The new party will always be 'Thai Rak Thai' to us

Published on July 9, 2007

The undeniably catchy "Thai Rak Thai" has joined the dodo and T Rex on the list of extinct creatures, but what's this new name for the beast created from its stem cells?

Veteran politicos Pradit Pattaraprasit and Anek Laothammatas held a beauty pageant to select a new winning moniker for their party-to-be and finally crowned Ruam Jai Thai, meaning "Thai Unity".

Political scientist Chai-anan Samudvanija was beaming in the audience: Ruam Jai Thai had been his idea. Before that, the group had been "sort of" calling itself Thamma Thippatai, but that sounded too much like a Broadway song-and-dance routine.

Somkid Jatusripitak had entered Ruam Palang Thai, meaning "Power of Thais". Suwit Mesinsee didn't come right out and say that it sounded like a battery commercial, just that it was very similar to Ruam Jai Thai.

Others fretted that voters would automatically identify the party with the Petroleum Authority's "Palang Thai Phuer Thai" ("Thai Power for Thais") campaign.

And then there was Sudarat Keyuraphan, who set up a group called Palang Thai after she parted ways with the Palang Dhamma Party. That outfit was going nowhere, so she joined the Thai Rak Thai (and has almost never looked back).

We still don't understand why they just didn't go for Rak Thai. It's short, sweet and evokes the old Thai Rak Thai, which is the whole point of this exercise, isn't it?