Political Wives In Thailand’s Cabinet
I don’t even know whether to laugh or cry when I read the names of the women who have been appointed last week in Thailand’s new government. There are four women and thirty men in the cabinet. All of them are wives of politicians of the defunct Thai Rak Thai Party. Poonpirom Liptapanlop, Energy Minister is the wife of Suwat Liptapanlop, the banned politician from the Thai Rak Thai party, Anongwan Thepsuthin, Natural Resources and Environment Minister, the wife of Somsak Thepsuthin, former member of the banned Thai Rak Thai party. Ranongrak Suwanchawee, wife of Pairoj Suwanchawee, another banned member of the Thai Rak Thai party, a nurse by profession but got appointed to Deputy Finance Minister Post. Uraiwan Thienthong, Labour Minister, the wife of Sanoh Thienthong, former member of the defunct Thai Rak Thai Party. I support women in politics, but not in this way. The route for women to power and leadership positions in the government should be by their own capability and qualification, not because they happened to be married to well-connected politicians. It is an insult to a large number of Thai women who have fought for years for women’s equal participation in the country’s political development. It is ashamed, that a result of the last election, things had turned out this way.
Filed under Thailand | Comment (0)Thailand’s Election
The people of Thailand, through their ballots of 23 December, had clearly expressed their desire to have the country run by a coalition government under the “populist policy” of the two parties: the People Power Party and the Democrat Party. The People Power Party won the election with 233 seats in the Parliament, when the Democrat Party got only 165 seats. No party wins enough votes to form a new government, therefore, a coalition with other small parties that won election has to be formed. This is a big change from the days when the Thaksin’s Thai RakThai “one-party-rule system” dominated the parliament and the country. The Election Commission is to be congratulated for conducted a fair election, without violence. Tulsathit Taptim in his article, “The nation’s head and heart spoke at once” in the Nation newspaper, was correct in saying that this election was a “bye-bye to the military”, but not a “welcome home Thaksin”. When Thaksin returns to the country, he will have to go straight to Court to fight the various corruption cases that he and his family were accused of. For sure, political polarization will continue in Thailand. But like in other democratic countries, Thailand will have to learn how to govern through negotiations and compromises between the two political poles of these two dominant parties in public interest. Fighting each other in the streets will lead the country to nowhere.
Filed under Thailand | Comment (0)Preference For Sons - Girls Gone Missing
Preference for sons has long been part of Asian’s culture and tradition based on believing in male-superiority in society. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) alerts us that one of the most alarming change in Asia’s population dynamics in recent decades has been a dramatic increases in the proportion of males within its local populations. There is now an average of 120-130 male born for every 100 female born per year in India and China and similar trend in other countries. At the Fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights, held in Hyderabad, India, two months ago, UNFPA presented the study “Sex-ratio Imbalance in Asia: Trends, Consequences, and Policy Responses”. After analyses of the consequences of the growing gender imbalances in the population of four studies conducted in India, China, Viet Nam and Nepal, the participants came to a conclusion that gender discrimination, son preference and the resultant unequal status of women and girls have contributed to an increasing demand for sex selection services. As a way forward, they recommended that governments and civil-society organizations should take priority action to eliminate sex selection. I agree that sex selection, with assistance from new ultrasound and amniocentesis technology, can lead to the problem of “Girls Gone Missing” through the abortion of female fetus. But I disagree with their way forward recommendation to elimination sex selection altogether. Stopping the abortion of female fetus, as practiced by a small group of women in the population, is not the same as stopping all the people from sex selection/services and access to information and technology. It is wrong for the participants to encourage governments and civil society organizations to take action against the right of parents to have the freedom to choose the size of their own family, the sex of their child, and the use of modern technology to improve the quality of their own lives. I have been working for years in population information, education and communication field in programs and projects where sex selection information was provided freely to parents along with information on family planning methods. We should keep the free flow of information to the people, especially, when we see success such as the Thailand Family Planning Program, which is based on the provision of unrestrictive information makibg use of available modern technologies. Authoritarian force must not be used by anyone to solve the problem of missing girls in the population. Instead we should use persuasive methods and give advice on appropriate technology for sex selection, while at the same time, provide gender equality and human rights education for all people from childhood to adulthood. Parents will then be able to make their own free choice about the number and sex of their children based on knowledge and understanding of the equal value of the male and female child. Without change in respecting women’s integrity and their right to be in charge and control of their own body, authoritarian government and religious authority will not succeed in stopping the women to abort female fetus from their own body.
