Thailand's King Warns of Social Catastrophe for Thailand by Phairath Khampha 24 December 2001 His Majesty the King of Thailand, Bhumiphol Adulydej, delivering one of his strongest birthday speeches ever, warned on December 4, 2001 that corruption, ego, and double standards were doing a disservice to Thailand, which he suggested was staring catastrophe in the face. His Majesty the King warned that Thailand was stepping backwards to disaster instead of making progress and obliquely cautioned the prime minister to be tolerant of criticism. Arrogance, disunity, selfishness and double standards was causing the ruin of the country. It was nothing short of a slap in the face of Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Having denied throughout his first year in office just how bad a situation the country was in, the prime minister, who had so often blasted respected and knowledgeable critics who have dared question his policies, was made to face up to reality by the one person who can truly make him listen--the King. "Today, I intend to talk about catastrophe, not development," the much revered monarch told hundreds of local dignitaries led by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who gathered at the Dusidalai Throne Hall. "I think we all know that our country is not developing, but everything seems to be on a decline." This was said in the middle of his speech after the King had spent some time explaining some of the royal projects. In previous years, His Majesty barely used such terms as "catastrophe", let alone saying that Thailand was on the brink of it. The king said he was aware Mr Thaksin was unhappy with his speech "The prime minister has a long face now after I mentioned catastrophe," said His Majesty, drawing some laughter. "But I'm telling the truth, because whatever we do, there seems to be big problems. The prime minister may appear to be happy, but deep down inside he's definitely not." The monarch said that a country's progress required unity, and that ego and double standards, particularly among the elite, would spawn disaster. The King said: "So many people have noticed the country is in a state of disaster instead of prosperity. Everything is getting worse and worse." He mentioned several times the way Thailand was racing towards disaster due to arrogance, conflict among people and the spread of double standards. The monarch encouraged everyone to keep working together for development by using his "old formula" of being united. "Two persons - with different ideas, different experiences and different knowledge - cannot be made to think the same way. When we have an idea and others say it is not right, they have the right to say so. But everybody needs to lower his ego to prevent difference of ideas from being counter-productive. In a jibe at the prime minister, His Majesty said light-heartedly that workshops and seminars theoretically could help harmonise different opinions but had practically become pleasure trips. The cabinet recently held a "mobile meeting" on a train that turned out to be nothing more than a holiday trip for politicians, and the prime minister was fond of organising workshops to brainstorm cabinet members, officials and experts on all major issues. The King stressed several times that double standards had become evident and were leading Thailand backwards to calamities. "This is why we need seminars or workshops. Workshops require mutual discussions and implementation. What happens here can't be called a workshop because it's only I who does the talking. What has been done is not a workshop either. To take a train and go on a vacation is just not right." The King said that ego and double standards were a dangerous mix. "People get angry at others who express a different opinion, while in fact they should be angry at themselves. But we must be angry at ourselves the most when we say something today, only to say something else tomorrow. "They call it 'double standards' in English. When we think what we do is good but when foreigners [say the same thing], we call it bad, that is double standards. This practice hinders progress. To deal with suffering or catastrophe, we must learn how to suppress double standards. "Those who have double standards will keep stumbling because one leg tends to get in the way of the other. That's why it's such a dangerous thing. "It's important that we understand this particular word. Think about it and avoid it. When two persons think differently, there will be [just quarrel]. But when we conflict ourselves, there's internal trouble. A lot of people forget what they have just said and say something to conflict themselves. When that happens, the damage is on us. I would like to emphasise this point because I think it's very important." He objected to Bangkok governor Samak Sundaravej's idea to trim stray dogs' ears after they are neutered. He suggested alternatives like the use of microchips to facilitate tracking them, to keep the dogs good-looking enough for people to want to adopt them. He referred to Thong Daeng (copper), one of the 40 stray dogs he has