Even though all 111 former members of the Thai Rak Thai Party's executive committee - including deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra - have been barred from participating in the planned nationwide election as candidates, these individuals will continue to enjoy their rights as citizens to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and the ability to engage in political activities in support of any political party.  When the Cabinet lifts the ban on political party registration, which it said it would do over the next few weeks, non-executive members of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party can even apply to re-register the party under the same name if they so wish. The former Thai Rak Thai executives whose rights to seek public office have now been revoked for five years can even campaign for this resurrected Thai Rak Thai Party in the next general election as regular party members or supporters.

Political parties will now hold meetings among supporters to discuss strategies and tactics, reassess policy platforms and recruit would-be candidates in preparation for the general election.

Thailand has moved a step closer to the restoration of full democracy and the Thai people will have another chance to prove that they know how to govern themselves by exercising their right to vote for political parties that will represent them in the future democratically-elected government. In order to do that, they must learn from their past mistakes. The five-and-a-half years under  Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai Party offer a valuable lesson on why voters should not allow themselves to be manipulated by a populist politician like Thaksin, who pandered to the unprincipled wants and needs of the populace to gain political power, which he then exploited to maximise his personal gains at the expense of the public interest.

People must not forget how Thaksin went on to destroy democracy by flouting the rule of law, rolling back civil liberties and undermining democratic institutions in an attempt to monopolise political power by hook or by crook. And how he pitted the rural masses against the urban middleclass when the latter, disgusted by the culture of corruption and deceit of his time in office, finally rose up against him.

Thaksin's demagoguery polarised the nation, which led to the possibility of a violent confrontation between the urban middleclass and the rural masses. The former prime minister was stopped in his tracks and overthrown in a coup, which, though widely supported by the middleclass, was a necessary evil because the overthrow of a democratically-elected government turned back the clock on democratic development in this country.

Now that Thailand is being put back on track to a restoration of democracy, people must first learn how to differentiate good political parties from bad ones. A good political party must have a corporate culture and organisational set-up that are based on democratic principles - not on the corruption-prone patronage of some rich or powerful individuals. That means it must consist of people with a shared ideology who work together in pursuit of political objectives through principled approaches and honest means - not through vote-buying or other acts of electoral fraud.

People must realise that they should not expect the military or any other powerful institution to bail them out every time they choose to put the wrong individuals or parties in power or to create conditions that make it possible for a tyrannical leader to rule with fear and intimidation. In the next general election, people must make the right choice based on good conscience and self-respect, exercising and fulfilling their rights, freedoms and duties as honourable citizens in a democracy. Our democracy will only be as good as we make it.

It has been said that in a democracy, people get the government they deserve. Let's hope that we as a people actually deserve better.