The Research Institute of Bangkok University carried out the "the best of the year 2006 in the eyes of Bangkok residents" poll from December 16 to 22. It asked open-ended questions to 1,208 res-idents in the capital.

The poll saw His Majesty voted as the year's role model by 65 per cent of respondents, who said they should follow his sufficiency econ-omy philosophy, kindness to oth-ers and doing good deeds without expecting things in return.

The year's other happiest events included the bloodless coup (10 per cent), the candle-lighting rite on His Majesty's  birth-day (2 per cent), the opening of Suvarnabhumi Airport (1.6 per cent), His Majesty's recovery from illness (1.4 per cent) and the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 (1 per cent).

Unrest in the South and the bru-tal attack on teacher Juling Pangamoon topped the list of the year's most tragic incidents, which included the extensive floods in the Central plains (19 per cent), the sale of the Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings (12 per cent) and the bloodless coup (7.6 per cent), the survey found.

Topping the list of most admired Thai people was General Sonthi Boonyaratglin (16.5 per cent) followed by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont (15.7 per cent) and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (13.9 per cent).

For the list of most disappoint-ing people, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was top at 63 per cent followed by the militants in the South (8 per cent) and media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul (4.4 per cent). The most admired Thai agency was the Council for Democratic Reform/the Council for National Security/the Army credited for their honesty, deci-siveness to act for the country's sake (25 per cent).

The Auditor General' s Office, credited for its probes into politi-cal corruption, ranked second at 8.2 per cent, followed by the Administrative Court, which won credit for rulings on the iTV con-cession and the Electricity Generating Authority (Egat) pri-vatisation (8 per cent).

The most disappointing Thai agency was the Thaksin Shinawatra administration for their corruption scandals, attempt to privatise Egat, failure to solve the unrest in the South (15 per cent). It was followed by the Election Commission (12.5 per cent) for conducting an unfair elec-tion, and the Revenue Department (10.4 per cent) for not protecting the country's interests and helping Thaksin selling Shin Corp stocks without paying taxes.

The New Year "gift" that city people most wanted from the gov-ernment was for an end to strife in the South (19 per cent) and a national government that operates with justice and transparency (13 per cent).

People also wanted the govern-ment to solve economic problems including the Thai currency, stock market and price of consumer goods (12 per cent), and to quick-ly return power to the people (11 per cent).