Filed under Gender Issues, Thailand, United Nations | Comment (0)Doubling the Numbers of Women in Parliament
Thailand’s women are celebrating their success in integrating the women’s concerns into the newly adopted 2007 Constitutions, which guaranteed equality between women and men in Articles 30, 80, 87, 97, 114 and 152. In preparing for the upcoming election, which will be held on December 23 of this year. Political parties are now opening doors for women to participate as members, and as candidates to run in the new election. The target is to double the numbers of women in the new Parliament. Tn Thailand, women never had more than 12 per cent elected to the Parliament. In the meeting of 24 August 2007, at Rama Garden Hotel in Bangkok, organized by the Gender and Development Research Institute (GDR), “We Move”, Women Political Reform Group, Women and 2550 Constitution Group, and the full support from the Government’s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, female politicians from all over the country came together to discuss their problems in running for election, to learn from each other’s experiences, and to plan a new strategy for participation in the next election. Participants and organizers believe that the new constitution has given them a push, a sort of a fresh start, to get more women to run as candidates. Those who already have decided to run, will meet again on 11-12 September to map out their techniques and tactics that will bring success to their election campaigns, especially strategy on how to gain support from the local and national mass media. Listening to the strength and determination of the participants at the meeting, I have no doubt that many of them will overcome obstacles and win seats in the Parliament — doubling the numbers of women there as they all hope to do.
Filed under Gender Issues, Thailand | Comment (0)State Religion Rejected
The Constitution Drafting Assembly of Thailand voted overwhelmingly (66-9)
against raising the status of Buddhism to “state religion” on 29 June, based on principles of freedom and equality. “Democracy does not force people to have or follow the same culture and that people are free to choose their beliefs equally” as Pasong Soonsiri, head of the Drafting Committee, says. I want to congratulate him and other members of the committee for successfully keeping religions out of state affairs, thus keeping the country away from dictatorship of one religion over the others. The protesting monks should go back to their temple to meditate and continue a further study of Buddha’s teaching. They should also learn to take into consideration that there are many people in the country who are non-believers, who want to think for themselves. They want to have an equal right as citizens of a country that allows them to remain free from intimidations and brainwashing of any religious teacher in a country that respects equal human rights of all citizens from all cultures.
Conflict Management
Expressing differences of opinion is part and parcel of a “democratic form of governance” It is interesting for me to watch what is going on in Thailand from New York, where we have free access of information technology and Internet. I watch international news in CNN, BBC World Services, ASTV (Asia Satellite Television), PTV (People’s Television) broadcasted from Bangkok. Every day, I read the Thai and English language news on line from http://www/matichon.co.th, http://www.manager.co.th, http://www.nationmultimedia.com, and watch videos from http://www.youtube.com (which I cannot do from Bangkok). I am quite concern about the situation in the country right now, where people are very much divided based on conflict of interests, economically and politically. Suthichai Yoon, editor of the Nation newspapers said that Thailand is in danger of falling deeper into the trappings of a “failed state” unless we get out of confrontation and obsession with the “Thaksin syndrome”. I agree with him that we should take Thaksin and generals out of political equation and bring us on the road to normalcy and democracy. Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister who in 2004 chaired the United Nations High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, also warned of the danger of Thailand becoming a “failed state”, ungovernable, unless we deal seriously with the issues that divide the people in the country. The present interim government, and the justice system have successfully brought back the “rule of law” to the country by dealing with the large-scale corruptions, allowed to occured by the Thaksin’s government. Now we need to focus on conflict-management and training which are needed to prevent violence and street fighting that could happen between now and the upcoming election campaign before the end of this year.
Filed under Thailand | Comment (0)State Religion?
Religion tends to divide people more than unite them, therefore it has no place in affairs of states. Seth Mydans’ article in today’s International Herald Tribune, “Thailand Set To Make Buddhism The State Religion” warns us of further divisions among the Muslims and the Buddhists in the country, if Buddhism is included in the draft new constitution as state religion. We have enough problems with violence in the Southern four provinces. To create new intense situation in the country, on account of one religion, is unwise for the country as a whole, where people of whatever faiths they choose to live by, have a right to live in peace. This issue alone will get more people to vote “no” for the newly drafted constitution.
Filed under Thailand | Comment (0)Religious Beliefs Have No Place in Constitution
Constitution is a document that set up the way the government is run and organized. It is a document in which these laws and principles are written down for all citizen of the land, not for a particular group of peoples following a certain religious faith. Law should be set up based on the aspiration of the people, including non-believers, and those who do not follow any organized religion. Secular and spiritual affairs cannot be mixed. Globally, only a few countries have declared a state religion in the constitution. The majority of governments in the world have separated religion from affairs of the states. Declaring a state religion is therefore, non-democratic. A civilized society should be organized and run by all the people living in the same land/country. In a democratic government, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims, Hindus and Atheists have equal opportunity to participate in governing on an equal footing. I, for one, cannot accept the demand of the group of monks in Thailand that Buddhism be written in the newly drafted Constitution as a “State Religion”. The demand already is encouraging further divisiveness among the people in the country. It is best for Thailand to remain a secular state as before.
