Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun addresses a conference on a new round of socio-political reforms at the Ambassador Hotel yesterday, where he warned about the peril of a polarised Thailand.

Thailand could be on the brink of becoming a "failed state" if the present polarisation and hatred is allowed to continue, former prime minister Anand Panyarachun warned yesterday.

Anand said the term is used by the United Nations to describe a country with socio-political conditions that are almost impossible to manage and where the government fails to function or is not willing to take control.

"The Democrat Party can't go to the North while Thaksin can't step foot in the South. What kind of country is this?" Anand said.

He was referring to the atmosphere of animosity the Democrats and caretaker PM Thaksin Shina-watra faced when they were in the "territory" of rival parties.

The respected former prime minister said he had avoided giving public speeches in the past several months because he tried to avoid projecting an extreme view of Thailand as a failed state.

"But now I have to speak, so this is what I have to say," Anand said.

"Thai society is now polarised by strong hatred. If this condition is allowed to continue, we will be living in horrifying times. Everybody has to prevent the worst from happening. But as of today, I haven't seen any positive signs."

Such polarisation prevented many people from expressing themselves for fear that they would be accused of siding with the opposing camp, the former premier said. However, Anand said that he, for one, will not hide behind the notion of being non-partisan.

"In my life, I never take a non-partisan stance between right and wrong, good and bad, democracy and anti-democracy, dhamma and non-dhamma, justice and injustice, press freedom and media control.

I always stay on the right side,"

he stated.

Anand, who is also president of Transparency International (Thai-land), was giving a keynote speech yesterday at a conference on a new round of socio-political reforms co-organised by the Thailand Journalists Association, Transparency International, Thammasat University, Midnight University and the National Health Foundation.

The group yesterday announced its initiative to take part in shaping a new round of social and political reforms that involve broad-based participation of people from different sectors.

The first nation-wide reform attempt produced what was then believed to be the most progressive charter - known as the People's Constitution - in 1997. However, critics say the intent and spirit of the charter has been distorted over the past five years.

From now until February, the groups planned to conduct studies and several rounds of public discussions that would focus on issues including morality of leaders, political decentralisation, grass-roots participation, independent organisations and media reforms.

Law Professor Somchai Preechasilpakul, representing Midnight University, yesterday urged people to look at a new round of reforms beyond amending the Constitution - to fix the political damage done during Thaksin's tenure.

"The fundamental problem in Thai society - the inequality between people - has been here long before Thaksin," Somchai said. "Small people have long since lost the right to decide their own destiny to the state via legal means and public policies."

To Somchai, if the momentum for a new round of social and political reforms are to be sustained and produce results, the initiatives have to be driven by broad-based groups of people, not just a handful of professionals and the elite.

Without policy changes pushed by popular participation, good initiatives could simply turn into a cliche, such as "sufficiency economy" that everybody would talk about in a rhetorical way.

"[The term] 'sufficiency economy' has almost become another term of greetings like 'sawasdee'," he said.

Dr Juree Vijitwatakarn, secretary general of Transparency International (Thailand), agreed that no meaningful reform could take place without people's recognition of the equality of everybody in society.

"How can we have meaningful reforms when many people still don't believe they are equal to everybody else? Any reform has to start from instilling the sense of social equality."

Nantiya Tangwisutijit,

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

The Nation