Political pundits are working overtime trying to figure out how to dismantle Thaksin Shinawatra's legacy of deceit and corruption, which has dominated Thai politics over the past five and a half years. There is a growing consensus that unless drastic action is taken now to uproot what remains of Thaksin's negative influence on Thai politics, the country's destiny as a self-sustaining democracy may not be secure.

The CDRM's appointment of an eight-member special investigative committee chaired by Sawat Chotephanich to review all projects approved by the Thaksin government, widely suspected of habitually abusing its authority for selfish gains, is the first step in the right direction. The committee must be supported by all justice-loving Thais who must be encouraged to come forward with any useful information and to provide full cooperation to enable it to do its job smoothly.

The Sawat committee has been given one year to complete its task, after which it will be required to hand over unfinished cases to relevant authorities, including the National Counter Corruption Commission, Anti-Money Laundering Office or Office of the Auditor-General. This window of opportunity - during which the committee can be expected to investigate corruption scandals by Thaksin and his cronies totally free from external influences - must not be wasted.

The committee must conduct a preliminary investigation to identify politicians, their cronies or colluding government officials suspected of being involved in specific high-profile cases. With that information, the necessary steps could then be taken to prevent such people from destroying or concealing potentially damning evidence, or transferring their ill-gotten assets to safe havens beyond the reach of the law.

The Bank of Thailand, commercial banks and financial institutions must be ordered to closely monitor the assets of key suspects in corruption scandals, including Thaksin, Cabinet members and their relatives, pending investigations into individual corruption cases. The freezing of assets should be considered as an option if that will help facilitate an investigation or prevent the movement of ill-gotten assets.

It must be stressed that those suspected of corruption must be accorded due process of the law and that they must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Seizing the ill-gotten assets of corrupters found guilty in a court of law should serve as an effective deterrent against would-be cheaters because it hits them where it hurts most.

It cannot be emphasised enough that any move to restore democracy in this country without first thoroughly cleaning up its corruption-prone political culture will be doomed to fail. It must also be stressed that this culture of corruption predated the Thai Rak Thai leader's arrival on the scene. Thaksin's manipulation of the patronage system of relationships has been well documented. The former prime minister augmented such manipulation with an ingenious use of populist policies that pander to the unprincipled wants and needs of the people, complementing his party's advantage of a huge war chest financed by his own fabulous personal wealth.

Once Thaksin gained the top political office as prime minister, he proceeded to subvert the 1997 Constitution by undermining independent watchdog agencies. Soon they became instruments through which the Thai Rak Thai leader was able to bend the rules, both to tighten his grip on power and advance his own selfish interests and those of his cronies at the expense of the public good. Unless the Thai people learn the right lesson as to how they have allowed themselves to be seduced by the Thai Rak Thai leader's cleverly packaged populist policies and political marketing tools, the painful history we have just lived through will repeat itself.