Opinion: No govt can think too much of itself

Politics is the art of hiding personal issues while implementing them, or some of them, under the guise of national interests, and failures often result in uprisings.

This week the alarm bell has screamed several times. First, the tariff problem with the United States is reaching a critical point, and everyone can see that the Paetongtarn government is not totally focused on the problem.

Then we have Thaksin Shinawatra denouncing Hun Sen, not for what the Cambodian strongman has done to Thailand, but for what he has done to the Shinawatra family, his daughter to be exact.

Third, Thais are seeing more and more for whom the Entertainment Complex bill was probably catered. The reasons why it came about in the first place and why it has been shelved reeked of personal agendas and political expediency rather than public interest.

There are such things as political clans. But while the need to protect their own vested interests is common, they can only go so far when it comes to prioritisation of a leader.

No leadership survives widespread perception of being too preoccupied with itself to pay serious attention to public problems.

This statement is not right from start to finish: “I used to be close to him—like brothers. But after what he did to my daughter, I was shocked. How could this even happen? As for the relationship… let it end. I don't care anymore.”

There are too many serious questions. If Hun Sen had been nice to Paetongtarn, would Thaksin, who undeniably has great influences over the ruling Pheu Thai Party, have treated Thailand’s problems with Cambodia differently?

The “brothers” part makes critics wonder. Was ex-Red Shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan onto something when he suggested that the

Entertainment Complex bill was withdrawn because of that kind of relationship? Was Thaksin’s Hun Sen outburst a smokescreen then?

Many of the world’s most famous downfalls followed failures to hide personal motives that had enriched ruling politicians. But upheavals were what “affected them”, and therefore not the ultimate bad consequences.

Unfocused governance affects the innocent public more than the wrongdoers, who may be overthrown, sent to jail or exiled. The guilty parties are unlikely to be rattled by, say, America’s high tariffs.

It’s Thai exporters and the general public who will bear the biggest brunt of the Trump policy. Yet how could a government concentrate on the US deadline when it had to deal with personal matters gone wrong with Cambodia, and the suspension order of the Constitutional Court?

For the Paetongtarn government, the problem is two-fold. It is perceived to have a personal agenda when it comes to major policies like Digital Wallet and Entertainment Complex. Then the alleged personal agenda caused problems that forced it to think more about itself.

Forget about public or parliamentary cooperation on major legislative pushes. There are always doubts as to what actually motivated a government policy.

This has brought back to mind the confusing telecom landscape when Thaksin was prime minister. He was also the patriarch of Thailand’s biggest telecom firm at the time, although he technically had other people “own” shares of his business empire.

It was a time of great suspicion. All government decisions whether they concerned the setting up of independent supervisory bodies, or state regulations, or deregulation measures led to prevalent skepticism.

The result is a political divide which has hindered Thailand’s governmental progress until today. Economic impact is more difficult to estimate.

Whether Yingluck Shinawatra was a victim of political persecution or just trying to implement a family agenda was a lesser matter. Her administration’s rocky reign was plagued with protests, charges concerning vested interests, and suspicion that even a big programme purportedly intended for poor farmers was a dishonest policy.

It’s a cliché to say the Thai politics can’t go on like this. After all, it has been going on like this for decades now.

But it is safe to say that Thaksin and Yingluck had got it relatively easy. There was no Donald Trump breathing down their necks threatening to destroy the Thai economy if they were not focused. There was no “Team Thailand” to worry about 24 hours a day.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra is different. But nobody is counting on her to make any difference.