Academics see society on collision course

ONNUCHA HUTASINGH

Sunday's election which has seen the landslide victory of Thai Rak Thai may lead to a direct confrontation between the middle-class who favour the check-and-balance system, and grassroots people who are strong supporters of the ruling party, academics warned yesterday.

Surapong Sothanasathian, a professor at King Prajadipok Institute, said the outcome of the Feb 6 poll which gave Thai Rak Thai an election mandate to form a single-party government, showed the class division between people in the middle- and upper-class groups and people in the lower class. Intellectuals and the middle-class people strongly opposed absolute power in parliament by one party while the grassroots people voted for Thai Rak Thai and its leader Thaksin Shinawatra as they were beneficiaries of the party's populist schemes.

The class division may escalate into a confrontation between the two groups of people.

"For the next four years, Thailand will be under Thaksin politics. The country and its people will experience the atmosphere of absolute power in parliament under this IT [information technology] era.

"The confrontation between people from different social classes may lead to an anti-parliamentary dictatorship movement. The parliamentary dictatorship will weaken major institutions in society, particularly the House of Representatives which will be merely a puppet chamber," said Mr Surapong.

He gave his views about politics during a seminar entitled "The Outcome of the Election and the Future of Thailand," organised by Krirk University.

To prevent the country from facing such a situation, constitutional amendments were needed to increase the number of MPs in the party-list system. The requirement that parties must win at least 5% of the vote from the party list to secure presentation in the Lower House had put small parties at a disadvantage. The percentage should be cut to 1% instead of 5%, he said.

Dhurakijpundit University rector Varakorn Samkoset said the political atmosphere showed the country was divided. People in the South snubbed Thai Rak Thai in Sunday's election while people from other regions backed the ruling party.

The government's absolute House majority made the opposition's task of scrutinising cabinet members impossible and the check-and-balance would collapse, he warned, predicting the country would face economic problems in the next four years as the Thaksin government had to shoulder a heavy financial burden.

The Oil Fund was now in the red, with debt standing at 65 billion baht due to rising oil prices.

The government had to spend huge sums on mega projects.

It had to pay back loans and interest to holders of financial bonds issued by the government four years ago to raise funding for state investment.

Huge amounts were needed to keep Thai Rak Thai's its populist schemes going.

"What the country needs most is a capable finance minister to scrutinise the spending of the government.

"The capable minister will prevent the government from lavishly spending the money on unnecessary projects like what happened four years ago. Where can we find such a minister?" Mr Vorakorn asked.