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Published on November 6, 2007

Pick up any political party's leaflet and you can't help feeling that Thai politics has come a long way from the days of wheeling and dealing. Short of promising magic, they promote themselves as having the solutions to all the problems the country is facing.

On the bright side, we may want to comfort ourselves with the fact that political parties are finally campaigning on policy platforms. It probably shouldn't matter that their policies have a strong populist slant, because at least it shows that politicians are doing their homework.

Fiscal questions aside, there should be nothing to prevent these political parties from living up to their election pledges once they are put in power - if they mean what they say, of course.

But past political behaviour has taught us that political platforms are meaningful only during election time. They are presented more as a gimmick to get votes than an actual commitment. More often than not, they are put on the back burner as soon as the ballots are cast.

So conventional wisdom should call for Thais to play down any expectations raised by election promises made prior to the December 23 election. For weeks we have been flooded with all sorts of campaign messages that at times sound more like political pipe dreams. One party offers voters a wide-ranging platform under the slogan "wealthy life and happy people with justice". Another promises to improve the lot of the people by bringing them "nine categories of happiness".

Nevertheless, all these competing populist policies ensure that political parties have a lot to talk about in television debates and in public forums - not a bad thing considering the prevailing scepticism among the public about politicians' ability to say anything of substance. At least it's an indication that politicians have some idea as to what has been ailing the country.

But we all can be sure that once the dust settles after the election, policies and platforms will be the last thing these politicians will be talking about. They will be so busy with political horse-trading that they will most likely forget what they said on the campaign trail. And as all indicators point to the strong likelihood that the next government will be a coalition, they will have a ready-made excuse for why they cannot honour their election commitments - if they remember having made them in the first place.

When Thai political parties get together to form an alliance, political expediency always gets the better of political ideology or party platforms. So all the hard bargaining that goes on after an election always centres on how political spoils will be shared. There has not been a single period in recent Thai political history during which political platforms or ideas were something that brought parties together.

In fact, the continuing defections that have hit some parties are a harbinger of things to come. Party-hopping is symbolic of traditional Thai politics, which places high value on the ability to extract the best bargain. Politicians never hesitate to leave for greener pastures if they are given a better offer. But, of course, every time they make such a change they do so on the pretext of "incompatible" ideology or platform. There will surely be a lot of wrangling and bargaining after the election as political parties get down to doing their favourite job in putting together a government. And, needless to say, it will have nothing to do with platforms or ideology. No party will walk away from the negotiating table because potential coalition partners reject its platform.

The hardest thing for politicians is not fighting for their ideas and platforms; it's what they get in return for their political investment that matters most. So all the noise they make ahead of an election about what they can do for the country is just for show. But they should be credited for their flair in making it sound so interesting that it almost makes many people lose sight of the grim reality ahead.

 Thepchai Yong

The Nation