ASEAN CHAIRMANSHIP
ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
Political stability with transparency and accountability is what Thailand needs to establish during its chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), said Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan. The country's chairmanship of Asean will start from July 25 and last for one and a half years.
The sense of insecurity since the economic crisis in 1997 prompted many Thai people to turn to so-called visionaries and rely on leadership that brought in populist measures, cronies and nominees and eventually resulted in corruption and abuse of power, Mr Surin told a seminar held to mark the 53rd anniversary of the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida).
Thailand was one of the founding members of Asean and has contributed to the prosperity of the region. But since 2004, the country's economic growth has slowed and it has become one of the slowest growing economies in Asean.
''Our country has failed because we thought that stable politics without a strong opposition and sufficient checks and balances was good,'' said Mr Surin, a former foreign minister.
While he did not go into detail, it appeared he was referring to the Thaksin Shinawatra administration.
Mr Surin said Thailand needed political stability that was also transparent and accountable, with a certain degree of participation from the people.
''With such a development, we then could ride on as a leader in the regional grouping that Bangkok is going to chair for one and a half years from July 25,'' he said.
To lead the region and to compete in the global arena, Thailand needed to strive hard to build up a knowledge-based economy.
''Human infrastructure is the key for not only Thailand, but for the region to attract foreign investment and communicate with the world,'' he said.
Now Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) was second in Asean after Indonesia. Thailand's contribution to the Asean GDP was about 20%. Asean contributed to 11.66% of Asian GDP. The slowdown in Thailand has affected the momentum of the region, he said.
Nakarin Mektrairat, the dean of Thammasat University's Faculty of Political Science, also spoke at the forum and said it might take 5-10 years before Thailand gets political stability.
''The present political crisis is felt among the Thais because the political power has been shifting to other players, particularly to the people,'' said Mr Nakarin.
He said, however, that the shift in power from absolute leadership to sharing and balancing power could not move at a faster pace.
''In Thai history, unwanted leaders lived in exile in foreign countries, but now they have to stand before the courts and even when the court's verdict is given, say within a year or two, there might be those who defy the court's decision,'' he said.
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