Today marks the International Day of Tolerance. In 1996, the United Nations chose this date to honour Mahatma Gandhi, a role model of peace, tolerance and non-violent protest. It's a day meant to remind us to embrace the beauty of tolerance and use this virtue as a means to resolve conflict.
Judging from conflicts around the world, it's clear that this virtue has been in short supply, including in the Land of Smiles over the past several weeks.
A ruling by the Constitutional Court last Wednesday found that three key protesters (and their 10-point manifesto) were acts deemed against the constitutional monarchy.
The top court's ruling is seen by some as an unprecedented test of Thai society's ability to tolerate opposing views. But more conflict is only anticipated.
Royalists have been goaded by the court's ruling and have pledged to use it to file criminal charges against monarchy reforming activists, like-minded political parties, and academics or media.
Meanwhile, so-called monarchy reform activists held street protests on Sunday which ended with three protesters being shot during clashes with police.
Royal Thai Police (RTP) yesterday said one of the three protesters had been injured by a rubber bullet fired by police. The RTP has further pledged to conclude their investigations into who fired live rounds that injured the other two protesters. In doing this the RTP and government must ensure investigations are done in a swift, transparent and reliable manner.
It's not the first time that a crowd-control mission has become a problem in itself, instead of containing conflict as it should. There have been a number of reports of injuries -- not only protesters but also police -- at protests centred at Din Daeng intersection over the past few months.
The chaos of Sunday again raises questions over police performance and the ways used to control protests. The injuries likewise confirm serious structural flaws in the methods that security personnel have used. Measures used include walls of containers to block rallies, and the use of high-powered water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds.
But what we see as a result is only more resentment and deeper social divisions.
It's time for the government to reexamine its old playbook that dwells on law and the exercise of force to control dissidents. The government cannot keep on using the same tactics and hoping for different results.
Amidst this, Thai society is politically coming at a watershed moment. Today, parliament will start scrutinising charter amendment proposals with one amendment being proposed by political protesters. If it is vetoed by senators, more conflict and more protests are likely.
The government needs to take heed of this fragile situation and use peace, not prosecution, to deal with protests and dissenting views. Crowd-control missions by police must be ordered to avoid force. Meanwhile, their performance needs to be monitored and if there are cases of injuries and deaths during a rally proper investigations need to ensue and be vetted by the House, instead of police.
Thai society has witnessed political protests over the past four decades, many of them turning bloody and tragic. There must be something that we could have done but failed to do. Perhaps, our government as well as society did not give peace enough of a chance. This time, we must use the virtue of tolerance before it is too late.
