[Vnbiz] RE : Thai Coup D'Etat

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear Brother Benjaphon,

Thanks for the engaging note.   I understand that many Thais appear to be
happy with the coup and they believe that Thailand will be better.  With all
due respect, I would like to post a reservation note.  But before I go into
my discussion, I would like to tell brother Benjaphon that I really love
Thai people.  The Thai is such a gentle and humble people, with a very
strong Theravada Buddhist influence.  And I love Thai food.  I dream about
travelling to Thailand just to eat all the time.

Now the discussion.  The general rule is that taking over a legitimate
government by force is most of the time a bad thing for the country.  A
legitimate government, even when it becomes corrupt, should be dealt with by
legitimate means, i.e., the law, the court, the press, the process.  Using
force to overthrow a legitimate government is lawlessness.  Lawlessness
breeds lawlessness and will drag the country down a slippery road, possibily
of no return until a very very long time.

Of course, everyone is alleging that Thaksin is corrupt.  Assuming that he
is really corrupt, the law is the way to go.  Maybe long and frustrating,
but that is the only legitimate way.

Are we saying that the new leaders are not corrupt, or do not have anything
wrong with them?  I doubt it.  Every human being has some weakness, some
mistake, some sin.  What would stop another military man to have another
coup 6 months from now, because the new leader is alleged to have something
wrong with him?  Then another 6 months another coup because the second new
leader in turn has something wrong?  And on and on and on?

Lawlessness begets lawlessness.  That is the slippery road downward.

In the meantime, the press and citizen liberty are suppressed.  That would
breed even more corruption and abuse of power on the part of the government,
and that in turn would breed more coups.  Please note that during the late
70's and early 80, Thailand had about one coup per year.  So my prediction
is not so far fetched at all.

This has nothing to do with the Thai people's level of education or
corruption or whatever.  The natural rule operates by itself:  A cow begets
a cow.  A dog begets a dog.  Lawlessness begets lawlessness.

That is why the police cannot shoot and kill criminals, but has to arrest
them and bring them to court.  Citizens cannot shoot and kill criminals but
have to rely on the legal process.  Once force is used freely just because
something or someone is wrong, the society is in the road to chaos.

Of course, every rule has exception.  In some situation a coup d'etat may be
the best thing.  It usually in a case of extreme abuse of power, and the
injustice is so deep, and there is no other way to improve things.  The
Thaksin case is not at all close to that category.  Thailand is a democratic
country with a relatively good press and legal system.  Regardless of how
bad the situation is, there must be a legal process to go.

I have seen many coups d'etat in my lifetime, and rarely seen any
improvement after a coup.  Usually things get worse.  And that makes sense:
Lawlessness begets lawlessness.

It may be too early to tell.  But I am willing to bet that Thailand is going
down hill at least for the next 10 years, if not much longer.  If you
disagree with me, fine.  We don't have to argue much now.  Let's give things
some time to play out.  And I am saying out loud now: "Downhill."

Great day, brother Benjaphon.

Hoanh





On 9/22/06, Benjaphon Thuvanalin <benjaphon.th at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> [Vietnam Business Forum]
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Dear Hoanh,
>
> Just very quick idea.
>
> The coin always has 2 sides, sometime being the democracy with wrong
> leader cause the country enormous losses and sometime coup is not that bad
> when the leader does not want to take over the control. Moreover, we all
> know that governments are corrupted but when it come to selling the country
> (like what Taksin, Former Thailand Prime minister was doing) - nobody can
> accept that.
>
> I have a list of more than 100 questions to Taksin which never been
> answered. If you want to know about what he has done please tell me.
>
> For your information, last election there was 'no vote' around 12 million.
> http://www.boi.go.th/english/how/press_releases_detail.asp?id=1045
>
> What would you do if you were him? What does it mean if the majority of
> educated people hate their leader so much? Also, another thing you need to
> know is the majority of Thais are uneducated people who could be buy out
> with $10-20USD easily. But I tell you what, Taksin did it better than that -
> tell me if you want to know more.
>
> Lastly, if Thais do not take any action like this, Thailand will be just
> next Philippine or Indonesia which is even better because Vietnam will have
> even more chance to surpass Thailand.
>
> Best wishes,
> Ben
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
> Attorney of Law
> Washington DC
>
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