Politicians like Thaksin Shinawatra take advantage of poorly educated Thais, a top political scientist said yesterday.

About 60 per cent of the population - 36 million - is poorly educated and easily manipulated, Likhit Dhiravegin said.

Likhit was addressing the three-day Thai Politics Forum organised by King Prajadhipok's Institute.

He said ignorance and poverty must first be eradicated before genuine democracy can be realised.

"If you cannot be economically independent, you cannot be politically independent," he said.

Many people had received primary education only. "They are easily misled. It's tough," he said, noting that politicians who mislead people lacked a democratic spirit and ethos.

"Whoever said 'democracy is only a means to an end' [and not an end in itself] can violate anything without thinking they are breaking the law," he said, referring to a statement by the PM.

Instead of acting as a strong executive, Likhit said Thaksin had turned himself into a strong leader and the country into a company.

"Democracy is not a company but a cooperative," he said, adding that all should be equal under the law.

However, what people were witnessing at present, Likhit said, was not politicians observing the rule of law - but exercising their rule by law after buying their way into Parliament.

He said a rethink about how institutions such as the Senate were made up was needed in order to prevent them falling under political influence.

Likhit said, representatives of the professions and experts could form a future Senate along with elected senators to make it balanced and independent.

He also said that true party politics was needed rather than the politics of cult that existed now.

He said the Democrat Party was the closest to a real party of the people.

At the same forum yesterday, a research paper on loopholes in the 1997 Constitution was presented by Assoc Professor Thiwa Ngernyuang, dean of Rangsit University's Faculty of Law and a drafter of the charter.

Thiwa accused Thaksin of exploiting these loopholes to abuse his power and maintain his rule for as long as possible. Government interference in many of the so-called independent organisations such as the Election Commission was something the Constitution writers did not anticipate, he admitted.

Thiwa said Constitution drafters wanted to ensure governments became more stable. But, the Thaksin administration had proven itself too powerful and beyond parliamentary scrutiny.

"We never thought the government could be this strong," he said.

The lesson for future Constitution changes is to take into consideration the political psychology of the public.

"Our ways are those of the patronage system. People are slaves to the authorities. They are afraid of the authorities, of local influential figures."

He said, however, that any amendment that gave the public greater access to political participation would be good.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation