A culture of violence has no place in Thai democracy

If the trend isn't checked, the confrontation could lead to unprecedented civil strife in the country.

In more ways than one, the violent attacks over the past week by mobs opposed to protests by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in the provinces - especially those in Buri Ram and Udon Thani -were apparently glossed over by law-enforcement officials.

TV footage from Udon Thani shows policemen standing helplessly by as angry city dwellers, some of them shouting "get them, get them" and armed with sticks and iron bars, went on a rampage, knocking down PAD members who had gathered for a peaceful rally in a park.

Since when have we Thais - who pride ourselves on being 'peace-loving Buddhists' - resorted to the culture of violence in response to people who do not hold identical political opinions?

Theerayuth Boonmee, a respected academic, went as far as predicting that if Thai society can't find a way out of the current stalemate, which is marked by a sense of hatred and revenge, we could see Thailand plunged into a civil war the scale of which has never been witnessed before.

The source of the ongoing crisis of course can be traced to Thaksin Shinawatra, whose political influence stems from populist policies. This has sparked demonstrations that have woken up the middle-class, wary of the dangerous combination of power and corruption at the national level.

Thaksin's response to the call for more effective checks and balances by dissolving Parliament to hold a new election was greeted with a boycott by other political parties. When the threat of a violent clash between the PAD and pro-Thaksin elements emerged, the Army stepped in to stage a coup.

Both Thaksin's arrogant political approach and the then Army chief's decision to intervene with a coup were equally disastrous.

The post-coup election that was supposed to put Thailand back on the 'democratic track' failed to return the country to normalcy. Instead of putting the brakes on the protest movement, the new government, headed by Samak Sundaravej, stepped on the accelerator.

Thaksin's nominees, emboldened by their big electoral win, tried immediately to rewrite the Constitution to whitewash Thaksin and regain the assets frozen by the anti-corruption agencies. That invariably sent the disillusioned protestors back onto the street, this time with intensified vehemence, vowing to rid the country of any vestige of what has come to be known as the remnants of the Thaksin regime.

Samak's provocative approach towards all criticism has made things worse. It was soon clear that some of Thaksin's men were organising "anti- anti-Thaksin rallies", with the government turning a blind eye to some of the violence directed against PAD members.

The PAD's core leaders, of course, are far from innocent bystanders. Some of the heated rhetoric and provocative language they use has stirred angry responses, particularly from the prime minister himself. But PAD rallies have in the main been peaceful and tolerant of provocation from the pro-government apparatchiks.

The clashes in Udon and Buri Ram, both the strongholds of the ruling People Power Party, underscore the dark side of the pro-government mob mentality. As Theerayuth pointed out, the current confrontation has reduced the complicated world view to the simplistic and dangerous single-dimension mentality of "you versus me" or "good versus bad" - or worse, "patriots against traitors".

As it turned out, the popularly-elected Parliament and the government it subsequently put into place, have lost all the credibility they are supposed to wield in an effective democracy. A crisis of confidence in the major political institutions has set in. The people are taking things into their own hands.

To put the country back into a position where reason and accountability prevail, as proposed by former premier Anand Panyarachun, two strong pillars of a democratic society must be reinforced and reconfirmed: a strong, independent and courageous judicial system that firmly upholds the rule of law; and a genuinely free, independent and responsible press.

Before anarchy threatens to break up the fabric of what was once a peace-loving and tolerant society, all possible efforts will have to be made to get the country back on the course of checks and balances - and the highly crucial move to launch a "dialogue of reason" at every level in society.

(Share your views in my blog at http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/ThaiTalk)