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The news was highly sensitive to the Democrat's Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, as a scandal over land reform brought down the Chuan Leekpai government in 1995.

Then, the so-called Sor Por Kor 4-01 land reform programme was executed according to the land reform act of 1988, in which 35 million rai of unused land was supposed to be allocated to poor farmers. However, as it turned out, more than 10,000 rai allocated in 1987 was given to Democrat politicians. Many of the land plots are connected to waterways and are more suitable to be developed into tourist facilities instead of farming areas.

Suthep was thus the big target during the censure motion debate, leading to a House dissolution by the prime minister Chuan.

Matichon said that the land reform programme this time can be seen as the Democrats' attempt to erase old wounds. In fact, the policy is good because it will distribute land plots to poor farmers if the government writes the criteria for the quota allocation.

The Sor Por Kor land reform office has 3 million rai left to be allocated within 2 years. Matichon said that the government would have to allocate these plots only to those eligible and must avoid the proxy owners as seen in the past. For instance, "poor farmers" has to be clearly defined.

An officer at the Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Ministry voiced concern that upon the programme's announcement, some people might try to speculate on land prices in the areas. Several big landlords in these areas are known to be close to politicians.

The opposition parties said during a press conference that land reform in southern provinces such as Krabi, Phuket, Phang Nga and Surat Thani might be abused by politicians.

But Matichon said that, in fact, there are virtually no plots for Sor Por Kor projects left in the South. The opposition parties should instead check the government's "land bank" policy, in which the state would buy up vacant land and rent the plots to farmers. The project may prompt certain landlords to buy plots and sell them at high prices to the government.

There were rumours that some politicians had started buying such potential land plots for the land bank project.

The Sor Por Kor 4-01 programme may reopen old wounds for Democrats if they repeat the same mistake. But if they handle the land reform policy correctly, they could stay in power for a long time and even erase the memory of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, summed up Matichon.