Another year, another promise of an election -- only this time the promise appears to be real. The fourth year and part of the fifth under the military regime were hardly noteworthy. The nation survived but did not prosper, economically or morally. There is almost universal hope in every corner of the country that 2019 will be different.
As we are currently in the midst of the biannual toll counting of the "7 Deadly Days" on the holiday roads, it is worth remarking that, statistically speaking, Thai highways and byways became a teensy bit less murderous. In 2018, traffic fatalities per capita were the ninth worst in the world, rather than second. But our roads are still the most deadly in the region, and bloodier than any in the Americas, Europe or Australia.
Of all the noteworthy events of 2018, a boys' football team from Chiang Rai provided gloom, doom, drama, hope and, finally, overwhelming joy. The saga of the Wild Boars of Mae Sai, trapped and rescued from the Tham Luang cave, captivated Thailand and the world. The happy ending was revealed dramatically, as rescuers pulled out the boys and their coach in agonising, suspenseful slow motion. They were days of unforgettable tension.
Arguably the biggest disappointment of 2018, apart from more election delays, was the regime's promised war on corruption. There were arrests and punishments and even a few court convictions. But every showpiece case of graft was buried in the excuses and paperwork of an extremely unsatisfactory National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). More than a year after first Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon showed off his unreported million-dollar watch collection, the NACC last week cleared him of wrongdoing based on a rationale as weak and unconvincing as the "findings" of its probe into the case.
The regime at no time stopped or slowed its enforcement of censorship and anti-opposition activities. The very busy Lt Col Burin Thongprapai, chief judge advocate for the National Council for Peace and Order, initiated repeated prosecutions for sedition. Anti-coup activists continued to flee the country, adding to the largest group of Thai political exiles in history. Most of these prosecutions should halt in 2019, with the end of the regime's martial law-like edicts.
While most of 2018 saw a slowdown in violence in the deep South, the spate of bombings, shootings and gun attacks in Narathiwat from Friday until Sunday, along with explosions on Songkhla's Samila beach on Wednesday, signalled that the region will remain a powder keg.
Arguably the most distressing events of 2018 clustered around the sad fact that Thailand is the most economically unfair country in the world. The rich only got richer, while the extremely well-off head of the country's largest construction company, Premchai "Sia Prem" Karnasuta, is tying up the court with top lawyers who are denying he had anything to do with the death of that black leopard in a wildlife park -- never mind eating leopard's tail tom yam.
To paper over the extreme inequality, the government tossed tens of billions of baht into new welfare programmes that now provide cash handouts, cheap markets and other benefits to more than 15 million people. Perhaps in 2019, the government will realise that a good education system and equality of opportunity for jobs is better for most welfare recipients and for the country.
Whatever the outcome of the election, the next government will have to work within democratic confines, which will be an improvement. As 2019 dawns, a New Year's resolution for every Thai should be to act responsibly. The post-election hope is for the respectful, democratic resolution of issues. That would be a happy new year for all.
