New Politics raises too many questions

Almost everybody who joined the anti-government rallies over the past month or so is clear that they don't want the People's Power Party - which has certain connections to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra - in power any more, but not all have a clear idea of what comes next.

The idea of New Politics, which was recently floated by some leaders, raised more questions rather than answers for the future of Thai politics. The 70:30 model got hardly any support since people consider having 70 per cent of the representatives in the lower house being handpicked a non-democratic.

Many academics interpreted the idea of New Politics as a means to bring an end to the electoral representative system. They said it would be a form of corporatism, which allowed the elite to name lawmakers and the executive branch to run the country, while the population is only allowed to elect 30 per cent to represent them in the power house.

PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul believes that New Politics would end the vicious cycle of money politics in which politicians buy votes to give them an easy ticket to power. Since the votes of the majority of the population, especially the poor and uneducated, are easy to buy, the elite would be able to choose good people to run country.

Though there are many PAD leaders who do not fully agree with Sondhi, they don't know how to express their objections. One PAD leader said New Politics was still an electoral and democratic system that was based on proportional quota allocated for professional associations.

"For example, journalists could cast votes among themselves to have representatives in Parliament," the leader said on condition of anonymity.

However, it's not just the aim, but the very means of creating New Politics is problematic for the PAD. Hardcore factions in the group want the military to topple the elected government and rewrite the Constitution, while the liberal faction consisting of mostly social activists, want other parties, not the PPP, to take over and amend the constitution.

Supalak@nationgroup.com, Somroutai@nationgroup.com