adopted. He has three other dogs he bought. He was concerned that some municipalities are dumping garbage and waste into streams, and proposed the use of waste treatment ponds and bacteria to turn it into fertiliser. At the end, the monarch asked how he could be happy when people were still fighting and blaming each other. "There is an English saying that the King is always happy, or `Happy as the King' - which is not true at all. But I can be as happy as the king if all of you know what is right and what is wrong and co-operate to fix things," he said. Thailand's premier urged to heed King's warnings - Double standards causing confusion Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra must throw aside his ego and partisan approach if he earnestly wanted to solve national problems, academics said on December 5. Thianchai Wongchaisuwan, director of Thai Vision Project, said Mr Thaksin must heed the warnings Thailand's King made in his speech to the nation on December 4 to mark his 74th birthday. The messages were clear: the prime minister could not be too optimistic and he also must not apply double standards, Mr Thianchai said. The King, he said, was straightforward in telling Mr Thaksin to accept the fact that Thailand's economic situation remained disastrous and what his government did was not always right and was doing little to improve the situation and, if anything at all, was worsening the problem because of arrogance, greed and selfishness. "The King wants Mr Thaksin to see that problems are still serious and difficult to solve. Not one of the economic indices has improved. The government does not have the luxury to think it has never done anything wrong," Mr Thianchai said. "That is true arrogance." He said the King also warned Mr Thaksin against using double standards as that would only cause confusion both at home and abroad about where Thailand was going. Mr Thianchai said the King knew that although Mr Thaksin looked confident on the outside, deep in his heart he knew that pulling the country out of recession was extremely difficult. Still, Mr Thaksin believed only his way was the right way. "One day he said the government was not interested in trade but in grass-roots economy. The next day he said something totally different," Mr Thianchai said. "That is why the King warned he cannot have too many hearts. He must set only one single standard in doing things. That is the measure of a true leader." Prayad Hongthongkham, a Chulalongkorn political scientist, said double standards were dangerous because they helped one but hurt another. Mr Prayad said Mr Thaksin had been a poor example himself. The prime minister, while saying everyone on the board of the Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority was in the wrong for making the state pay a 6.2 billion baht (US$1 = 44.5 Thai baht) penalty to a contractor, did not even wonder why former Bank of Thailand governor Rerngchai Marakanond was the only one at fault in the failed defence of the baht. The government also must stop thinking it was always right and start listening to others, as the King had advised, Mr Prayad said. The monarch said problems could be overcome only if all agreed to reasonable discussion, face-to-face. Ritual obfuscation by politicians and corrupt elite after the King's wise warning It seems, however, that the King's wise words nevertheless left most of the Thai government cabinet untouched and that there subsequently was a frantic build up of smoke rings around that message to mislead the people about their ministerial negligence and incompetence. Should any of them think now to go further and imitate former prime minister Chavalit's latest empty grandstanding, they should keep in mind his promise to the Isaan people back in 1996: "I would rather starve than let the Isaan people suffer any longer". In 2001, not just the Isaan but also the Thai people had become much leaner than then and he was by far much fatter than his usual obese figure. The latest Abac poll on the Thai government's performance, therefore, hid the reality of strong public dissatisfaction, as revealed by the very high percentage of uncommitted. The strong rating for Thaksin included a large percentage of those dismayed to see no alternative to him: the parliamentary zoo was still composed of the same irreclaimable corrupt predators and leeches who had brought Thailand into ruin. The first sign that Thaksin's promises were to be good would be when all the most notorious politicians and bureaucrats would be brought to court and all their pseudo-legal obfuscations promptly quashed. Yet, there is a saying about a country getting the type of government it deserves and it must hurt the more honest Thais to have to admit that they the Thais, in many respects, bring problems on themselves by electing politicians who promptly forget why they were supposed to be in office. In addition the Thai people tolerate a system designed to protect and serve the corrupt and incompetent rather than hold them truly accountable. It is not a nice picture and there does not seem to be any end in sight.