US-style gridlock at home

EDITORIAL

In Thailand as in the US the opposition, whether it be Pheu Thai or the Democrats, is in most cases guaranteed to block any policies and legislation proposed by the party in power regardless of merit.

For the next few days the eyes of the world will be riveted on the presidential election in the United States. While the cast of characters and issues is totally different, there are some surprising similarities in the political landscape of the two countries, particularly in the rabid partisanship practised by the major political parties.

Political gridlock is in part due to genuine ideological differences, but it can often be attributed to contrariness and a desire to sabotage the other side at all costs, regardless of the merit of their initiatives. This political trait was displayed last week by Republican hopeful Mitt Romney while on the campaign trail in Wisconsin when he warned that if Barack Obama was re-elected there would likely be another federal budgetary crisis similar to the one last year in which Republicans refused to raise the debt ceiling to allow the government to pay its bills. Mr Romney warned that the country might face another recession because his own party would force another crisis over the debt ceiling. On the other hand, it is understood that if Mr Romney is elected the debt ceiling will be raised without a hitch as it has been many times in the past under both Democratic and Republican presidents. The implied threat of shutting down the government shows clearly that partisanship often trumps the public good in Washington.

Unfortunately that is frequently also the case here in Thailand, where there are likewise a lot of disagreements over economic issues between the Pheu Thai and Democrat parties, some genuine and some contrived. Ironically, however, the most politically charged and partisan issue by far is ''reconciliation''. On May 31, the House voted to move consideration of four Pheu Thai-sponsored reconciliation bills, which include provisions for a charter rewrite, to the top of the agenda for urgent deliberation. The move prompted fierce opposition from the Democrat Party and the People's Alliance for Democracy, who say the bills are intended to pave the way for the pardon and return of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Parliament was basically closed down and went into recess without deliberating the bills. But last week new Pheu Thai Party leader Charupong Ruangsuwan vowed to press ahead with the controversial reconciliation and charter amendment bills, thereby guaranteeing a new round of unrest.

Another example of extreme partisanship in the name of reconciliation was delivered on Friday when Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul urged the government to accept the International Criminal Court's (ICC) jurisdiction over the 2010 clashes between security forces and red-shirt protesters, following a meeting on Thursday with ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. The move has been endorsed by a number of Pheu Thai and red shirt supporters as a way to deliver justice to the families of those who died in the confrontations. Not surprisingly, the motion to bring in the ICC has been strongly criticised by the Democrats. Party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said he did not believe the military operation during the 2010 protests fell under the ICC's jurisdiction. Yet almost in the same breath, he said that the extrajudicial killings in the ''war on drugs'' initiated under former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra did fall under the ICC's jurisdiction. Democrat MP Kasit Piromya has already filed a petition with the ICC seeking a probe into the deaths during the war on drugs.

It is not clear that involving the ICC in either case would help bring about reconciliation, although certainly victims and their families do have the right to justice. But it would seem that justice is not what is motivating the calls by some members of Pheu Thai and the Democrats to push for the ICC to look into their respective cases. Rather it looks to be mostly political, or else they would acknowledge that there was tragic wrongdoing in both the war on drugs and the 2010 unrest.

There is an eerie resemblance to the gridlock in the US where some politicians are fully engaged in advancing party positions with little or no regard for what is good for the country. In this regard, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra should be commended for continually reaching out across the political spectrum, although the same may not be said of some in her party.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/04/us-style-gridlock-at-home/