Thai political and social reform faces an uphill climb with or without Thaksin, according to Thai Magsaysay awardees following The Nation's roundtable on the national agenda. The second of a two-part series.

The integrity of Thai democracy has advanced little since a cabal gave it birth about seventy years ago, a group of Thai Magsaysay awardees believe.

More discouraging is that the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) era has further solidified the impediments to the development of a healthy democratic state, so much so that regardless of caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin's own political destiny, Thai democracy will remain a fundamentally weak player in future transmissions from one corrupt administration to the next.

A Popular Afterthought

Unlike many democracies, Thailand's did not come about through the struggle of its own people. It came from a group of Western-educated bureaucrats and military officials taking power from the monarchy. Very few ordinary people actually took part, said Sophon Suphapong, an outgoing senator who won the Magsaysay Award in 1998 for public service.

Instead of quietly relying on the monarchy for instructions, this passive attitude to obedience was shifted to the leadership of the new government.

"The root of this patron-client dependency is so deep that people are used to doing nothing, just waiting for some leaders to fix the problem," says Sophon.

From time to time, there might be brave people sticking their necks out to deal with common problems, like community leaders who fight to protect a forest. But the fact that many of them have been slain while striving for a good cause is not very encouraging, he adds.

Recent rallies may have brought people to the streets, but this does not represent any fundamental change.

"Many people say they don't want Thaksin, but if you ask what they do want, they may not be able to tell you," says outgoing senator Jon Ungphakorn, one of last year's Magsaysay awardees.

Furthermore, adds Jon, Thailand is lost in the political woods in terms of finding a national ideology. Real democracy may be of interest to some of the middle class, but this may not be the vision of many villagers.

Fuelling A Democratic Fantasy

Whether it's vote buying or road building, people silently follow the leader, says Jon, and this helps to maintain the extensive level of corruption.

Without the hand-outs and kickbacks, the patronage system would be much more difficult to maintain.

Sophon agrees that Thailand hardly sets a good example by failing to charge, never mind successfully prosecute, corrupt leaders. This sends the message to society that corruption is permissible.

"[South] Korea jailed its former president. That's something we have to do with our politicians: put them on trial and prosecute them if they are guilty. We have to strengthen our justice system," Sophon says.

Another awardee, Mechai Viravaidya, is not surprised that corruption is eroding the values of the younger generation. A recent opinion survey asked 3,000 high-school students in Bangkok if they thought corruption in politics was acceptable if politicians ultimately honoured their promises. Fifty one percent said yes.

"The rampant problem of money worship and selfishness in society has eaten into our children," he said.

"That's why we hear more and more about cheating in exams. We have to start with our kids in campaigning to raise moral standards."

Thaksin-ing It To New Heights

In fact, Thaksin is just a full-blown example of moral deficiency in Thai society, in which its members lack the courage to stay honest, says Jon.

The Thaksin regime has been extremely successful in buying people. Everybody has a price, from senators to those in independent organisations - who are supposed to keep the checks-and-balances system in place. During Thaksin's time, corruption has been at its peak, the senator asserts.

Another outgoing senator and awardee, Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, said Thaksin is certainly corrupt, but what makes him unique is his effort to reinforce the patronage system among society's most disadvantaged. "The poor have learnt that every government is corrupt."

But they have gained a lot from his war on drugs, his campaign against the motorcycle mafia and his Bt30-health programme, she adds.

"If Thaksin had not taken care of the poor, they would not have supported him as they do today. They would have been among those shouting Thaksin get out!"

If You Can't Beat 'Em

But to Prateep, who was born in Bangkok's largest slum and has worked her whole life to improve the bargaining power of the urban poor (and who earned her Magsaysay Award in 1978), corruption is a reality of life in this country. One lesson she has learned with the Thaksin government is: "If you can't get rid of it, live with it and exploit it."

"The patronage system is a part of the political culture. It exists in many other countries. It would be ideal if we could get rid of it, but I haven't heard of any country that has been completely successful in doing that. Politics without the patronage system exists only in books," Prateep says.

While Jon agrees that the patronage system has taken deep root in Thai society, he says he hasn't lost hope that one day people will become more organised and more assertive about fixing the socio-political system through collective initiative instead of waiting for some honest leader.

Jon says he expects to see social reform turning Thailand into a welfare state in which the underprivileged and the poor receive greater opportunities, especially access to quality education and health care.

Dr Krasae Chanawong, a rural doctor who won the award in 1973 for community leadership, adds that welfare from the state is not necessarily expensive.

"Thailand spent a lot of money without efficiency in arranging education." He says the government spends more than private colleges to produce graduates in the same field.

State-run medical colleges spend Bt300,000 per graduate, while Rangsit University only spends Bt180,000, Krasae says.

In the long run, Jon hopes to see a new political party consisting of farmers, labourers and the middle class. He says parties could be formed from coalitions of several social and consumer movements.

"But I won't be convinced if anyone announces the formation of such a party right now. Were such a party to be a meaningful reformer, it would have to come from the initiative of different social groups and be based on the accumulated experience of their struggles."

Nantiya Tangwisutijit

The Nation