With 14 million members and an immensely popular leader armed with the most formidable war chest known in Thai political history, it was hard to dispute what seemed to be the party's political immortality.

Having been swept back into office in an unprecedented landslide victory in early 2005, Thai Rak Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra did not hesitate to declare that his party had transcended Thailand's traditionally murky politics to become a "political institution". An overstatement? Probably, yes. But wasn't overstatement one of the defining characteristics of Thaksin's more than five years in power? Surveying Thaksin's legacy, it looks like the Thai Rak Thai Party will probably be the first piece to face a real test. And if the events of recent days are of any indication, it looks like the young but well-oiled party is anything but a political institution. Once a seeming political behemoth, the party is now like a headless chicken with its members running around, not knowing what to do.

Thaksin must be shaking his head in dismay as he watches the political machine he single-handedly founded and led on a meteoric rise showing signs of disintegrating. Many of his most-trusted lieutenants have joined the exodus out of the party.

When he decided to send in his hand-written resignation letter from London last week, the former prime minister might have been hoping that someone in the party would pick up the mantle. But instead, they chose to abandon what appeared to be a sinking ship.

One would be tempted to ask what happened to all the political heirs that Thaksin claimed he was grooming. The former prime minister confidently told an interviewer just before he took his much-criticised break from politics in April that he had his party's leadership succession all planned out. It was just a matter of picking the right person from a pool of potential successors to fill his shoes.

But with Thaksin now no longer at the helm and obviously not chipping in to keep the party's coffers full, even those people who were supposed to have been the party's best and brightest are resisting calls to come forward and save the day. Some have already chosen the easy out by quitting, while others are weighing their options. Clearly no one feels obliged to hold up the Thai Rak Thai flag in this, its darkest hour.

Thai Rak Thai's current state is obviously a betrayal of Thaksin's political self-aggrandising. His stated goal was to use Thai Rak Thai as a vehicle to change the face of Thai politics by wiping out the old patronage system that was largely responsible for Thailand's political ills.

Yes, he did open a new political chapter with his Thai Rak Thai Party. But that change just installed his own brand of patronage in place of the old one. Thai Rak Thai was never intended to be a political institution, despite his claims. For all intents and purposes, it was designed to be a vehicle for Thaksin to perpetuate his political power. Far from being an institution, Thai Rak Thai was basically "Thaksin's party". Its structure reflects Thaksin's philosophy of total control. With the exception of the early days, when differing views were tolerated, the party has generally functioned like the personal property of the Shinawatra family.

Thaksin's concept of a political institution was at best an illusion. At worst, it was about creating an instrument with a democratic face to serve his personal political ambitions.

So it was no wonder that Thaksin never had a sincere discussion about succession - something that the leader of a well-established institution would do. Even when his back was against the wall, it apparently never crossed his mind that he might have to yield to eventualities by stepping aside for a successor. He probably still fostered the delusion that he could ride out the storm and continue to cling to power.

In the end, it was not the Thai Rak Thai Party as a political organisation that Thaksin really cared about. It was his own political survival that outweighed everything else. Because of his selfishness, Thaksin, until the last minute, refused to make sacrifices in order to save the "political institution" that he had boasted so much about.

The Thai Rak Thai saga has once again demonstrated that a political party founded on expediency and run like a family business is destined to fail. It survives as long as the money flows and its leader is in power.

One lesson that Thaksin should be pondering, now that he has the time, is this: money and political ambitions are no basis for long-lasting political institutions.

Thepchai Yong