The Day to Celebrate Democracy: Part 2

Part II

This morning, December 10th 2008, five days after the Bangkok International Airports were given back by the PAD, I came across a noteworthy article during my usual morning coffee and I would wish to share with all of you. December 10th has another importance; it is the day of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights since 1948. Since the PAD started its long-winding protest, we all had heard of the phase ‘freedom of assembly/association’, stated in our newly revises Constitution. The following paragraphs, I would have to honour to share a piece of writing by Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Professor of Law at Chulalongkorn University and a Special Rapporteur of the UN, on Thailand current situation, respect of human right, individual freedom, and pluralistic culture on the country.


"(First) there is the key challenge of the linkage between human rights and democracy. That nexus implies that the rights of the majority must be respected, while not overlooking the rights of minorities. While democracy involves more than the electoral process based on rule by the majority, rule by the majority is internationally the rule and not the exception.

The position adopted by some sectors of society that the majority should be sidelined because they are seen as less educated, from a lower economic stratum, and/or from a different geographical area, is contrary to human rights law and international practice.

While some rights such as the right not to be tortured are absolute and cannot by constrained under any circumstances, other rights, including the right to freedom of association/assembly, can be subjected to various limitations. The international human right to demonstrate must be exercised peacefully and it can be constrained, on the basis of the law (and not arbitrarily), when it is necessary to do so, the limitations being proportional top the risk, to be tested against the backdrop of what is permissible in a democratic society. These parameters indicate that while people have a right to be on the streets to demonstrate, they are not entitled to take over key facilities which are the lifeline of the local and international communities.

…December 10 thus provides key opportunity for much needed soul-searching in relation to our values, knowledge-base, attitude and behaviour and our commitment to democracy, peace and human rights”






Happy Democracy Day.





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Reference


Bangkok Post 'Human Rights During Times of Turmol" December 10, 2008

The Day to Celebrate Democracy: Part 1

The reason I have this time to write something again on this blog is that today is another national holiday in Thailand. Every year on December 10th, all Thai citizens are granted a special day, not just to stay in bed longer, but a day to remember that some time more than 60 years ago, a group of people had fought for us to be here. And many occasions from then on, many lives lost to defend our rights as individuals.

Despite all the chaos and confusions in the past 3 years, and precisely in the past 6 months, Thai democracy has been at one of its richest forms. Since the coming of Thaksin Shinawatara and the leading events to the formation of the People Alliance for Democracy (PAD), no other time 'spectrum of political ideology’ in Thailand has been so prominent. To put it in a glass-half-full perspective, in this time around, Thai democracy has developed into a fuller version of pluralistic institution whereby ideological stand of political citizens i.e. everyone could be located based on his/her socio-economic backgrounds and most of all, residential characteristics. Finally, Thailand looks much similar to a number of long-standing democratic countries: US (with the GOP’s supporters in the US South, compare to the Obama-Party in the North) or Britain (with Tory in the South and the Labour in the North)

Nevertheless, what makes a crucial difference between our beloved country and the countries I used as examples, is that yes, we have Democracy, but we do not fully comprehend what Democracy and its following cultures entail. Here I would like to rewind the clock back to my class at the University of York – Politics A-. Many times when we discuss the idea of democracy, we simply overlook its most crucial component- Pluralism. As far as I can recall, in a world of rational individuals, of various self-preferences, it would not be beyond natural to have a society consists of assorted interests. Interests never need to coincide- in fact, they are much prone to collide. What Pluralism suggests is that everyone must follow a mean to be able express their preferences, gather them and achieve the end-result. By economic theory, this is what is Social Welfare Functions are for. Through this mean, social preferences would be achieved, no need to resort for violent means or the intervening role of benevolent dictatorship. Yes, Politics A class taught me another important lesson- we must learn how to respect opinions of all the others. And if we look hard enough, we would find that many apparatus of Kenneth Arrow or Amartaya Sen would become at great assistant to deliver the social optimal solution without having to disregard people on the opposite side of your political spectrum.