The assistant Army chief also gave an impression that good soldiers and bureaucrats were somewhat more honest than elected politicians, especially the ones ousted in the September 19 coup.

"We're sincere ... If there hadn't been a calamity on the way, we wouldn't have done it. We only wanted to defend our motherland, the monarchy and the public interest. We believed that dharma should prevail: that good should subordinate evil, courage should overcome fear etc," said Saprang, a battle-hardened general who was sharply critical of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra for months prior to the coup.

Saprang, previously commander of the Third Region Army, has often called the bad guys in politics his enemies. His post-coup wish is that Thai politics should depend far less on the whims of big money, and he has urged the mass media to help screen the bad guys out of the general election due about a year from now.

"Money used in grass-roots politics is like a poisonous sweet for the ill-informed, uneducated provincial and rural voters. It's a serious threat to national security. First of all, the mass media should expose the bad deeds of these guys, many of whom are veteran politicians who will run again in the next polls. Then the media and the people should join forces to place sanctions on them. If we can keep the number of bad politicians to the minimum, we will be better off next time," he said.

In his capacity as the new chairman of Airports of Thailand, Saprang is also chasing those allegedly behind the big-time corruption involved in the Bt150-billion Suvarnabhumi Airport project, with dozens of dubious procurement and other contracts now under investigation.

"We're working like a fact-finding committee so as to be fair to the accused, but the public can be assured that all cases with solid evidence will go to the National Counter Corruption Commission and Assets Examination Committee for prosecution. There will be neither fear nor favour to any person," he said.

Saprang said the roughly 10 million "no-vote" ballots cast in the April 2 general election, which was later nullified, were a significant indicator that Thai politics would soon face a dead-end, since the anti-Thaksin movement would make legitimacy a big issue in seeking his ouster. A clash between the pro- and anti-Thaksin camps was inevitable and imminent, and the only way to prevent such a disaster was for the military to intervene, he said.

The general insisted that, in hindsight, the coup had more merit than demerit. And the public can rest assured that the CNS will not hold on to power beyond the one-year timeframe announced at the outset, said Saprang, who is tipped as a candidate for Army chief when Sonthi reaches mandatory retirement age next year.

Another of Saprang's wishes is that the next general election should lead to a new prime minister whose policies are quite the opposite of those of the ousted premier. "I hope the new elected government will continue to follow the sufficiency-economy initiatives of HM the King and tackle poverty, drug abuse and other national issues in an un-Thaksin way," he said.

"To achieve these objectives, the future government will have to slow some consumerist policies while tackling corruption more seriously. In addition, patriotism [in this era of globalisation] has to be redefined so that it can be more meaningful and beneficial as far as our national interest is concerned.

"Politically, technocrats and bureaucrats should also have more dignity and a bigger role [to counterbalance elected politicians]," said Saprang.

Overall, it seems that the influence of elected politicians may be reduced one way or another ahead of the next election.

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

 nop1122@yahoo.com