Prawit seeks ‘chance to end rift between conservatives and liberals’

In his Facebook post on Monday morning, Prawit, a former Army chief, said his main reason to remain in politics was to contest the upcoming election because his wish was to put an end once and for all to the long-running feuds between the loyalist and pro-democracy camps, so that Thailand could move on.

Prawit said his post had been scrutinised by his team of political aides, but he would take responsibility for every single word in his current and future Facebook posts.

In the long post, Prawit recounted that when he was in the military, he sided with a group of people in power whom he called “elites” in their distrust of politicians. But after mingling with politicians as Palang Pracharath leader, he now understood the need to prioritise democracy.

Prawit started his post by saying many people cited several reasons for him to retire from politics and spend his final days happily, as he now has all he needed.

He said he was being swayed by those reasons but he finally decided to continue working for the country as the PPRP leader.

One reason is he has developed a strong attachment with the PPRP and its politicians after he co-founded the party and has been working with them for four years.

But Prawit said a more important reason, which he had pondered over again and again, was to find a solution for the politically divided nation.

He said he could definitely do it if voters gave him a chance. Prawit has decided to run for the prime minister’s post as the PPRP candidate against his “beloved brother”, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, who will run on the ticket of the United Thai Nation Party.

Prawit said he had reviewed his entire working life and realised what had been happening to the country, trapping it in feuds between conservatives and liberals.

During his military career, Prawit said he had been instilled with loyalty to “the nation, religion and monarchy” and he has developed an ardent and unflinching loyalty to the monarchy.

But while he was commander of various Army forces during his career, he had seen the concerns of people from various sectors. Prawit said the concerns were mostly aimed at politicians.

He said a group of people with high-level roles that could affect the country’s situation, whom he called the “group of elites” who could determine the country’s fate, distrusted the background and behaviour of politicians.

“The distrust then escalated into doubt in democracy and the people’s knowledge and ability to elect politicians to control the administrative power,” Prawit wrote.

He said the distrust of politicians and the people’s choices prompted the elites to agree to suspend democracy through coups with the hope of seeing the country change for the better.

He said the elites have good intention for the country but could not come in to serve the country in elected governments. They could step in only via coup-installed governments.

Prawit said he shared their attitude while he served in the Army, but after he became the PPRP founder and leader, he had a new experience.

“Now, I understand the need to lead the country with a democratic regime,” Prawit wrote.

Prawit explained that no matter how bad politicians would be, the power to rule would eventually return to the people through elections.

He said although the coup-makers formed political parties, they would eventually be beaten by pro-democracy liberals in elections because the elites could not win the people’s trust as much as the politicians, who are close to the people.

“This is the source of the problem that caused rifts, which escalated into a divide between the authoritarian side and liberal side,” Prawit said.

He said no compromise could be reached between the two sides because each has been trying to destroy the other.

“It became a major obstacle for the country’s development and affected confidence in the country,” Prawit wrote.

He said in his future posts, he would explain “Why I am confident I can bridge this divide and how I’ll do it,” Prawit wrote.