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Over the two-plus years since I started this column, there are three things I keep hearing.
One is that Thailand can't embrace democracy, because the masses, the poor, don't understand it, don't want it and don't care for it. Another is that poverty causes corruption, and since the great majority of Thais are poor, the country is ripe for corruption.
The last one is: How is it that you are still alive?
Admittedly, I've stated the first two points myself a few times. As for the last bit: Hey, stop watching so many Hollywood movies. This is Thailand. Things aren't great, but we are not country X, Y, Z (no need for names here; this isn't WikiLeaks).
But we learn and we grow, it's called evolution. There are two sides to every coin ... at least. The other side is perhaps the elite and the middle class are conveniently playing the blame game by pointing at the masses, the poor. After all, pointing the finger is a human science perfected by centuries of man's well-practised hypocrisy.
I have heard it all too often when the elite and those in the middle talk of the poor and their wayward ways.
''Why don't they blah, blah, blah.''
''Why do they blah, blah, blah.''
''Well, it's their own blah, blah, blah.''
To which I would reply, ''Well, why don't you blah, blah, blah.''
Friday is the Kingdom's Constitution Day.
Since 1932, when Thailand decided to pretend to become a democracy, we have had 18 constitutions. That's one constitution every four years.
The frequency of change is owed to everything from political chaos to political intrigues to good old-fashioned military coups _ of which we have also averaged one every three years since we decided to pretend to become a democracy 78 years ago.
Was it the poor, the masses, who tore up the constitution once every four years? Was it they who rolled the tanks in once every three years?
The issue isn't whether the poor masses understand, want, or care for democracy. The issue is that the elite don't understand it, don't want it and don't care for it.
Better yet, perhaps they understand it, and that's why they don't want it and don't care for it, and only make pretensions to it.
Was it the masses who were caught in video clips talking about exam leaks and corruption in the Constitution Court? Nope, they were Constitution Court judges, allegedly of course.
Was it the masses of poor people who said: ''Oops, we like totally forgot about the 15-day deadline _ our bad''? Nope, it was the Election Commission, a body the entire country relies on to monitor corruption in the electoral process, a crucial tool of democracy.
Was it the masses, the poor, who said: ''Whoopsy daisy. Did we just spend all those months conducting trials and interviewing witnesses when we could have just thrown it out of court in the beginning and saved the taxpayers' baht''? Nope, that was the Constitution Court.
Was it the masses who said: ''Oh, there's plenty of time. Let's wait 20 years before we contemplate filing charges in the Alpine land scandal case against prominent politician Sanoh Theintong. Mai pen rai, no hurry''? And then: ''Oops, 20 years too late; deadline passed; can't file charges''? Nope.
Is it the poor masses who are contesting in the by-election on Dec 12, wooing voters by passing out postcards with a signature of convicted fugitive criminal Thaksin Shinawatra and the quote: ''I want to give support to the brothers and sisters of Korat. I miss my brothers and sisters. And I really want to come home so badly''?
Nope, it was Apicha Lertpachornkamol of the Puea Thai Party.
Was it the masses who were dismissed for illegal shareholding, but still got to run in one of the five by-elections _ which will cost the taxpayers some 80 million baht _ and still have the nerve to promise district and village heads ''compensation'' in a re-election campaign?
Nope, it's Deputy Prime Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat of Bhumjaitai party _ and we know it's the local heads who ''deliver'' the votes.
Except for the Alpine case, those examples are from just this week alone. Just one week in the Kingdom of Thailand.
But of course, it is the masses, the poor, who will vote for the likes of Messers Apicha and Boonjong. As stated, there are two sides to every coin. Everyone is guilty here.
The point I would like to make is this: We need to point the finger less at the poor masses as the reason Thailand can't develop and democratise _ and direct it more at ourselves.
When a prai (peasant) commits an act of corruption, it's for 500 baht here, or a 1,000 baht a day. Here, vote for this person. There, get on the bus and go to Ratchaprasong for a month of concerts, festivities and fireworks.
When a middle-class person commits an act of corruption, it's in the millions. When it's a member of the elite, it's in the billions. And when the middle class and the elite are complicit in perpetuating the system, we are selling out the entire country.
Thailand can't develop and democratise because the elite are corrupt to the core and despise democracy to the bone.
Meanwhile, the middle class condones and supports the system as it is their dream to become part of the elite. Then the masses, the poor, just go along with the system, because what else are you going to do when you don't even have a secondary school education and get paid less than 200 baht per day?
Collective responsibility. We should all embrace the truth. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva did.
This past week, he went to at least two seminars, making the point at one that civil servants shouldn't be corrupt. Politicians come and go. But civil servants are here to stay. The people rely on civil servants.
At another seminar, he said the private sector shouldn't be corrupt. If the private sector doesn't slide money under the table, then politicians and bureaucrats can't slip under the table to lap up the money.
Good points. He may have neglected to point the finger at the politicians themselves, or say that his government is viewed _ according to polls surveying the public and the business community _ as the most corrupt in recent times.
But hey, somebody recently wrote that pointing the finger is a human science perfected by centuries of man's well-practised hypocrisy. And he's still alive, at least for the time being.
So you can put the blame on me.
Contact Voranai Vanijaka via email at voranaiv@bangkokpost.co.th.
