Man of many talents

Earlier this week, Buranaj made headlines when he accused three close aides of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra of working with four international PR and lobbying firms to undermine Thailand's creditability.

The three accused are Prommin Lertsuridej, a former deputy premier; Pansak Vinyarat, a former PM adviser; and Phumtham Wechayachai, another Thaksin confidant.

"We found that since 2006, BGR [Barbour Griffith and Rogers], for example, had been paid US$920,000 (Bt32 million) per year, while Baker Botts and Edelman Public Relations got about $80,000 and $300,000 a year, respectively.

"We're waiting for the US Office of Public Records to disclose the latest information on the business activities of its lobbying firms over the past year. However, public relations firms are not covered by such disclosure," he said.

According to Buranaj, the sporadic posing of dubious and politically motivated questions about the Thai judiciary and monarchy, within a select group of international media outlets, has been used to damage the country's image.

"The government's immediate task is to tackle the economic crisis.

"To be successful, we need to restore international confidence in Thailand first, even though there still remain efforts to discredit our country in the eyes of international community.

"As a nation, we should have moved forward and worked on national reconciliation by now," he said.

In this context, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva might have to consider taking legal action against all violators of the law, including the core leaders of People's Alliance for Democracy who laid siege to the airports late last year.

"Abhisit is ready to listen to all diverse political views [from both the red and yellow shirts].

"I'm confident he will be able to re-unite all Thais if all forces are mobilised towards the reconciliation process," he said.

Buranaj, who earned a medical degree from Chulalongkorn University and later a master's in public policy from Harvard in the US, entered the political arena in 1996.

"I started as a private secretary for Chuan Leekpai, then leader of the opposition Democrat Party. I found his track record and integrity impressive.

"I joined the party because of its liberal democratic ideology as well as its upholding of the rule of law," said the third-term Democrat MP.

He was also deputy public health minister of the so-called "shadow Cabinet" set up by the Opposition to monitor the performance of key ministers in the previous government.

As a new-generation politician, Buranaj hopes to help improve the process of public policy formulation. "We'll try to make some improvements via increased public participation in the political process, better education and a more effective checks-and-balances mechanism.

"It's only partially true when we say that the quality of elected politicians generally reflects the quality of their constituents or voters.

"I would prefer to believe that MPs have an important role to play in terms of upgrading the quality of voters and politics [even though such an attempt will take time to bear fruit]," he said.