US-Thai military exercise 'will be double standard'

US-Thai military exercise 'will be double standard'

The public should keep an eye on whether the United States adopts a double standard in dealing with the Thai military junta vis-เ-vis the Burmese junta, said political scientist Surachat Bamrungsuk of Chulalongkorn University.

If the US decides to go ahead with the Cobra Gold joint military exercise with Thailand, it would be tantamount to being lenient towards the junta, said Surachat, an expert on the Thai military.

Suchart was speaking at a symposium on militarism and politics in Southeast Asia organised by The Foundation for the Promotion of Social Sciences and Humanities Textbooks Project at Thammasat University.

He said the Thai middle class and mass media, who professed to be pro-democracy, must think harder about how democratic their support for the September 19 coup was.

"Today, intellectuals, former leftists and the media are supporting the coup. We're turning the clock back to the time when the belief that the military can solve political problem held sway," said Suchart, who warned that the cycle of coups would mostly continue.

"The important question is: do Thai intellectuals want democracy or dictatorship? Those who opposed the military in 1992 are now serving the military."

Suchart said his fellow lecturers were now happy to receive Bt104,000 and serve as members of the National Legislative Assembly.

The coup has put Thailand's level of democracy back on par with Burma, he claimed. "Thailand and Burma are now in the same boat - with a junta at the helm," he said.

He said there was now no hope of embarking upon a process of military reform and entering a democratic state of society as South Korea had done, even in the medium term.

Historian and former Thammasat University rector Charnvit Kasetsiri warned the public not to believe all the junta's promises.

"No coup makers in the past professed to want to remain in power forever," he said.

Thanet Aphornsuwan, director of Thammasat University's Southeast Asian Studies programme, said those who supported the junta should simply invite the military to play politics like ordinary people and perhaps set up their own political party.

Sida Sonsri, Thammasat University's political scientist and an expert on the Philippines, said the Philippines' armed forces were more professional and rarely ventured into politics.

"They are more professional compared to Thailand and Indonesia and their political culture is more democratic with no censorship," Sida said. "Their people treat the constitution as absolute and they possess a strong civil society. So the military has no chance to rule the country."

Pornphimon Trichoke, a Chulalongkorn University re-searcher and an expert on Burma, said there was no hope of seeing civilian rule there in the next 20 years, until its huge natural gas reserves run out. "It's far-fetched and I don't think I will see it during my lifetime," he said.

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas, Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation
Mon, January 15, 2007