Pubdate: Tue, 11 Mar 2003
Source: Nation, The (Thailand)
Copyright: 2003 Nation Multimedia Group
Contact:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1963
Author: Thepchai Yong

HARD TALK: THERE'S NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF

When human-rights commissioner Pradit Charoenthaithawee told a panel
discussion last week that the present administration had its critics
cowering with fear of retribution, he was not exaggerating. As if to
reinforce Pradit's statement, the next day a group of Thai Rak Thai MPs
threatened to have him impeached for crying foul to the United Nations over
the spate of drug-related killings.

Pradit is not the only person who feels he is living in fear. Members of
other independent organisations entrusted constitutionally with the duty to
keep checks and balances on politicians and bureaucrats are also feeling the
political heat. Journalists had felt the political pressure bearing on them
probably long before anybody else.

While Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has made no efforts to hide his
disdain for independent bodies, it's his ongoing crusade against drugs that
has led him to declare open war on his critics - the United Nations
included.

It's quite an irony that a new culture of fear is being created just as
Thailand is supposed to be marching forward towards political reform. And
it's even more ironic that those who are bearing the brunt are the very
bodies that were intended by the Constitution to underpin that reform.

What is probably more alarming than the war of words is the systematic
attempts by the powers that be to undermine the neutrality, and subsequently
the credibility, of bodies charged with counterbalancing state power. Last
week's election of the new deputy Senate speaker clearly demonstrated the
extent of influence of the ruling politicians over members of the upper
house.

Suchon Chaleekrua, a senator known for his conservative views, makes no
bones about his close ties to the Thai Rak Thai Party of Prime Minister
Thaksin. It was only last August that Sahad Phinthusenee, another senator
from Sa Kaew, who is closely allied with Thai Rak Thai's chief advisor Sanoh
Thienthong, was elected second deputy Senate speaker.

The reforming 1997 Constitution envisaged a Senate as a politically
independent legislative body vis-a-vis state power. That's why among its
most crucial responsibilities is to appoint members of all independent
bodies - from the Election Commission and Constitution Court to the National
Broadcast Commission.

At least during Thaksin's earlier months in power, the Senate was able to
display a semblance of independence in scrutinising the performance of the
government and at times became more than just a political irritant to the
politicians in power.

But it was only a matter of time before the Senate fell victim to
interference by the ruling coalition, whose ultimate aim is to perpetuate a
complete control of both houses. The extent of the interference was clearly
reflected in the elections of the two deputy Senate speakers and the recent
appointment of the four new members of the Constitution Court who are known
to have the support of the ruling coalition.

The fight last year over the appointment of a member to chair the Election
Commission that resulted in victory for a government-backed candidate was an
early alarm bell that the Senate was no longer a trustworthy legislative
body in checking and balancing state power. It is therefore not difficult to
imagine how the appointments of the National Broadcast Commission and the
National Telecommunication Commission, two other independent bodies
entrusted with reforming the broadcast media and telecommunications
industry, will be handled by the Senate.

The public certainly has a lot to fear if it can no longer count on
independent bodies to protect its interests and keep checks on politicians.
The current war on drugs stands as testimony to the danger of how far a
government which has a monopoly on power can go in having its way. Even the
House committee on foreign affairs succumbed to pressure from the government
and cancelled a seminar to evaluate the effects of the drug-suppression
policy.

The Thaksin administration has demonstrated that it is not reluctant to use
all the mechanisms at its disposal to get things done the way it wants while
ignoring dissenting views. The violent war on drugs is the clearest
testimony to that, with critics blasted daily as "unpatriotic" or
"sympathisers" of drug dealers.

Pradit is paying the price for crossing Thaksin's path. Besides earning the
prime minister's verbal wrath, he is also being subject to what he believes
to be harassment in the form of daily threatening phone calls and stalking
by strangers in jungle fatigues - not to mention the aborted attempt by Thai
Rak Thai MPs to have him impeached.

If people like Pradit, a well-known advocate of democracy and human rights,
and other high-profile social activists don't feel safe, just imagine how
the rest of the society feels.

Rosana Tositrakul, a leading anti-corruption campaigner, poignantly summed
up the mood of many when she recalled during last week's panel discussion a
question she had heard earlier: "Why are we being cowed by the same people
we voted into office?"
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