Foresight was seen as his forte and honesty his weakest point, according to results of the survey released yesterday by the Research Institute of Bangkok University.

Of the six criteria used to measure his performance, the premier passed the halfway mark for foresight (7.3 out of 10), his relationship with foreign countries (6.9), and devotion to work (5.9).

But he "failed" in regard to tolerance to comments from the public (4.7), protection of the national interest (4.5), and honesty (4.2).

The survey, "What Bangkok Residents Think of Thaksin Shinawatra", was conducted among 1,503 eligible voters in 40 out of 50 Bangkok districts last Friday and Monday.

As for Thaksin's strengths, almost 30 per cent of respondents pointed to his decisiveness, followed by his intelligence and foresight (25 per cent), his quick decision making (11 per cent), his good ties with

the poor (10 per cent), and good relations overseas

(4 per cent).

When asked about Thaksin's weaknesses, over 27 per cent pointed to his tendency for slips of the tongue, followed by selfishness (19.5 per cent), inability to handle criticism (16 per cent), lack of honesty (15 per cent), and his short temper (7 per cent).

However, almost 32 per cent said they saw more benefit than disadvantage if Thaksin remained as PM, while 27 per cent thought the opposite. Another 28.5 per cent said the benefit and disadvantage was equal and the remainder was unsure.

More than one in three respondents, or 38 per cent, said Thaksin's performance over the past five years was worse than they expected since he first became PM. A little over 22 per cent said his performance was better than on day one in office, while 40 per cent saw no difference.

Sukhum Chaloeysap, director of Suan Dusit Rajabhat University's Suan Dusit Poll, said the survey results were not surprising as Thaksin's popularity was on the downturn.

Thais should learn from the poll result that their expectations would take a long time to be fulfilled. People used to give weight to Thaksin's ideas. They gave him their hearts initially. But now they doubted Thaksin's honesty and longed for good leaders, he said.

"The next problem we have to think about is whether the country will be able to survive without Thaksin. After Chuan [Leekpai], people wanted to try Thaksin. But we haven't seen who will come next as our dream prime minister," he said.

Amornwit Nakhonthap, an associate professor at Chulalongkorn University and director of the Ramjitti Institute, said the poll result showed people's values had changed. They now favour honesty over ability. Surveys in the past had shown that young people saw minor cheating by the country's leaders as acceptable if those leaders were talented, competent, or had high potential.

"When everything slows down, we can rethink about our society. People have seen or heard news about leaders cheating. Today we see politicians as rather dishonest," Amornwit said.

With people losing faith in politics, leaders should figure out how to solve problems for the long term. They should think about how to create transparency in Thai politics, not just worry about their image. Otherwise the younger generation would not want to enter politics and Thais would have to face the same problems with the same political players, he said.