BY NANTIYA TANGWISUTIJIT and

SUBHATRA BHUMIPRABHAS

The Nation, A ugust 3, 2000

AS citizens from around the country begin to unite in a common goal, Thailand seems to be on the brink of political transition - the desire for a more participatory democracy is challenging the old political order.

The country is seeing a new social movement of different citizens' groups sharing a similar goal regardless of their social class. Today, groups as diverse as the rural poor and urban business leaders are showing their disapproval of the old political system and demanding a greater say in the decision-making process.

The public protests and gatherings that have been taking place at Sanam Luang, Thammasat University and in Hat Yai have been different in nature and demands but still have shown a striking similarity.

A growing number of people are making it known that they want more from politics than just casting their votes every now and then.

At Sanam Laung, more than 10,000 people, including Assembly of the Poor protesters, labour groups, social activists and business leaders, converged to express displeasure with Chuan Leekpai's administration. Most called for Parliament to be dissolved, which they believed would open the door to a new political arena for politicians willing to solve the people's problems.

The recently launched Democracy for the People, founded by Seksan Prasertkul, a student leader during the 14 October 1973 uprising at Thammasat University, also wants a House dissolution. The group put itself forward as a mediator to search for new ideas and alternative methods to get the country out of its present social, economic and political mess.

The group said that a bottom-up approach in policy making was needed.

"Only by this way we rid ourselves of the Chuan or Thaksin dilemma," Seksan said.

Some say they face the dilemma of being caught between being fed up with the premier's administration and being wary of Thaksin Shinawatra, leader of the Thai Rak Thai Party.

"We have been lured to look for a good and clean prime minister," Seksan said as he spoke to some 500 people who attended the group's first public meeting on Sunday. "But we forget that as long as the centralised country management system stays, the relationship between the state and the people will not change."

At Hat Yai's municipal hall on Saturday, the public hearing on the Thai-Malaysia gas pipeline was forced to adjourn when violence erupted after about 1,500 students and residents attempted to storm the building to express their opposition to the project.

Such a confrontation could have been avoided if those opposing had been given better channels to voice their opinions. The government-organised public hearing was by no means seen as acceptable as it came a long time after the decision to build the pipeline was made.

Advocates of participatory democracy recognise representative politics and elections, but think they are not enough. Citizens have the right to get involved in the decision-making process, especially if certain projects affect their livelihood, communities and the environment, they say.

The principle could be applied to justify the protests of the Assembly of the Poor. Their repeated protests in front of the Government House over the past decade stem from their exclusion from the decision-making process concerning dams, other infrastructure projects and forest policies.

Last weekend, the Friends from the Business Community, led by businessman Preeda Tiasuwan, joined a group of reporters at Pak Mool Dam. The group wanted to verify testimony from villagers that, with the dam's floodgates now open, fish had returned to areas they had been absent from since the dam was built.

Preeda, owner of Pranda Jewellery, advocates a dissolution of parliament because he says the government has failed to address the problems of any group in society.

"Concerning the Pak Mool villagers, the whole situation should have been conducted in a humanitarian way," he said.

"The government's failure to deal with these and other groups has damaged the country's image. That's why we cannot attract the foreign investors and the non-performing loan problem cannot be solved."

Active citizens, who look beyond their immediate interests, will be at the heart of the new social movement. Indeed, society briefly saw such energy and emotion at the height of the debate over the new Constitution.

Unfortunately, the energy died out too quickly after the new charter was established. Now the entire process of political reform seems to rest with technocrats and lawyers who are responsible for drafting organic laws.

Calls for a wider participation in politics by the public is nothing new. Social activists, together with rural community groups and progressive academics, have made such appeals for more than a decade.

But the emergence of Seksan's Democracy for the People on Sunday added new momentum to the rural movement as it also targeted the urban middle class, whose economic power is far greater than that of those in the countryside.

It can be argued that it was the emergence as a force of the middle classes that led to monumental changes in modern political history, be it the October 14, 1973, or May 17, 1992, pro-democracy movements.

The emergence of the Democracy for the People is significant for two reasons. First, Seksan is not a new face on Thailand's political scene. He was an important part of the October 14 uprising that succeeded in ousting the then-ruling military dictatorship.

Although Seksan, presently a Political Science lecturer at Thammasat University, chose to stay away from the political limelight for nearly three decades, his charisma has not dimmed.

"The name Seksan is like a magnet," social activists from Chiang Mai said. "It draws people active in politics together, it brings them together so they can check out what he has to say, especially at this early stage."

"I can tell he is not returning for nothing," was the comment from another activist in Phuket.

"He has travelled extensively all over the country to meet people and groups working in the regions. We met a few times to brainstorm ideas. I know he is serious about what he's doing."

Second, Seksan is not alone. Founding members of the group are former student activists who have become successful businessmen, including Phumisan Rojlertchanya, Sathien Setasith and Vilas Tejapaiboon.

Senator and renowned law academic Kaewsan Atibhodhi is another key member of the group.

The group has put an emphasis on ensuring that participation is broad-based and nationwide, ranging from businessmen in provincial chambers of commerce, to bankers and fishermen in local communities.

"Once people come up with a strong agenda, political parties have to comply if they want to get our vote," Senator Kaewsan said.

"We will no longer wait for candidates from political parties to tell us what they are going to do for us, but we will tell them what to do."

The idea fits in nicely with the effort to draft a "People's Plan" by NGOs-Cord, an umbrella of more than 100 non-governmental organisations in the country. The group aims to incorporate their experiences dealing with the hardships facing urban and rural communities into the plan, and put it forward as an alternative to the traditional National Social and Economic Development Plan set by the government.

"How much democracy is achieved in Thai society depends on a meaningful transfer of the people's political consensus into a managerial power," Seksan said.