Pubdate: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 Source: Nation, The (Thailand) Copyright: 2003 Nation Multimedia Group Contact: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1963 Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1963 Author: Thepchai Yong IT'S BRAGGADOCIO TIME AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE Threats against a national leader should not be taken lightly. Even while experts are still debating their credibility, intelligence reports that big-time drug dealers have put a bounty on Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's head certainly warrant a security beef-up for him. No one should dispute the likelihood that the government's current war on drugs may prompt some of the major traffickers to hit back - not only at the top political leadership but also anyone with a role in spoiling their dirty business. However, being concerned about security is one thing. Exploiting the situation for whatever purpose is a totally different matter. And it looks like our leader is having a field day trumpeting the security threat he is reportedly facing. Thaksin didn't hesitate to bask in the public sympathy generated by the reported threat to his life. He used every available occasion last week to keep himself in the spotlight with statements like "I am not afraid to die", or "it would be an honour to lie in a coffin draped with the national flag". Then he spent a good portion of his weekly radio talk last Saturday bragging about his courage to stand up to the threats against his life. "Wouldn't I look good dying for the good of the country?" he said. Then with a touch of boldness, he declared: "Why should I be afraid? You only die once." At one point he apparently attempted to project an image of a humble person, but his message probably had the opposite effect. "The death of a Mr Thaksin is nothing. All he needs is a seven-day funerary rite and a funeral after a 100 days . . . But for a national leader to die is not just anything," he said. Even if the threats against his life had some concrete basis, Thaksin should know better: national leaders don't go around boasting about how willing they are to die for the good of their country. It was embarrassing enough that the police and military intelligence agencies were at odds as to how verifiable the reports on the Bt81-million contract on Thaksin were even before they were leaked to the media. And Thaksin made it even more embarrassing by putting on a show of bravado in the hope of political gains. Of course the fight against drugs is a dangerous task. But to paint a picture of the prime minister as the target of an assassination plot is hardly likely to create confidence in the public that their cooperation will not subject them to danger as well. If the prime minister doesn't feel safe, imagine what the ordinary citizen thinks. Thaksin may have got so carried away that he failed to notice how ridiculous it was to, on the one hand, talk valiantly about a "coffin" and "death" while on the other trying to tell the public not to get too excited about the reported contract out on him. If his intention was to help calm down any public anxiety about his safety, he could have easily done away with his unnecessary display of verbal bravado. Well, Thaksin certainly got the attention he desired. At least it was enough to overshadow complaints about excesses in the ongoing war on drugs. But there is an irony here. When well-known human-rights activist Pradit Charoenthaithawee said he had received death threats after making noises over the rising death toll of drug suspects, he was quickly laughed off - even by Thaksin himself. It's unfortunate that Pradit doesn't have weekly radio time to tell people how willing he is to put his life on the line as a member of the Human Rights Commission. And it would not have been just empty talk. Pradit did not flinch when he was under tremendous pressure after exposing military atrocities against pro-democracy protesters in the 1992 political uprising. And like Pradit, there are many others out there who have exposed themselves to danger in the course of their struggles against political and social injustices. They do not have an army of security guards watching them day and night so that they can feel sufficiently safe to show how brave they are. Thaksin should not be faulted for the heightened security around him and his family. Since threats against top political leaders should not be discounted - no matter what the country's political culture - they deserve the best security available. But no respectable leader brags about it in public. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager