Without active participation by key stakeholders such as the private sector, civil society and members of the public, politicians cannot be trusted to tackle corruption, which has corrosive effects on the country's democracy, in an even-handed manner. It must be remembered that the frequent breakdowns in democratic rule in this country have been the direct result of a failure to keep corruption in check.

Our political system has been bogged down by a vicious circle that sees corrupt politicians bankroll their way to Parliament, then exploit their political power to advance their own interests. The excessive corruption leads to public discontent and a political crisis ensues, followed by a military coup that is supposed to clean up politics but doesn't.

Democracy-loving people in this country fully expect the Surayud administration to break this vicious circle once and for all. But to do that, the interim government and the people must learn from past mistakes.

Thailand has been struggling to propagate the concept of good governance for almost two decades, with limited success. It is generally understood that good governance can be used as an effective weapon to reduce corruption in both the public and private sectors. But we as a society have failed to translate the noble idea into practice in a consistent fashion, much less to convince ordinary people that everyone will benefit from good governance.

Ordinary people failed to understand that less corruption means that taxpayers' money will be spent wisely and cost-effectively on development projects that will raise their standard of living, give sufficient funding to schools for their children to receive better education, and quality healthcare for everyone. Less corruption also means lower cost of doing business for the business community, who can expect to conduct their dealings in a favourable environment characterised by fair competition.

For the best part of his five-and-half-years in power deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was able to deceive the majority of Thai people, including the urban middle class who later turned against him, by presenting himself as a visionary leader, reformer, anti-corruption advocate and many other things that he wasn't. Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai Party managed to manipulate the people with a combination of ingenious populist policies and his virtually unparalleled power of patronage.

For a time, his deception was so successful that the majority of Thai people were persuaded to turn a blind eye to his abuse of power and the unbroken string of corruption scandals that took place on his watch. This was because Thaksin led them to believe that they could expect a share of the benefits by allowing him and his cronies to pursue their selfish interest at the expense of the public good.

Instead of reforming the state bureaucracy, Thaksin relegated government officials into unthinking, uncritical implementers of his twisted policies designed mainly to advance his personal gain. Thaksin left the state bureaucracy wallowing in lethargic inefficiency.

Under Thaksin's autocratic rule, many local businessmen and foreign investors were resigned to pervasive corruption and laid low, while some of their unscrupulous counterparts chose to take advantage of the situation by offering bribes to win government contracts.

The effort to propagate good governance was systematically rolled back under the corruption-prone Thaksin government, and investor confidence in the country, which Thailand needs to stay afloat in today's increasingly competitive world, has been greatly compromised.

Unless corruption is reduced to a manageable level, the country's democracy cannot be expected to grow and take root and sustained economic growth will remain elusive. It cannot be emphasised enough that any effective campaign against corruption and for the restoration of good governance must involve society as a whole.