Deja Vu in Thailand

Thailand is living through the political equivalent of a “Groundhog Day,” the Bill Murray movie in which the hero wakes up every morning having to relive the previous day over and over again. But in the Kingdom the “Groundhog Day” is either a Red Shirt or Yellow Shirt Day — depending on the political season. Needless to say, both are equally destructive and childish.

This time around (and much like in 2010), the protests have paralyzed Bangkok, choking off precious economic growth and leading to fatalities. In 2010 the deaths mounted very quickly — reaching some 90 civilians, not to mention over 2,000 more injured during the military crackdown.

The lines between the two groups — the Red Shirts and the Yellow Shirts — are stark. The country’s Yellow Shirts, (generally urban-based, conservative and royalist) loathe the upstart Shinawatras. Needless to say, the feelings are mutual for the Shinawatras Red Shirt supporters.

The current cycle of violence started when Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (the younger sister of former Premier Thaksin) attempted to introduce a political amnesty bill which would have prepared the ground for her brother’s return.

Emboldened by her miscalculation, the Yellow Shirts are now endeavoring to remove a duly-elected leader. I should add that even though I am a close friend of both Abhisit Vejjajiva and Korn Chatikavanij — two key opposition Democrat Party leaders — I cannot agree with such a move.

Of course, Thaksin is the royalists’ ultimate bogeyman and they suspect that he is still pulling the strings despite having spent most of the last decade abroad. It’s certainly true that

Thaksin has transformed Thailand’s socio-political landscape. He shattered the power of the Bangkok elite, polarizing Thais and forcing them to choose between the Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts.

Yingluck — who was denounced by her predecessor Abhisit as the “center of comprehensive corruption practices”—may have comfortably breezed through a vote of no-confidence in parliament, but the crisis is far from over.

It has been seven years since Thaksin was removed by a military coup and two general elections have taken place in Thailand. Yet the country remains crippled by the unresolved political tension. Has democracy in Thailand failed?

The problem starts when players confuse the concept of “democracy” with political parties and elections. In effect, things perversely end up being regarded as “democracy” if I get my way and “undemocratic” if I don’t. But the problem with conflating “political parties” with “democracy” is that the two are at times very much at odds.

Political parties are built on an emphasis of difference, while democracy is about how a society can successfully deal with this. The tragedy is that it is increasingly difficult for either Red Shirts or Yellow Shirts to agree on anything important at all.

One key lesson can be drawn here: politics and democracy involves much more than just parties.

It’s not enough for a country to simply hold free and fair elections — although of course no country can call itself a democracy without this. Rather, societies must accept that people will not always agree and no government will ever be completely acceptable to its entire people. This not only means that opposition parties have to accept legitimate election results. It also means that no government, despite the size of its electoral majority, has the right to run roughshod over the rights of minorities — especially when it comes to fundamentally changing a society.

Both the Red and Yellow shirts are failing in this regard. Yingluck’s amnesty bill and other populist policies, like the $21 billion rice-buying program, have been downright irresponsible.

Conversely, the Yellow Shirts seem blind to the fact that their behavior is irreparably damaging the country and its institutions they claim they are upholding. Thais certainly deserve much, much better than this. Karim Raslan is a columnist who divides his time between Indonesia and Malaysia.