12/05/2005

people in high office must be thick skinned

this is the advice king bhumibol gave to thaksin. thaksin has been under intense criticism from another media tycoon, and his authority and integrity are being challenged. there are many ways to respond to such an attack. but thaksin chose to sue his opponents. wonder where he learnt such a tactic to hit back at his opponents? must be his training in the usa i supposed. the king also modestly told him that to err is human and that the king himself had erred in many occasions when he was young. the king also corrected the misconception that the king can do no wrong. and he finally told thaksin to drop his lawsuits against his opponent. this is the price to be paid for being in political office. there will be many criticisms. it is part of the job. some will take criticism as a motivation to come up on top of it, to prove that the criticism was unjustified. some may runaway from criticism. and of course, some will sue.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thaksin has a good mentor in Singapore.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

oh. ok.

he has the money and the lawyers will be very happy to take up the case. but the king already warned him that it will not be good for him.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi anonymous,

better not to make this type of connection. his actions may be similar, but to be mentored is a totally different proposition.

i still think it is his education in the usa and the american way of doing things. that's why american lawyers are rich and big time.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

young politicians also have their idols to emulate. but no one can emulate a political system like ours, that is unshakeable for a long time and maybe many more years.

the thai system will not allow thaksin to do what lky and mahathir could do. the thai king is a force to be reckoned with. he is above politics and very little abuses, and unshakeable. when he opens his mouth, the thais will listen.

it is a good check and balance on the thai political system and politicians.