Former charter-writer Kanin Boonsuwan told the "Corporatisa-tion: Who Benefits?" seminar the legislation was one of 11 economic laws imposed by the International Monetary Fund following the 1997 crisis.

"The Democrat Party, which governed the country following the crisis, drafted the law, but it was mainly used by the Thai Rak Thai party."

"This legislation, in which lucrative state enterprises are turned into corporations whose shares are then listed on the stock market, is bad for the country. It's tantamount to selling off national assets to private and foreign investors," Kanin said.

During the Thaksin Shinawatra administration the former national oil-and-gas company Petroleum Authority of Thailand was turned into PTT and its shares traded on the stock market.

State ownership of PTT was reduced to a little more than 50 per cent with the balance in the hands of local and foreign investors.

The Thaksin government attempted to list the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand but was stopped by the Supreme Administrative Court at the last minute.

Non-governmental-organisation leader Rossana Tositrakul said PTT was a public loss because wealthy politicians and business families now owned the lucrative former state enterprise.

Academic Dr Amarin Korman said the Corporatisation Act should be scrapped and the government retake privatised state enterprises.

TOT board member Dr Wuthipong Priebjariyawat called for the legislation to be scrapped.

Public utilities like electricity, water, telephone and transport should not be freely traded, he said.

"The issue is: who should be responsible for these crucial national assets, the public sector or the private sector?" he said.