Appoint majority of MPs to stop vicious cycle

Many people came out and rejected the idea, reasoning it was undemocratic. Democracy to these people means going to the polls, marking the ballots to choose the representatives and then leaving it to the House of Representatives to elect the prime minister who will later form the government. What the government does in the next four years is beyond their control.

Since the majority of voters are poor and live in rural areas, candidates will promise them anything in order to secure their votes. Populist policies and vote-buying are a continuing sad and undeniable reality.

Populist policies will eventually backfire on the nation as more taxes will need to be collected. Taxpayers will therefore suffer, and poor rural people will become increasingly reliant on government subsidies.

It appears that the critics of the new Constitution have not taken the verdicts of the Constitution Court into consideration. I would like to remind them to go through the rulings carefully, and think them over. The present government is repeating the same mistakes as the former Thai Rak Thai Party and is on the verge of being dissolved by the Constitution Court. This shows that our country is not ready for full democracy.

Although it has been 75 years since we had our first elected government, our democracy has seen ups and downs. It has not progressed because successive governments did not want to develop it fully, mostly concentrating on seeking power, and perpetuating the cancer of corruption.

I do not see anything wrong with taking a few steps back and taking a leap forward later on. Our Upper House has both appointed and elected representatives. The quality of the representatives is beyond doubt, unlike the previous one, which was known as the Upper House of Husbands and Wives.

I am sure that if we were to adapt the same system for the Lower House, this would also work. The political confrontation and the electoral vicious cycle would end. The number of representatives of the Lower House can be reduced after four years, and eventually to none once democracy is fully developed.

Dusit Thammaraks

Bangkok

PAD - People for Aristocratic Democracy

It was interesting to see how every charge against Thaksin, the Thai Rak Thai and the People Power Party seemed to stick like Velcro, and those against the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), anti-Thaksin activists, and the Democrat Party seemed to slide off them as if hitting Teflon. I think the Thaksin people should have hired better lawyers.

It was a stroke of genius for Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to propose a national unity government at this juncture. He will be considered by many as a hero who will lead us out of a political deadlock. With the Democrat Party as part of the coalition, it can take full advantage of the imminent dissolution of the People Power Party by gaining MPs to strengthen its numbers. Then it would be smooth sailing for the next election. Chart Thai will always go with the party with the biggest number of MPs. Other small parties will also side with the winner.

Since Abhisit is on speaking terms with the PAD and many Democrat MPs, including Korn Chatikavanij, are admitted admirers of them, the grouping will have a say in the way this unity government runs. But what I fear most is that Abhisit may not be able to resist the 70/30 proposal by the PAD, considering they would have contributed to putting him in the position of prime minister. Should that happen, PAD would then stand for People for Aristocratic Democracy, for Thailand would be ruled by bureaucrats appointed by bureaucrats and monitored by bureaucrats. The 30 per cent popular vote would have no real say in this model of "democracy". The next logical step should be to rename our country Democratic Thailand, to remind the world that we are indeed a democracy.

Salin Pinkayan

Bangkok

Current government's actions contemptible

I have lived in Thailand for almost 20 years and thought that I had already seen every possible form of governmental malfeasance, but the current government's brazen contempt for the principles of moral decency exceeds anything I could have imagined.

Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife, both international fugitives, have not had their passports revoked and no efforts have been made to extradite them. Samak Sundaravej, who when asked if he was Thaksin's nominee rhetorically replied "What's wrong with being a nominee?" is removed from office for violating the Constitution, and his party states that they intend to reappoint him.

In the meantime, they select Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin's brother-in-law, to be caretaker prime minister, and their deputy spokesman announces that Thaksin has called from London to make known his preference on who ultimately should be selected.

The appointed governments of Anand Panyarachun were surely the best parliamentary governments that Thailand ever had.

Worried Father

Bangkok