Post-election anxiety in Thailand

Suthichai Yoon, The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

He says he has heard you. You don't quite know what he's talking about. He indicates that he appreciates your post- election anxiety. But are you talking about the same "concern"?

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned to the airwaves last Saturday -- and immediately declared that he had had an "earful" ("my two earfuls" in Thai) of the "great concerns" over the negative side of the absolute electoral majority bestowed upon him on Feb. 6.

But did he really get the message? Did he think we were over- reacting? Was he suggesting that those "concerns" were somewhat too alarmist? You can't say for certain because he didn't even attempt to tell you what he will do to prevent himself from doing the things that you are afraid he might resort to if he were the kind of guy who didn't care about voters' concerns.

The fact that he mentioned these "concerns" almost in passing rather than address them outright during his first major radio address doesn't augur well.

A pretty good number of voters have been hypnotized by the dazzling performance, all right. But the morning-after effect once the ballots of Feb. 6 were all in was something like the hangover caused by a cocktail of euphoria and deja vu -- a celebration of victory mixed with a sense of trepidation.

For those who didn't vote for the Thai Rak Thai party the sense of despair over the looming possibility of autocratic rule under the cloak of democratic legitimacy was deep indeed.

For those who went all out for Thai Rak Thai so that Thaksin could provide badly needed political leadership for another term, the sense of elation that comes from being part of a epoch-making turn of events must have been intoxicating.

But it wasn't long before those on both sides of the political fence realized that there is no such thing as a conclusive or irreversible political decision.

When it comes to voters, you can never predict whether they will cast the ballot your way. But the next day, when you find out whether you are in the majority or otherwise, you inevitably start asking yourself whether it was a decision you would be able to live with until the next time around. If you have any doubts now about whether or not you went too far in voting for an absolute majority, Thaksin is here to console you. Don't feel guilty about it. You did the right thing. Now we can really get the country moving, albeit in a direction that only Thaksin knows for sure.

You just have to pray that the man with your big mandate will consult you when he makes controversial decisions. You hope that he will exercise self-restraint. You wish he would be more humble. You plead with him to serve as his own checks and balances -- to know how to respect the dissident minority while riding on the crest of the majority.

You pray that you won't have to go out on the streets to rein him in.

You pray and hope and plead because you aren't sure whether in such a lopsided state of affairs, at a time when the desirable balance has been effectively offset, you can still rely on the System to keep the Establishment honest and responsible.

Next time, remember this: Be very careful with what you ask for. You might just get it.