Lessons from Thailand: Change does not come easy

The leader of Thailand’s Move Forward Party Pita Limjaroenrat, who is vying to be the country’s next Prime Minister after securing a majority in May’s general election, failed in his initial bid to win the premiership. He fell short of the necessary 375 votes in a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives of Thailand.

The setback came despite Move Forward emerging as the single largest winner in the general election, winning on a campaign that promised a break from the old system and replacing it with progressive and transparent government.

After the initial euphoria, the Move Forward Party is learning that resistance to change is a lot harder to overcome even after winning a mandate from the people. Not only has Pita failed in his initial attempt to be PM, he is facing more challenges with the country’s election commission recommending that he be disqualified as a lawmaker because of his ownership of shares in a media company in violation of electoral rules while Thailand’s Constitutional Court announced it has accepted a complaint against Pita and his party over plans to amend the country’s criminal code that punishes insulting the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison. Many in Sri Lanka hailed Pita’s victory as a shining example of how a new party can win over voters and challenge the status quo in countries where many an authoritarian ruler has taken cover under the guise of being democratically elected to office. But what is unfolding in Thailand is a clear example that transiting from years of authoritarian rule does not come easy. Members of powerful families and their cronies desperate to cling on will go to any lengths to ensure that they hold onto the reins as long as possible. Those who have had a taste of power don’t let go easily and dig in as much as possible until they are sent a clear message by voters that their time is up.

Since independence, power in Sri Lanka has been in the hands of a few powerful families with a few interludes in between. The problem is not with politics being a family business, but it has been the arrogance and sense of entitlement with which they have run the country, abused and betrayed the faith that voters have kept in them which has resulted in the present dismal state that the country is in. In Thailand voters came out in substantial numbers to vote in members of a new political party with many fresh faces elected to replace the rulers that they had grown tired of but there is no guarantee that the rightful winners would get the opportunity to form the next government given the many obstacles that have been laid in their path.

There was a brief shining moment in Sri Lanka when the people’s struggle or people’s awakening to the many sins of politicians spilled over to the streets with a call to an end to the “business as usual” attitude as practised by those representing the major parties in the country. There was hope that the outpouring of anger and rejection of the old guard would result in a change in the manner that the country is ruled. But that is yet to happen.

Everyone wants a change for the better for Sri Lanka as well as other countries that are struggling with corrupt and authoritarian politicians taking cover behind the tag of democracy to rule as they please. Come the next national level election, voters in Sri Lanka may choose to go the way of Thailand and vote in younger and new representatives to Parliament but such transition will not be easy. The lesson to be learnt from the Thai experience is that those in power will not let go of it that easily. That is unless voters en mass for a break from the past. It is left to be seen if that can happen here or voters stay divided so that the old guard can still remain relevant and real change for the betterment of the public remains a distant dream.