This week Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha asked the opposition to put politics aside and concentrate on helping the government contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Now is not the time for politics or criticizing the government, the prime minister said, but a time to cast aside petty differences less the coronavirus outbreak consume the entire country.
These are not unreasonable requests.
In a time of crisis, politicians would do well to inspire a nation by learning to work together.
The opposition
To put Prayut’s statement into context, the opposition parties had been hounding him publicly and privately to hold a ad-hoc parliamentary meeting for weeks.
Move Forward Party’s Pita Limjaroenrat told Thai Enquirer in a recent interview that the opposition were united in wanting such a meeting because they felt that ordinary Thais were being left behind by the government’s policies.
Pita said that while there was nothing wrong with uniting for the greater good and putting aside differences, the opposition had an obligation to its voters to hold the government to account when its policies were adversely affecting the people.
Pita said that it was important to offer the critiques in a constructive way, especially during a crisis.
To be fair to the opposition, the government has introduced some calamitous policies that was lined with good intentions but failed in execution.
Thais have been left behind. Suicide rates have spiked.
While the government should be applauded for introducing policies which have contained the Covid-19 virus so far they have, through incompetency and poor execution, failed to ensure that ordinary Thais can survive these measures.
Sometimes the cure is worse than the actual disease.
Yet I am not completely without sympathy for our wannabe despot/prime minister. In a crisis, politicians should come together and not critique every little failing.
For example, this coronavirus crisis does mandate a state of emergency decree and calls this week by Pheu Thai MPs that the government was abusing its power by extending the SOE is unfounded.
We have seen around the world what happens when governments apply the breaks on their lockdown measures, a second wave of infections is very possible.
While we have to be vigilant about any possible abuse of power, there is no inherent reason why the government should not extend the SOE to ensure the safety of its citizenry even if the number of cases are falling.
Where Prayut loses me
Yet the prime minister loses my sympathy when he calls for unity and not politics as usual because the loudest political distractions that have been going on is coming from his own party.
Palang Pracharat Party for weeks have dominated headlines as a leadership struggle between party leader Uttama Savanayana and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan spills into the public sphere.
The prime minister says he deserves the patience of the public and the opposition but how can we respect a man who can’t even control in-faction fighting within his own party.
It seems like Prayut’s Mephistopheles deal is coming to an end and the devil that he has made his bed with has come a calling.
Let’s remember that Palang Pracharat is not a real political party. It is a hastily put together patchwork of local political mafiosos, military men, opportunists, and people who do not believe in democracy.
There should be no sympathy extended when one wing fights with the next. If Prayut wants to unite the country under one banner and stop politics from dominating the headline, he would do well to heed his own advice and stop his embarrassment of a party from airing their dirty laundry in public.
The opposition have been critical, yes. But they are doing so because they are concerned about the welfare of the public.
I have my doubts that the trouble inside the ruling coalition are for the public good and not personal gain.
