Undemocratic democrats and the perils of being a flaneur in Thailand.

On this gorgeous morning your correspondent finds himself sitting in a rather comfortable armchair on the upper deck of a two storey raft moored on the River Kwai. The raft itself is the property of the Noble House Hotel, an establishment whose hospitality I have enjoyed the pleasure of during the past week. The main grounds of the hotel are located on the river bank in the town of Kanchanaburi, Thailand. The place itself is eminently peaceful. My reveries are only briefly interrupted by the groaning of the raft as she settles ever more comfortably down upon the water and the amorous calls of a variety of tropical birds who seem, unlike myself, undismayed by the ever-present heat. Tropical fruit bearing plants grow abundantly on the small islet in front of me: mangoes, bananas, coconuts and more. The odd lizards scurries across the decking. In some ways it almost seems too pleasant, as if one is on a film set rather than reality, so perfect is the setting.

All this peace somewhat belies the political conflict going on in this land at the time of writing. Although Kanchanaburi seems completely serene, apart from the odd drunken reveller or Chinese person letting off fire crackers to celebrate the imminent arrival of the Year of the Horse, it is not so in the capital, Bangkok, nor in many other areas of the South. Thai politics, it seems, are horrendously complicated. The enmities between the rival factions are deep and bitter. The main parties are locked in a death-match to gain control of the governance of this country. As ever with politicians, they promise all kinds of reforms and changes if only you will vote for them. Also, as ever, the reality usually degrades into one form of corruption or another once they actually achieve the sought after power. This patterns seems ubiquitous the world over although in the West we are often better at hiding, or even institutionalising, our corruption. We sometimes speak of advisers from industry on trade missions when what is really meant is arms dealers (suitably suited and booted of course, but arms dealers nevertheless) or lobbyists in parliament whose soul raison d'etre is to influence government in favour of whatever corporation they represent.

Here in Thailand the main parties have wonderfully idealistic sounding names such as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship or the People's Democratic Reform Committee.

The latter has been the main instigator behind the problems in the capital of late. There is an election due to take place on February 2nd. Unfortunately for the PDRC it is an election they are very likely to lose. Therefore, rather than campaigning harder to convince people of their relative merit, the party has decided that what the country needs is an interim government that is to be appointed rather than elected before any further elections are to take place. Naturally such a government would have a large number of representatives from the PDRC. How's that for democratic reform!? The democratic reform they seem to have in mind gets rid of democracy itself!

Unfortunately, in human affairs, and particularly those involving politics and politicians, these oxymoronic paradoxes are all too common place. The eminently wise George Orwell ably pointed this out in his political opus '1984'. In that book the Ministry of Truth was responsible for propaganda, the Ministry of Love oversaw the imprisonment and torture of those deemed threatening to the system, and the Ministry of Peace was primarily engaged in prosecuting wars. Old George knew a thing or two about how these things work. Years later, another George, who unfortunately didn't seem to know very much about anything at all, was still cunning enough to use similarly misleading euphemisms when describing the activities of his government (you will understand that I use the word 'government' in its loosest sense when referring to the regime of George W. Bush).

Perhaps, amongst the many examples of double-speak that spring to mind when talking of the doings of GWB, the most obvious examples would be the employment of such terms as 'enhanced interrogation techniques' (read – torturing people), 'extraordinary rendition' (read - moving people to places where they could be tortured) and 'protective custody' (read – imprisoning people without charge or trial). Such semantic machinations would be merely amusing if it were not for their dark intent.

Meanwhile, back in Thailand the election is fast approaching and the PCDR is preparing for the big day by promising not to disenfranchise people or block them from expressing their democratic right to cast a vote. They say their intention is merely to protest and make their point at the polling stations throughout Bangkok and the South. What this actually means in practice is that they intend, if at all possible, to disenfranchise people and block their democratic right to cast a vote.

Tis ever strange how such promises on the lips of politicos so often mean the exact opposite of the words spoken. One thinks of a certain Nick Clegg and his promise not to raise tuition fees in the UK or George's dad, George Bush Snr, who once famously stated: “Read my lips, no new taxes” and then promptly created some once elected.

Some things never change it would appear – the dissimulation of politicians seems to be as unlimited as their desire for us to trust them, despite the long and inglorious history that would indicate that, for the most part, it would be wiser not to .

Back on the raft floating gently on the Kwai all remains the very essence of serenity. The amorously inclined birds know little of such political shenanigans and care even less. I sip my coffee and wonder at the gullibility of people to forever believe in such characters. They come, they fool a few people for a time, they go again only to be replaced by the next generation.

Sitting here in the morning sun it is hard not to be impressed by the sheer beauty of this country. As I look over to my left the river bank is ablaze with colour as the bougainvillea cascades down towards the water. Here and there orchids hang gracefully down, so exquisite, seemingly so delicate. It all feels so calm,  so serene right now. I only hope that this peace remains in the days and weeks following the upcoming elections. Your nomadic flaneur has no wish to become a war correspondent.

 Only time will tell.