Middle class needs a political party to battle 'robber barons'
A former adviser to the Thai Rak Thai Party is calling for the middle class to establish a political party to protect its interests from Thailand's powerful "robber barons".
Although the middle class has been adept at toppling dictators, the Thai political system remains controlled by a few capitalists who use political power to increase their wealth at the expense of middle- and low-income earners, said Narong Petchprasert, a political economist at Chulalongkorn University. Narong said the state of the Thai economy and political system resembled Europe in the 19th century, when a few capitalists colluded with governments to monopolise industries. Economists dubbed these capitalists the "robber barons". Welfare states in Europe emerged when the middle class gained political ground, he said, urging the Thai middle class to learn a lesson from Britain's Labour Party and the London School of Economics, which he described as institutions that "civilised raw capitalism". With a new constitution being drafted there will be plenty of new political parties competing in the next general election. However, it is doubtful any of them will represent the interests of the middle class, Narong said. He noted that the middle class led the street protests against the government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra before it was ousted in a coup last September, and also played a central role in the 1992 May uprising. Narong estimated the size of the middle class at more than 20 million people: about one-third of the Kingdom's population. Despite its large size, the middle class is weak because it lacks a distinct political position, he said. In what is seen as a step towards creating a new political party, Narong and several colleagues plan to hold regular meetings with the media and those interested in the political economy. Narong was a Thai Rak Thai adviser for three-and-a-half years. He says he left the party because Thaksin took advantage of a weakening political system to benefit himself and his cronies. "The longer he was in power the more he took advantage of his position, instead of strengthening political institutions for the public interest," Narong said. The next government will follow the same path as Thaksin if there is no countervailing power, particularly from the middle class.
Wichit Chaitrong The Nation
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