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Published on August 23, 2007

"Thais Love Thais" ended up creating so much hatred between its admirers and detractors that the country was thrown into total chaos.

The "Democrat Party", was, despite its name, in no position to oppose the September 19, 2006 coup. Other considerations took precedence over a basic democratic stance.

"New Hope" dashed all expectations of a better political future for the country. Not long after its founding, the party was dubbed "Shrinking Hope". Its demise came before any hope was realised. Its "merger" with Thai Rak Thai effectively killed any hope, old or new, real or imagined.

Palang Prachachon, or "People Power", is the name of a party that says it's taking lots of ex-Thai Rak Thai members because of their similarities in election platforms. One wonders whether the "power" that brought about the major makeover for the party had anything to do with the so-called "people". Or is it "Other People's Power?"

There is an open attempt by a faction of the former Thai Rak Thai to use the name "Thai Ruam Thai" - meaning "Thais Uniting Thais". That's ostensibly a misleading name. Disunity and divisiveness have been the hallmark of this party's activities all along. The hidden agenda, of course, is that if they could get that name registered, they could then use the "TRT" abbreviation, the same as that of the dissolved party.

Again, the literal meaning of the designation, has nothing whatsoever to do with what the party's operatives intend to do anyway.

And there is the "Patriotic Party" (Rak Chat), which seems more inclined towards promoting a certain military leader than patriotism. Instead of telling us what this grouping represents, the leader posed a highly provocative question: "What's wrong with asking General Sonthi [Boonyaratglin, the coup leader] to join this party once he takes off his military uniform?" There's nothing wrong with that, except that it's kind of bizarre for a political party to make that almost its single biggest platform.

Now, with frantic attempts to create a "Third Force" in full steam, some of the titles given to new political groupings seem intended to amuse more than to be taken seriously, no matter if read literally or figuratively.

A new party with a name meaning "the middle path" clearly plans to take sides without a second thought, as soon as they know who's forming the next government after the general election. And there is no doubt that they would avoid any grouping that even appears remotely to be heading for opposition status.

The logic for calling yourself a "middle-way politician", while you are clearly partial in favour of the powers-that-be, is very simple: "In the opposition camp, you simply starve." (That's the famous quote from someone leading a party with a name that declares "nationhood" to be its main policy, another not-so-accurate moniker.)

The other grouping trying to jump onto the bandwagon calls itself "Ruam Jai Thai" (literally "Uniting All Thai Hearts"). While it's not clear who their founding members are, it's obvious that what unites them isn't "matters of the heart" but rather the hope to succeed in the game of vote canvassing.

Yet another party that has been invited to join this "alternative party" is called "Mahachon" or "the Masses". The fact that they managed to win only one or two seats in the previous election could hardly entitle the party to claim that its public support was in any way "massive".

In fact, calling itself an "alternative grouping" is a wrong designation in the first place. You don't describe yourself as an alternative when your only clear party platform is to become part of the next government at all cost.

Of course, the "Third Force" is a wrong description to start with. It's neither the "third" in the desperate line-up to vie for some seats in the next Cabinet - or a real political "force" to reckon with. So far, for lack of a better term, it is no more than an electioneering catchword.

Good old politicking is back. All electioneers unite! You have nothing to lose but your incredible claims to patriotism and devotion to democracy.

Suthichai Yoon