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Published on September 18, 2007

They are totally irrelevant in any talks about mergers or realignments. They hardly translate into votes in elections, anyway.

So political parties can just merge and give themselves a new label with no qualms about whether or not their political ideas or visions are compatible. For Thai political parties, mergers are more like marriages of convenience than attempts to pursue a greater political cause. It doesn't even matter if sceptics or the media treat them with contempt as long as they are convinced their new identity increases their chances of winning the next election.

Thai politics always tends to defy conventional wisdom. We would expect the extraordinary political situation the country has been through over the past one year to produce something extraordinary in terms of political leadership. But as things stand now, it looks like we are heading back to square one.

The two new political groups - the For the Motherland and Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana parties - that emerged last week hardly depart from the traditional path taken by their predecessors. They are a reminder that, after all these years, Thai politics has not changed. Even the faces are all too familiar.

Under normal circumstances, the emergence of new political choices should be welcomed - provided that they are real alternatives and not just chips off the old block repackaged or rebranded. But our experience with Thai politics has taught us that new political parties represent anything but new options for voters. In practically every case, they are designed to serve as a political refuge for disgruntled politicians looking for greener pastures.

The composition of the two newly unveiled political groups and the personalities behind them hardly offer any inspiration for people looking for a viable political alternative in the upcoming election. Most were associated either directly or indirectly with the Thaksin-era power clique and to varying degrees epitomise money politics, which has been the root cause of Thailand's political ills.

Conversations with key members of the For the Motherland and Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana groups hardly reveals any inspiring ideological streaks. It's obvious that the mergers were either forced upon them by circumstances or were seen as the only way to survive the election. "For the sake of the common good" and "for the sake of political reconciliation" have become the mantras they use to justify their political unions.

Somkid Jatusripitak, a former deputy prime minister in the Thaksin administration who played a key role in forging the Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana alliance, tried to take the political high road with a call for an end to the prevailing political polarisation, offering the new grouping as a bridge.

With Thai politics divided into pro- and anti-Thaksin camps, there's always room for a "third choice" for voters who would hate to see a return of the confrontational politics that threatened to tear the country apart in the past. But it looks like politicians have their own ideas about political reconciliation and are short-changing the Thai people.

Instead of policies and platforms, among the first things these politicians talked about was amnesty for the 111 former Thai Rak Thai executives who have been slapped with a five-year political ban. Obviously, it's their very own self-interest that is at play here. Many of the movers and shakers behind the new political alliances are themselves among those banned.

So, from the outset, they already share the same political agenda as the People's Power Party, a reincarnation of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai, which has repeatedly vowed to have the banned politicians reinstated. Without addressing the root cause of the political division that the country has been going through, they are all trying to make it appear that without amnesty for the banned politicians there can never be political healing.

Lest we forget, these same politicians were part and parcel of a government accused of massive corruption and rampant abuses of power. The fraud uncovered in the snap election in April 2006 only testified to the degree of arrogance of power displayed by the ruling party. Their silence inevitably made them partners in political crime.

So far there have been no statements or even signs of remorse or repentance from any of the banned politicians. How can they be talking about amnesty without first acknowledging their complicity in what was billed as one of Thailand's most blatant political crimes? The least they can do now is to publicly denounce those most responsible for the fraud - something none of them seems willing to do.

And now they are trying to sell their repackaged political groupings as if they represent a new political awakening. For the Motherland is even trying to approach Supachai Panitchapakdi, a former deputy prime minister and now secretary-general of Unctad, to take its helm in the hopes of reaching out to urban voters.

All of this is just part of the political charade that usually accompanies major political changes, but like similar political manoeuvring in the past, it will do nothing in terms of moving democracy forward.

The other day I heard what a well-respected veteran politician had to say about the state of Thai politics that pretty well sums up the predicament the country is facing: "It appears to me that Thai people have been condemned to live forever in this vicious political cycle. I have pity for myself and my fellow countrymen."

Thepchai Yong