Ballot

A government critic recently gave an interview, published in Manager Online edition, outlining his thoughts on the political maladies stemming from the flawed political system.

In the view of Bunjerd Singkaneti, Thailand has a facade of democracy, but its political system is flawed, dominated by the monopolistic capitalism introduced and advanced by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Bunjerd, also dean of the Law School at the National Institute of Development Administration, and like-minded academics have been ardent critics of the Thaksin regime since 2005.

They joined the yellow shirts in their crusade against Thaksin, which culminated in the 2006 coup. After the Pheu Thai Party won the 2011 general election, they formed Siam Pracha Piwat, an advocacy group of yellow-shirt academics, in January.

Although the group was seen as an antidote to the red-shirt Pracharat, its true mission was to uproot the populist policies championed by Thaksin and implemented by the Yingluck Shinawatra government.

Soon after Siam Pracha Piwat came on the scene, Pitak Siam was formed to mobilise the masses. The two worked as allies of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

Bunjerd is particularly critical of populist policies, including the rice-pledging scheme, because he sees populism as a tool of Thaksin and his cronies to plunder the country.

He believes populism is just a fancy way of bribing voters for their support, allowing the government to cling to power. This, in turn, will pave the way for cronies to enrich themselves from state spending projects.

He contends that monopolistic capitalism, if allowed to thrive, will wreak havoc on the economy and fair business practices.

The populist policies are like a few bones thrown to the underprivileged, while the political fat cats enjoy a lavish feast.

In Bunjerd's opinion, the Yingluck government is essentially the Thaksin regime reincarnated, because it too has been trying to exert influence over the judiciary and independent organisations in order to consolidate power at the expense of the system of checks and balances.

For almost a year, Bunjerd and Siam Pracha Piwat have been the brains behind the PAD and Pitak Siam, spearheading the awareness campaign to expose the flaws of populism.

Opponents might have been right in their critique of Thaksin's leadership and his populist policies. But they have no justification to call for military intervention to oust what they see as "rogue" government.

Furthermore, they condone a power seizure as the last resort if democratic measures, including the awareness campaign, fail to sway sentiment away from populism.

It is a mystery why a group of highly educated and sophisticated democracy advocates should envision a coup as a remedy to rectify and purify democracy.

It is also a big puzzle that the yellow shirts opt to analyse Thai democracy through the Marxist theory of monopolistic capitalism, while the red shirts are promoting their democratic red book modelled after Mao Zedong's handbook on the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

If the Thaksin regime and the Yingluck administration were lethal to democratic rule, then the power seizure is equally a cardinal sin. Two wrongs would not add up to a right, but only worsen the situation.

Populism in other democracies, including the United States, has always proved to be just a phase, which fades away following a series of elections.

If Thailand is to remain firmly on the path of democracy, all sides have to struggle through the ballot box. There is no other way.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/30/ballot/