Insight Myanmar
“We still believe that engaging is more useful than not engaging. Lots of countries chose to disengage and imposing sanctions and all of that. I think in case of Myanmar, ASEAN has proven that engaging with Myanmar does more good than harm,” stresses Kiat Sittheeamorn, former Thai Deputy Prime Minister and international trade negotiator. In this interview with the Insight Myanmar Podcast, Kiat draws on decades of experience in the private sector, parliament, and multilateral diplomacy to offer hard-won insights on the moral and practical dilemmas facing Southeast Asia today. In this wide-ranging conversation, he discusses integrity, regional diplomacy, and the ongoing crisis in Myanmar.
For Kiat, public service is grounded in his own story, and the force of his personal code, rooted in childhood struggle and self-reliance. He explains how he learned early on that “[a] free lunch is never good. You have to work for it!” Sure enough, by his teenage years, he was earning his own keep. This ethos stayed with him through an early career as an electrical engineer helping build power plants across Asia and the Middle East. Returning to Thailand, he became the director of the Board of Trade of Thailand. Then, by what he refers to as a “chance accident,” he came to enter politics. Kiat became acquainted with the then Prime Minister during the country’s economic crisis in 1997, who asked for his advice in navigating this period. Then, just a few months later, Kiat was encouraged to run for office, initiating his first of three terms as a Member of Parliament, and eventually serving one term as Deputy Prime Minister.
Kiat describes how moving from solving concrete engineering challenges to confronting national crises and serving in government provided him a steady resolve that helped him stay principled amid the compromises and moral confusion of politics. “If you cannot withstand all these fancy proposals, although it’s all wrong, don’t get involved with politics!” he exclaims. “That’s my message to the younger generation.”
In Thailand as elsewhere, he explains, the destructive effects of power, patronage, and opportunism are not abstract. He points to his own parliamentary work, which he says resulted in dishonest politicians being forced to pay back over 60 billion baht. He says there were personal challenges to this crusade—intimidations, and offers of bribes—which he acknowledges can be challenging to refuse for most, and especially if one is, in his words, “confused.”
Kiat returns to this language of “confusion”—and the discipline needed to resist it—throughout the conversation. He repeatedly stresses the importance of maintaining one’s internal compass amid constant ethical temptations and pressures in politics, such as bribery or rewards for personal gain. At the same time, he also warns that the decay of public life often happens through more ordinary rationalizations and bureaucratic excuses, like “We don’t have the budget,” or “There’s no way to fight back.” For Kiat, these are signs of passive failure: retreating from difficult yet necessary action and avoiding responsibility. “Those politicians who came out and started excusing themselves that, ‘Oh, we don’t have enough money to do this, and that,’ it’s all bullshit! I’m sorry for my language!” he says, adding that there are always good policies that do not require much money, but bad influences and pressures can quickly overwhelm politicians who are “confused.”
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