Published on January 31, 2005

The reform agenda laid out in the Constitution is on the brink of failure

The many successes and failures that can be attributed to the Thai Rak Thai Party’s tenure in government are debatable. For example, to some, the government’s war on drugs was effective;

to others it struck right at the heart of the state of human rights in this country. Likewise, the extravagant redistribution of public money that has been carried out through the ruling party’s populist policies has won widespread public approval and has served well as an economic stimulus that has kept the economy steaming away; the downside is that the country could face the threat of a new kind of bubble.

Still, it must be admitted that some of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s populist policies deserve the benefit of the doubt. And it is easy to imagine the Democrats lying awake at night wishing that they had been so bold and creative with their lavishing of public funds when they had their chance.

Yet one failure of this administration is undisputed: under Thaksin the reputation, integrity and accountability of the so-called “independent” bodies prescribed by the Constitution to reform Thai politics have virtually been rent to tatters.

What makes this situation even gloomier is that we can’t be sure whether or not we can really call this a “failure”. What if it has all been done on purpose? What if some politicians in power have been looking at the sorry state of the likes of the Election Commission and the National Counter Corruption Commission and thinking “mission accomplished”?

As things stand now, the February 6 general election is unlikely to change the independent bodies’ inexplicable and blatant lack of independence. And it is well worth noting that the lacklustre performance of the NCCC, EC and Constitution Court, not to mention the major scandals plaguing these agencies, has occurred at a time when corruption and lack of transparency are two of the biggest public concerns with respect to the government.

Despite the numerous pieces of evidence and promising clues that are available, none of these anti-graft mechanisms has succeeded in putting together a single solid case against a Cabinet member, which has only lent credence to the government’s claims that high-level corruption is not one of its problems.

The downward spiral that is slowly swallowing these bodies began soon after Thaksin came to power. In 2002 the Election Commission, which had won much praise for its even-handed handling of the 2000 Senate election, emerged in a much tamer form after the standing set of commissioners ended their term and were replaced by questionable, politically more partial individuals.

The Constitution Court, meanwhile, lost its soul even earlier, following the 2001 verdict on the prime minister’s asset-concealment case.

The NCCC, for its part, managed to hold onto its integrity for a little while longer. It demonstrated great courage in its indictment of Thaksin for allegedly concealing assets and in an earlier success in its case against the then-powerful Sanan Kachornprasart, former secretary-general of the Democrat Party, who is still serving a five-year ban from politics for having submitted false assets statements. But in 2003, the agency followed its comrades in the other previously independent bodies down the path of ruin when its commissioners were replaced by a new team. The NCCC’s credibility has since been eroded, and not just by the recent alleged abuse of authority by the commissioners when they unlawfully awarded themselves a pay hike.

The long delay in the establishment of the National Telecom Commission (NTC) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the apparent political interference in the formation of these important bodies and in the selection of their commissioners, some of whom have questionable backgrounds, has further clouded the bleak outlook for the reformers.

Considering huge business and political interests that are at stake, the NTC and NBC are not likely to emerge as institutions dedicated to serving the lofty goals of the 1997 Constitution, which seeks to democratise the use of the nation’s telecom and broadcasting frequencies. With the entire system of safeguard mechanisms that are supposed to support and enhance the drastic political reform enshrined in the Constitution getting weaker by the day, there is a real possibility that the country’s hard-won reforms have already been reversed.

With virtually all of the independent bodies whose job it is to provide much-needed checks and balances going into the pocket of the powers that be, the future of Thailand’s democracy is under serious threat. The gravest damage may have already been done, but the outcome of the February 6 general election will determine whether it can be reversed.

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