Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of Chulalongkorn’s Institute of Security and International Studies, said the two sides “believe in different versions of democracy.” while the protesters “want the kind of legitimacy that stems from moral authority. Their feeling is . . . if the elected majority represents the will of the corrupt, it’s not going to work.” Pavin Chachavalpongpun, an associate professor at Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies, said The anti-government protest movement is simply “a minority that is refusing to play the game of electoral politics. They cannot compete with Thaksin, they cannot win elections. So they come up with this discourse of village people being so uneducated they don’t know how to vote,” Pavin said. “But the reality is, these people (Thaksin supporters) are not stupid. They are politically conscious. They have become awakened.” Democrat lawmaker Korn Chatikavanij, a former finance minister, asked last week: “How will this so-called people’s government happen? I still can’t quite imagine.” japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/03/asia-pacific/long-standing-divide-between-rich-and-poor-fuels-thai-conflict/#.Up7u1Y1Q3pA
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 09:06:08 +0000
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