It first appeared in November 1991. 1 In February of that year, an army junta (the NPKC) had seized power by coup, displacing the first government headed by an elected prime minister since 1976. The coup was initially well received by the Bangkok press, business, and middle class but this support gradually dissolved over the following year, especially when the generals drafted a constitution designed to reinstate the military’s political role. Demonstrations against this draft began in the same month this essay appeared and climaxed on 17–20 May 1992 when soldiers fired into the crowd. This crisis led to a revision of the constitution draft and restoration of democratic parliamentary government.
Appearing against this background, the essay could not fail to be controversial and has remained so. Nidhi argues that the power relations and operating principles of Thai politics are very different from those enshrined in its many written constitutions (and, indeed, those used by most academic analysis). In his introduction to a 1995 collection of Nidhi’s articles including this one, Thongchai Winichakul noted that Nidhi’s perspective in this essay offered unique insight on Thai politics, but was also “much too close to reactionary discourse.” 2 From King Chulalongkorn to the military dictator Sarit Thanarat, rulers had undermined dissent by painting it as “western,” and had justified their own rule by presenting it as “Thai.” Bringing in western-inspired constitutions, Thongchai suggests, might be a good way to fight the “dark” side of the power relations which Nidhi calls the cultural constitution.
But, as Thongchai also notes, nobody can mistake Nidhi for a reactionary and apologist of dictatorship. This little disagreement between Thongchai and Nidhi is one moment of a larger debate among Thai intellectuals in the transition from the era of the Cold War to the era of globalization. Some argued that the route of modernization, as mapped by either liberal or Marxist theory, still presents the best challenge to old forms of domination. Others argued that the failure of both communism and democracy dictates that a new politics must be built upon more accurate understanding of local society and culture, free of the teleology of modernism. This essay – and others in the same series – are part of Nidhi’s contribution to the latter project.
Except where indicated, the notes are mine. Thanks to Acharn Nidhi for permission, and to Acharn Pasuk for help. Chris Baker