A critic's stereotypes, flip-flops and unguarded optimism

The gross stereotypes: Thirayuth said during the annual October 14 Foundation fund-raising dinner that what rural villagers had obtained after years of elections was some "loose change" from corrupt politicians.

 The remark simplifies all rural voters as vote-sellers. This is definitely far from accurate.

 It also doesn't answer the question as to the complexity of the fact that many poor supported the Thai Rak Thai populist policies chiefly because of the "policies", and not for old-school patronage politics.

 There are many poor voters in Bangkok, too, and little complaint is heard about their role in the capital's gubernatorial election.

 Theerayuth may be right in warning Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej not to incite violence. However, he himself fell into that trap when he generalised the recent violent clashes in a few provinces between anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy and pro-government forces by saying the latter are "ready to resort to violence".

 Are all government and Thaksin Shinawatra supporters in local areas really as violence-prone as Thirayuth suggests?

You should be the judge.

On flip-flops: Yes, Thirayuth flip-flops about his past without much remorse.

 He warned that a coup is no longer the answer. "Solving the problem through a coup d'etat will not work," he said.

 This is the same Thirayuth who gave initial and crucial support to the junta-appointed regime of Surayud Chulanont.

 The academic even fondly christened Surayud's Cabinet "the old ginger" Cabinet, in reference to what he then believed to be a group of virtuous wise old men appointed by the military to save Thailand.

 Thirayuth failed to mention Surayud in his latest speech. He said he was disappointed, but didn't know why he even bothered to bring up the name of the former junta-appointed premier at all.

 Nothing was said about how he misled much of the nation into believing that the old ginger Cabinet would be efficient.

 The new Thirayuth no longer sees any military solution as an option?

 The man's exact words on his own handout text read, "Solving the problem through a coup won't work".

 Is a coup really an option for "resolving" political problems at all - either now or in the past?

Ask Thirayuth.

Unguarded optimism: Thirayuth suggested the judges of various courts of justice should "speed up" corruption trials against politicians such as Thaksin.

 The problem is, wouldn't any speeding-up affect the quality of the trial?

 He said the hope for Thailand partially lay in greater judicialisation of politics.

 But no question was asked about the side effects of dragging the courts deeper into politics or who will provide a check and balance to the courts.

 Nothing was mentioned about the need to reform the courts, such as to decriminalise discussion of court verdicts, which currently could put the person involved in jail for contempt.

 In a more democratic society, court rulings such as the recent US Supreme Court's split judgement on the citizen's right to bear arms was fiercely debated by the American media.

 In Thailand, a similar attempt could land people in jail. Thai society cannot openly criticise courts of justice, and yet Thirayuth appears to have unguarded optimism about them.