You can condemn the selfish middle class, deplore the gullibility of the poorly informed "grass roots" or denounce the strong culture of patronage.

The September 19 coup, however, happened because we have been cursed. It's as simple as that.

While the interim government's move to launch an all-out probe into alleged tax and stock irregularities involving Thaksin Shinawatra, his family and associates is most welcome, it also rubs salt in our wounds.

Why can't our political system do that under a "democratic" government?

Why do we always need a coup to expose or scrutinise shady deals or transactions or politicians' mysterious wealth? And, most importantly, even if Thaksin & Co are brought to justice and power is "returned", will we go back to square one again?

Can political reform produce a system where corrupt politicians cannot hide behind their "democratic" popularity and are held responsible for all their sins without the help of tanks and guns?

It was extremely hard - even when we had far less powerful governments - to give political crooks justice. We can count with the fingers on one hand the ministers who have been legally punished through our democratic system over the past two or three decades. Wrongdoers are "kicked upstairs" or transferred to less influential posts. Some are forced to resign by public pressure but never legally penalised.

The Democrat government fell in mid 1990s following a Phuket land-grab scandal, not because of the country's legal arms, but because of the defection of a major coalition ally. It was no different with other governments.

Many have bemoaned this coup, but few have condemned its deep-rooted cause. Anti-coup critics tend to portray corruption as a "pretext" for military takeovers, but while they may be right in suspecting that most coups carry hidden motives, they ignore the truth that this "pretext" is real evil. Would the coup have been possible if Thaksin had paid taxes for the Temasek deal? Would it have been possible without Ample Rich and all the fishy stock transactions?

For all the conspiracy theories portraying Thaksin as someone doomed because he was too popular, the answer is "No".

Of course, the coup leaders might have had a hidden agenda, and the generals might one day become a corrupt and abusive bunch themselves. But the bottom line is, without corruption no military men will ever be able to realise dark ambitions.

Any so-called "democratic" system that breeds graft will never survive, no matter how we preach the value of ballot boxes. Any democracy that fails to handle Ample Rich, allows those involved in the CTX scandal to remain in positions is doomed right there - not when tanks roll onto the streets.

Are the generals a bigger evil? Only time will tell. But who's ultimately to blame? When we know a demon is lurking yet we perform a black ritual to call him out to the open, who should we blame?

Maybe the coup is a disaster. Maybe it's a big setback to national progress. But what have we done over the past five years to protect ourselves from such a "setback"? What has our "democracy" done when it came to the issues of huge unpaid taxes and massive corruption?

Some argue that the people will learn eventually, no matter how slowly. But the same people admit that Thaksin would have won an upcoming election by a landslide.

If he had won that now-doomed election, would there have been an investigation into the Temasek deal? Would Thailand's democracy have developed under him to the point where the Revenue Department came to its senses and said, "Well, it's obviously a deal that must be taxed"?

If the Thaksin system was democracy, it was democracy at its arrogant, abusive and suicidal worst.

If that "democracy" was still around, would the likes of Suriya Jungrungreangkit, the man in the middle of the CTX scandal, and Thanong Bidaya, who kept lecturing Thais why the Temasek deal was not taxable, make their way back to the Cabinet? Would they ever be censured and impeached by a democratic Parliament and lose their jobs if similar scandals occurred?

And come to think of it, who was the last minister thrown out by Parliament for alleged corruption? In fact, how many political crooks have been brought down by parliamentary censure over the past 30 years?

Condemn this coup if you like. Damn the generals to hell, or die to state your cause, if you will. But at least give corruption the similar treatment it deserves.

Unless Thai society does so with uncompromising conviction, we will be trapped in this vicious circle for eternity. 

Tulsathit Taptim

The Nation