Macchiavelli was right, and that's not a good thing

At present, many political science institutions still use Macchiavelli’s “The Prince” as part of their curriculum. However, I don't agree with the translation of the book into Thai by several authors, as I believe it is not relevant to our situation compared to the author, who was from Florence in Italy in the 16th century.

Macchiavelli tried to educate us on many facets of life and politics. The original edition was printed a few years after Macchiavelli’s death. At various times in history, the book has been banned because of its content. Macchiavelli himself focused on the gross realities of life and politics rather than on ideals and had scant regard for the moral and ethical dilemmas that we all have to confront.

Above all, the essence of his philosophy was that achieving one's goal was of utmost importance, whatever the method for achieving it, summed up succinctly by the saying "The ends justify the means". We have probably seen many examples of Western warfare in the contemporary world where the ends justified the means. For instance, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Nazi genocide. The Cold War in Korea, Laos, and Vietnam, and even the toppling from power and elimination of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, as well as the killing of Osama bin Laden and numerous others justified as necessary by a superpower. They were presumed to be a threat to world peace and tranquillity and viewed as a danger to mankind. Sometimes, they were falsely accused of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and some they were accused of being terrorists to exterminate them.

The slippery slope of Thai politics

Thailand today is no different from being ruled by any type of government in the past, while we still continuously demand reforms in various aspects. In the political sphere, the process of screening leaders and representatives of our people has still not been able to get good and talented people. What the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) tried to propose in the form of trustworthy methods were all ignored. However, it has not gone as far as to obtain a “primary system (Primary or Caucus )” like the election of political party representatives in the United States. The Republican Party is currently going through the process. Last week, former president Donald Trump won a landslide victory against Republican Party contenders in the first caucus in Iowa.

There is an inherent weakness in our political system and society, especially in the bureaucratic system, with a great reliance on patronisation. The system of patronage is a synonym for nepotism with room made for friends, associates, or even relatives who share the benefits. We often hear of MPs bringing in their relatives and children or even wives or mistresses. Some people don't accept their salary at all or some accept half of it. It is an area that deserves to be investigated.

The country's opportunities are impeded by these unscrupulous methods. Often, people of the lowest capacity are hired while the public watches helplessly. It is dangerous and has a detrimental effect on the development of the country. People with knowledge and abilities move away from such a society, but unfortunately, they don’t express themselves strongly enough to open the eyes of the people to the catastrophic situation that awaits future generations. In Thailand, whether during dictatorship or at any other time, only those who are close to the seat of state power are chosen irrespective of calibre and capacity.

Many social phenomena today reflect truths that have been discussed time and time again. No doubt some powerful people have gone to jail, but there is no denying that a great number of them escape the long arm of justice and make a living from our national budget. Whether it's e-auction or any form of procurement method, there are many ways to cheat. I once warned a friend who was an executive at the Comptroller-General’s Department regarding the problems with e-auctioning methods, such as consultants bidding for various government projects, and the department giving very limited time for submitting documents and making proposals — a total of two weeks. The documents need time for scrutiny. How many can be done in two weeks? Some places require submission of bids within a week. When I inquired further, many agencies frankly admitted that "they already had the project bid winner in mind." Some even go to the extent of having the person who will be awarded the job write the terms of reference for bidding. What's the point of holding such an auction? The aim is to be fair, but what is practised is truly unfair. This is an example of the appalling corruption in every inch of Thai society, which has been a hurdle in our development for such a long time.

Amorn Wanichawiwatana

Amorn Wanichwiwatana, DPhil (Oxon), is a former member of the Constitution Drafting Commission and is currently a professor at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.