77 years later, and still less than full democracy

Speaking at a panel discussion on the country's political progress to mark the 77th anniversary of constitutional monarchy, they agreed that negative behaviour by people from those groups had caused Thai democracy to go nowhere.

The event, entitled "Thailand's Political Development: From King Prajadhipok to the Age of Reform", was held at Parliament yesterday. Audience members included 200 high-school students from Bangkok.

Thongchai Wongchaisuwan, dean of Ubon Ratchathani University's Faculty of Political Science, said Thailand's elite, particularly the wealthy and the privileged, tended not to respect the law. He said they often bought their way out of legal troubles and that state officials were negligent in taking action against them.

"Business people and merchants are familiar with bribing and they avoid paying taxes. That led to the need for value added tax, in which rich and poor people are taxed at an equal rate. Is that fair?" said the dean.

Thanet Abhornsuwan, dean of Thammasat University's Faculty of Liberal Arts, said the main obstacle to progress in Thai politics over the past 77 years was the elite groups involved, including the military and the bureaucrats.

He was not convinced vote buying was to blame for the slow progress in Thailand's democracy. He believed that was an attempt to pass the blame on to poorer people.

He also did not believe that poor education was a major obstacle. "Education does not guarantee democratic development," he said.

Parinya Thewanarumitkul, law lecturer at Thammasat University, said failure in Thai democracy might be due to the fact that "we have no real faith in democracy."

He said that as long as the concept of "rule by the people" did not materialise, Thai democracy would be dominated by politicians.

"The military could stage a coup because they simply seized the power from politicians, and not from the people," he said.