Hot N Cold Politics: From Yes to No, and Back Again

Thailand’s long promised general election, promised since the first year after political usurpation by Prayut Chan O Cha, and the gang, will finally be held after the fifth year since the 2014 coup. But, to what astriction do the good people of Thailand owe this polling to?

Contemplating on contemporary Thai politics, the writer cannot help but draw similarities about the indecisiveness of the current junta’s to that of a prima donna unable to decide on which suitor to go to prom with, or the bridegroom with a case of cold feet. Not to say that the elections importance is superficial or vain, but how serious has Thailand’s commitment to elected governments been really comes to mind. 19 and counting?

 

Major political parties were rallying, anticipating that the election date set for February 2019 was certain, setting wannabe MPs into campaign mode. According to BangkokPost, requests to postpone the election date by small parties were even rejected by key cabinet ministers and NCPO members, including deputy prime ministers Wissanu Krea-ngam and Gen Prawit Wongsuwan.

But, then in early January of 2019, headlines from news desks adhered to Thailand’s political unraveling were all pressing about the protests against further election delays. However, was it Prayut Chan O Cha’s, aka uncle Tuu, desire to give the cold shoulder to representative democracy, and to the Thai public’s cry for voicing their democratic rights? As ChannelNewsAsia points out, maybe the rising concerns that polls will be delayed is due to factors beyond the Election Commission, or even uncle Tuu’s decisioning.

“The muddle over dates was caused by a communication gap between the palace and the military government, according to political insiders and military intelligence sources.”, wrote the Nikkei Asian Review

 

Still, the upcoming election in March is a breath of fresh air from the 5 year staleness of empty promises from “uncle Tuu”, who has brought a revival of the word ขี้ตู่ (Kee-Tuu, meaning to falsely claim as one’s own). Yes, the only logical explanations to Prayut’s indecisiveness is either he is a nimrod (meaning skillful hunter as implied here, and not the more general meaning of the word), or that the authority to make the decision he claimed to make wasn’t his in the first place. Either, Prayut is so skillful, he feels he can do whatever he wants, or he has no real say in what he wants, and is just bluffing through the whole poker game as a proxy distraction for the real god of gambling at the table.

Once the elections are actually held, and this latest democratic debacle blows over Thailand’s political landscape, how would uncle Tuu be seen by history could very well be foretold by the March 24 election results. If enough people actually want to prove how nimrodic uncle Tuu is, and elects him (people meaning the junta’s hand picked upper house members, and whatever morsel of the Thai population), maybe he will be jotted down as a slick hunter that patiently stalked towards bagging a political legacy. But, if “rumours” of a recent walk out on Phalang Pracharat Party’s rally in Mahasarakham holds to be more than intentional discrediting by manipulations, then uncle Tuu would probably go down as just another tool of Thailand’s ever deceptive political charade.

Anyways, this Katy Perry song is for you, uncle Tuu.

‘Cause you’re hot then you’re cold

You’re yes then you’re no

You’re in then you’re out

You’re up then you’re down

You’re wrong when it’s right

It’s black and it’s white

We fight, we break up

We kiss, we make up

(You) You don’t really want to stay, no

(You) But you don’t really want to go-o