Filed under Thailand, Travel | Comment (0)Good Coup/Bad Coup: Dilemmas in the Struggle for Democracy
The Thai military coup last month, presents dilemmas to the members of the Thai women’s movement. This article shows that although many women in Thailand were relieved that the corrupted government of Thaksin’s Regime was overthrown some were disappointed when the Council for Democratic Reform abolished the 1997 Constitution along with the Thaksin Government. It was like “throwing the baby out with the bath water” as the old saying goes. For the last ten years, Thai Women’s Watch, a women’s group formed to follow-up the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference Platform for Action, had been at the forefront of promoting Thai women’s participation in politics and appointments in decision-making in the government. They don’t want to see the efforts gained thrown out by the coup, especially the Article 30 and 80, which recognized gender equality, and the elimination of discrimination based on sex. Professor Pawadee Thonguthai of Thammasart University, Vice-President of Thai Women’s Watch Group, says “those articles in the 1997 Constitution relating to equal rights for men and women are non-negotiable.” WE MOVE group, formerly known as the “Women and Constitution Network”, decided to show their position to the coup leaders by not pushing to have women in the interim cabinet that was set up. But the Council for Democratice Reform surprised them two weeks after the coup by the appointment of 10 women among the 65 members of the Advisory Committee to advise the interim government on democratized governance. The Article 3 of the draft Interim Constitution guarantees basic rights, human dignity, and equality under the law in accordance with the democratic rule under the King as head of state. Two professionally qualified women were appointed to the new cabinet: Dhipavadee Meksawan and Khaisri Sriarun. The Office of the Attorney General is now headed by a woman, Jaruwan Mentaka, to investigate corruptions and the abuse of power by members of Thaksin government. A female Appeal Court judge, Sodsee Sattayatham was appointed to the Election Commission. Seventeen women from different professional groups and walks of life were appointed to the 342 members of the National Legislative Assembly. Last week, for the first time in Thai history, Tarisa Wattanakes was elected by the board to head the Bank of Thailand. Thai women’s opinions on the recent coup are as diverse as those of Thai men. There are women who are against Thaksin and support the coup. There are those that support Thaksin and are against the coup, and there are also those women who are against Thaksin and against the coup. As long as women like Rosana Tositrakul, Veena Thoopkrajae, journalists, the People’s Alliance for Democracy and female university students are continually allowed to speak out on their opinions, between now and next year’ s national election; there is hope for the future of Thai democracy.
Filed under Thailand, World Affairs | Comment (0)Cleaning-up the Sea and Ocean
Walking along the famous Hua Hin beach in Thailand recently, I was shocked to see that the beach and the sea were dirty. It is difficult for me to understand why a country that spends a large sum of taxpayer’s money in promoting tourism, can allow its beaches to deteriorate into such a filthy condition. Why would the visitors want to come to swim in a polluted sea or sunbathe on dirty beaches? This problem can be solve so easily, because pollution are made by people throwing garbage in to the sea, and sending chemical-filled waste water from opened pipes of houses and apartments straight onto the beaches. Health and municipality officials can make changes by giving public education, combined with strong penalty measures aiming to stop polluters from damaging the environment. By joining over 100 countries that will take part in the United Nations-supported campaign “Clean Up the World Weekend”, 15-17 September 2006, Thailand should use this occasion to focus on cleaning up it’s beaches. This clean-up campaign was started in 1989 when an Australian solo yachtsman and builder Ian Kiernan, appalled by the amount of rubbish he came across while sailing, organized a clean up of the Sydney Harbor, during which some 40,000 volunteers removed rusted car bodies, plastics, glass bottles and cigarette butts from the water. Thailand should continue with the good work already done in the South by cleaning up the seas and beaches after the December 2004 Tsunami Disaster. On the other hand, I was amazed to read the other day that there are swarms of lowly thumb-sized ocean creatures called “Salps” that occupied as much as 38,600 square miles of the ocean surface from Australia to South Africa, the Southern United States, Western Mediterranean Sea to the North Atlantic Ocean! From my point of view, these creatures are disgusting ocean polluters, but marine scientists said that salps play a critical role in transporting a greenhouse gas into the deep sea. They eat up to 74 percent per day of the marine plants called phytoplankton, which absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, much of which results from the fossil fuels human beings burned and sent up to the atmosphere. The salps then defecated. Their sinking pellets transport up to 4,000 tons of carbon daily down to deeper water. The irony of the situation is that sometimes polluters can be useful. In this case, the salps pollute the sea water while contribute to preventing carbon from re-entering the atmosphere by sinking it to the bottom of the sea, thus preventing the greenhouse effect and possibly global warming.
Filed under Environment, Thailand | Comment (0)