Thailand in Focus

First, our new democratic society must be responsive to people?s need, putting people first. Gone are the days where politics is a game played by a few -- secret negotiations, lock rolling or whatever. ?The people now expect no less that when they cast their vote or when they support political parties they will get in return concrete policies that really matter to people?s lives.? And whatever the shortcomings of the Thai democracy, it?s extremely clear that that the people now expect all governments to respond to their needs.? And indeed, that?s why when I assumed office and we had to tackle the economic problem I got the support of the people to have a somewhat unconventional stimulus package.? We didn?t go for big construction projects, trying to crate jobs, because we knew, among other things, that in those kinds of projects there will be considerable lags. But what we did was to really assist the least fortunate, the most vulnerable people in the society so that they have their purchasing power sustained and that they have a degree of confidence to go on with their ordinary life and, therefore, sustain domestic economy as much as they can to compensate for whatever losses the economy took from the drop in export and tourism.?? And the expectations of the people are no less. They feel that that kind of package can really address their concern, really matter to their lives. We launched the programme of free education, income support for the elderly.? We even had cash handout for the low income and a comprehensive training programme for the unemployed who are now actually fast retuning to the workforce.? And I think by doing that we have demonstrated that a democratic government needs to respond to what really matters to people?s lives.

Secondly, this new democratic society needs to pay attention to the idea of reconciliation and inclusiveness.? Yes, I inherited a very divisive political scenario, a divisive society one you can argue.?? But my determination was to reach out; to prove that a democratic government goes beyond thinking about its own power base, base of its own supporters, that once elected we have to work for everybody, irrespective of where they live and irrespective of which party they support. And without reconciliation you cannot truly implement polices that would benefit the good of the whole because there will be injustice, there will be unfairness, and in the end it would mean discrimination and would lead to the bending of various laws. ?So we make sure that justice, fairness and inclusive participation is something that should be a characteristic of the new democracy.? I?d like to say that we also have a precedent that clearly shows that these are the values that should matter to a new generation of politicians.? For Thailand, when I talk about reconciliation, this has to be at many levels now, whether the people who wear different colour shirts, whether the problem that we have in the southern border provinces where the Muslim population feel that they had endured too much injustice in the past and even issues concerning our treatment of our neighbouring countries where there inevitably is tension with???? countries with long common border with different political and economic systems -- Myanmar in the West, Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam in the East.? I hope that this style of government would set the precedent for subsequent governments that the importance of engaging people in dialogue and of allowing participation of all sides have to be part and parcel of a good democratic system.

Thirdly, I think in any political system now there has to be recognition that our economy or society is now inevitably part of a more integrated global or regional economy and society.? For too long we say old politics is local.?? But if we continue with that myth we will have an electorate that does not appreciate exactly what forces are driving the facts that mater to their lives.? It?s time for the farmers in Thailand know that the price of their crops is not going to be determined by the government but by global supply and demand. ?It?s time that the Thai people understand that there is now limitation on what set of policies the government can adopt, whether because we are restricted by competitiveness, for instance, in terms of fiscal regimes or whether because for economic reason we cannot just determine our interest rate and exchange rate at the same time and remain an open economy.? These are the kind of things that I think the new electorate -- a more sophisticated electorate -- is needed in a new democracy.? And for Thailand also, we are now part of ASEAN which is trying to move toward a single community by the year 2015 -- an economic community, a single market with almost 600 million people, and also a community that shares common values concerning issues ranging from security to culture.? Again it is not easy to do because, as you know, a lot of political dialogue tends to focus on the local but we need to make sure that we can move beyond that.

Next, a new democratic society must be firmly founded on good governance.? Democracy development is certainly not possible if good governance is lacking.? And you could argue that political situation or political mess we?ve got ourselves into is rally rooted in the lack of this principle of good governance.? Government popularly elected misunderstood that they had a mandate to break the law, that somehow popularity would enable them to put themselves above the law.? Again it is time that a democratic or a maturing democracy like Thailand recognises that part of the liberal democracy is that you have a limited government, that the mandate that you get from the ballot box only covers issues concerning policies.? It does not allow you to have a different status vis-?-vis the law.? It does not allow you to interfere with the working of other key institutions that support the good democratic system like the media, like the courts and the rule of law.