EDITORIAL: Khun Abhisit: TO BE OR NOT TO BE…

AKP Phnom Penh, July 29, 2011 –

From August 1 through August 6 the leading members of the Democrat Party of Thailand will be frantically busy to cut deals on the composition of the Party executive board including the influential position of Party leader and Party secretary general. It is also the time when Khun Abhisit will cut the deals as to the future policy of the Democrat Party if he is informally “drafted” by the leading members to be the Party leader, which is how the politics of the “losing party” will be shaped in the future and for the future, “if all of you wanted me to be your leader!”

All things that Khun Abhisit had viewed during two years of premiership as the albatross around his neck, as the shackles around his ankles would be discussed and he would have his way if he realized that he has become a rare commodity in the Democrat Party of Thailand.

On his bid public a farewell on TV address scheduled for Monday 1 August, “he is expected to mention his government’s work over the past two years and how determined he was to serve the country as prime minister ” wrote Piyanart Srivalo in The Nation, published on 29 July 2011. Will he stop simply on a note of a good and famous “swan song” for the future of Thailand politics? Or will he flirt with the position of Party leader? – Well, “Thailand is full of possibilities,” wrote a Thai analyst, for individuals who had a chance to taste the sweetness of power, and for politicians who aspire for grandeur. Up to now Khun Abhisit did not yet shut the door close to the position of Party leader. He is reported by The Nation to have said, after the Democrat Party election downfall and the threat by certain number of members to leave the Party, that: “poor management could definitely darken the party’s future but true members would remain in both good and bad times,” a reminder that he is a good soldier and could possibly be a good general.

From the outsiders’ point of view, if Khun Abhisit comes back to be the leader of the Democrat Party, two things will be the hard facts about Thailand, which are (i) the Democrat Party of Thailand does not have any other member better than Khun Abhisit, (a really rare commodity) and (ii) Khun Abhisit will relieve Thai politics from the usual albatross and shackles, otherwise he will not come back. He had sad experiences, as the result of 2011 election proves, holding the power with albatross around his neck and shackles around his ankles.
Pen Ngoeun
The Press and Quick Reaction Unit (PRU)