DEC 12 — What a commotion around us last weekend!
Well, nothing chaotic inside the country, although the bustling party assembly was like a massive kenduri which is bound to come back again next year.
Just across the border in the north, tens of thousands of people besieged the prime minister’s office in Bangkok (Suthep Thaugsuban said there were some five million). The gathering had the ambience of Loi Krathong but far more exciting and adrenaline-charged.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra declared dissolution of the parliament just before she got drenched. That was seen as a drastic measure to put things in order and divert the street demonstrations to election war game.
This is the lovely part of the Thai people. They never fail to make life spicier and less humdrum, and politics has become one of the most important stimulants in their lives.
The red-yellow confrontation is beyond the scope of understanding of outsiders. The same goes for Japan’s annual red-vs-white singing contests that separate artistes into red and white teams based on sex, and which with a little help from the MCs galvanize the entire nation into two opposing camps.
The confrontation in Thailand used to be a war between democracy and populism. The Democrat Party and the masses in Bangkok and Thailand’s Deep South represented democracy, while Thaksin Shinawatra and the northerners the embodiment of populism.
But over the years, the distinction between democracy and populism has become increasingly ambiguous.
The Democrats and their supporters have been unable to unseat their opponents in general elections and have to take to the street as a consequence, at times with a little boost from the armed forces in an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government through people’s power.
During their brief stint in the government, they picked up the tricks of Thaksin Shinawatra, generously opening up the national coffers to buy over the voters. The northerners were nevertheless unmoved and were resolved to throw them out of office anyway.
Phak Pheu Thai and Thaksin have the support of the masses and they don’t mind playing the election game with their rivals.
Today, it is no more a conflict between democracy and populism, nor between the middle class and the people-in-the-street, nor the North and the South. There is no way anyone can tell what the two camps are actually fighting for.
Perhaps they just do it out of fun, to turn the streets of Bangkok into a massive scene of Loi Krathong-like carnival, a national event that is unmistakably Thai.
The February election could as well be won by Phak Pheu Thai or another political entity of another name but with Thaksin written all over its face. Yingluck, or another Thaksin confidant will be sworn in as the new prime minister, and then another street protest by Suthep and former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva all over again.
Now look at our tiny neighbour on the other side. A drunk Indian migrant worker was killed by a bus, sparking the city state’s first ever riot in four decades.
Riot? I was not sure!
Singaporeans’ weekends are spent on Orchard Road or Marina Square or family time in their HDB flats. The Little India riot involving several hundred migrant workers did not cause much stir to the mood of Singaporeans over that eventful weekend, nor the joyous Christmas festive atmosphere.
Singapore society can be divided into two parts: native Singaporeans and foreigners, including foreign workers.
They live in two distinct worlds, materially and spiritually. Native Singaporeans have the slightest knowledge of the aliens who dwell on their island while foreigners know little of their hosts as well.
Little India is an exclave on the island, a meeting point of workers from the Indian sub-continent. Things that happen here are oceans away from the cognizance of native Singaporeans.
Without exception, the Singapore government will review its foreign worker policy. That said, migrant workers will only constitute a residual value in Singapore’s economy, and this is not going to change anytime soon. — Sin Chew Daily
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.
