Capitalists, politicians have hijacked democracy, seminar told

Capitalists, politicians have hijacked democracy, seminar told

Despite repeated elections and constitutions, Thailand's democracy has waned over the years largely due to collusion between civil servants and politicians, a seminar was told yesterday.The seminar "Thailand's crisis: Who is the cause?" organised by the Siam Pracha Piwat academic group, looked at events in Thailand over the past 20 years that have allegedly chipped away at democracy.

Held at Thammasat University's faculty of law, the event drew an audience of about 300, mostly supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy.

Amorn Chandarasomboon, former secretary-general of the Council of State and director of Bangkok Bank, said Thailand has grown more undemocratic since the National Peace Keeping Council staged a coup on Feb 23, 1991.

After the coup, the council added a clause to the constitution requiring that the prime minister must be an elected MP.

This means the prime minister must only come from a political party because the constitution also states that MP candidates have to be fielded by political parties, he said.

In addition, the 1997 constitution requires candidates to be members of a political party up to 90 days before an election.

This gives political parties absolute control over MPs.

These requirements have created an opportunity for capitalists to spend their money to buy the prime ministership or to control the government, he said.

Mr Amorn said in a democracy, the right to run for parliament is open to all people regardless of whether they are affiliated with a political party and MPs must have the right to make their own voting decisions.

Mr Amorn said Thailand has only the form, but not the function of a democracy.

"The principle of democracy that guarantees the rights and independence of a candidate is usually forgotten, paving the way for domination and tight control by party sponsors and owners," said Mr Amorn.

Jaras Suwanmala, Chulalongkorn University's political science professor, said Thailand's crisis needs to be addressed at the structural level and the task cannot be left to politicians.

"Our country's problems are due to the fact that it is designed as a winner-takes-all system. Civil servants colluding with politicians also adds to the severity of the problem," Mr Jaras said.

Banjerd Singkaneti, a law lecturer at the National Institute of Development Administration, said the baseline for Thailand's political crisis was drawn on Aug 21, 2001 when the Constitution Court ruled in favour of then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in his asset concealment case. "How did this happen _ one family three PMs? It could not happen in a democratic nation," said Mr Banjerd, referring to the fact that after Thaksin was ousted in a coup, his brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat became prime minister and last year, so did his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, who is the current PM.

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