Since Thai Rak Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra came to power in 2001, interference in constitutionally mandated independent watchdog agencies by politicians has become so regular and predictable that a large section of the public has already accepted it as a fact of life. This type of manipulation, done through the Senate, has been so efficient and so precise that close associates and friends of the powers-that-be were invariably elected to serve on such powerful rules-fixing and enforcing bodies as the Constitution Court, the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) and the EC.

If the old Senate, presided over by Suchon Chaleekrua, succeeded in helping politicians fix high-level appointments in the past, there is no reason why they will not do the same this time round. The Senate is scheduled to meet today to select and nominate nine out of 18 short-listed candidates to be appointed as new NCCC members and, in about two weeks' time, it will handpick five out of 10 finalists to serve on the new EC. Members of the public have to keep their fingers crossed in the hopes that the incumbent senators have somehow reformed and will perform their duties honestly and without fear or favour when selecting and nominating well qualified candidates with unquestioned professional integrity to serve on these two powerful bodies.

The EC serves as a gatekeeper to ensure free and fair elections and to see to it that most if not all politicians who buy votes or otherwise commit electoral fraud are screened out and punished. Meanwhile, the NCCC is responsible for weeding out and penalising corrupt politicians who have managed to slip into the government service along with their cronies.  The unreformed and unrepentant Senate must be closely watched and scrutinised by members of the public. Public attention must be focused on the issue of transparency in the process the Senate employs to select and nominate short-listed candidates for posts on the NCCC and the EC.

That said, there is no evidence to prove that any one member of the old Senate can be persuaded or influenced by politicians into voting one way or another to help specific candidates receive these important postings. But if the selection and nomination processes of high-level watchdog agencies by the Senate in the past provide any indication in this regard, frontrunners among candidates, particularly those with close ties to powerful politicians, have tended to receive these appointments with unusual regularity.

Political interference in constitutionally mandated independent watchdog agencies is an insidious threat to democracy in our Kingdom because it renders ineffective the system of checks and balances between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. Moreover, it enables the powers-that-be to gain too much power and engage in unchecked corruption, which was exactly what happened under Thaksin's watch, and which led to the kind of absolute political corruption from which Thailand is now trying to disentangle itself.

It must be remembered that both the previous NCCC and EC, both of which had been nominated and appointed through a sham process by the Senate, went on to commit dishonest, corrupt and criminal offences that were designed to benefit Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party. All members of the previous NCCC and EC eventually faced the ignominious end of being convicted by the Criminal Court and forced out of office. Needless to say all of this reflects badly on the Senate, which must now prove beyond any reasonable doubt that it will not repeat the same mistakes. Members of the general public, civil society organisations and the mass media have an important role to play in ensuring there is a level playing field and fairness at all stages of the process to select and appoint the NCCC and EC members as well as the members of other watchdog agencies.