PM wrong to demand love and respect
Before long, Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha could be crooning, “You Must Love Me”. He could force us to listen to him all day every day. Or he could issue yet another draconian Section 44 order demanding the populace to show him “respect” wherever he goes.
Who knows what kind of respect the PM is looking for? Bowing? Prostrating? Hugging or having people cry with delight at the sight of him passing by like they did to the Beatles?
What is clear, from the PM’s many speeches reminding people time and again about how much they owe him for taking the top job and the recent 14 guidelines for photographers and journalists, is Gen Prayut is desperately craving love and reverence.
The government quickly distanced itself from the controversial guidelines, which include showing the PM respect before and after taking his photo and maintaining a distance of at least five metres from him. Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the PM himself viewed some of the rules to be excessive and ordered a review.
Other general guidelines such as no photos when the PM is walking up and down steps or eating may stay, however. Despite the vacillation, the fact that the set of dos and don’ts came along at all offers an insight into what PM Gen Prayut wants but can’t seem to get.
Four years have gone by, so where is the adulation? Why aren’t people extolling his virtues and pronouncing him the best PM they have ever had? What is with these news stories about his supporters going around to “poach” potential candidates into their camp to make sure that they will have enough votes to endorse him as the next prime minister? This kind of thing should be automatic. He shouldn’t have to be seen to “crave” the position or to exert himself for it. He should be seen as doing people a favour by accepting the premiership again.
Maybe the “respect’’ that PM Gen Prayut wants is silence, a total subjugation. Even better would be gratitude. Why aren’t people hailing him as a hero for saving them from the protracted political conflicts four years ago?
But then again, respect for him could mean a fight. The PM never rules out resorting to the use of violence to bolster his self-esteem. He recently remarked that he is not the kind of prime minister people can step on. He said he has been tormented by media coverage and online criticism for four years.
“Now, if someone criticises me and it doesn’t sound good to my ears, I will punch them in the mouth. I have my rights too,” the PM reportedly said during a trip to Ubon Ratchathani late last month.
That is not the first time the PM showed he is ready to win respect the hard way. In May 2015, PM Gen Prayut expressed outrage over being persistently asked about what his government had done since it came to power a year ago.
“I was earlier asked by a reporter, what are the results of the government’s work? I almost punched the person who questioned me in the face,” Gen Prayut said. “The government has done a lot so far. Don’t they see it?”
Could this be the reason why among the 14 dos and don’ts for photographers is to keep a distance of at least five metres from the PM?
It does not help either that a columnist at the Jakarta Post last week urged Indonesia not to let the “Thai junta chief chair Asean next year”.
The writer, Kornelius Purba, who serves as the newspaper’s senior managing editor, stated that Gen Prayut not only seized power from a democratically elected government but he has also silenced the media, manipulated legislative bodies and oppressed freedom of speech and assembly.
“Asean will unnecessarily humiliate itself in front of the global community when the regional grouping introduces Prayuth [sic] as the chair next year,” according to the opinion piece.
The judgement must be especially hurtful for PM Gen Prayut, who often boasts to his captive domestic audience that his government has been well accepted by neighbouring countries and members of the international community. Besides, what can he do about the Indonesian’s point of view? Gag him? Ban him? Punch him in the face?
National leaders desire and deserve a measure of respect. That is totally understandable. What the “Thai junta chief” may have failed to grasp is that sincere admiration, or reverence, can only be earned and never forced.
When you have to order people to show you respect, or threaten to punch them if they don’t, the insolence is on your part, not theirs.