New politics but idea is not so fresh

The inner circle of the street protesters' group is seriously discussing its ultimate goal and blueprint for a new political scene. No clear ideology or platform has emerged so far.

To many of them, electoral democracy is not the answer to removing corrupt politicians from power. If they managed to force the government of Samak Sundaravej, whom they regard as former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's proxy, to step down and call a new election, the same political faces would win at the polls again, perhaps in higher numbers than before.

Even during the military regime, the People Power Party was able to defeat many other parties in favour with the junta. There's little doubt about how many members the party would get in the next election to be held while it is in power.

PAD coordinator Suriyasai Katasila came up with the idea of new politics, apparently not his own, suggesting a mixed model to bring lawmakers into parliament. The proportion between elected MPs and selected MPs should be 30:70, he said.

It is not a completely new idea - such a system is currently being run in the Senate where half the 150 members come from elections and the other half are selected by a judge-led panel. Thailand has two kinds of senator: one has a people's mandate from elections and the other represents the elite.

The idea of new politics has not yet come into wide public discussion but political activists and PAD critics who have been closely following the street protests said the idea of new politics would be a great leap backwards from democracy.

The groups who pushed Suriyasai to float the idea represent the elite. They actually want aristocracy, rather than democracy, to run the country. Like the current Senate, the elite, mostly in the bureaucracy and judicial areas, hope to preserve the right to pick their associates to control politics.

The military coup in September 2006 allowed the elite to swallow half the Senate but failed to take any bite in the Lower House. PAD's second round of battle is another attempt to take a big stake. Let's see - perhaps the second bite will be too big to chew.