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Published on August 31, 2007

What do you think of the political phenomenon of Samak Sundaravej, who 30 years ago was in the extreme right wing and stood against left wing students (October 14 group) and today leads the Thai Rak Thai group, of which many were in the so-called October 14 group? Do you agree that what is happening proves there are no real friends or foes in politics?

What is happening will help Thai people understand each member of the October 14 Group better and know if they should have any expectation of them. I have known them since we lived in the jungle. Some liked to kow-tow to power groups. Some were rebels against the left wing.

We were forced by the situation to flee to the jungle but we had different goals and different ideologies. Our stance is different. From the October incident, some were born as heroes and some died in the October 14 student uprising. Samak has been dead (not literally) since then and he hopes to reborn again.

I do not understand the mentality and logic cited by [my former comrades] when they said that "siding with Thai Rak Thai is better than siding with General Prem" because capitalism is better than feudalism." This is pure dogmatism.

Do you see the political division becoming more polarised now that Samak has become leader of the People Power Party?

Samak has always been in the public spotlight. Thai people know him well. It is better for Thai political development that he heads this party. I fear that if the party found someone who had similar traits to Thaksin then Thai politics would be in for a real mess - like what happened during the Thaksin regime.

People were confused about whether Thaksin was good or bad, corrupt or honest. Many people are still confused today.

What do you think of this constitution?

I agree that it should be accepted because we should not give the military any excuse to stay on in power. There are many good provisions such as impeachment of politicians, but I am concerned about some provisions concerning human rights, freedom of speech - because the law is not clear. It is dangerous to have a blurred law because we don't know how the law will be interpreted.

What do you think of criticism that the Constitution will take the country back into political crisis because it gives too much power to bureaucrats and weakens politicians?

I do not see politicians or bureaucrats as one better than the other. I have been working in one of the public organisations, in a structure that originated during the Thaksin administration.

I could not stand seeing what was going on in that agency and I did not want to witness it. So I quit. The experience there taught me how politicians and bureaucrats help each other to legalise corruption.

Politicians bait bureaucrats to side with them by rewarding them with high salaries and allowances that are even more than those received by CEOs of private firms. These special government agencies siphon huge amounts of taxpayers' money for themselves, although many projects are created with good intentions.

Although the Thaksin regime is finished, his legacy [in the structure of public organisations] remains. The government cannot abolish these agencies, unless they amend the law.

When I see these things happening to the country, I want to protest against the Thai people because when they go to the polls, they will only think of choosing Thaksin or Abhisit [Vejjajiva, the Democrat Party leader] to be the boss. They ignore the parties' political or social policies, tax or education policies.

Have you ever wanted to become involved with politics?

Several parties have asked me to join (including the Democrats). I am a native of the southern region. But I see no need to be in the power game as long as Thai politics remains as dirty as it is. It is sad that Thai people treasure democracy, but when it comes to voting, we jump about when choosing a boss ... Not just people upcountry, but also in Bangkok. They all want to vote for people to be their bosses instead of wanting to be the boss of these MPs.

I can help contribute to the country in many other ways.

How should civic groups push the parties that will campaign in the upcoming general election to include political reform in their policies?

We don't only need political restructuring but also a new attitude towards power. As long as we allow top-down political management, democratic reform can never materialise. Reforming politics is not enough to bring us peace. We also need to nurture moral values. Our spiritual being has been hard hit by capitalism since the last economic bubble.