CHAPTER IV - Uncivil Society in Polarized Politics

Summary

This chapter will discuss the campaign of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) over the Preah Vihear temple and will analyse factors contributing to its success. It is true that PAD has been able to manipulate the bitter history of Thailand's past territorial losses as a powerful tool in its campaign, as several scholars have pointed out. This study will, therefore, not repeat that issue. I would like to argue that while nationalist history is indeed a crucial factor in the temple conflict, we need to take into consideration the roles of several actors, both state and non-state, in legitimizing the PAD's campaign on the temple issue. These actors, which included academics, former diplomats, independent organizations such as the National Human Rights Commission, the Administrative Court, the Constitution Court, and the media, were considered authoritative, pro-democracy, impartial, and independent. Therefore, their support gave both moral and legal legitimacy to the PAD's temple campaign.

PAD and Its Allies

PAD was a coalition of heterogeneous groups with diverse and even conflicting backgrounds and interests. What united these diverse groups was their opposition to Thaksin. The alliance can be divided into two major strands. One was a network of grassroots and mass-based civil society organizations, such as the Alternative Agriculture Network, Northern Farmers Alliance, and Southern Federation of Small Scale Fishermen, along with state enterprise labour unions which opposed Thaksin's privatization policy and various NGOs involved in issues of consumer protection, anti-privatization, human rights, environmental protection, anti-free trade policy, communitarian development, and pro-democracy issues. This wing included many who had been strong supporters of Thaksin during the early years of the Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT). Many civil society leaders participated in developing the TRT's policies, and helped connect the party with the masses in rural and urban areas, especially in the north and northeast. They saw Thaksin as a champion who could rescue Thailand from the forces of Western dominated globalization, which had taken advantage of the 1997 economic crisis to loot Thailand's resources and crush the country's pride, particularly through the IMF bailout package.