POLITICS: Business runs govt, says critic Reshaping jigsaw of power to suit capital

..Ampa Santimatanedol

..CEO governors and bureaucrats were reorinted to serve businessmen instead of regulating them...Pasuk Pongpaijit, Economics professor

The Thai Rak Thai party has given birth to a new era of democracy submissive to big business with the wings of participatory politics being clipped, says social critic Pasuk Pongpaijit.

Big business now dominated the political system, and a single party funded by business interests was the key player, Ms Pasuk said in a speech to the faculty of economics, Chulalongkorn University.

Ms Pasuk is a professor of economics specialising in underground economies.

Open politics declined after major conglomerates which survived the 1997 economic crisis banded together to control national politics. They put together the Thai Rak Thai party at a time when independent
regulatory and accountability systems were still weak.

The inception of Thai Rak Thai was apparently to capitalise on such weakness with an ambitious scheme to change the face of society and national politics, she said.

Ms Pasuk said the ruling party was doing more than reshaping the economy. It was setting a new order in politics by rearranging the jigsaw of power to fit its prescribed framework of government.

Under Thai Rak Thai leadership, the country has been transformed into a development state...where the government supports and props up businesses, particularly conglomerates. The public had little say in
what was going on.

But commercial banks which oiled the economy had played a role in major loan extension projects such as the Vayupak Fund taken over by state-owned banks.

Smaller-scale economic enhancement projects had also promoted businesses linked to Thai Rak Thai. The government had strengthened its control of money matters by bringing the grassroots and underground
economies into the mainstream system.

The aim was to edge up government revenue and growth figures while loans were handed to villagers to encourage entrepreneurship.

A taste of capitalism would keep businessmen from staging protests against the government and legalising underground economies would cut off sources of funds to some politicians.

CEO governors and bureaucrats were also reoriented to serve businessmen instead of regulating them.

Ms Pasuk said power had shifted from local godfathers to Thai Rak Thai. Their influence waned due to the drastic, human-rights violating campaign to suppress drugs, crack down on mafia figures, control firearms, and stamp out illegal businesses.

The government wheeled out populist policies to replace the mafia patronage which manipulated elections in the past 20 years. As Thai Rak Thai is wallet grew fatter through contributions from businesses, the party was able to keep its members on a tight leash.

Improved party discipline was likely to help the party in the next election.

Ms Pasuk said she trusted the government was committed to its flagship policies of poverty eradication, land reform and health care.

But she was sceptical the business players in the government attached importance to human rights and fairness.With participatory politics emasculated, it would be unrealistic to hope the government trips over and loses power. Constitutional reform may only be part of the answer to better government, she said.

Forming pressure groups to push for policy and legal changes was practical but expensive. Counting on the media may not be ideal after

Thai Rak Thai heavyweights bought into media operations. The parliamentary system also offered few prospects, with politics controlled by a single party, Thai Rak Thai, and the opposition failing
to offer any real hope for change.