My First Blog Ever: A Thai Compromise
To me, the simple solution to the Thai political turmoil would have both sides simply learn how to compromise.
At this point, they don’t seem to be able to compromise about anything. It is either my way or no way. I can’t believe that there is no middle ground between their beliefs. As long as they continue not to compromise, the turmoil will continue and Thailand will stagnant. It will become worse and worse and end up as a failed state. Compromise is the only thing that they can save this country from becoming a failure as a country.
For their uncompromised positions, I blame Thaksin for this state of affairs. When he was in power, he was unable to accept anybody else’s point of view. If somebody has the temerity to actually criticize him, he would always react in anger. He would call them lazy, crazy or worse. He would also sue them since libel in Thailand is criminal as well as a civil offence. If you lose a libel suit, you not only have to go to pay the winner of the suit; you could go to jail as well. Thaksin could use his tongue as well as the legal system to silence his critics.
Thaksin could not accept criticism because he was a businessman before he was a politician. As a businessman, you don’t have to worry about people criticizing you. If an employee tried to criticize you as the boss, you could always have them fired. Thaksin was so used to having people worship him as president of a company that he was not used to having people criticize him that he could not deal with it as prime minister of the country. He did not have to take another way as a businessman and he brought his uncompromising way to politics. He could not change as a businessman nor could he as a politician. His uncompromising way was built into his personality because he has ooperated like that for years as a businessman.
The red shirts or the yellow shirts or the current prime minister don’t have the excuse that Thaksin had. They can change the way they do politics and compromise. They can find a third way to do things because they should not have forces that shaped Thaksin as a person. They can remove this burden of always be right and learn that you don’t always have to be to uncompromising to run a country well. You can learn a different way and find a better way tbe o run a country. Thailand will become a failed country if everybody continues to think their way is the only way to make this country a good country.