mostly because Thailand is so wrapped tight in a maze that no-one really knows how to get out of.

• The Maze Stopping the Change

The maze goes like this. The Amart, or upper crust Thais, through the coup passed this law to rid the country of Thaksin’s party-and since Thaksin still has parties in Thailand, the Amart wants the law in effect so that all those 111 barred politicians with great skills and abilities of Thaksin will be locked out, so weakening Thaksin. Then the Amart itself is divided into three pressure cookers, including the Democrat party, the Fascist reactionary thugs Yellow Shirt, and the out-of-control Thai military-so between these three forces of the Amart if anyone stepped out of line, it gets pulled back into the fold very quickly.

Then there is the constitution that the military cooked up to weaken the political system so they will have lots of control in politics. This coup constitution, was written so that changes to the law, practically mean having to change the constitution-so a simple thing like rewriting the Election Law, means a real cumbersome, time consuming and difficult task.

• Pork and Barrels Politics Plays a Role

Then lastly, the problem is the way Thai politics is all about pork and barrel-give and take bargaining-with little attention to what is right, ethical or good for the country. So instead of changing this crazy restrictive election rule, because it is logical, right and ethical-changing it turns into a bargaining chip for all sort of things. So in the end, the interlocking Amart tri-forces, the constitution, and the pork and barrel nature of politics-nothing in Thailand really correct and good gets done-worse it takes Thailand on a dive as stated earlier, as the crazy law is used as a political weapon.

• The way out, one might ask?

Well, if the Thais can’t see for themselves what is right, good, and correct for the country-god help them, because no matter what this blog propose, it will be useless. Do we have a solution, yes we do-but as they say it will fall on deft ears as so many things we proposed gets snubbed at. But don’t be too hard on the Thais, this is still just a developing country.

• Or Follow Thai Rath, Matichon and Bangkok Post Closely

For foreigners who really wants a continuous up-date-without having to follow this blog by the minute-our advice is to follow Thai Rath and Matichon very closely-it is worth translating. Both Thai Rath and Matichon are reporting that the demands for changes to the crazy law, has the potentials of breaking up support for the Mark coalition. Meanwhile, the Amart oriented English language newspaper, just broke a story on how the military is scarring away support for the Amnesty Bill.

On this matter, we at this blog will just sit back and watch Thai Rath, Matichon and Bangkok Post take the lead-and interpret what is happening to us. We will of course keep you posted on other important developments-and also keep you posted as Thai Rath, Matichon and Bangkok Post breaks anything interesting.