April 6, 2011
By Tulsathit Taptim
The Nation
If my previous article, published last week, read a little optimistic, maybe I need to be restrained after this one.
Who wouldn’t be over-excited anyway? Thaksin Shinawatra has made new phone-ins vowing clean politics. Snoh Thienthong is claiming he can’t retire until politics is clean. Purachai Piumsomboon has returned to the fray with a promise to stay for the long haul and a pledge to, yes, clean up politics. And don’t forget Sondhi Limthongkul’s warning that politics can’t ever be cleaned unless you follow his “No” vote call.
The Democrats are the only ones not making such blatant promises, but only because they don’t need to. Being in control of state budgets, they have understandably avoided the abstract and focused on the “substance”. Their TV advertising, now growing in alarming frequency, has revolved around how taxpayers’ money has been spent for the greater good, leaving Thaksin to sound more bitter with each video-link.
It seems there is nothing left to be cleaned up if we take everybody’s word seriously. That’s not the point, though. Like I said the last time, not every country has this kind of political cast coming together in a single election. We are in for a real treat, which is something the Singaporeans’ money can’t buy, Burma’s dictatorship can’t provide, and the Americans can’t have, even with their primaries and presidential elections combined.
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