At the age of 59, Jarungvith Phumma believes the role of Election Commission (EC) secretary-general will give him the opportunity to ensure a democratic culture takes root in Thai politics.
What Pol Col Jarungvith dreams of is a society in which people choose representatives of their own accord and where their choices are not driven by money. How the country is to be run and who should run it should also not be tied to a precondition that any impasse leads to a military intervention, he believes.
When asked what strategies should be implemented to realise an ideal democratic culture, the former police officer sighed.
"Just doing things in line with the new laws already keeps us busy," Pol Col Jarungvith told the Bangkok Post, referring to a long list of jobs the EC is duty-bound to do under the new charter and organic laws, notably those governing the EC and the election of MPs.
"I need to complete these tasks first before I can think of other things."
Under the constitution, promulgated on April 6 last year, the EC secretary-general has more power to run the EC office. This is different from the past when other members of the EC had a role in supervising various departments.
At present, however, members of the poll watchdog occupy seats on the executive board in charge of initiating policies while the secretary-general assumes the role of "supreme commander" of the EC office, who is granted full control over the organisations' operation.
This new power structure, which gives the secretary-general clear-cut authority over the running of the EC office, is the main reason Pol Col Jarungvith decided to compete for the post.
He said he believed it would put him in the right position to translate his ideas into practical ways to forge the democratic culture people expect when they cast their votes at elections.
Early last month, when he was appointed to the job, Pol Col Jarungvith said his first priority was to bring in a new management structure covering various jobs, from budget spending to preparations for a general election early next year.
Staff under his leadership must go through intense training on how to make political parties abide by poll regulations, how to deal with vote cheating and how to protect witnesses in election fraud cases.
"My first aim is to ensure that our first election [under the new constitution] must be held properly," Pol Col Jarungvith.
This not only means facilities such as polling booths must be in place and fraud-proof, but new innovations must also be brought in that will make the election go smoothly and systematically.
The "iVote" platform is one example, he said. It is an online advanced voting platform to be piloted overseas for Thai expats in Japan, Norway and Jordan.
A smartphone application, named "Pineapple Eyes", will be also launched as a channel to receive people's complaints about election irregularities.
Pol Col Jarungvith said he wants to apply technology and strict law enforcement to make the election clean and fair, which will help forge a democratic culture.
It was this determination that made him stand out among the six candidates vying for the role, according to a source close to the selection process. He also impressed when he stressed the need to reform electoral practices by freeing them of influence from the crooked politicians and businessmen who spend money buying MP seats.
On the day he showcased his visions before the selection panellists, Pol Col Jarungvith spoke of this imperative. "If we can't stamp out vote buying, our organisation [the EC] will be on the verge of ceasing to exist," he recalls telling the panel.
Pol Col Jarungvith said he hoped to draw from his experience and knowledge of politics and the law, accumulated through years of working as a senior police officer, to beat the odds in his EC secretary-general job.
After graduating from the Royal Police Cadet Academy with a political science degree, Pol Col Jarungvith, also a law graduate from Ramkhamhaeng University, started his career as a policeman. Police investigations are often dubbed as the onset of the "upstream judicial process."
During those years in the police force, Pol Col Jarungvith was tasked with closely monitoring political conflicts in the country. He was often assigned to deal with hardcore political activists and street demonstrators.
"I saw clearly there was a specific group bent on stirring up violence," he said.
He also learned that, in many cases, political rallies were sustained by money from unnamed sources. Apparently, there were people sponsoring the protests, who were also willing to spend their money to further a political cause, he said.
He also found some rally-goers did not join the protest based on an informed decision, but instead were lured into the activities by behind-the-scenes influences.
In Pol Col Jarungvith's view, that was not a genuinely democratic culture.
People should be able to think for themselves whether they should join a street rally or resort to other means of protest, he said.
A "whistleblowing culture" should also be promoted from the ground up. A glaring case in point relates to the four students who early this year exposed the embezzlement of state funds that occurred while they were working as interns at the Khon Kaen Protection for the Destitute centre. Their bravery led to a large-scale inspection of welfare centres countrywide, he said.
"People who are politically aware and well-informed can decide for themselves whether to make a stand without being lured or misled," Pol Col Jarungvith said.
"I really want to help build this awareness."
In 2004, Pol Col Jarungvith left the police force to work in the EC as he believed it plays a crucial role in helping society build democratic values and a culture free of poll cheating and money politics.
With 14 solid years of experience now under his belt, he is familiar with the design of poll regulations and law enforcement.
Pol Col Jarungvith was previously appointed as a member of the now-defunct National Reform Council before being invited to discuss his election ideas with the Constitution Drafting Committee which wrote the current charter and organic laws.
Pol Col Jarungvith said he has a hectic schedule ahead as he strives to keep up with the EC-relevant laws under the charter, but that all the hard work would be worth it once a sucessful election was held.
