"I must really apologise but human rights issues are far removed from most people's concerns," she said, adding she also found the survey results, which showed the issue of gender equality was also nowhere to be seen, shocking.

Pusadee said she's not airing her personal opinion but the findings of a rather costly focus-group survey often employed by major corporations to find out what voters want from political parties.

Pusadee was speaking yesterday following a two-hour talk by human rights activists concerning their requirements from political parties regarding human rights policy.

Pusadee said she believes no more than 10 per cent of the Thai population would place human rights as a main concern when choosing which party to vote for.

Top of the list of concerns appears to be the economy, she said.

She admitted the Democrat Party had failed to convince the public as to what is wrong with Thaksin Shinawatra government's war on drugs, which saw around 2,500 people dead in suspected extra-judicial killings.

"We failed to make people understand that the right to life is everyone's right," she said.

Chat Thai Party deputy leader Veerasak Kowsurat said what is missing is more the attitude of the caretaker premier and the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party and not laws. The challenge, he said, is how to remove people who share Thaksin's culture, which violates human rights, from power.

Veerasak said the latest "assassination attempt" on Thaksin is a clear testimony of how the due process of law is being neglected by the government.

He claimed the suspect, Lt Thawatchai Klinchana, has little or no chance to speak to the public about his own account of the event, while politicians summarily and conveniently concluded that the bomb plot was authentic.

He added that he learnt from Thawatchai's lawyer, who had a one-on-one conversation with the suspect, that there are reasons to believe that there is another explanation for the events.

"What happened tells us more about the human rights policy of the Thai Rak Thai party without them having to make any [policy] announcement," he said.

However, Veerasak admitted the public should be concerned when any person's life is threaten, whether real or not, including Thaksin's.

The group met at Thammasat University to consult political parties about human rights policy and to launch a new group called the Campaign for Human Rights (CHR). It did not invite a Thai Rak Thai representative to attend, citing the "current political climate" as the reason.

The CHR, which is headed by human rights lawyer Somchai Homla-or, proposes reducing the authority of the national police and introducing other bodies to help ensure a fairer interrogation process.

It would also like to see an amendment to all laws that contradict human rights principles, such as the law forbidding Buddhist nuns from voting and which prevents them from having the same legal privileges as their male monk counterparts.

It would also like to see greater access for the independent media and an introduction of welfare benefits especially for children, the handicapped, elderly and the poor.

Somchai added that 99.95 of the current master plan on human rights has not been implemented by the government. "This is due to the lack of political will on part of the government and political party," he said.

The group suggested that political parties should set up funds to assist those who have had their rights violated and anyone fighting for their human rights.

Pravit Rojanaphruk,

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

The Nation