Anand on Prayut’s government: Time’s up for old generation
Without naming names, former prime minister Anand Panyarachun said in an interview that the time has run out for the old generation to run the country.
The former premier, who took over after the May 1992 bloody crackdown, made this comment in an interview posted on YouTube by a group called the “Third Council”.
In the programme, the anchor asked Anand to comment on the mounting criticism against Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government and how it should respond to the younger generation’s call for a true democracy, not a half-hearted one under the controversial Constitution.
Anand replied: “The government should look to the future. An old man like me must understand that our time has run out.
“Actually people from my generation should stay outside the arena. We may express our opinions from outside the ring, but the ones who run the country should belong to the new generation.”
He added that the new generation cannot be defined by age, but by their new attitude, “because old attitudes are no longer applicable”.
The veteran statesman said that as a father and grandfather, he has realised that his children and grandchildren have developed different attitudes based on the different ways of teaching in their generation. He said the older generation cannot stop the younger generation from following their own way of thinking.
When asked to comment on the attempts of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), which was created after the May 22, 2014 coup, to perpetuate its power, Anand laughed and declined to answer.
The anchor again reiterated, saying the NCPO had promised to return the power to the people soon after the coup, but instead it has been in power for eight years through its three generals – Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan and Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda. The anchor also said that despite mounting public calls for Prayut to resign, he has stayed put even though his government has failed on several fronts.
To this Anand laughingly said, “you must ask PM Prayut yourself”.
When asked to compare Prayut to military strongman Suchinda Kraprayoon, Anand replied: “Khun Suchinda is still ashamed of himself. After the May 1992 bloodshed, His Majesty King Rama IX summoned both Chamlong Srimuang and Khun Suchinda for an audience in the palace. The King then asked them to stop fighting because the people of Thailand were being affected and nobody would win if people were being killed. The King only said this without calling on anyone to resign, but both of them understood what was going on. The King did not say outright that you two should quit, he just quietly advised them to listen to their own conscience.”
General Suchinda, then Army chief, staged a coup on February 23, 1991, ousting the democratically elected government of Chatichai Choonhavan. He then took over as a non-MP prime minister in a subsequent election, prompting then-Palang Dharma Party leader Chamlong to lead street protests against him. The protests sparked a bloody crackdown in which many were killed, and hundreds injured and disappeared. Anand was then appointed prime minister of an interim government after Suchinda resigned.
When the anchor asked again what he thinks Prayut should do now that public calls for him to resign are getting louder, Anand said: “I don’t know, but in foreign countries, government leaders step down easily.”
He said outside Thailand, prime ministers or ministers hand in their resignation if they are embroiled in scandals or issues even before they are proven guilty.
