"We can't expect the Council for National Security to do it because they all came from the same class and even if they have conflict about the issue, they're unlikely to go the whole hog or set a new standard by seizing Thaksin's assets," said Supinya.

Her view, at a symposium on how to create a culture of reform, was echoed by others.

Supinya said the September 19 coup had come at a cost - the loss of a culture of trying to solve political problems through existing mechanisms.

"We all share the blame ... we lost the constitution and we have to start the whole process anew. Minority voices within the media are currently being made to disappear and what took place six years ago [when the media and public welcomed Thaksin] is no different from now," she said, referring to the public and media's warm reception to the coup makers.

"People's power is reduced every time there's a coup. So, is that what we chose for 'Thai democracy'?"

The dean of Rangsit University's mass communications faculty, Anusorn Srikaew, said he was concerned that history would repeat itself and no serious prosecution or asset seizure would take place under the current junta-appointed administration - just like after the 1991 coup that ousted the corrupt Chatichai Choonhavan government.

"I'm also not confident the new constitution will be as good as the one written in 1997. I place all my hope in the people's power," Anusorn said.

Prasong Rattanawisut, senior editor of Matichon newspapers and a leading investigative journalist who probed the concealment of Thaksin's assets, said all Thais must share the blame, especially people who supported Thaksin's rise to power six years ago.

"We became bored with the Democrat Party and felt we needed a new man. Then we were fed up with Thaksin and wanted a change. Why don't we try to find ways to control whoever is in power, instead?" he said. "We didn't care about who replaced the Democrat Party and now it's the same thinking after getting rid of Thaksin.

"Meanwhile, all these second-rate corrupt politicians are still around and why is society tolerating them?"

Anti-corruption crusader Weera Somkwamkid said if the current administration was serious about reform it should change the electoral regulations to allow a political watchdog to blacklist politicians with corrupt records like in South Korea. That way voters could learn and avoid such candidates.

He said politicians accused of corruption should have the right to defend themselves, but only through defamation law.

In South Korea, a civil society group called the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), has successfully prevented more than 80 corrupt politicians from getting elected through an Internet-based listing - which lists how the particular politician voted during house meetings and more. "Prime Minister Surayud claimed he has a reform agenda so I would like to ask if he's willing to amend the law or not," Weera said.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation