Nawaminthrachinuthit Triam Udomsuksa Phatthanakan School

 

27 January 2014

 

Mr. Suthep Thaugsuban 

Secretary General of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC)

 

Topic:  Curiosity and anxiety of an ordinary student

Dear Mr. Suthep:

 

My name is Netiwit Chotiphatpaisal and I am a Grade  11 high school student with an interest in political news. I have studied the current political crisis and I am gravely concerned. This crisis has turned violent and there has been bloodshed already. As you are an important figure of this crisis, and out of anxiety and concern for my country, I wish to respectfully write to you with questions and in order to express my opinion.

 

1) I have had constant doubts about the point of your political movement and your demands. I have been unable to quiet my skepticism.. You came out to call for opposition of the blanket amnesty bill. I was following the news and agreed that the actions of the government were not right. But once the government withdrew the bill why did you not cease your protest? Instead, there was an increase in violence. You have already said many times that the protests would end on this day or that day, that today would be the final day. You have been making these claims since before the New Year up until now.    

 

2) As I have asked before, what exactly are your demands? You may respond with the urge to look at your title, you are in the process of reforming the country to have “perfect democracy.” But I wonder, will the methods of you and the great mass of the people really lead us to democracy? Your PDRC has proposed to hold elections for provincial governors, but your proposed People’s Council will be comprised of 75% appointed members and 25% elected members. You have also called on the soldiers to come out to stage a coup. You have acted to obstruct the upcoming election. Do you not realize that these acts are the violation of the human rights of many people in this country? They are citizens of the country just as you are a citizen. Everyone must respect the rules and each other. I am not certain whether or not  your actions are really for democracy and all the people of this country, or what you call “perfect democracy” for a dictatorship of the minority..

 

3) I noticed that some academics have called you and your movement one that is just like Gandhi’s non-violence movement or Martin Luther King, Jr.’s civil rights movement. Perhaps your confidence is buoyed by these words from academics, but do they speak the truth? What if they are just words to glorify and intoxicate you? It is well understood that Gandhi is an important role model of non-violence, but what Gandhi did exceeds the simple utterance of the word. Gandhi’s non-violence consists of love and truth. His non-violence comes along with “satyagraha” or the power of truth, which uses truth and love as weapons to defeat hatred and fury. Are you and your movement on this path?

 

4) If you really follow the path of non-violence, in line with how those academics have glorified you, then how has the statement that, “One thing I have never done in my entire political carrier is engage in corruption” come out of your month? It is a well-known fact that you have done so in the past, so why would you deceive yourself and other people? In Gandhi’s autobiography (The Story of My Experiment with Truth), he did not deny his past wrongdoings. Please consider examine whether or not you and your movement really have honesty and love for other human beings. Those who disagree with your actions become “slaves to Thaksin’s regime” or “khwai daeng” (“red buffalo,” a derogatory name for red shirts), which lumps people together and dishonors them. I often feel sorrowful when I listen to the speeches on your stage. Many of the speakers are well-educated people, yet they lack wisdom and respect for other human beings.  One physician made an extremely insulting statement about the prime minister as a woman (he would “repair” her vagina) or one profane university professor (who said he would “sexually lure the prime minister out of her home for the nation”) and so on. It is a heartbreaking that young people must listen to such vulgar and humiliating language about our fellow human beings from these people who pretend to be educated and morally “good” people. And isn’t agitating for the protesters to obstruct the election an announcement of your wish for violence?

 

I hope that you will answer with a response to my questions and concerns. Even though I disagree with you, I wrote this with letter with good intentions and with love for you as a fellow human being. It is clear to me that higher education inside this system is not the key to democracy. From my limited experience, I have learned that a movement out of hatred and lack of respect for our fellow human beings will not lead us to democracy, but instead to an increasingly violent situation. Are you aware of how far your stubborn, unclear, and insubstantial, yet violence-filled “reform” has already led us to violence? Many schools have been affected by your protests and cannot function, and students have had to risk their safety to study.

 

If you continue to act obstinately in this manner, I do not know how the country can move forward, or how the violence can be resolved.

 

However, even though my hope is faint, I wish to see the reform of our society. But it must  be democratic, peaceful, equal, patient, lawful, and afford respect to all human beings. May it one day succeed.               

 

With love and care,

Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal