Thai democracy

There are lessons for Bangladesh to learn in how both the opposition and the government in Thailand have comported themselves during this process, and how the events have unfolded in a largely peaceful manner towards a workable and generally acceptable solution.

The first thing we note is that even though the anti-Thaksin protests went on for weeks at a time and in many places brought the country to a virtual stand-still, the opposition were granted all the democratic space that they needed in order to make themselves heard. There were no incidents of police beating up demonstrators and the police were evidently under order to maintain law and order but also given instructions to ensure that the demonstrators were able to fully express their dissent.

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Nor were any aspersions cast against the patriotism or motives of the opposition, or was it suggested that they were there was anything untoward in the democratic expression of their dissent.

Second, we must commend Thaksin. We hold no brief for him one way or the other; however, we feel that credit must be given for the fact that he agreed to elections a full three years before the expiry of his term when he realized that he no longer enjoyed the confidence of a large segment of the population.

Similarly, his sensible decision to stand down after the ambiguous results, rather than to stick to his guns and fight it out, as he would have been able to do had he wished, must also be commended.

Finally, we would like to commend the role of the Thai people. The demonstrations were perfect examples of civil dissent and opposition that made their point in a forceful but peaceful manner that ultimately resulted in helping persuade Thaksin to step down.

The last few months have shown signs of a maturing democracy in Thailand, quite distinct from ours, where governments vow to not step down one minute before the end of their terms and where there is no culture of democratic dissent or compromise, even though our democracy is older. We could learn a lot from the events in Thailand of the past few months.