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Published on March 6, 2008

The contrast in the low voter turnout (55.9 per cent) and her unprecedented high return (nearly three-quarters of a million votes, while the runner-up obtained around 200,000 votes) offers an interesting political analysis of the mood of the Thai voters in general and Bangkokians in particular.

"The message I got during my campaign tours around the city is that people are fed up with national politics. They want a higher degree of counter-balance against the powerful and the corrupt," she told a radio programme the morning after the election.

No doubt Rosana's impressive win must first be attributed to her relentless campaign against abuse of power, especially in state enterprises. By taking her case to the Administrative Court, she almost single-handedly forced the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) to return to the public assets that had earlier been bundled when PTT was listed on the stock market.

Rosana has made a name for herself as a no-nonsense consumer's advocate and a highly effective corruption buster, particularly against the Public Health Ministry's medicine and medical equipment purchases in 1998. And in 2005, Rosana launched a successful campaign against the privatisation of state enterprises by managing to obtain an order from the Administration Court to put a halt to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand's (Egat) attempt to go public.

But Rosana's victory goes beyond her personal record. It reflects a strong anti-establishment sentiment among the 740,000 voters who wanted to register their disillusionment with the ongoing political structure, which has Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej at the top of the People Power Party under the shadow of Thaksin Shinawatra, the ex-premier who chose to make a dramatic return to Thailand only three days before the senatorial election.

Rosana's public image has always been on the opposite side of the powers-that-be. Her anti-corruption activities reached their height during the Thaksin government's populist heyday.

There is little doubt therefore, that when Bangkokians went to the polling booths on Sunday, they were determined to cast their ballots for an "iron lady" who would refuse to be cowed by political power and influence.

"Let me be very clear. The strong message from the staggering number of votes for me was loud and clear: the voters all want me to serve as their checks-and-balances senator. I am humbled by the big mandate. I intend to do everything I possibly can to live up to the public's expectations."

Rosana has repeated that pledge in the numerous interviews she has given to the media since her victory on Sunday.

During her campaign she recalled seeing a sign written with charcoal in one of the local communities that said: "No interest is greater than the public interest."

That kind of local wisdom, she says, is what gave her the determination to go into the Senate and aim to spearhead a major reform.

The Senate, as it stands now, is virtually powerless.

"It's no more than an appendix in the political scheme of things. It can't propose original legislation and its role in endorsing candidates for independent agencies is severely restricted. So, either we change the rules to empower the Senate to become a genuine check-and-balance mechanism or we might just as well scrap the whole thing," Rosana said.

It will be an uphill task for the "people's nominee" to fight against the growing number of surrogates that dominate the political scene.

But there is no mistaking the mandate from Sunday's election that beneath the surface of public disillusionment there lies a layer of growing resolve among Bangkok's middle-class to seriously do something about the corruption, cronyism and "dirty politics" that now threaten to make a major comeback.

yoon@nationgroup.com

Suthichai Yoon

The Nation