Authoritarian democracy better for Thailand: scholar

"Thailand needs 'authoritarian democracy'. There should be no full democracy for Thailand, because after 1992 some said that Thailand could be called a democracy, but it didn't work well," said Zhang during a recent International Thai Studies conference at Thammasat University.

Zhang said many countries in the Third World, including Thailand and the Philippines, had failed because democracy only worked well if the rules of the game "are consciously observed and followed by the people".

"Unfortunately, the people, either common people or politicians, have no conscience. That's why there are many kinds of electoral fraud, assassinations and vote buying."

Persistence in trying to become a full democracy by countries like Thailand would only mean further political instability and weak coalition governments lasting from one to three years, the Chinese scholar said.

On the other hand, adopting Burma's style of authoritarianism lead to abuse of power and corruption, Zhang said.

The Singaporean or Malaysian model offers stability while being free of political abuse, Zhang claimed.

The two countries achieved high efficiency in policy-making, strong enforcement of development strategy and efficient government.

He said legislation like the Internal Security Act, passed by the junta-appointed parliament late last year, would play a "very important role" maintaining "stability".

Human rights, he said, should be controlled by the government.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation