By Thanong Khanthong
COMMENT
The Nation
Thailand is facing a democratic dilemma: Can a minority voice unseat a democratically elected government, voted into power by a majority vote?
The answer is yes.
There are three processes involved with political power - the process of assuming power, the process of managing power and the process of stepping down from power.
Samak Sundaravej, the prime minister, and the People Power Party have been arguing that since they have been democratically elected by a majority of the people, they must be allowed to run the country till the end of the term stipulated by the Constitution. Any objection to their rule is looked upon as undemocratic because it represents a minority voice, which does not play by the rules or does not honour the outcome of the majority votes.
This sounds plausible on the surface. But practically all acknowledged the outcome of the December election in 2007 that brought the People Power Party to power. Samak led his party to a victory and formed a coalition government with five other coalition partners with 315 MPs in Parliament.
After having formed his government, Samak and his Cabinet completed the process of assuming political power. That initial stage of the process is over. Nobody objected to that.
The next stage, in which we are now, involves the Samak government's managing of political power.
To manage the country through the four-year term, the Samak government must try to build a consensus and get broad-based support among the people, who either voted for it or voted against it. In other words, it must try to keep its supporters happy and have the least number of people objecting to its rule.
If Samak fails to manage power by bringing the minority on board, as is now the case, he can't continue to rule. The voice of the minority is legitimate too.
The protesters under the umbrella of the People's Alliance for Democracy have taken over Government House since last Tuesday to air their grievances against the prime minister and his administration. They are demanding Samak's resignation on the grounds that he is acting as a nominee for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra; his government has sold off the temple of Preah Vihear to Cambodia; his government has tried to amend the Constitution to protect the interests of some politicians; his government is corrupt.
Which brings us to the third and final stage, which involves the process of stepping down from power. If Samak manages political power to the satisfaction of most, he can survive four years. If not, he has to explore the process of stepping down. This is common knowledge for CEOs in the corporate world. And this is true in democracy.
The answer is yes.
There are three processes involved with political power - the process of assuming power, the process of managing power and the process of stepping down from power.
Samak Sundaravej, the prime minister, and the People Power Party have been arguing that since they have been democratically elected by a majority of the people, they must be allowed to run the country till the end of the term stipulated by the Constitution. Any objection to their rule is looked upon as undemocratic because it represents a minority voice, which does not play by the rules or does not honour the outcome of the majority votes.
This sounds plausible on the surface. But practically all acknowledged the outcome of the December election in 2007 that brought the People Power Party to power. Samak led his party to a victory and formed a coalition government with five other coalition partners with 315 MPs in Parliament.
After having formed his government, Samak and his Cabinet completed the process of assuming political power. That initial stage of the process is over. Nobody objected to that.
The next stage, in which we are now, involves the Samak government's managing of political power.
To manage the country through the four-year term, the Samak government must try to build a consensus and get broad-based support among the people, who either voted for it or voted against it. In other words, it must try to keep its supporters happy and have the least number of people objecting to its rule.
If Samak fails to manage power by bringing the minority on board, as is now the case, he can't continue to rule. The voice of the minority is legitimate too.
The protesters under the umbrella of the People's Alliance for Democracy have taken over Government House since last Tuesday to air their grievances against the prime minister and his administration. They are demanding Samak's resignation on the grounds that he is acting as a nominee for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra; his government has sold off the temple of Preah Vihear to Cambodia; his government has tried to amend the Constitution to protect the interests of some politicians; his government is corrupt.
Which brings us to the third and final stage, which involves the process of stepping down from power. If Samak manages political power to the satisfaction of most, he can survive four years. If not, he has to explore the process of stepping down. This is common knowledge for CEOs in the corporate world. And this is true in democracy.
9 comments:
PEOPEL POWER TO THE PEOPLE CAMBODIA!
THE CAMBODIAN PEOPLE NEED A REVOLUTION!
THE PEOPLE NEED TO DISSEMINATE INFORMATION ABOUT PEOPLE POWER THROUGHOUT CAMBODIA. THIS IS THE ONLY MECHANISM TO BRING ABOUT CHANGES TO CAMBODIA.
SAY YES TO PEOPLE POWER!
As log as there is no violent and no one get hurt it's ok to demonstrate to voice your openion. I think thailand democracy is on the right course and bright future.
Cambodia needs a new democracy; the democracy must be from the people.
I think Cambodians don't think the same way of what Thai minority voice is trying to bring down Samak's govt.
Thai people havn't never experienced with suffering history as Cambodians had.
Cambodians todays care more about their stomaches than democracy while Thais are enjoying domcracy and freedom and expect more...
8:17PM
You make more sense than 99 percent of the people on this site. What you see with people protesting is not the demonstration of whatever they're trying to show, it is because people have nothing better to do, mostly. Those protesters got to be financial stable to be able to go protests for months without working. A normal working person wouldn't waste a day without working.
Basically, those protesters are just arrogant pricks that are well fed and financial stable and have nothing better to do than serving as political tool for others. As for the other group of protesters, the poor, they are there because they get paid. They are not there because of their passion for anything, they are there because they get fed for being there. Ask most of them. You'll see they don't even know why they are there lol.
How can we promote Democracy and Peace together?
How can the ruling party share power with others?
Dear Kith Meng,
Please bring Cash- In ATM to save Cambodian lives from robbery as they can put money in their bank account anytime after work.
Please give opportunity to other Mobile phone to grow as well.
Mobitel is too corrupt! I lost my friend's number. They said I can't open the same number five months later even the number is no longer exist in the system.
But they sold secretly to a dealer for $120 for shit number.
Too corrupt!
Anyway, 016 and 011 help line is also abusive line as well.
"All well said never done anything." That is why Siams discerns quite well the articulate speech by so-called well-known for barking and producing the "nonsense and bullshits" to hide the fact that this country is overwhelmingly destructed by: rampant corruption, power abuse by authority, the ineffectiveness and deficiency in any public work sector, one-man system ... All the above so-well written ability are "born from sperm of the well-known corrupted system and tightly educated by pot pot stlye" and we can see they serve their masters really well and deserve to be promotted like DJ or TV promotters in the past. Go on this way of destruction for your nation and sustain your power and interest for your associates and clans.......
(Bravo Sic)
The summary below helps khmers to understand its leaders a bit better, I guess:
_Hun sen for Khmer: harsh words, crushing and killing.
_Hun sen for YOUN and Siams: bowing, kowtowing and crawling begging to stay in power (Sihamony also kowtowing, crawling to stay in reign.)
Someone better explains if YOUN is not behind everything in Cambodia and Xun Xen did not rule the country in favor of YOUN!!!!!!
10:49 AM
I got a word for you. What is more darker and sinister than a conspiracy is the delusion that there is one. If you still think Cambodia is run by Vietnamese, you need to join that group of conspiracy theorist bullshit that thinks there are aliens being in the world and people get abducted by UFO lol.
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