(MENAFN- Asia Times)
BANGKOK – Two weeks after Thailand's Constitutional Court dissolved the election-winning Move Forward Party for campaigning for royal reform, and Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit insists everything is going to plan for his popular progressive movement.
As the now-banned founder of Move Forward's dissolved progenitor, Future Forward Party, Thanathorn was widely seen as the mastermind behind Move Forward's Political juggernaut and is similarly seen as the guiding hand behind the newly formed third-generation People's Party.
Many wondered if Thanathorn and Move Forward's leaders would galvanize their masses and take to Bangkok's streets in protest against the court's August 7 dissolution decision, potentially opening a new orange-garbed chapter in the kingdom's destabilizing street politics.
On August 23, in a presentation entitled“Sustaining the Pushback against Autocratization” at Bangkok's Thammasart University, his alma mater and a historical hotbed of student ferment, Thanathorn declared victory in defeat through his affiliated parties' normalization of even talking about royal reform, a taboo that can land critics in prison for 15 years.
He told the audience that his movement aims ultimately for a“soft landing” for the monarchy while insisting“radical problems require radical solutions” and that his“peaceful” vision for Thailand's transformation“might take decades” rather than years.
In an exclusive interview with Asia Times' Southeast Asia Editor Shawn W. Crispin in a decrepit campus hut overlooking the capital's Chao Phraya River, Thanathorn explained why now is not the time for Move Forward's disenfranchised voters and youthful supporters to take to the streets and articulated his long-game vision for Thailand's transformation.
Asia Times: How will the recent court-ordered dissolution of the Move Forward party impact your progressive movement?
Thanathorn: For us, I think the administrative work in setting up a new party is huge. Before the dissolution, the party had like 100,000 members. So it's gonna take time to go back to the same level.
But otherwise, the court verdict has united us – I think it makes us stronger. If you look at what happened to the Future Forward party after its dissolution there were like, I can't remember exactly, 18 cobras (MPs who switched to new parties). This time there are zero cobras.
So I think the organization, the movement as a whole has solidified over the years. It's stronger quantity-wise and quality-wise. Quantity-wise, I mean the numbers of supporters. Quality-wise, I mean the understanding of our ideologies, our ideals and ideas – people understand us more.
Asia Times: It's happened twice now. Who exactly is dissolving your affiliated parties and why?
Thanathorn: I think the 'why' is clear. The why is that we are a threat to the system of too many individuals, not to any specific organizations, but to the system as a whole. So I think that's the 'why' – we are a threat. The 'who'? It's difficult to say, I don't really know.
Asia Times: MFP won 32 of 33 Bangkok seats at last year's election. As the heart of economic and political power, what does that result say about closet elite support for MFP?
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