Published on January 31, 2005

Academics yesterday warned against a government being formed by a single party with an absolute majority in the House of Representatives.

Such an administration tended to abuse its power at the expense of critics and those who were not on its side, which would weaken the country’s fledgling democracy, they cautioned at a seminar held at the Thai Journalists Association office.

The Thai Rak Thai Party, which led a coalition government in its first term in office, has said it wants to win enough seats to form a single-party government after the February 6 general election.

Professor Kasian Tejapira, a political scientist at Thammasat University, said that the perils of a single-party government were that it would abuse its authority to get re-elected, ignore the minority in Parliament and increase pressure on those who were not on its side.

He warned that such confrontations could lead to an uprising and an ensuing bloody crackdown.

Kasian said that although Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s outgoing government had kept many of its campaign promises, it had failed in terms of human rights.

“Since the [dictatorship era in the early 1970s], I have seen no other government that violates human rights more than the current one,” he said.

Professor Nithi Eaosriwong, a co-founder of the Midnight University, agreed. “I see no difference between a military dictatorship and the political authoritarianism that is going on,” he said. The Midnight University is a Chiang Mai-based forum that aims to stimulate thinking on subjects rather than grant degrees.

Nithi told the seminar that the general election on Sunday provided voters with an opportunity to prevent any single political group from dominating the next government.

However, he said, the major electoral rivals, Thai Rak Thai and Democrat parties, have given no clear signals that they would welcome more people’s involvement in running the country.

Atthajak Sattayanuwat, a lecturer at Chiang Mai University’s Faculty of Humanities, said that although his government was credited for reviving the economy, Thaksin could not be regarded as a champion of democracy.

“My conviction is that if you want balanced politics, you should not vote for Thai Rak Thai,” he said.

The academic also said that contrary to popular belief, a coalition government did not weaken political stability.

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