Will Democrats heed reform call before it's too late?

Alongkorn Pollabutr’s suggestion to give the party a major overhaul has been thrown out the window by party heavyweights. The party – which is short of revolutionary ideas to adapt to the harsher political environment and fiercer competition – will have little chance to survive, let alone take on its formidable competition.

The attempt to reform the party is not new. The Democrats discussed the need to “put the party under the scalpel” after its humiliating defeat to a new party under the helm of Thaksin Shinawatra in the January 6, 2001 general election.

At the party caucus to dissect the 2001 election defeat, the boiling frog analogy was raised. If a frog is put in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is put in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death.

The Democrats back then did see the need to react to a significant change in the political winds – the birth of the Thai Rak Thai Party, whose popularity grew daily. But the move toward reform has divided the country’s oldest party and the will has weakened. That is why the public has not seen any concrete transformation.

Alongkorn, who has been tasked with mapping out a victory strategy for the next general election, believes that if the party does not change its management, and sticks with the same routine to run the party and win the hearts of voters, Yingluck Shinawatra’s job as prime minister is safe. But Alongkorn’s call for change has fallen on deaf ears.

Bhichai Rattakul, a former party leader, has also urged the party to be open to ideas suggested by outsiders and the party’s elders. Bhichai’s plea has gone unheeded.

Why has the party that calls itself an institution failed to read the public mood, failed to evaluate its competition and failed to cultivate political allies? Why has the oldest party failed to reform itself to suit the times?

Could it be that whoever proposes a drastic change just drops the notion for fear of losing power or of being blocked from rising to power?

History shows that since the Sor Por Kor 4-01 land reform scandal, the Democrats have never beaten their staunchest political opponents, whether it’s Chart Thai, New Aspiration, Thai Rak Thai, Palang Prachachon or Pheu Thai.

The party has defended itself, saying it’s the one that’s counted on to run the country during a crisis. For instance, it took power when the country was facing the baht crisis in 1997 and when the country was rocked in the years following the military coup that unseated Thaksin. Although the Democrat Party’s Bangkok governor candidate Sukhumbhand Paribatra beat his arch-rival, Pheu Thai candidate Pongsapat Pongcharoen, election figures showed that Thaksin’s party has advanced into the Democrats’ stronghold with incredible speed.

Ten years have passed since the Democrats lit a fire to boil “the blue frog” in 2001. Will the blue frog slowly be boiled alive?